Enriqueta Vento Mir – Pierre Guerin koord.: Early Farmers in Europe - A korai földművelők Európában (1999)

Introduction

The Earliest Neolithic in Southeast-Europe in the 7"

1 Millennium B.C. The Spread of Neolithic Lifestyle in Europe in the 6"' Millennium B.C. The Spread of Neolithic Lifestyle in Northern and Western-Europe in the 5"' Millennium B.C. In our recent days, the dating method based on calibrated raiocarbon dates has gained general acceptance. According to the calibrated C14 dates the earliest neolithic find-material in Southeast-Europe i.e. in Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and Macedonia can be put in the mid 7th Millennium B.C. With some delay, by the end of that Millennium, the first neolithic cultures came into being in the middle of the continent too. The northern borders of these lay in the southern part of the Carpathian Basin. By the end of the 7th Millennium B.C. the northern shores of the Mediterranean Sea were also belonged to the zone of the neolithic developments, and from Greece to Spain a rather uniform potterymaking style evolved. In the middle of the continent and off the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the first neolithic settlements occurred just in the mid 6th Millennium B.C. but along western coast of Europe and in the Baltic region the neolithic way of life gained ground as late as in the 5th Millennium B.C. As can be seen, the Neolithic in the european history means not a common stage of developement, which evolved everywhere at the same, or in relatively short time. The food-producing economy and the other important, concomitant factors gained ground in the different regions of Europe at different timepoints and pushed into the background the ancient hunting and foraging way of life only in a slow process. When the first neolithic farmers occured in Northern-Europe and there began the early Neolithic, then in Southeastern-Europe developed already the mature Copper Age. Therefore we have to be careful with paralleling or relating regions lying far from each other, since from the appearance of the first neolithic settlements in Southeastern-Europe the different regions of Europe at the same time may have been on different technical, economical and social level of development. It is deriving from the above, that such terms as early, middle or late Neolithic are relevant only to smaller regions. Nevertheless the différenciés among the regions are sometimes overstressed by the used terms. This statement can be relevant even for the differently named stages of the same region. It must not be forgotten, that the technological différenciés do not necessarily indicate basic economical or social différenciés. There are times when it is so and there are times when not. The peasant lifestyle showed itself in the Neolithic in its clearest, undisturbed form. Naturally, the early farming communities in different parts of Europe are diverged from one another even at this time, since the different geografical environments, the different traditions and the different ethnical and cultural influences gave different background to the process of neolitisation. Yet, despite of the dissimilar outlook, there are lots of common in the deep. The main attitude, the linkage to the natur, to the ancestors and to the traditions seems to have been strong, this can be read out of the archaeological remains. In later times, the peasant lifestyle underwent more and more changes, whether we look at it from either technical or social aspect. This lifestyle however has deep roots. The studying of its original, neolithic form is one of the main tasks of the archaeology of ancient times. Our main aim is to give as comprehensive a looking inside 12