First Farmers (7000-4500 BC)
Farming arrived in Europe beginning ~7000 BC, brought in by waves of migrating people from the Near East and Anatolia, introducing domesticated wheat and barley, goats and sheep, cattle and pigs. Pottery first appeared in Europe ~6000 years BC, and the Linearbandkeramic (LBK) pottery decorating technique is still considered a marker for first farmer groups. Fired-clay figurines become widespread.
- First Farmer Sites: Esbeck, Olszanica, Svodin, Stacero, Lepenski Vir, Vinca, Dimini, Franchthi Cave, Grotta dell' Uzzo, Stentinello, Gazel, Melos, Esloo, Bylansky, Langweiler, Yunatzili, Svodin, Sesklo, Passo di Corva, Verlaine, Brandwijk-Kerkhof, Vaihingen
- Read more about the First Farmers
- Learn about animal domestication histories and plant domestication histories
- Read more about the LBK culture
Later Neolithic / Chalcolithic (4500-2500 BC)
During the later Neolithic, also called Chalcolithic in some places, copper and gold was mined, smelted, hammered and cast. Wide trade networks were developed, and obsidian, shell and amber were traded. Urban cities began to develop, modeled on Near Eastern communities beginning about 3500 BC. In the fertile crescent, Mesopotamia rose and innovations such as wheeled vehicles, metal pots, plows and wool-bearing sheep were imported into Europe. Settlement planning began in some areas; elaborate burials, gallery graves, passage tombs and dolmen groups were built. Malta's temples and Stonehenge were built. Houses during the late Neolithic were primarily built of timber; the first elite lifestyles appear in Troy and then spread westward.
- Later Neolithic Sites in Europe include: Polyanitsa, Varna, Dobrovody, Majdanetskoe, Dereivka, Egolzwil, Stonehenge, Malta Tombs, Maes Howe, Aibunar, Bronocice, Los Millares
- Read more about the Chalcolithic
Early Bronze Age (2000-1200 BC)
During the Early Bronze Age, things really get started in the Mediterranean, where elite lifestyles expand into Minoan and then Mycenaean cultures, fueled by extensive trade with the Levant, Anatolia, North Africa and Egypt. Communal tombs, palaces, public architecture, luxuries and peak sanctuaries, chamber tombs and the first 'suits of armor' are all part of the lives of Mediterranean elites.
All of this comes crashing to a halt ~1200 BC, when Mycenaean, Egyptian and Hittite cultures are demaged or destroyed by a combination of intensive raiding by the "sea peoples", devastating earthquakes and internal revolts.
- Early Bronze Age sites include: Unetice, Bihar, Knossos, Malia, Phaistos, Mycenae, Argos, Gla, Orchomenos, Athens, Tiryns, Pylos, Sparta, Medinet Habu, Xeropolis, Aghia Triada, Egtved, Hornines, Afragola
- Read more about the Minoans
Late Bronze/Early Iron Age (1300-600 BC)
While in the Mediterranean region complex societies rose and fell, in central and northern Europe, modest settlements, farmers and herders led their lives comparatively quietly. Quietly, that is, until an industrial revolution began with the advent of iron smelting, about 1000 BC. Bronze casting and smelting continued; agriculture expanded to include millet, honey bees and horses as draft animals. A great variety of burial customs were used during the LBA, including urn fields; the first trackways in Europe are built on the Somerset Levels. Widespread unrest (perhaps as a result of population pressure) leads to competition among communities, leading to the construction of defensive structures such as hill forts.
- LBA Sites: Eiche, Val Camonica, Cape Gelidonya shipwreck, Cap d'Agde, Nuraghe Oes, Velim, Biskupin, Uluburun, Sidon, Pithekoussai, Cadiz, Grevensvaenge, Tanum, Trundholm, Boge, Denestr
- Read more about hillforts
Iron Age 800-450 BC
During the Iron Age, the Greek city states began to emerge and expand. Meanwhile in the Fertile Crescent Babylon overruns Phoenicia, and concerted battles over control of Mediterranean shipping follow between Greeks, Etruscans, Phoenicians, Carthagenians, Tartessians and Romans began in earnest by ~600 BC.
Farther away from the Mediterranean, hillforts and other defensive structures continue to be built: but these structures are to protect cities, not elites. Trade in iron, bronze, stone, glass, amber and coral continued or blossomed; long houses and ancillary storage structures are built. In short, societies are still relatively stable and fairly secure.
Iron Ages Sites: Fort Harraoud, Buzenol, Kemmelberg, Hastedon, Otzenhausen, Altburg, Smolenice, Biskupin, Alfold, Vettersfeld, Vix, Crickley Hill, Feddersen Wierde, Meare
Late Iron Age 450-140 BC
During the late Iron Age, the rise of Rome began, in the midst of a massive fight for supremacy in the Mediterranean, which Rome eventually won. Alexander the Great and Hannibal are Iron Age heroes. The Peloponesian and Punic Wars affected the region deeply. Celtic migrations from central Europe into the Mediterranean region began.
- Later Iron Age Sites: Emporia, Massalia, Carmona, Porcuna, Heuenberg, Chatillon sur Glane, Hochdorf, Vix, Hallstatt, Tartessos, Cadiz, La Joya, Vulci, Carthage, Vergina, Attica, Maltepe, Kazanluk, Hjortspring, Kul-Oba, La Tene, Vergina
Roman Empire 140 BC-AD 300
During this period, Rome transitioned from a republic to an imperial force, building roads to connect its farflung empire and maintaining control over most of Europe. About AD 250, the empire began to crumble.
- Important Roman Sites: Rome, Noviodunum, Lutetia, Bibracte, Manching, Stare, Hradisko, Brixia, Madrague de Giens, Massalia, Blidaru, Sarmizegethusa, Aquileia, Hadrian's Wall, Roman Roads, Pont du Gard, Pompeii
Page 1: Lower Paleolithic to Mesolithic
Sources
See specific Guides for more sources
Cunliffe, Barry. 2008. Europe between the Oceans, 9000 BC-AD 1000. Yale University Press.
Cunliffe, Barry. 1998. Prehistoric Europe: an Illustrated History. Oxford University Press.
