Different Paths of Neolithisation of the North-Eastern Part of Central Europe

Abstract

Origins of the Neolithic in the north-eastern part of Central Europe were associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Pottery culture after the mid-sixth millennium BC, as in other parts of Central Europe. During these migrations, a careful selection of settlement regions took place, in terms of the ecological conditions most favourable for agriculture. The enclave-like pattern of the Neolithic settlement persisted into the fifth millennium BC when these enclaves were inhabited by post-Linear groups. The remaining areas, inhabited by hunter-gatherers, were not subject to direct Neolithisation. However, there are some indications of contact between farmers and hunter-gatherers. This situation changed from c. 4000 BC onwards because of the formation and spectacular territorial expansion of the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). This archaeological unit for the first time covered in a relatively compact way the territory under consideration. The human substratum of this process consisted of both hunter-gatherers and farmers. Consequently, one can discourse about Neolithisation as such only in the former case. Not all Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers accepted TRB patterns. Those communities still successfully carried on traditional lifestyle, gradually supplementing it with pottery (para-Neolithic). Their Neolithisation ended perhaps only in the first half of the second millennium BC.