Chapter 6 - Prehistoric Europe North of Mediterranean

Mesolithic Sites

• Duvensee: a peat bog region in northern Germany with a series of Mesolithic sites showing targeted harvesting and processing of hazelnuts, dating between 8900 and 6500 cal BC.
• Ertebølle Culture: a late Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-forager group in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany (Europe), living between 5500 and 4000 cal BC, and showing hierarchy and gender distinctions in burials.

Neolithic Period

• Linear Pottery Culture: Early Neolithic farming groups in central and northwestern Europe, spreading from the Balkan Peninsula area along the Danube River and its tributaries, dating between 5700 and 4500 cal BC.
• Funnel Beaker Culture: Late Neolithic groups in central and northern Europe, making pottery with a globular body and an out-turned flaring rim, and dating between 4500 and 2800 cal BC.
• These groups introduced the plow from the Middle East and developed cattle-drawn wheeled vehicles.
• Dairy consumption led to natural selection for a lactose tolerance gene.

Megalith Construction

• Neolithic societies in Europe began creating various megalithic monuments around 5000 cal BC.
• Menhirs: single standing megalithic stones, sometimes occurring alone, and other times in groups such as avenues or henges.
• Long barrow: a communal earthen mound tomb built in Neolithic Europe, with a wooden or stone interior corridor into which the dead were placed over an extended period of time.
• Passage grave: a communal earthen mound tomb built in Neolithic Europe, with a stone passage and one or more burial chambers at the end of the passage.

Iron Age

• Iron Age: a period in Europe from about 800 to 59/51 cal BC, characterized by the manufacture and use of implements made of iron.
• Hallstatt Culture: the early part of the Iron Age in Europe, from about 750 to 450 cal BC, found north of the Alps in central Europe and extending in an arc to the east and west of Italy.
• Heuneburg: a Hallstatt Culture proto-urban center in southern Germany, with evidence of trade with the Mediterranean and lavish burials of elites.
• La Tène Culture: the later part of the Iron Age in Europe, from approximately 450 to 59/51 cal BC, when much of Europe was conquered by the Romans.

Settlements and Burials

• Oppida: large, often fortified settlements of the Late Iron Age La Tène Culture, sometimes described as urban centers.
• Hambledon Hill: a Neolithic causewayed enclosure in England, with human skulls placed at intervals in one of the ditches.
• Vedbæk and Skateholm: Ertebølle Culture sites in Denmark and Sweden, respectively, showing gender distinctions in burials, dog burials, diverse grave goods, and evidence of ritual.

Food Production and Migration

• Early Food Production Domesticates in Europe originated in the Middle East and include wheat and barley, sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs.
• The spread of domestic plants and animals parallels the spread of Middle Eastern groups from Turkey, Greece, and the Balkan Peninsula into Europe, based on genetic evidence.
• The migration of farmers may have been due to farmers' increased fertility rates combined with a need for new land.