Europe
(6500 BC to 1700 BC)
What happened?
In Europe, the Neolithic spread later than in the Levant, a large area in the eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. It is probably a derivative from it. We can distinguish two important movements. The first are the Sesklo culture and the cultures of the Mediterranean represent an early spread, probably through migration by sea to the coasts and islands such as Cyprus.
A second movement, later, spread probably overland, via the unbroken Bosporus to (in 2020 known) Bulgaria. This is where the Starčevo-Körösculture (6200-5600 BC) originated. The immigrants built houses and engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. The bakng of pots happened much later.
The Neolithic spread partly through migration and partly though takeover across Central Europe. This took place from the Balkan region, possibly in connection with the Black Sea floods around 6000 BC. The main representatives of this migration are the Linear Pottery culture.
Around 6000-5500 BC, the Nelolithic began in the northwestern Europe. This mainly by migration where the peoples present copied the art of housing, agriculture, cattle breeding and pottery from the Central European Linear Pottery culture. In Limburg, the Netherlands, this transition took place around 5500 BC. England and Denmark did not start the Neolithic until around 3700 years BC.
From the Caucasus or possibly Central Asia spread the Neolithic in southern Russia. This can be seen as the earliest Indo-European cultures. Under the influence of the early metalworking cultures of the Caucasus, the first Bronze Age cultures of Europe emerged there. The spread of the Indo-European languages and culture followed across Europe.
Neolithic Bone Arrowhead
± 4000 yrs. BC to 2000 yrs. BC
Rare bone arrowhead, fully preserved, with traces of fire on the arrowhead. New Stone Age bone arrowheads are not a commonly found group. Researchers suspect they were attached as common arrowheads.
According to researchers, it has been possible to identify the animal species of the bone thanks to new technology since 2018. Animals played an important role in prehistoric society. They were a source of food, raw material and reverence.
The bones were used to make tools. The use of animal bone as a material dates back to at least 1,8 million years BC. Some animals served as important symbols of power and faith among the hunter-gatherer.
Archaeologists assumed that humans made tools from the same animals they hunted for food. The new findings suggest that only certain animals were used for tools. Carnivores and wild boars do not appear to have been selected for toolmaking. Nevertheless, remains were found there. The apparent avoidance may have to do with cultural taboos. It seems as if only cattle bones were used. If rock art and the animals depicted were imbued with magical powers, it may explain why the tools were made from their bones.
In the process of making tools out of bone, man often burned the bone so that he could sharpen it in that place while it was hot.
Small Flint Hand Axe. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-1)
Flint Drill. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-2)
Flint Nucleus. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-3)
Flint Scraper. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-4)
Michelsberg Culture
± 3500 yrs. BC
The Michelsberg culture lasted from about 4400 to 3500 BC. It occurred in the south of the Netherlands, western Germany, and Belgium. The culture is responsible for some of the oldest earthwork in Europe. The typical earthworks are erected structures built mainly from earth. These are called interrupted ditches and seem to have given the impression of fortified settlements. The interruptions would have been gates. Fire layers found indicate warfare.
The name Michelsberg culture is named after the important excavated site on Michelsberg Hill near Untergrombach in Germany.
The Michelsberg culture had a typical pottery called “tulip cups.” These are decent quality bottles and dishes. The distribution of flint tools shows that there must have been a trading network. The flint mine at Spiennes, Belgium, appears to have been an important source of flint. Finds of animal bones prove that cattle and pigs were kept as livestock.
Many skeletal finds were buried in a very disordered way. Sometimes, the bodies put in large pits, where the skeleton laid on the edge. Sometimes it was in the trenches of the earthenware. Other finds showed many skeletons in a grave in no particular order. For many skeletons, it can be shown that the person died a violent death, often from a blown to the head with a blunt object.
The knowledge of the culture is limited, and all conclusions still uncertain. There is much doubt about ceramic shards, flint tools, and bones. Some ceramic remains indicate misfires and broken crockery. None of the finds indicate any ritual destruction. Therefor it is unclear whether these are grave gifts or waste pits in which skeletons ended up.
Flint Scraper. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-5)
Flint Nucleus. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-6)
Flint Knife. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-7)
Flint Scraper. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-8)
Flint Blade. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-9)
Flint Blade. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-10)
Flint Knife. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-11)
Flint Nucleus. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-12)
Flint Chopper. Found: Spiennes, Belgium (JN0728-13)
Stonehenge
± 2500 yrs. BC
Stonehenge is perhaps the most famous of the numerous megalithic stone structures in the British Isles and Europe. Despite its timeless reputation, the site continues to bring new discoveries about the history of people throughout the region and their place in the landscape. What was the purpose of Stonehenge? Is it a celestial calendar? A cemetery or a healing place? Maybe it was once, but it's hard to say.
What we do know is that new technologies have painted a complex picture with constant change as other people moved across the region. Each of them had their reasons for using the site. The concentric rings of Sarsen and Welsh bluestone were built between 2500 and 2200 BC. They replaced previously erected wooden structures, but Stonehenge is actually part of a huge complex of monuments, burial sites and ritual sites. The oldest structures are from before 8000 BC.
The fragment of dolerite bluestone comes from the quarry downstream at Craig Rhos-y-felin, on the banks of Afon Brynberian, near Pembrokeshire on the northern flank of the Preseli Mountains. The quarry was an active site for thousands of years, with the earliest human camping sites dating back to ± 8500 BC.
Research shows that the stones of Stonehenge were extracted from this quarry. They emigrated from camp to camp for various purposes to eventually reach Stonehenge and being used, ± 386 km further away. That idea has been debated for years. Many studies of other megalithic sites have shown that ritual stones were moved as people moved.
In 2018, an investigation of genetic material of remains at Stonehenge confirmed that the people, who built it, were indeed from the same part of Wales before being replaced by humans of new wave of migration from Europe, part of the Funnelbeaker Culture. Many skeletons have been found, not all of which came from the vicinity, with physical ailments. Archaeologists see Stonehenge as a place of pilgrimage of the antiquity. The bluestones had an important role, according to researchers.
Geological studies suggest that the landscape around Stonehenge may be bare of trees as it lies on a bed of Late Cretaceous chalk. Whether this impacted the decision to use Stonehenge as a ritual site remains a point of debate. However, the discovery has sparked the debate about the possibility of a tunnel enlivened on site, to ease modern traffic on the A303. Tunneling through chalk is a simple process, but they should raise ventilation shafts through layers of history laid down over thousands of years.
Plug Pendant
± 2500 yrs. BC
Plugs or burins are tools that occurred during the Late Paleolithic. Characteristic for plugs is the so-called plug stroke. With such a stitch strike a second small blade is struck at the edge of a blade. Often this is done on a retouched end. This creates a chisel-shaped end. When making such a plug, a plug turn is created, a kind of blade with a triangular cross section.
Plugs are often divided into categories. The most common type of plugs are retouched burins, in which a blade is struck on a retouched end. For double-sided burins, the negative of a previous plug turn is used as a platform. Finally, a natural surface is used as a platform with single-sided burins. There is no difference in function, use or date of the several types. When a plug becomes blunt, it is often sharpened by inserting a new plug stroke. The Lacan burin occurs in the Magdalenian. This is a plug with a long snout on a blade on which a long plug stroke is removed. These burins can be tightened with the other types.
The function of burins can best be compared to modern small chisels. These chisel surfaces are used for processing bone, but also wood. For example, fabricated harpoons from bones, processed handles or made slits in shafts to attach arrowheads.
Our plug was found in Denmark and is made from thin-walled bone, from a bird. It has been treated with some sort of varnish to preserve the object. The plug has a drilled hole, through which the wearer could wear it as a pendant around his neck.