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44-663: (Redirected from Old European ) Old Europe or Old European may refer to: Old Europe (archaeology) (c. 6500 – c. 2800 BC), a culture of Neolithic Europe Old European languages , the mostly unknown languages that were spoken in Europe prior to the spread of the Indo-European and Uralic families Old European script , Vinča symbols Old European hydronymy (c. 2500 – c. 1500 BC), in Central and Western Europe "Old Europe",

88-420: A "ceramic Mesolithic" can be distinguished between c.  9,000 to 5,850 BP. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. This pottery-making Mesolithic culture can be found peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. It created a distinctive type of pottery, with point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by

132-596: A concept in use. In the archaeology of the Americas , an Archaic or Meso-Indian period, following the Lithic stage , somewhat equates to the Mesolithic. The Saharan rock paintings found at Tassili n'Ajjer in central Sahara , and at other locations depict vivid scenes of everyday life in central North Africa . Some of these paintings were executed by a hunting people who lived in a savanna region teeming with

176-509: A new interdisciplinary field, archaeomythology . In historical times, some ethnonyms are believed to correspond to Pre-Indo-European peoples, assumed to be the descendants of the earlier Old European cultures: the Pelasgians , Minoans , Leleges , Iberians , Nuragic people , Etruscans , Rhaetians , Camunni and Basques . Two of the three pre-Greek peoples of Sicily, the Sicans and

220-534: A possible "lunar calendar" at Warren Field in Scotland, with pits of post holes of varying sizes, thought to reflect the lunar phases . Both are dated to before c.  9,000 BP (the 8th millennium BC). An ancient chewed gum made from the pitch of birch bark revealed that a woman enjoyed a meal of hazelnuts and duck about 5,700 years ago in southern Denmark. Mesolithic people influenced Europe's forests by bringing favored plants like hazel with them. As

264-603: A result of ideological reluctance, different worldviews and an active rejection of the sedentary-farming lifestyle. In one sample from the Blätterhöhle in Hagen , it seems that the descendants of Mesolithic people maintained a foraging lifestyle for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies in the area; such societies may be called " Subneolithic ". For hunter-gatherer communities, long-term close contact and integration in existing farming communities facilitated

308-742: A system of primitive notation, if not writing. Neolithic Europe refers to the time between the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods in Europe , roughly from 7000 BC (the approximate time of the first farming societies in Greece ) to c. 2000 BC (the beginning of the Bronze Age in Scandinavia ). Its peak period is estimated as 5000–3500 BC, during which its population centers exceeded the first Mesopotamian cities. A high level of craft skill and trade

352-476: A term for pre-modern (i.e. pre-1800) European history coined by Austrian historian Otto Brunner "Old Europe" (politics) , used by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe , a book See also [ edit ] Ancient Europe (disambiguation) History of Europe New Europe (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

396-602: A transitional period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic was indeed a useful concept. However, the terms "Mesolithic" and "Epipalaeolithic" remain in competition, with varying conventions of usage. In the archaeology of Northern Europe, for example for archaeological sites in Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Ukraine, and Russia, the term "Mesolithic" is almost always used. In the archaeology of other areas,

440-734: Is a Natufian carving in calcite . A total of 33 antler frontlets have been discovered at Star Carr. These are red deer skulls modified to be worn by humans. Modified frontlets have also been discovered at Bedburg-Königshoven, Hohen Viecheln, Plau, and Berlin-Biesdorf. Weaving techniques were deployed to create shoes and baskets, the latter being of fine construction and decorated with dyes. Examples have been found in Cueva de los Murciélagos in Southern Spain that in 2023 were dated to 9,500 years ago. In North-Eastern Europe , Siberia , and certain southern European and North African sites,

484-574: Is a rare Mesolithic animal carving in soapstone from Finland . The rock art in the Urals appears to show similar changes after the Paleolithic, and the wooden Shigir Idol is a rare survival of what may well have been a very common material for sculpture. It is a plank of larch carved with geometric motifs, but topped with a human head. Now in fragments, it would apparently have been over 5 metres tall when made. The Ain Sakhri figurine from Palestine

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528-465: Is associated with a decline in the group hunting of large animals in favour of a broader hunter-gatherer way of life, and the development of more sophisticated and typically smaller lithic tools and weapons than the heavy-chipped equivalents typical of the Paleolithic. Depending on the region, some use of pottery and textiles may be found in sites allocated to the Mesolithic, but generally indications of agriculture are taken as marking transition into

572-440: Is evident from tons of recovered copper artifacts and a small amount of gold, as well as pottery and carved items. These include the period's signature female figurines which have raised interest in the role of the society's women, as well as suspected proto-writing . Regardless of specific chronology, many European Neolithic groups share basic characteristics, such as living in small-scale communities, being more egalitarian than

616-678: Is more common in Near Eastern archaeology. The Balkan Mesolithic begins around 15,000 years ago. In Western Europe, the Early Mesolithic, or Azilian , begins about 14,000 years ago, in the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and Southern France . In other parts of Europe, the Mesolithic begins by 11,500 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene ), and it ends with the introduction of farming, depending on

660-633: Is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic . The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously, especially for outside northern Europe, and for the corresponding period in the Levant and Caucasus . The Mesolithic has different time spans in different parts of Eurasia . It refers to the final period of hunter-gatherer cultures in Europe and

704-605: The Elymians , may also have been pre-Indo-European. How many Pre-Indo-European languages existed is not known. Nor is it known whether the ancient names of peoples descended from the pre-ancient population actually referred to speakers of distinct languages. Gimbutas (1989), observing a unity of symbols marked especially on pots, but also on other objects, concluded that there may have been a single language spoken in Old Europe. She thought that decipherment would have to wait for

748-634: The Pontic–Caspian steppe (the " Kurgan culture") who brought with them violence, patriarchy , and Indo-European languages . More recent proponents of the Kurgan hypothesis agree that the cultures of Old Europe spoke pre-Indo-European languages but include a less dramatic transition, with a prolonged migration of Proto-Indo-European speakers after Old Europe's collapse due to other factors. Colin Renfrew 's competing Anatolian hypothesis suggests that

792-406: The archaeology of China , and can be mostly regarded as happily naturalized, Mesolithic was introduced later, mostly after 1945, and does not appear to be a necessary or useful term in the context of China. Chinese sites that have been regarded as Mesolithic are better considered as "Early Neolithic". In the archaeology of India , the Mesolithic, dated roughly between 12,000 and 8,000 BP, remains

836-634: The city-states and chiefdoms of the Bronze Age , subsisting on domestic plants and animals supplemented with the collection of wild plant foods and hunting, and producing hand-made pottery, without the aid of the potter's wheel . There are also many differences, with some Neolithic communities in southeastern Europe living in heavily fortified settlements of 3,000–4,000 people (e.g., Sesklo in Greece) whereas Neolithic groups in Britain were usually small (possibly 50–100 people). Marija Gimbutas studied

880-408: The " Neolithic package" (including farming, herding, polished stone axes, timber longhouses and pottery) spread into Europe, the Mesolithic way of life was marginalized and eventually disappeared. Mesolithic adaptations such as sedentism, population size and use of plant foods are cited as evidence of the transition to agriculture. Other Mesolithic communities rejected the Neolithic package likely as

924-599: The "Younger Stone Age". Compared to the preceding Upper Paleolithic and the following Neolithic, there is rather less surviving art from the Mesolithic. The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin , which probably spreads across from the Upper Paleolithic, is a widespread phenomenon, much less well known than the cave-paintings of the Upper Paleolithic, with which it makes an interesting contrast. The sites are now mostly cliff faces in

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968-788: The Eastern Baltic. Spreading westward along the coastline it is found in the Ertebølle culture of Denmark and Ellerbek of Northern Germany, and the related Swifterbant culture of the Low Countries . A 2012 publication in the Science journal, announced that the earliest pottery yet known anywhere in the world was found in Xianrendong cave in China, dating by radiocarbon to between 20,000 and 19,000 years before present, at

1012-575: The Indo-European languages were spread across Europe by the first farmers from Anatolia . In the hypothesis' original formulation, the languages of Old Europe belonged to the Indo-European family but played no special role in its transmission. According to Renfrew's most recent revision of the theory, however, Old Europe was a "secondary urheimat " (linguistic homeland) where the Greek , Armenian , and Balto-Slavic language families diverged around 5000 BC. Three genetic studies in 2015 gave partial support to

1056-570: The Isle of Man and the Tyrrhenian Islands, a macrolithic technology was used in the Mesolithic. In the Neolithic, the microlithic technology was replaced by a macrolithic technology, with an increased use of polished stone tools such as stone axes. There is some evidence for the beginning of construction at sites with a ritual or astronomical significance, including Stonehenge , with a short row of large post holes aligned east–west, and

1100-696: The Middle East, between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic Revolution . In Europe it spans roughly 15,000 to 5,000  BP ; in the Middle East (the Epipalaeolithic Near East ) roughly 20,000 to 10,000  BP . The term is less used of areas farther east, and not at all beyond Eurasia and North Africa . The type of culture associated with the Mesolithic varies between areas, but it

1144-429: The Neolithic . The more permanent settlements tend to be close to the sea or inland waters offering a good supply of food. Mesolithic societies are not seen as very complex, and burials are fairly simple; in contrast, grandiose burial mounds are a mark of the Neolithic. The terms "Paleolithic" and "Neolithic" were introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times in 1865. The additional "Mesolithic" category

1188-741: The Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic ceramic developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin. The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around Lake Baikal in Siberia. It appears in the Yelshanka culture on the Volga in Russia 9,000 years ago, and from there spread via the Dnieper-Donets culture to the Narva culture of

1232-506: The Neolithic period in order to understand cultural developments in settled village culture in the southern Balkans, which she characterized as peaceful, matristic , and possessing a goddess-centered religion. In contrast, she characterizes the later Indo-European influences as warlike, nomadic, and patrilineal . Using evidence from pottery and sculpture, and combining the tools of archaeology , comparative mythology , linguistics , and, most controversially, folkloristics , Gimbutas invented

1276-855: The Neolithic, some authors prefer the term "Epipaleolithic" for hunter-gatherer cultures who are not succeeded by agricultural traditions, reserving "Mesolithic" for cultures who are clearly succeeded by the Neolithic Revolution, such as the Natufian culture . Other authors use "Mesolithic" as a generic term for hunter-gatherer cultures after the Last Glacial Maximum, whether they are transitional towards agriculture or not. In addition, terminology appears to differ between archaeological sub-disciplines, with "Mesolithic" being widely used in European archaeology, while "Epipalaeolithic"

1320-1066: The Steppe theory regarding the Indo-European Urheimat . According to those studies, haplogroups R1b and R1a , now the most common in Europe (R1a is also common in South Asia) would have expanded from the steppes north of the Pontic and Caspian seas, along with at least some of the Indo-European languages; they also detected an autosomal component present in modern Europeans which was not present in Neolithic Europeans, which would have been introduced with paternal lineages R1b and R1a, as well as Indo-European languages. [REDACTED] Media related to Old Europe (archaeology) at Wikimedia Commons Mesolithic Europe The Mesolithic ( Greek : μέσος, mesos 'middle' + λίθος, lithos 'stone') or Middle Stone Age

1364-538: The adoption of a farming lifestyle. The integration of these hunter-gatherer in farming communities was made possible by their socially open character towards new members. In north-Eastern Europe, the hunting and fishing lifestyle continued into the Medieval period in regions less suited to agriculture, and in Scandinavia no Mesolithic period may be accepted, with the locally preferred "Older Stone Age" moving into

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1408-418: The ancient world dated before 3500 bc. The demand for copper, gold, Aegean shells, and other valuables created networks of negotiation that reached hundreds of kilometers. Pottery, figurines, and even houses were decorated with striking designs. Female "goddess" figurines, found in almost every settlement, have triggered intense debates about the ritual and political power of women. Signs inscribed on clay suggest

1452-446: The discovery of bilingual texts. The idea of a Pre-Indo-European language in the region precedes Gimbutas. It went by other names, such as " Pelasgian ", "Mediterranean", or "Aegean". Apart from marks on artifacts, the main evidence concerning Pre-Indo-European language is in names: toponyms , ethnonyms , etc., and in roots in other languages believed to be derived from one or more prior languages, possibly unrelated. Reconstruction from

1496-696: The end of the Last Glacial Period . The carbon 14 datation was established by carefully dating surrounding sediments. Many of the pottery fragments had scorch marks, suggesting that the pottery was used for cooking. These early pottery containers were made well before the invention of agriculture (dated to 10,000 to 8,000 BC), by mobile foragers who hunted and gathered their food during the Late Glacial Maximum. Epipalaeolithic Near East Caucasus Zagros While Paleolithic and Neolithic have been found useful terms and concepts in

1540-575: The evidence is an accepted, though somewhat speculative, field of study. Suggestions of possible Old European languages include Urbian by Sorin Paliga , and the Vasconic substratum hypothesis of Theo Vennemann (also see Sigmund Feist 's Germanic substrate hypothesis ). According to Gimbutas' version of the Kurgan hypothesis , Old Europe was invaded and destroyed by horse-riding pastoral nomads from

1584-475: The gap with his naming of the Azilian Culture. Knut Stjerna offered an alternative in the "Epipaleolithic", suggesting a final phase of the Paleolithic rather than an intermediate age in its own right inserted between the Paleolithic and Neolithic. By the time of Vere Gordon Childe 's work, The Dawn of Europe (1947), which affirms the Mesolithic, sufficient data had been collected to determine that

1628-536: The material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. Such conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until some 5,500 BP in northern Europe. The type of stone toolkit remains one of the most diagnostic features: the Mesolithic used a microlithic technology – composite devices manufactured with Mode V chipped stone tools ( microliths ), while the Paleolithic had utilized Modes I–IV. In some areas, however, such as Ireland, parts of Portugal,

1672-634: The open air, and the subjects are now mostly human rather than animal, with large groups of small figures; there are 45 figures at Roca dels Moros . Clothing is shown, and scenes of dancing, fighting, hunting and food-gathering. The figures are much smaller than the animals of Paleolithic art, and depicted much more schematically, though often in energetic poses. A few small engraved pendants with suspension holes and simple engraved designs are known, some from northern Europe in amber , and one from Star Carr in Britain in shale . The Elk's Head of Huittinen

1716-426: The region between c.  8,500 and 5,500 years ago. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last glacial period ended have a much more apparent Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In northern Europe, for example, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands created by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviors that are preserved in

1760-559: The term "Epipaleolithic" may be preferred by most authors, or there may be divergences between authors over which term to use or what meaning to assign to each. In the New World, neither term is used (except provisionally in the Arctic). "Epipaleolithic" is sometimes also used alongside "Mesolithic" for the final end of the Upper Paleolithic immediately followed by the Mesolithic. As "Mesolithic" suggests an intermediate period, followed by

1804-493: The title Old Europe . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Old_Europe&oldid=1232923254 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Old Europe (archaeology) The term ' Danubian culture '

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1848-409: Was added as an intermediate category by Hodder Westropp in 1866. Westropp's suggestion was immediately controversial. A British school led by John Evans denied any need for an intermediate: the ages blended together like the colors of a rainbow, he said. A European school led by Gabriel de Mortillet asserted that there was a gap between the earlier and later. Edouard Piette claimed to have filled

1892-552: Was developing many of the political, technological, and ideological signs of "civilization". Some Old European villages grew to citylike sizes, larger than the earliest cities of Mesopotamia ... Old European metalsmiths were, in their day, among the most advanced metal artisans in the world, and certainly the most active. The metal artifacts recovered by archaeologists from Old Europe total about 4,700 kilograms (more than five tons) of copper, and over 6 kilograms (13.2 pounds) of gold, more metal by far than has been found in any other part of

1936-631: Was earlier coined by the archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe to describe early farming cultures (e.g. the Linear Pottery culture ) which spread westwards and northwards from the Danube Valley into Central and Eastern Europe . In 4500 bc, before the first cities were built in Mesopotamia and Egypt, Old Europe was among the most sophisticated and technologically advanced places in the world ... At its peak, about 5000–3500 bc, Old Europe

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