Andalusia Andalusia Andalusia , where the rare Neolithic of La Almagra Pottery appears without known origins very early (c. 7800 BP).
This phase, starting 7000 years ago is marked by the consolidation of the Neolithic expansion towards western and northern Europe, but also by the irruption of a new culture that, probably through violence, occupies most of the Balkans, substituting or rather subjugating the first Neolithic settlers. This is the culture of
DiminiDimini was a village nearby the city of Volos, in Thessaly , in the prefecture of Magnesia. It is also the seat of the municipality of Aisonia. The name Aisonia dates back to ancient times and it is the westernmost place in the Volos area. The Dimini area contains both a Mycenean settlement and a...
(Thessalia) and the related ones of
Vinca-TurdasThe Vinča culture was an early culture of neolithic Europe between the 6th and the 3rd millennium BC, stretching around the course of Danube in what today is Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia, although traces of it can be found all around the Balkans,...
(Serbia and Macedonia) and Karanovo III-Veselinovo (Bulgaria and nearby areas), this last one more hybrid than the other two. Meanwhile, the tiny proto-Linear Pottery culture has given birth to two very dynamic branches: the Western and Eastern
Linear Pottery CultureThe Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC. The heaviest concentrations are on the middle Danube, the upper and middle Elbe, and the upper and middle Rhine. The culture represents a major impulse if not the advent of...
s. The latter is basically an extension of the Balkan Neolithic, but the more original western branch expands quickly, assimilating what today is Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and even large parts of western Ukraine, Moldavia, the lowlands of Romania, and regions of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. This was all achieved in less than one thousand years. With expansion comes diversification and a number of local Danubian cultures start forming at the end of the 5th millennium. In the Mediterranean, the Cardium Pottery fishermen show no less dynamism and colonize/assimilate all of Italy and the Mediterranean regions of France and Spain. Even in the Atlantic, some groups among the native hunter-gatherers start slowly incorporating the new technologies. Among those, the most noticeable regions seem to be the southwest of Iberia, influenced by the Mediterranean but specially by the Andalusian Neolithic, which soon develops the first Megalithic burials (
dolmenA dolmen is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of three or more upright stones supporting a large flat horizontal capstone . Most date from the early Neolithic period...
s) and the area around Denmark (culture of Ertebölle), influenced by the Danubian complex.
This period occupies the first half of the 6th millennium BP and is rather quiet. The tendencies of the previous period consolidate, so we have a fully formed Neolithic Europe with five main cultural regions:
- Danubian cultures: from northern France to Western Ukraine. Now split into several local cultures, the most relevant ones being: the Romanian branch (culture of Boian
Boian may refer to several villages:* Boian, a village in Ceanu Mare Commune, Cluj County, Romania* Boian, a village in Bazna Commune, Sibiu County, Romania* Boiany, a village in Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine...
) that expands into Bulgaria, the culture of Rössen that is preeminent in the west, and the culture of Lengyel----Lengyel is a village in Tolna county, Hungary.- People :* Sándor Apponyi * János Bogdán * József Cserháti * Mór Wosinsky - External links :*...
of Austria and western Hungary, which will have a major role in the upcoming periods.
- Mediterranean cultures: from the Adriatic to eastern Spain, including Italy and large portions of France and Switzerland. These are also diversified into several groups.
- The area of Dimini-Vinca: Thessalia, Macedonia and Serbia, but extending its influence also to parts of the mid-Danubian basin (Tisza, Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
) and southern Italy.
- Eastern Europe: basically central and eastern Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
and parts of southern RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and BelarusBelarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...
(culture of Dniepr-Don). Apparently these people were the ones who first domesticated horses (though some Paleolithic evidence could disprove it).
- Atlantic Europe: a mosaic of local cultures, some of them still pre-Neolithic, from Portugal to southern Sweden. Since around 5800 BP the western regions of France incorporate also the Megalithic style of burial.
There were also a few independent areas, including Andalusia, southern Greece and the western coasts of the Black Sea (culture of
HamangiaHamangia may refer to:* Baia, Tulcea* Hamangia culture*Baia-Hamangia*Hamangia River...
).
Chalcolithic
Also known as
Copper Age, European Chalcolithic is a time of changes and confusion. The most relevant fact is the infiltration and invasion of large parts of the territory by people originating from Central Asia, considered by mainstream scholars to be the original Indo-Europeans, although there are again several theories in dispute. Other phenomena are the expansion of Megalithism and the appearance of the first significant economic stratification and, related to this, the first known monarchies in the Balkan region.
The economy of the Chalcolithic, even in the regions where copper is not used yet, is no longer that of peasant communities and tribes: now some materials are produced in specific locations and distributed to wide regions.
MiningMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock salt and potash...
of metal and stone is particularly developed in some areas, along with the processing of those materials into valuable goods.
From c. 5500 to 5000 BP copper starts to be used in the Balkans, and Eastern and Central Europe. However, the key factor could be the use of horses, which would increase mobility. From c. 5500 onwards, Eastern Europe is apparently infiltrated by people originating from beyond the Volga (
Yamna cultureThe Yamna culture is a late copper age/early Bronze Age culture of the Bug/Dniester/Ural region , dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC...
), creating a plural complex known as
Sredny Stog cultureThe Sredny Stog culture dates from the 4500-3500 BC. It was situated just north of the Sea of Azov between the Dnieper and the Don...
, that substitutes the previous
Dnieper-Donets cultureDnieper-Donets culture, ca. 5th—4th millennium BC. A neolithic culture in the area north of the Black Sea/Sea of Azov between the Dnieper and Donets River.- Overview :...
, pushing the natives to migrate in a NW direction to the Baltic and Denmark, where they mix with natives (TRBK A and C). This may be correlated with the linguistic fact of the spread of Indo-European languages; see
Kurgan hypothesisThe Kurgan hypothesis is one of the proposals about early Indo-European origins, which postulates that the people of an archaeological "Kurgan culture" in the Pontic steppe were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language...
. Near the end of the period, another branch will leave many traces in the lower Danube area (culture of
CernavodăCernavodă culture, ca. 4000—3200 BC, a late copper age archaeological culture of the lower Eastern Bug River and Danube located along the coast of the Black Sea and somewhat inland...
I), in what seems to be another invasion.
Meanwhile the Danubian
Lengyel cultureThe Lengyel culture, ca. 5000–4000 BC, was an archaeological culture located in the area of modern-day southern Moravia, western Slovakia, western Hungary, parts of southern Poland, and in adjacent sections of Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia....
absorbs its northern neighbours of the Czech Republic and Poland for some centuries, only to recede in the second half of the period. In
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
and
WallachiaWallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
(Southern
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
), the culture of Boian-Marica evolves into a monarchy with a clearly royal cemetery near the coast of the Black Sea. This model seems to have been copied later in the Tiszan region with the culture of
BodrogkereszturBodrogkeresztúr is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary.- People :* Rebbe Yeshaya Steiner of Kerestir hasidic court, lived here- External links :*...
. Labour specialization, economic stratification and possibly the risk of invasion may have been the reasons behind this development. The influx of early
TroyTroy is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer...
(Troy I) is clear in both the expansion of metallurgy and social organization.
In the western Danubian region (the Rhine and Seine basins) the culture of Michelsberg displaces its predecessor,
RössenThe Rössen Culture is a Central European culture of the middle Neolithic .It is named after the necropolis of Rössen...
. Meanwhile in the Mediterranean basin, several cultures (most notably
Chassey Chassey is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France....
in SE France and La Lagozza in northern Italy) converge into a functional union, of which the most significant characteristic is the distribution network of honey-coloured
silexFlint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in color, and...
. Despite this unity, the signs of conflicts are clear, as many skeletons show violent injuries. This is the time and area where Ötzi, the famous man found in the Alps, lived. Another significant development of this period is that the
MegalithA megalith is a large stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the...
ic phenomenon starts spreading to most places of the Atlantic region, bringing agriculture with it to some underdeveloped regions there.
This period extends along the first half of the 3rd millennium B.C. Most significant is the reorganization of the Danubians in the powerful
Baden cultureBaden culture, ca 3600 BC-ca 2800 BC, an eneolithic culture found in central Europe. It is known from Moravia, Hungary, Slovakia and Eastern Austria...
, that extends more or less to what would be the Austro-Hungarian empire in recent times. The rest of the Balkans is profoundly restructured after the invasions of the previous period but, with the exception of the culture of Cotofeni in a mountainous region, none of them show any eastern
(or presumably Indo-European) traits. The new Ezero cultureThe Ezero culture, 3300—2700 BC, was a Bronze Age archaeological culture occupying most of present-day Bulgaria. It takes its name from the Tell-settlement of Ezero....
, in Bulgaria, shows the first traits of pseudo-bronze (an alloy of copper with arsenicArsenic is the chemical element that has the symbol As, atomic number 33 and atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250. Arsenic is a notoriously poisonous metalloid with many allotropic forms, including a yellow and several black and grey forms...
). So does the first significant Aegean group: the Cycladic culture after 2800 B.C.
In the North, for some time the supposedly Indo-European groups seem to recede temporarily, suffering a strong cultural danubianization. In the East, the peoples of beyond the Volga (
Yamna cultureThe Yamna culture is a late copper age/early Bronze Age culture of the Bug/Dniester/Ural region , dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC...
), surely eastern Indo-Europeans, ancestors of Scythians,
IraniansThe Iranian peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly on the Iranian plateau and beyond in central, southern, and southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. As a group of people, they are predominantly defined along linguistic lines as speaking the Iranian...
and Aryans, take over southern Russia and Ukraine. In the West the only sign of unity comes from the Megalithic super-culture, which extends now from southern Sweden to southern Spain, including large parts of southern Germany as well. But the Mediterranean and Danubian groupings of the previous period appear fragmented into many smaller pieces, some of them apparently backward in technological matters. From c. 2800 B.C., the Danubian
Seine-Oise-Marne cultureThe Seine-Oise-Marne or SOM culture is the name given by archaeologists to the final culture of the Neolithic and first culture of the Chalcolithic in northern France....
pushes directly or indirectly southwards, destroying most of the rich Megalithic culture of western France. After c. 2600 several phenomena will prefigure the changes of the upcoming period:
Large towns with stone walls appear in two different areas of the Iberian Peninsula: one in the Portuguese region of
EstremaduraEstremadura is a historical province of Portugal. It is located along the Atlantic Ocean coast in the center of the country and includes Lisbon, the capital.Estremadura is different to Extremadura, an autonomous community of Spain....
(culture of
Vila Nova de Sao PedroVila Nova de São Pedro is the name of an archaeological site in Portuguese Estremadura where thousands of arrowheads were found inside a fortified site...
), strongly embedded in the Atlantic Megalithic culture; the other near
AlmeríaAlmería is the capital of the province of Almería, Spain. It is located in southeastern Spain on the Mediterranean Sea.-History:The name "Almería" stems from Andalusian Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to the "The Mirror of the Sea".The city was founded by caliph Abd ar-Rahman...
(SE Spain), centred around the large town of
Los MillaresLos Millares is the name of a Chalcolithic occupation site 17km north of Almería, in the municipality of Santa Fe de Mondújar, Andalusia, Spain. The population of Los Millares in ancient times has been estimated at approximately 1000....
, of Mediterranean character, probably affected by eastern cultural influxes (tholoi). Despite the many differences the two civilizations seem to be in friendly contact and to have productive exchanges. In the area of
DordogneDordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it...
(
AquitaineAquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 26 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. In the Middle Ages it was a kingdom and later a duchy, with boundaries considerably larger...
, France), a new unexpected culture of
bowmenArchery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
appears: it is the culture of Artenac, that soon takes control of western and even northern France and Belgium. In Poland and nearby regions, the putative Indo-Europeans reorganize and consolidate again with the culture of the Globular Amphoras. Nevertheless, the influence of many centuries in direct contact with the still-powerful Danubian peoples has greatly modified their culture.
This period extends from c. 2500 B.C. to c. 1800 or 1700 B.C. (depending on the region). The dates are general for the whole of Europe, and the Aegean area is already fully in the Bronze Age. ca. 2500 B.C. the new
Catacomb cultureThe Catacomb culture, ca. 2800-2200 BC, refers to an early Bronze Age culture occupying essentially what is present-day Ukraine. It was related to the Yamna culture, and would seem more of an areal term to cover several smaller related archaeological cultures....
(proto-Cymmerians?), whose origins are obscure but who are also Indo-Europeans, displaces the Yamna peoples in the regions north and east of the Black Sea, confining them to their original area east of the Volga. Some of these infiltrate Poland and may have played a significant but unclear role in the transformation of the culture of the Globular Amphorae into the new
Corded Ware cultureThe Corded Ware culture, alternatively characterized as the Battle Axe culture or Single Grave culture is an enormous European archaeological horizon that begins in the late Neolithic , flourishes through the Copper Age and finally culminates in the early Bronze Age, developing in various areas...
.
Whatever happened, the fact is that c. 2400 B.C. this people of the Corded Ware replace their predecessors and expand to Danubian and Nordic areas of western Germany. One related branch invades Denmark and southern Sweden (Scandinavian culture of Individual Sepultures), while the mid-Danubian basin, though showing more continuity, shows also clear traits of new Indo-European elites (
Vučedol cultureThe Vučedol culture was a culture that flourished between 3000 and 2200 BC , centered in eastern Slavonia on the right bank of the Danube river, but possibly spreading throughout the Pannonian plain...
). Simultaneously, in the west, the Artenac peoples reach Belgium. With the partial exception of Vučedol, the Danubian cultures, so buoyant just a few centuries ago, are wiped off the map of Europe. The rest of the period is the story of a mysterious phenomenon: the Beaker people. This group seems to be of mercantile character and to like being buried according to a very specific, almost invariable, ritual. Nevertheless, out of their original area of western Central Europe, they appear only inside local cultures, so they never invaded and assimilated but rather went to live among those peoples, keeping their way of life. This is why they are believed to be merchants.
The rest of the continent remains mostly unchanged and in apparent peace. From c. 2300 B.C. the first Beaker Pottery appears in Bohemia and expands in many directions but particularly westward, along the Rhone and the sea shores, reaching the culture of Vila Nova (Portugal) and Catalonia (Spain) as their limits. Simultaneously but unrelatedly, c. 2200 B.C. in the Aegean region, the Cycladic culture decays, being substituted by the new palatine phase of the
MinoanThe Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. The Minoan culture flourished from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC; afterwards, Mycenaean Greek culture became dominant at Minoan sites in Crete...
culture of
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
.
The second phase of Beaker Pottery, from c.2100 B.C. onwards, is marked by the displacement of the centre of this phenomenon to Portugal, inside the culture of Vila Nova. This new centre's influence reaches to all southern and western France but is absent in southern and western Iberia, with the notable exception of Los Millares. After c. 1900 B.C., the centre of the Beaker Pottery returns to Bohemia, while in Iberia we see a decentralization of the phenomenon, with centres in Portugal but also in Los Millares and
CiempozuelosCiempozuelos is a town in Spain. It is located in the south of the Community of Madrid.It had a population of 17,769 in 2005 Its origins appear to be Moorish and the name refers to the number of wells that existed in the town. It is clearly not as well-known as its neighbours Chinchon and Aranjuez...
.
Bronze Age
Though the use of
bronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon. It was particularly significant in antiquity, giving its name to the Bronze Age...
started much earlier in the Aegean area, it is not before 1800 B.C. that it reaches southern Spain, while Central Europe will wait another century (c. 1700 B.C.) and the Atlantic region will remain Chalcolithic until 1300 B.C. (noticeably Egypt remained in the same backward technological state until much later). In any case, the date of 1800/1700 B.C. can be considered typical for the start of this stage in Europe in general, although some scholars claim earlier dates for the introduction of bronze (this may be caused by the slim barrier between copper and bronze, an
alloyAn alloy is a partial or complete solid solution of one or more elements in a metallic matrix. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may be homogeneous in distribution depending on thermal history...
of the former).
- c. 1800 B.C., the culture of Los Millares
Los Millares is the name of a Chalcolithic occupation site 17km north of Almería, in the municipality of Santa Fe de Mondújar, Andalusia, Spain. The population of Los Millares in ancient times has been estimated at approximately 1000....
in SW Spain is substituted by that of El ArgarEl Argar is the type site of an Early Bronze Age culture called the Argaric culture, which flourished from the town of Antas, Almería, in the south-east of Spain between c. 1800 BCE and 1300 BCE....
, fully of the Bronze Age, which may well have been a centralized state.
- c. 1700 B.C., the Central European cultures of Unetice
Unetice – or more properly Únětice culture – is the name given to an early Bronze Age culture, preceded by the Beaker culture and followed by the Tumulus culture. The eponymous site is located at Únětice, northwest of Prague...
, Adlerberg, Straubing and pre-LausitzThe Lusatian culture existed in the later Bronze Age and early Iron Age in most of Poland, parts of Czech Republic and Slovakia, parts of eastern Germany, and parts of Ukraine...
start working the Bronze, a technique that reached them through the Balkans and Danube.
- c. 1600 B.C. is considered a good approximate date to place the start of Mycenean Greece, after centuries of infiltration of Indo-European Greeks from an unknown origin.
- c. 1500 B.C., most of these Central European cultures are unified in the powerful Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world...
culture. Simultaneously but unrelatedly, the culture of El ArgarEl Argar is the type site of an Early Bronze Age culture called the Argaric culture, which flourished from the town of Antas, Almería, in the south-east of Spain between c. 1800 BCE and 1300 BCE....
starts its phase B, characterized by a detectable Aegean influence (pithoi burials). About this time, it is believed that Minoan Crete fell under the rule of the Mycenean Greeks.
- c. 1300 B.C., the Indo-European cultures of Central Europe (among them Celts, Italics and certainly Illyrians
The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited the Western Balkans during classical antiquity. The territory the tribes covered came to be known as Illyria to Greek and Roman authors, corresponding roughly to the area between Adriatic sea in west, Drava river in North, Morava river in east...
) change the cultural phase conforming to the expansionist Urnfield culture, starting a quick expansion that brings them to occupy most of the Balkans, Asia Minor, where they destroy the Hittite Empire (conquering the secret of ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
smeltingSmelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
), NE Italy, parts of France, Belgium, the Nederlands, NE Spain and SW England.
Derivations of this sudden expansion are the
Sea PeoplesThe Sea Peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty and especially during Year 8 of...
that attacked Egypt unsuccessfully for some time, including the
PhilistinesThe Philistines were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan, their territory being named Philistia in later contexts. Their origin has been debated among scholars...
(
PelasgiansThe name Pelasgians was used by some ancient Greek writers to refer to populations that preceded the Hellenes in Greece, "a hold-all term for any ancient, primitive and presumably autochthonous people in the Greek world." In general, "Pelasgian" has come to mean more broadly all the autochthonous...
?) and the Dorians, most likely hellenized members of this group that ended invading Greek itself and destroying the might of Mycene and, later,
TroyTroy is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer...
.
Simultaneously, around this date, the culture of
Vila Nova de Sao PedroVila Nova de São Pedro is the name of an archaeological site in Portuguese Estremadura where thousands of arrowheads were found inside a fortified site...
(that lasted 13 centuries in its urban form) vanishes into a less spectacular one but finally with bronze. The centre of gravity of the Atlantic cultures (Atlantic Bronze complex) is now displaced towards Great Britain. Also about this date, the culture of
VillanovaVillanova may refer to:In geography:*Villanova, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community in Pennsylvania that is a part of Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania and Radnor Township, Pennsylvania...
, possible precursor of the
Etruscan civilizationEtruscan civilization is the modern English name given to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy and Corsica, residing between the Apennines and the River Tiber, whom the ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci...
, appears in central Italy (possibly with an Aegean origin).
Iron Age
Though the use of
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
was known to the Aegean peoples about 1100 B.C., it didn't reach Central Europe before 800 B.C., giving way to the
Hallstatt cultureThe Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Halstatt culture extended for some 1000 km,...
, an Iron Age evolution of the culture the Urn Fields. Probably as by-product of this technological superiority of the Indo-Europeans, soon after, they clearly consolidate their positions in Italy and Iberia, penetrating deep inside those peninsulas (
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
founded in 753 B.C.).
Around that time the Phoenicians, benefitting from the disappearance of the Greek maritime power (
Greek Dark AgesThe Greek Dark Ages and Greek Dark Age are terms which have regularly been used to refer to the period of Greek history from the presumed Dorian invasion and end of the Mycenaean Palatial civilization around 1200 BC, to the first signs of the Greek city-states in the 9th century BC...
) founded their first colony at the entrance of the Atlantic Ocean: in Gadir (modern
CádizCádiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Cádiz Province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
), most likely as a merchant outpost to convey the many mineral resources of the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles.
Nevertheless, from the 7th century B.C. onwards, the Greek nation recovers its power and starts its own colonial expansion, founding Massalia (modern Marseilles) and its Iberian outpost of Emporion (modern
EmpúriesEmpúries is a town on the Mediterranean coast of the Catalan comarca of Alt Empordà . It was founded in 575 BC by Greek colonists from Phocaea with the name of Εμπόριον...
). This last thing wasn't done before the
IberiansThe Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...
could reconquer
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
and the
EbroThe Ebro or Ebre is Spain's most voluminous river. Its source is in Fontibre . It flows through cities such as Miranda de Ebro, Logroño, Zaragoza, Flix, Tortosa, and Amposta before discharging in a delta on the Mediterranean Sea in the province of Tarragona.-Name:The Romans named this river Iber...
valley from the Celts, separating physically the Iberian Celts from their continental neighbours.
The second phase of the European Iron Age is defined particularly by the Celtic
La Tène cultureThe La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich trove of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
, that starts near 400 B.C., followed by a large expansion of this people into the Balkans, the British Isles (where they assimilated druidism) and other regions of France and Italy.
The Celtic debacle under the expansive pressure of Germanic tribes (originally from
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a geographical region in northern Europe that includes, and is named after, the Scanian Province. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark...
and Lower Germany) and the forming Roman Empire, in the last century B.C., is also that of the end of Prehistory properly speaking; though many regions of Europe remained yet illiterate and therefore out of written history for many centuries yet, we must place the boundary somewhere and this date, near the start of our calendar, seems quite convenient. The remaining is regional prehistory (or in most cases
protohistoryProtohistory refers to a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted its existence in their own writings...
) but no longer European prehistory as a whole.
Genetic history
The genetic history of Europe has been inferred by observing the patterns of genetic diversity across the continent and in the surrounding areas. Use has ben made of both classical genetics and molecular genetics. Analysis of the DNA of the modern population of Europe has mainly been used but use has also been made of ancient DNA.
This analysis has shown that modern man entered Europe from the Near East before the Last Glacial Maximum but retreated to refuges in southern Europe in this cold period. Subsequently people spread out over the whole continent, with subsequent limited immigration from the Near East and Asia.
Linguistic history
What languages were spoken in Europe during the prehistorical period is controversial. Most scholars believe that one or more non
Indo-EuropeanIndo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan, a 19th century term for Indo-European speakers.* Proto-Indo-European language, the reconstructed common ancestor of all Indo-European languages....
languages were spoken, prior to the introduction of
Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-Indo-European may refer to:*Proto-Indo-European language, the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages.*Proto-Indo-Europeans, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language....
either in the Neolithic or Bronze Age. A Vasconic substratum hypothesis for Western Europe, with influence from a "Semitidic" language, has been postulated but roundly rejected.
Kalevi WiikKalevi Wiik is a professor emeritus of phonetics at the University of Turku, Finland. He is best known for his controversial hypotheses about the origins of the Finno-Ugric languages...
has suggested that Finno-Ugric languages may have been spoken across the whole of northern Europe at the end of the last glacial maximum. This hypothesis has been rejected by mainstream linguistics.
A minority of scholars have argued for a deeper time depth of proto-Indo-European in Europe. A group of scholars led by
Mario AlineiMario Alinei is Professor Emeritus at the University of Utrecht, where he taught from 1959 to 1987, currently living in Impruneta. He is founder and editor of Quaderni di semantica, a journal of theoretical and applied semantics...
considers that Indo-European has been spoken in Europe since the last glacial maximum, in the
Paleolithic Continuity TheoryThe Paleolithic Continuity Theory is a hypothesis suggesting that the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European language can be traced back to the Paleolithic era,...
. Jonathan Adams and Marcel Otte have a slightly different point of view, suggesting that Indo-European spread immediately after the Younger Dryas.
Proto-Indo-European is believed to have given rise to most of the languages of Europe in the historical period. However, it is known that a number of non Indo-European languages were spoken in the proto-historical part of prehistoric Europe. In north-eastern Europe there is a separate group of Uralic languages that have been considered to be spoken in the region since prehistoric times.
See also
- List of archaeological sites sorted by continent and age
- Atlantic Europe
Atlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The term may refer to the idea of Atlantic Europe as a cultural unit and/or as an biogeographical region....
- Mediterranean Europe
- European Megalithic Culture
- Prehistoric Britain
Prehistoric Britain is the period between the arrival of the first humans in Great Britain and the start of recorded British history. The period prior to occupation by the genus Homo is part of the Geology of the British Isles...
- Prehistory of Brittany
This page concerns the prehistory of Brittany.-Palaeolithic:Brittany was never glaciated during the Quaternary, owing to its latitude, proximity to the coast and absence of significant mountain ranges...
- Prehistoric Cyprus
The Prehistoric Period is the oldest part of Cypriot history.
This article covers the period 10,000 BC to 800 BC and ends immediately before written records of civilisations such as the first mention Cyprus by the Romans.-Epipalaeolithic:...
- Prehistoric France
Prehistoric France is the period in the human occupation of the geographical area covered by present-day France which extended through prehistory and ended in the Iron Age with the Celtic "La Tène culture".-Lower Palaeolithic:...
- Prehistoric Georgia
The prehistory of Georgia is the period between the first human habitation of the territory of modern-day nation of Georgia and the time when Assyrian and Urartian, and more firmly, the Classical accounts, brought the proto-Georgian tribes into the scope of recorded history.-Stone Age:Humans have...
- Prehistoric Hungary
- Prehistoric Iberia
The Prehistory of the Iberian peninsula begins with the arrival of the first hominins 1.2 million years ago and ends with the Punic Wars, when the territory enters the domains of written history...
- Prehistoric Ireland
-Pleistocene ice age:During the Pleistocene ice age, Ireland was extensively glaciated. Ice sheets more than 300 metres thick scoured the landscape, pulverizing rock and bone, and eradicating all evidence of early human settlements...
- Prehistory of Poland (until 966)
The prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the period from the first appearance of humans on the territory of modern-day Poland, to the establishment of the Polish state in the 10th century CE—a span of roughly half a million years....
- Prehistoric Romania
- Prehistoric Scotland
Archaeology and geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex and dramatic past before the Romans brought Scotland into the scope of recorded history...
- Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures
The synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures gives a rough picture of the relationships between the various principal cultures of Prehistory outside the Americas, Antarctica, Australia and Oceania...
External links
Paleolithic santuaries:
·
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
·
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/fr/index.html)