Cultural Evolution of Neolithic Europe

Abstract

The paper describes the background and some preliminary results of the author’s project of the same name, funded by the European Research Council. It outlines the different elements of the cultural evolution research programme, from theory-building to understanding the past, and explains why demography is central to both the programme and the project. The specific objectives of the project are then described, revolving around the reconstruction of regional demographic patterns in the European Neolithic and assessing the extent to which cultural, social and economic changes are related to them as causes or consequences. Demographic patterns in the British and southern Scandinavian Neolithic show evidence of major fluctuations that seem to be related to changes in other domains, such as monument building.