Reconstruction of a village showing the various activities that punctuated the lives of men and women in the Neolithic period • AKG-IMAGES / ULLSTEIN BILD At the dawn of the VI e millennium BC. 8,000 years ago, Europe turned a definitive page in its history, that of prehistory and the time of hunter-gatherers. On a continental scale, it then entered a new era marked by an unprecedented way of life, the echoes of which were felt until the dawn of the 21st century. century. Europe becomes agricultural and sees the birth of the first peasants, but also with them different categories of individuals, techniques, types of spaces or values. This is the beginning of protohistory and its first period, the Neolithic. To designate this time that is beginning, we sometimes also speak of the “anthropocene”, in which we are still and within which man (anthropos in Greek) seeks to assert its domination over its environment and more broadly over the world. The breakup did not happen overnight. For Europe alone, it spans, slow and arrhythmic, over nearly two millennia. Within a global phenomenon, the latter occupies a somewhat special place, linked to historiographical reasons and the methods of research, in no way because the Neolithic would play a more important role there than elsewhere. Birth of a concept The term "Neolithic" appeared in 1865 under the pen of a British researcher, John Lubbock, in a still emerging archaeology. He then proposes to refine the system of chronological divisions then accepted:Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. Archaeological work encourages European scholars to introduce a new period by distinguishing between the age of an ancient stone, the "Paleolithic", and that of a new stone, the "Neolithic". The Frenchman Émile Cartailhac inaugurated in 1889 a term intended for immense success by qualifying this period as a “revolution”, as the changes are so important. In 1925, the Australian Vere Gordon Childe promoted and popularized the word in an archaeological bestseller on the birth of a new world with the Neolithic, The Dawn of European Civilization . It is then only a question of Europe and its origins on this continent which remains, after more than 150 years of research, the most studied and undoubtedly the best known. The European Neolithic is a secondary focus that finds its origins in the Near East, where the foundations were laid for a kind of Neolithic "kit" long erected as a single model:first a sedentarization of hunter-gatherer populations, then a development of agriculture (plant and animal domestication), and finally the invention of pottery. In the Middle East, the foundations were laid for a sort of Neolithic “kit” that was long established as a unique model:settlement of hunter-gatherer populations, development of agriculture and finally invention of pottery.> In the Near East, the Natufians began this process during the XI th millennium BC. J.-C. by building circular houses gathered in villages. From - 9500, in a period known as "Pre-Pottery-Neolithic" , the domestication of plants is affirmed (Pre-Pottery-Neolithic A, or PPNA), and soon that of animals (Pre-Pottery-Neolithic B, or PPNB). At the beginning of the VII e millennium, while climate changes accompany the abandonment of very large sites and a reconfiguration of habitats, a new phase opens which leads to the “Ceramic Neolithic”, during which pottery is invented. The Neolithization of the Near East like that of the Levant was then completed. Wheat, beef, mutton, goat, pork… The phenomenon is taking place in Europe according to a dynamic whose outlines are now well known. The island of Cyprus was affected very early, probably from the PPNA, with a domesticated plant and animal set destined to become a classic:wheat, beef, sheep, goat, pig, to which are added dogs and cats. . From Turkey, in the VII th millennium BC. J.-C., a migratory current touches Greece and the Balkans. If the modalities of European neolithization have long been debated, the current trend highlights the export of the complete “kit”:sedentary populations carrying with them domesticated animals and plants, ceramics, tools and agricultural techniques. The Neolithization of the Balkans is rapid, with regional developments and early inventions, such as metallurgy in the V e millennium BC. AD, as evidenced by the necropolis of Varna, in present-day Bulgaria. It also signs a pause in colonization. The migratory stream then splits into two main waves. The first, northern and continental, reached the western tip of Eurasia at the end of the VI th millennium BC. It bears the name “Rubané”, in reference to the ribbon decoration of its ceramics. It is followed by a last neolithization in the V e millennium BC. AD in northern and northwestern Europe (British Isles, Scandinavia). It is well known, in particular thanks to the fairly large villages with standardized houses, and the large necropolises listed throughout the journey of these colonizers. The first wave of migration reached the western tip of Eurasia at the end of the VI e millennium BC. It bears the name "Rubané", in reference to the ribbon decoration of its ceramics. The other wave is southern and largely dependent on maritime movements within a Mediterranean whose level is then approximately 15 m lower, and which reaches the Iberian Peninsula and the Strait of Gibraltar in the middle of the 6th century. sup> millennium BC. This is the current of “printed” and cardial ceramics – from the name of the shell, the Cardium edule , which is used for decorative impressions in the fresh paste. France has a position of Finistère where the two currents unfold and then meet during the V th millennium BC. J.-C., in particular during the so-called “Chasséen” period (- 4800 to - 3500 approximately), from which great regional diversities emerge until the III th millennium BC. J.-C., when the time of the "bell beaker" marks a new form of homogeneity in a large part of Europe. The lands on which the new arrivals arrive were not deserted. The meeting was probably not always simple and peaceful. The imported Neolithic “model” was not necessarily received as evidence or a sign of progress. Thus, on the shores of the Baltic, hunter-gatherers of the Ertebølle culture adopted some herding practices, but belatedly agriculture. In a tight context, if we have long thought of a peaceful deployment of newcomers, recent discoveries of massacres underline that violence was sometimes present. Cereal porridge with hazelnuts Four domestic mammals accompanied the life of these peasants, in varying proportions depending on the region, with changes during the period:the sheep and the goat, entirely imported from the Near East where there are wild forms (Ovis orientalis and Capra aegagrus , or bezoar); the ox and the pig which came with the first settlers, but of which there are local wild forms, the aurochs and the wild boar, the latter having even survived in its undomesticated form. This livestock is used for meat, milk, traction in the work of the fields or the first carts, for their skins and their worked bones. Wild animals remain present, sometimes significantly in regions such as the Alps and forest areas. The vegetable diet includes cereals in a privileged way:einkorn and emmer (“clad” wheat, more rustic), naked wheat, barley. Legumes are also part of the menu along with peas, lentils, grass peas or poppy seeds. Flax is cultivated from the current of the V e millennium BC. AD for weaving. Cereals are worked in porridge or cooked pancakes, and accompany other vegetables and wild fruits such as sloes, apples, pears, elderberries or hazelnuts. Found on the site of La Marmotta, north of Rome, the first known European bread dates from - 6000. Found on the Marmotta site, north of Rome, the first known European bread dates from - 6000. Europe has not called into question the world put in place by Neolithization, based on an agricultural economy leading to population growth, integrating an intensification of exchanges, increased artisanal specialization with the work of increasingly diversified materials. , increasingly important human concentrations, an ever more marked social hierarchy. In Europe, it was not until the industrial revolution that there was a break in the economic model, the beginning of the 20 th century for real changes in society, and only the XXI th century for a real challenge to the male domination developed by the first peasants some 8,000 years ago. Find out more The Protohistory of France, led by Jean Guilaine and Dominique Garcia, Hermann, 2018.Prehistories of Europe. From Neanderthal to Vercingetorix, by Anne Lehoërff, Belin (Ancient Worlds), 2016.The Neolithic, by Anne Lehoërff, What do I know?, 2020. Our faithful companions The Neolithic introduced an unprecedented relationship between man and animal. For Europe, beyond the agricultural livestock, other animals occupy a special place, starting with the dog. Its domestication dates back to the Palaeolithic, around - 16000, or even from - 36000, according to two existing theses. He quickly takes the place of companion and protector with man. The cat makes its entry with the Neolithic and the cultivation of cereals, which must be protected from predators. One of the oldest skeletons, over 9,500 years old, has been unearthed in Cyprus. Finally, the horse enjoys a slightly different status in this bestiary. It has been present in the human environment since the Palaeolithic, as illustrated by the walls of the Chauvet cave, but the first evidence of its domestication can be found in Kazakhstan, around - 3500, in the Botai culture, and it is not truly domesticated in Western Europe than in the II th millennium BC. AD, Bronze Age. Sometimes consumed, it is also a symbol of power that goes beyond its various functional uses. A new village landscape The Neolithic peasant house is one of the key components of the new landscapes. Archaeological documentation on this subject is very uneven, as it remains dependent on excavations, but also on the types of houses discovered. The vast majority of these dwellings are made of perishable building materials, which can only be preserved in exceptional cases, such as on the shores of alpine lakes. For the beginning of the period, the banded house is well known, 10 to 50 m long depending on the size of the family occupying it. It has a standard plan and is built on planted posts, of which only traces remain on the ground. The internal space is organized according to the different types of activities. The largest villages are permanently occupied for decades and bring together several hundred buildings such as the emblematic one of Bylany in Bohemia. In the Mediterranean areas, the first houses are less well known. During the Neolithic, the houses diversified while remaining mainly wooden architectures, even if in the south or in the extreme north of Europe, for example on the Orkney archipelago, stone is essential. Rituals and beliefs By changing his way of life, man has also changed his relationship to time, spaces and his spirituality. These changes are embodied in consecrated places:the necropolises that appear in the Neolithic and architectural ensembles linked to religious events. In this context, the megalithic monuments of Europe, erected from the V th millennium BC. J.-C., have sparked much debate and have some surprises in store, such as the cairn of Goassec'h, discovered in Brittany, near Carhaix, in 2019. Earlier on the Atlantic coast, they are very numerous and of different types. in the South. Sign of a human desire to mark the territories, they are both funerary spaces (dolmens, covered alleys) and places of worship (alignments, cromlechs, henges ). Today, archaeological excavations also bring to light wooden architectures, which have become invisible in the landscape, such as the two large buildings of 280 and 900 square meters in Pont-sur-Seine, datable to the final Neolithic period (-3400 to -2200 ), which must have been used for political, social or religious gatherings, the three being able to be associated. The world of the first peasants is also a world of believers.
