MUSIC: FLUTES of bone and ivory from 38,000 BCE are left in Hohie Fels cave in south Germany. Flute fragments at nearby GeiBenklosterle are from 33,000. A Neanderthal Flute from before 50,000 in Divje Babe cave in Slovenia is made of a cave bear bone. See Mesopotamia 2000 | Copilot |
c. 10,000 | MAGDALENIAN Culture in west Europe (mostly France) from 15,000 ends. Showed progress in arts and culture, use of bone and ivory as tools. Bone instruments include spear-points, harpoon-heads, borers, hooks and needles. Humans are short, dolichocephalic tent dwellers, with a low retreating forehead and prominent brow ridges. Fauna include tigers and other tropical species along with reindeer, arctic foxes, arctic hares, and other polar creatures. Evolves into two microlith cultures: Azilian and Sauveterrian. | 10,000 wikMgd, wikPE |
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c. 10,000 | With the retreat of the ice, vegetation patterns change. Reindeer follow mosses and ferns at the ice edge and people dependent on them follow. Southeast Europe is affected little. | 10,000 mxfld 9500 wikPB |
c. 10,000 | BALTIC LAKE V (not yet the Baltic Sea) is landlocked fresh water from glacier melt, and is gradually beciming higher than sea level. | 10,600-8300 wikBIL |
c.10,000 | South SCANDINAVIA first inhabited by hunting communities. | 12-8000 mxfld |
c. 10,000 | Mesolithic KOMSA Culture begins in south Norway until 8300. Hunter-gatherers and boat building fishermen who hunt mainly seals. | 10,000 u2HWEY, wikKms |
c. 10,000 | MESOLITHIC AGE begins in north Europe until 3500, and spreads to the rest of Europe until 3000. Food gatherers plus fishing and fowling. | 12,000 wikMsl, 10,000 MCAW 8000 B76 VI-818, wikPB |
It's not like one age stops and the next one starts. All ages, periods, and phases overlap, because they start and end at different times in different locations.
c.10,000 | Migrations from Spain to north, east, and south begin until 8000. | 10,000 utbBHS |
c.9700 | YOUNGER DRYAS, a short glacial period from 10,9000, ends. For several hundred years the forests of Britain, West Germany and Netherlands have tundras, howling winds and drifting snow. | 9700 u2Scn, waYD, wikYD 9700=9610 pnas, 8000 mxfld |
c.9700 | Upper Paleolithic BROMME Culture in Denmark and the Baltic coast east of it from 11,600 ends. Artifacts include sturdy lithic flakes used for all tools, primarily awls, scrapers, stone axes and tanged points. Later replaced by Kongemose. | 9700 u2Scn, wikBrm |
c.9700 | AHRENSBURG Culture in north Europe from 10,900 ends. Nomadic hunters, mostly eat reindeer. Contains earliest definite finds of bow and arrow. | 9700 wikArn, 9600 u2Scn |
c.9200 | BOREAL Period begins until 8200. A sudden rise in temperature abruptly changes the ecosystem. Forest replace open lands, and forest-dwelling animals spread from southern refugia and replace ice-age tundra mammals. Old fauna persist in central Asia, but are soon hunted out, as they are not replenished by the larger areas formerly nourishing the ecosystem. The sea rises rapidly and many coastal areas flood, and new islands form. Humans adapt to the encroaching forest or move east with the large mammals. | 9200 wikBIL, 9000 wikBrl |
c.9000 | ![]() |
9000 wikBrl, wikMgm, 7800 u2HWEY |
c.9000 | ![]() |
9000 wikTrd, 6000 u2HWEY |
c.9000 | ![]() |
9200 wikBIL 9500-8700 u2Scn |
c.9000 | MESOLITHIC AGE in Greece begins until 6800. | 13,000 wikMs 9000 Copilot 8300 agt |
by 8800 | ![]() |
8800 wikBIL |
c.8540 | ![]() |
photo Sakari Pälsi 8540 wikANet 8300 wikHFn 8000 mxfld |
c.8500 | ![]() |
8500 wikBIL 95-8700 u2Scn |
c.8500 | ![]() |
8500 wikKnd 8000 u2HWEY animation |
c.8500 | ![]() |
10,000 wikPE, 8500 u2HWEY animation 7000 ox 6500 wikSvt |
c. 8350 | ![]() |
95-7200 wikLV 7500 u2HWEY |
c.8300 | Λ BALTIC LAKE V water level drops 25m to sea level of that time, and is connected to the ocean, and technically no longer a lake. It is now called the YOLDIA SEA until 7500. | 95-8700 u2Scn, 8300 wikBIL |
c.8300 | ![]() |
8300 u2HWEY, wikFH |
c.8200 | ![]() |
8200 u2HWEY, wikSwd |
c.8200 | BOREAL Period from 9200 ends. . | 8200 wikBIL |
c.8000 | Migrations from Spain to north, east, and south from 10,000 end. Migrations now begin from Europe and Eurasia into Finland and Scandinavia. | 8000 utbBHS |
c.8000 | Mesolithic AZILIAN Culture, a local subset of Maglemosian culture in north Spain and south France from 10,500, ends. Artifacts include projectile points (microliths with rounded retouched backs), crude flat bone harpoons, and pebbles with abstract decoration. Azilian evolves into ASTURIAN Culture in Spain, moving slightly west. Its distinctive tool is a pick-axe for picking limpets off rocks. | 8000 wikAz, 7500 wikAst |
c.8000 | Oldest known BOG BODY is the skeleton of KOELBJERG MAN, preserved in peat in Denmark. He is of the Maglemosian culture, 155-160cm tall and 20-25 years old. Bones show no signs of disease or malnutrition; a full set of teeth show no decay. He ate plants and land-based animals, with little or no seafood. | 8000 wikBoBo, wikKM |
c. 8000 | ![]() |
map: Sandom, Faurby, Sandel, Svenning 8000 wikQEE, wikTop |
c.8000 | Glaciers have retreated enough to uncover all Denmark and south Sweden. People live there, eating oysters, fish and seals. Denmark and all islands guarding the approaches to the Baltic are settled by Lapps and Finns, probably European though both speak Finno-Ugric, originating in the Urals to the east. Denmark is one continuous stretch of land, not multiple islands and peninsulas as today. | 8000 mxfld |
c.8000 | Hunter groups move west from Russia into Lappland (between Sweden & Finland). | 8000 PW 13 |
c.7800 | Neolithic La Almagra Pottery appears without known origins in Andalusia Spain. | 7800 wikPE |
c.7600 | ![]() |
photo: Gary Todd 7600 wikCC, wikLHEF, 7500 wikCC |
c.7510 | ![]() Pre-Pottery Neolithic SESKLO Culture begins in Thessaly and parts of Macedonia until 4400. It is the origin of the main branches of Neolithic expansion in Europe. Villages are built on hillsides near fertile valleys, and grow wheat and barley, keep herds of mainly sheep and goats, but also have cattle, pigs, and dogs. Early houses are small, with 1 or 2 rooms, built of wood or mudbrick. Has no pottery until 5300. |
center: Kritheus
right: Kritheus 7510 wikSsk 6000 wikPE |
c.7500 | Λ YOLDIA SEA V, connected to the ocean from 8300, is now sealed off and called the ANCYLUS LAKE until 6000. Data in this period is contradictory. |
8700 u2GT 7500 wikBIL |
c.7300 | ![]() |
7300 u2HWEY, wikFH |
c.7250 | ![]() |
center: Zde
right: Zde 7250 agt, wikFC |
by 7200 | SHEEP, domesticated in north Mesopotamia from 9000, Anatolia from 8630, are domesticated in Greece. Asia 6000. | 9000 MCAW 7200 TTPC, bk, mxfld |
c.7000 | First large-scale fish fermentation in south Sweden. | 7000 wikTop |
c.7000 | ![]() |
8200 u2HWEY, 7000 dftNmn, 5100 wikNmn |
c.7000 | ![]() |
timelapse: Wikirictor 6500 PW 13 |
c.7000 | 1st AGRICULTURE in Greece and Aegean. | 7000 wikOE 6500 TAWH 16 |
c.7000 | Barley, millet, legumes including lentils grown in Thessaly. | 7000 TTPC |
c.7000 | ![]() Left: a deer in a forest right: a head. There are many head sculptures, nearly all with circular eyes and downturned mouth. |
left: Mickey Mystique right: Mazbln 7000 wikPE |
c.7000 | ![]() |
map: Eva Fernández 7000 mxfld |
c.6900 | ![]() |
7-6800 wikKrn |
c.6800 | MESOLITHIC AGE in Greece from 9000, ends. NEOLITHIC AGE begins until 3000. EARLY NEOLITHIC-I begins until 5100. |
7000 Copilot, agt 6800 u2HWEY 6100 ISBE 2-559 5000 wikMs |
c.6500 | ![]() |
7500 MCAW 6500 PW 13, wikPB 65-6200 wikDgr, wikTPB 5900 mxfld |
c.6500 | Domesticated sheep and cereals spread from Anatolia to Balkans. | 6500 PW 13 |
c.6500 | Domesticated GOATS, in Anatolia from 8500 spread to Balkans. | 6500 PW 13 |
c.6500 | ![]() |
Rauno Träskelin 7-6000 wikEHH |
c.6500 | ![]() |
map: w:Sugaar 7-6000 wikKrn 6100 u2HWEY animation |
by 6500 | CORINTH inhabited, but not founded as a city until ?. | by 6500 wikACr pre-3000 wikCr 5000 wohiCr 1350 ISBE 1-772 |
c.6500 | Λ ANCYLUS LAKE V reaches sea level. | 6500 wikMS |
by 6500 | Domesticated PIGS, in Anatolia from 7000, brought to Europe. Over the next 3,000 years they interbreed with wild boar until their genome shows less than 5% Near Eastern ancestry. See China 7600. |
by 6500 wikPg |
c.6400 | POTTERY first evidenced in Europe at Epirus and Corcyra. See Africa 10,000, China 9000, Mesopotamia 7000, Levant 6900, Persia 6500, Mediterranean 6000 | 6400-6200 Copilot |
c.6400 | ![]() |
map: w:Sugaar 6400 u2HWEY, wikCrd |
c.6400 | Domestic CATTLE, in Anatolia from 8500, taken to Europe. | 6400 ttco |
c.6300 | CATTLE domesticated at Argissa Thessaly. | 6300 wikSsk |
c.6300 | ![]() |
timelapse: Wikirictor |
c.6200 | ![]() |
map: Lamiot 6200 wikSS 6150 hifiBHK |
c.6200 | Greece and Macedonia are overcrowded. Migration northward begins until 6000. Farmers take domestic cattle and sheep towards the lower Danube and Bug-Dniester line where they form an extended "Old Europe". | 6200 hifiBHK |
c.6200 | ![]() |
map: Panonian 6200 wikStr 5600 u2HWEY |
c.6100 | EARLY NEOLITHIC AGE in Greece and Aegean begins until 3000. NEOLITHIC-1 begins until 5100. | 6100 ISBE 2-559 |
c.6000 | Λ ANCYLUS LAKE V from 7500 is flooded with salt water thru Oresund, and is now called the MASTOGLOIA SEA until 5500 (or Littorina Sea depending on sourse). | 7800 u2GT 6000 wikBIL, wikMS, wikYS |
c.6000 | ![]() |
6400 wikBrl 6000 u2HWEY, wikMgm |
c.6000 | ![]() |
photo: Ingozwank 6000 wikLHEF, wikLsc |
c.6000 | ![]() |
6000 u2HWEY, wikKgm |
c.6000 | EARLY NEOLITHIC AGE in Europe begins until 5500, overlapping the Mesolithic. Duration of the Neolithic varies from place to place. Food-producing cultures in south of the future Linear Pottery culture: the Koros of south Hungary and the Dniester culture in Ukraine. | 7000 wikNlE 6000 wikLPC |
c.6000 | Switzerland: DOGS and OXEN domesticated, FLAX gathered or cultivated to make cord, rope, snares, fishnet. Bread is baked. Apples are dried for preservation. Legumes including peas are grown. | 6000 TTPC |
c.6000 | Almendres Cromlech, Evora - Possibly the first standing stones in Portugal. | 6000 wikMgl |
c.6000 | ![]() |
6000 wikLV 5600 u2HWEY |
c.6000 | FARMING begins in Danube basin until 5000. | 6000 mxfld |
c.6000 | Greek economy, including agricultural settlements, sheep, wheat and legumes, painted and impressed-ware cultures spreads north into the Balkans until 5000. | 6000 mxfld |
c.6000 | Maritsa river Valley in central Thrace has plastered mud-houses over wood framework, plus ovens to bake bread, graphite decorated pottery. Each generation demolishes their old house and builds a new one on the site, so that some of the resulting mounds rise as high as 50 feet. | 6000 mxfld |
c.6000 | ![]() |
6600 u2HWEY animation 6000 MCAW |
c.6000 | Swiss lake dwellers with domestic dogs and oxen collect or grow FLAX for fish lines, nets and ropes. | 6000 mxfld |
c.6000 | Village FARMING replaces food gathering in Greece. | 6000 TTPC, bk |
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timelapse: Wikirictor |
c.5700 | ![]() |
5700 agt no date: wikMgr |
c. 5700 | ![]() |
map: Joe Roe photo: Clevelandart 5700 wikTop, wikVnc 4500 u2HWEY |
c.5500 | Λ MASTOGLOIA SEA from 6000 is now called the LITTORINA SEA until 2000. | 5500 wikBIL, wikLS 5000 wikYS |
c.5500 | EARLY NEOLITHIC AGE, in Europe from 6000, ends. MIDDLE NEOLITHIC begins until 5000, (all despite the Mesolithic dragging out in some parts until 3000). Early and Middle Linear Pottery culture happens now. |
5500 wikLPC |
c.5500 | CHALCOLITHIC AGE begins in some parts of Europe until ???, despite the overlapping both Mesolithic and Neolithic. EARLY CHALCOLITHIC begins until 4000, but not in Balkans until 5000. | 5500 wikPE |
c.5500 | ![]() |
map: w:Sugaar 5500 wikSpt |
c.5500 | ![]() |
photo: CristianChirita 5500 wikCTC 4500 u2HWEY |
c.5500 | CHEESE made in Kuyavia, Poland. | 5500 wikNlE |
c.5500 | Natural BRONZE V and Λ COPPER V objects made from ores rich in silicon, arsenic, and (rarely) tin, come into general use in the Balkans. | 5500 wikCpr |
c.5500 | CARDIUM POTTERY Culture in South Europe from 6400 ends. | 5500 wikCrd |
c. 5500 | ![]() |
map: w:Sugaar photo: Warszawa 6000 u2HWEY 5500 wikLPC |
c.5500 | ![]() |
5500 wikPlc, wikTop |
![]() |
map: Eva Fernández 5500 TAWH 16 |
c.5400 | ![]() |
5400 wikTz |
![]() |
timelapse: Wikirictor |
c.5300 | ![]() |
5300 wikNrv |
c.5300 | ![]() |
center: Gary Todd right: Zde 5300 wikSsk |
c.5300 | ![]() |
5300 u2HWEY, wikErt 5200 wikKgm |
c.5250 | ![]() |
map: w:Sugaar 5250 wikHmn, wikPSE |
![]() |
map: Eva Fernández 5200 PW 13 5000 mxfld 4500 TAWH 16 |
c.5200 | LINEAR POTTERY (German: Bandkeramic) with linear incised decoration in Netherlands. | 5200 PW 13 |
c.5200 | MEAD (not necessarily beer) evidenced in Germany. | 55-4900 Copilot |
c.5100 | EARLY NEOLITHIC-!, in Greece and Aegean from 6100, ends. NEOLITHIC-2 begins until 3000, despite the Mesolithic continuing in other parts. | 5100 ISBE 2-559 |
c.5000 | The DOGGER BANK an island from 6500 between Britain and Denmark, sinks because of rising water levels. | 5000 wikDgr 3700 u2LDE |
c.5000 | Atlantic Neolithic period begins. Agriculture along the west shores of Europe, pottery culture of La Almagra, Spain nearby, perhaps from Africa. | 5000 wikMgl |
c.5000 | MIDDLE NEOLITHIC AGE, in some parts of Europe from 5500, ends. Early and Middle Linear Pottery culture LATE NEOLITHIC begins until 4500, despite the Mesolithic continuing in other parts. |
5000 wikLPC |
c.5000 | ![]() |
map: u2HWEY timelapse |
c.5000 | ![]() |
5000 wikKnd |
c.5000 | PRAGUE Bohemia, Neolithic settlement begins until 2700. | 5000 B76 14-944 |
c.5000 | ![]() |
photo: Myrabella 5000 wikDlm |
c.5000 | ![]() |
model: Wolfgang Sauber 6-5000 wikNLH 5000 wikLghs |
c.5000 | POPULATION CRASH begins in Europe. Cause is disputed, but probably plague. Levels remain low until 3500. | 5000 wikNlE |
c.5000 | ![]() |
map: Joostik 5000 wikLng |
c.5000 | CHALCOLITHIC AGE, in some parts of Europe from 5500, begins in the Balkans. | 5000 wikNlE |
c.5000 | ![]() |
5000 wikPE |
c.5000 | ![]() |
5000 wikDm, wikSsk |
c.5000 | Λ FARMING, in Danube basin from 6000, spreads along Mediterranean coast to France. | 5000 TAWH 16 |
c.5000 | Maritsa Valley in central Bulgaria has smelting and copper casting, perhaps independently of similar developments in the Near East. | 5000 mxfld |
c.5000 | ![]() |
map: Panonian 4500 wikStr |
c.4900 | ![]() |
map: Joostik photo: Wolfgang Sauber 4900 wikSPC |
![]() |
diagram: Kenny Arne Lang Antonsen reconstruction: Kreuzs- chnabel |
c.4900 | GOSECK CIRCLE in Germany: 2 concentric wooden palisade rings containing entrances in places aligned with sunrise and sunset on winter solstice days and smaller entrances aligned with the summer solstice. Oldest circular enclosure associated with Central European Neolithic, believed to be the world's earliest Sun observatory. It is surrounded by a ditch 75m diameter. Remains in use until 4700. | 4900 Copilot, wikGsC |
![]() |
photo: Liberliger |
c.4800 | ![]() |
4800 wikMgl, wikTmBg |
![]() |
photo: New Papillon |
c.4800 | Neolithic megalithic BARNENEZ CAIRN built on the north coast of Brittany. | 4800 wikBrn, wikMgl |
![]() |
timelapse: Wikirictor |
c.4800 | ![]() |
4800 wikDm |
c.4800 | BEADS, made of stone, bone, and amber, found in Megalithic graves in Scandinavia and west Europe. | 3000 Copilot |
![]() |
photo: Joachim Jahnke |
c.4700 | ![]() |
4700 wikTmBg |
c.4700 | ![]() |
4700 wikPlc |
c.4700 | ![]() |
4700 wikGml |
![]() |
photo: Michael Kranewitter |
c.4600 | KERCADO TUMULUS built. A rare dolmen still covered by its original cairn, 25-30m wide, 5m high, and has a small menhir on top. Main passage 6.5m long leads to a large chamber with many artifacts, including axes, arrowheads, animal and human teeth, pearls and sherds, and 26 beads of a bluish Nephrite gem. It is used for 3,000 years. | 4600 wikCrnS |
c. 4600 | ![]() |
map: Joostik photo: Gary Todd 4600 wikRsn 4480 u2HWEY |
c.4550 | Late Neolithic HAMANGIA Culture between the Danube and Black Sea from 5250 ends. | 4550 wikHmn, wikPSE |
c.4500 | LATE NEOLITHIC AGE, in Europe from 5000, ends. But Neolithic drags on in some parts until 2500, despite the overlapping CHALCOLITHIC 5500. |
4500 wikLPC |
c.4500 | AGRICULTURE, spreads to Germany and Netherlands until 4000. | 4500 TAWH 16 |
c.4500 | ![]() |
6000 u2HWEY 4500 wikSvt |
c.4500 | ![]() |
photo: Ji-Elle 5-4000 wikSMT 5-3400 wikCrnS |
c.4500 | ![]() |
4500 wikLPC 4480 u2HWEY |
c. 4500 | Earliest LONG BARROWS built in Spain and west France. A barrow is a small tumulus, often over a chamber, and often a dolmen covered with dirt. Essential features include:
|
45000 wikLBr no date: wohLB |
c.4500 | 1st megalithic TOMBS in west Europe. | 4500 PW 13, bk |
c.4500 | Λ COPPER V smelted in east Europe. Copper objects are status symbols. | 4500 PW 13 |
c.4500 | Rich individual burials in central and east Europe, some with good metalwork. | 4500 PW 13 |
c.4500 | Cattle harnessed to Λ PLOWS V in lower Danube. | 4500 PW 13 |
c.4500 | Proto-WRITING develops in China, Southeast Europe (Vinca symbols) and West Asia (proto-literate cuneiform). | 6-3000 wikTop |
c.4500 | ![]() |
map: Joe Roe 4500 wikCpr, wikTop, wikVnc 3000 u2HWEY |
c.4500 | ![]() |
4500 wikTz |
c.4500 | ![]() |
photo: Jozefsu 4500 wikTzp |
c.4500 | ![]() |
photo: ChernorizetsHrabar 4500 wikPE, wikTop, wikVrn |
c.4500 | ![]() |
map: Caliniuc 4500 wikGKK6 |
c.4500 | WINE, in Persia from 5000, first evidenced in Europe, specifically Greece. Sicily 4000 | 6-5000 Copilot 4500 Copilot |
c.4400 | ![]() |
map: Krakkos photo: Carl Schuchardt 4400 wikMcb |
c.4400 | ![]() |
map: Joostik 4400 wikSPC |
c.4400 | ![]() |
photo: ChernorizetsHrabar 46-4200 wikPSE 4300 rtnt |
c.4400 | ![]() |
4400 wikDm, wikSsk |
![]() |
timelapse: Wikirictor |
c.4300 | ![]() |
photo: Silar 4300 wikFBC 4200 eupFBC |
c.4300 | ![]() |
drawing: Peterlewis 4300 wikNFM |
c.4300 | Neolithic BOIAN Culture emerges from the Dudesti culture and the Musical note culture. It is north of the lower Danube as far west as the Jiu River. Divided into 4 phases. Lasts until 3500. | 4300 wikBoi |
c.4300 | ![]() |
photo: Menesteo 4300 wikMgl 4000 wikDdA |
c.4300 | ![]() |
map: Joostik 4300 wikRsn 2800 u2HWEY |
c.4200 | ![]() |
4200 u2HWEY, wikCCC |
c.4200 | 1st Λ COPPER V MINES in the world are dug in east Europe. | 4200 PW 13 |
c.4200 | Mines for high quality FLINT increase production in west and north Europe. | 4200 PW 13 |
c.4200 | Herdsmen of the steppes migrate into the lower Danube valley, either causing or taking advantage of the collapse of Old Europe. | 4200 wikIEM |
c.4150 | CLIMATE CHANGE in Europe makes colder winters. | 42-4000 wikIEM |
c.4100 | ![]() |
photo: Silar 4100 ttcFBC, wikFBC |
c.4100 | ![]() |
photo: Didier Descouens 4740-3680 wikMcr 4700 wikTvc |
c.4100 | Chalcolithic Λ VARNA Culture in northeast Bulgaria from 4500 ends. | 4100 wikVrn |
c.4000 | EARLY CHALCOLITHIC AGE in some parts of Europe from 5500 ends. MIDDLE CHALCOLITHIC AGE begins until 3000, despite the Mesolithic and Neolithic continuing in other parts. | 4000 wikPE |
c.4000 | Rectangular wood houses become popular in Pit-Comb Ware Culture in Finland. | 4000 wikCCC |
c.4000 | ![]() |
photo: Jose Manuel 4000 wikMgl 4-3000 wikGDZ |
c.4000 | Megalithic constructions in France (central and southern), Corsica, Spain (Galicia), England and Wales, Constructions in Andalusia, Spain (Villa Martin, Cadiz). | 4000 wikMgl |
c.4000 | ![]() |
4000 wikTrd |
c.4000 | AGRICULTURE, in Netherlands from 4500, spreads to Britain. | 4500 wikPB 4000 TAWH 16 |
c.4000 | Λ PLOWS V, simple wooden boards dragged thru soil, are used in Europe. | 4000 bk 38-3500 wikPlo, |
c.4000 | ![]() |
map: Joostik 4000 wikLng |
c.4000 | ![]() |
photo: Milos Tod 4000 wikIGM |
c.4000 | TISZAPOLGAR Culture in central Balkan Pen. from 4500 ends. | 4000 wikTzp |
c.4000 | ![]() |
map: w:Sugaar 4000 wikKrn 3950 u2HWEY |
c.4000 | ![]() |
4000 wikCrn |
c.4000 | SKI V: Rock drawings in Norway depict a man on skis holding a stick. | 4000 ftpHS |
c.4000 | Proto-Indo-European folk tale, The Smith and the Devil originates. A blacksmith offers his soul to a malevolent being (commonly a devil in modern versions) in exchange for the ability to weld any kind of materials together. The blacksmith then uses his new ability to stick the devil to an immovable object (often a tree), thus avoiding his end of the bargain. Versions of it will be found in Indo-European folktales from Scandinavia to India. | 4000 wikS&D, no date: wikPIE |
c.3950 | ![]() |
3950 wikErt 2800 u2HWEY |
c.3950 | ![]() |
3950 wikGml |
c.3900 | AGRICULTURE begins in Denmark, either by cultural exchange or migrating farmers, marking the beginning of the Neolithic. | 3900 wikBoBo |
c.3800 | Farming villages are enclosed with ditches in west Europe. | 3800 PW 13 |
c.3800 | SOPOT Culture in Europe from 5500 ends. | 3800 wikSpt |
c.3800 | Λ PLOW arrives in west and north Europe. | 3800 PW 13 |
![]() |
photo: Joachim Jahnke |
c.3750 | ![]() |
4000-3500 wikTmBg |
c.3600 | ![]() |
photo: Landesmuseum 3600 wikMcb |
c.3520 | ![]() |
map: Creative Commons 3530 u2HWEY 3520 wikBdn 3500 wikPE |
c.3500 | MESOLITHIC AGE in north Europe from 10,000 ends, but not in the rest of Europe until 3000. NEOLITHIC AGE (including agriculture, herding, polished stone axes, timber longhouses and pottery) comes to north Europe. | 3500 wikPE |
c.3500 | POPULATION CRASH in Europe from 5000 ends. Levels begin to rise. | 3500 wikNlE |
c.3500 | ![]() |
map: Krakkos 3500 wikMcb |
c.3500 | WHEELS V with axles, in Mesopotamia from 5500, first evidenced in Europe. | 3500 guess |
c.3500 | ![]() |
photo: Silar
3900 wikPE 3500 PW 14, wikTop by 3370 Copilot, ttcW 3340-3030 wikWl |
c.3500 | Neolithic BOIAN Culture north of the lower Danube as far west as the Jiu River from 4300 ends. | 3500 wikBoi |
c.3500 | INDO-EUROPEANS, in Asian Steppes from ?, move to Europe, specifically the Danube area until 2300. | 3500 B76 2-614 |
c.3500 | Megalythic TOMBS and CIRCLES begin in Spain, Britanny, and Britain. | 3500 TAWH 16 |
c.3400 | ![]() |
photo: Gary Todd
3400 u2HWEY, wikGA |
c.3400 | ![]() |
3400 wikUsC |
c.3400 | FLINTBEK Funnel Beaker site 10kn SW of Kiel, Germany, provides CART TRACKS, the oldest known evidence of Λ WHEELED V vehicles in Europe (other than models and pictures). | 3420-3385 Copilot 3400 wikFb |
c.3400 | Λ DIMINI V on east coast of Thessaly shows evidence of earliest fortifications. | 3400 agt |
c. 3300 | ![]() |
photo: Odedr 4000 wikMgl 3300 wikCrn, wikCrnS, wikMgl |
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photo: Yolan Cheriaux |
c.3300 | ![]() |
photo: Creative Commons 3300 wikBdn |
c.3250 | ![]() |
body: Creative Commons 120 axe Bullenwachter 3350-3105 wikOtz 33-3200 wikCpr |
c.3200 | VITTRUP MAN, 2m tall, mid 30s, killed and buried in a peat bog in northwest Denmark. His right anklebone, lower left shinbone, jawbone and fragmented skull were found with a wooden club. He died after being hit over the head at least 8 times with the club. DNA shows he was from Norway or Sweden. | 3200 fb, msn |
c.3200 | Circles of megalithic stones appear in Britain and Brittany. | 3200 PW 14 |
c.3200 | Λ SKIING V is evidenced at Kalvtrask Sweden. See Russia 6000. | 3200 ftpHS |
c.3200 | Comb dented pottery appears in Lappland. | 3200 PW 14 |
c.3200 | Λ BRONZE SMELTING established in Europe. | 3200 wikPE |
c.3200 | ![]() |
3200 wikCrn |
c.3200 | ![]() |
3200 wikDm |
c.3200 | GREECE: EARLY HELLADIC Period begins until 2000. Bronze and copper are imported; bronze-working techniques and potters wheel are copied from Anatolia. Important sites are in Boeotia and Argolid (Manika, Lerna, Pefkakia, Thebes, Tiryns). EARLY HELLADIC-I begins until 2650. Has unslipped and burnished or red slipped and burnished pottery. |
3200 wikHP 2900 wikMG 2700 RAH 121 |
c.3195 | METEORS bombard Earth, resulting in an atmospheric dust-veil, which causes a cold period evidenced in narrow tree rings, and other world events. | 3195 kpol 3123 CWH |
c.3130 | ![]() |
photo: Milosevic 3350-3100 Copilot, wikLMW 3130 wikWl |
c.3100 | Λ WHEEL V: 2 types of early Neolithic European wheel and axle are known: a circumalpine type of wagon construction (wheel and axle rotate together, as in Ljubljana Marshes Wheel), and that of the Baden culture in Hungary (axle does not rotate). | 32-3000 wikWl, |
c.3100 | ![]() |
gif: Joshua Jonathan 3100 wikYmn |
c.3000 | MESOLITHIC AGE in north Europe from 10,000, and the rest of Europe from ???, mostly ends, despite dragging out in some parts until 2700. | 3000 wikMs, wikNlE 2700 B76 VI-818 |
c.3000 | MIDDLE CHALCOLITHIC AGE in some parts of Europe from 4000 ends. . | 3000 wikPE |
c.3000 | ![]() |
gif: Joshua Jonathan 3000 guess |
by 3000 | All Europe except north Scandinavia has farming communities. Indo-European speaking groups live thruout central Europe. | by 3000 mxfld |
c.3000 | A few immigrants to Denmark bring agriculture and big, polished flint-stone axes to clear the forest. Tens of thousands of these axes have been found. Stone dolmens are more numerous in Denmark than anywhere else. Megalithic tombs are constructed and many dead are laid in each, some wearing hundreds of amber beads. | 3000 mxfld |
c.3000 | ![]() |
3000 dftNmn, wikNmn |
c.3000 | SPAIN: A late Λ COPPER Age begins with techniques coming across south Europe from the Caucasus. | 3000 mxfld |
c.3000 | LOS MILLARES culture begins in Southwest Spain until 1800. | 3000 wikLM |
c.3000 | Houses of Vasiliki and Myrtos; Messara Tholoi; House of Tiles at Lerna. | 3000 agt |
c.3000 | ![]() |
gif: Joshua Jonathan 3000 guess |
YAMNAYA contribution in modern East Europe ranges from 46.8% among Russians to 42.8% in Ukrainians. Finland has the highest Yamnaya contributions in Europe (50.4%). | wikYmn |
c.3000 | ![]() ![]() |
gif: Joshua Jonathan map: Cre. Com. photo: Einsamer Schutze 3000 wikCWC |
c.3000 | Walled citadels built in south France. | 3000 PW 14 |
c.3000 | Metal industry thrives in south France. | 3000 PW 14 |
c.3000 | Baltic area and west Russia are colonized mostly by Indo-Europeans. But the nomadic ancestors of Estonians reach the Baltic from the upper Volga. They are related to Finns and Hungarians, with a non-Indo-European language. | 3000 mxfld |
c.3000 | INDO-EUROPEANS, from the Danube plain thru Macedonia, having uniform culture until now, begin having CULTURAL DIVERSITY based on location. See 2000. | 3000 B76 2-614 |
c.3000 | Domestic HORSES V, in Asia from 4350, spread to Europe. See Anatolia 2450. | 3000 guess 2000 Copilot 1800 eah |
c.3000 | ![]() |
map: Krakkos photo: Silar 3000 eupFBC |
c.3000 | EARLY NEOLITHIC-2, in Greece and Aegean from 5100, ends. BRONZE AGE in Greece begins until 1200. EARLY BRONZE begins until 2000. | 37-3300 wikCpr 3200 wikBA 3000 ISBE 2-559, agt, wikPSE |
c.3000 | THEBES V Boeotia founded. | 3000 wohiT |
c.3000 | ![]() |
center: Zde
right: Zde 3000 wikFC |
c.2900 | Corded POTTERY made in north Europe. . | 2900 PW 14 |
c.2900 | Earliest BELL BEAKER people appear in Portugal, south France and north Italy. Bell Beaker Culture begins. Lasts around the Rhone until 2200, and until 1800 elsewhere. | 2900 wikBC |
c.2900 | ![]() |
photo: Jona Lendering 2900 wikUsC |
c.2800 | ![]() |
photo: Silar 2800 ttcFBC, wikFBC, wikSGC |
c.2800 | ![]() |
map: Krakkos photo: Einsamer Schutze 2800 wikSGC |
c.2800 | Maliq, Albania is occupied. | 2800 mxfld |
c.2800 | Danubian Seine-Oise-Marne culture pushes south and destroys most of the Megalithic culture of west France. | 2800 wikPE |
c.2800 | ![]() |
2800 wikGA |
c.2760 | Proto-Indo-European LANGUAGE V, in Europe and Asia, SPLITS into 4 Indo-European languages: Greek/Armenian, Albanian, Italic/Germanic/Celtic, Balto-Slavic/Indo-Iranian. | 3727-2262 wikIEM |
c.2750 | ![]() |
photo: CristianChirita 3460 u2HWEY 2750 wikCTC |
c.2700 | ![]() |
map: DEMIS Mapserver |
c.2700 | PRAGUE Bohemia, Neolithic settlement from 5000, ends. | 2700 B76 14-944 |
c.2690 | ![]() |
map: Cre. Com. 2690 wikPE |
by 2650 | Funnelbeaker culture has been replaced by Corded Ware culture. | by 2650 wikFBC |
c.2650 | GREECE: EARLY HELLADIC I Period from 3200 ends. EARLY HELLADIC II begins until 2175. Shows bronze-working, hierarchical social organization, monumental architecture and fortifications, ox-driven plow. |
2650 wikHP |
c. 2600 | ![]() |
gif: Joshua Jonathan 2800 u2HWEY timelapse 2600 wikYmn 2500 wikCtc, wikIEM, wikPE |
c.2500 | ![]() |
photo: Junta de Castilla 2500 PW 14 2400 wikBkr |
c.2500 | BELL BEAKER people, in Europe from 2900, begin migrating to Britain. They have copper working skills, arrow-heads, and daggers, introduce single inhumation graves. | 2700 wikBHK 2500 mxfld 2450 wikBC, |
c.2500 | SCANDINAVIA: At least 4 different cultures begin living side by side: 1. Declining remains of megalithic civilization 2. Single-grave Culture of Jutland, which is related to: 3. Boat-axe Culture of south Sweden 4. Pitted Ware or Pit-comb Ware Culture. They remain separate until after 2000. |
2500 mxfld |
c.2500 | ![]() |
map: DEMIS Mapserver |
c.2500 | Megalithic constructions in Brittany (Le Menec, Kermario and elsewhere), Italy (Otranto), Sardinia, and Scotland (northeast), plus the climax of the megalithic Bell-beaker culture in Spain, Germany, and the British Isles (stone circle at Stonehenge). With the bell-beakers, the Neolithic Age gave way to the Chalcolithic, the age of copper. | 2500 wikMgl |
![]() |
photo: Notafly plan: Antonio Jose Nunes da Gloria |
c.2500 | Chalcolithic Tombs at ALCALAR (Algarve), Portugal begun on a hilltop. 18 different megalithic tombs are built in surrounding hills. Dead are buried in the fetal position. | 3000 wikMMA 2500 wikMgl |
c.2500 | Austrian Salzkammergut is settled with the inhabitants getting salt from salt wells. | 2500 mxfld |
c.2500 | THEBES V Boeotia, founded c.3000, shows evidence of food and wool production, storage - grinding stones and terracotta loom-weights and spools, and bronze carpentry tools. Trade is suggested by the presence of gold, silver, ivory, and Cycladic influenced stone vessels. | 2500 wohiT |
c.2500 | Λ SKIING is portrayed in rock carvings at Rodoy Norway. | 3000 anor 2500 ftpHS |
c.2500 | TIN is found in northwest Spain so that Spain can participate in bronze industries until 1500. Some metal-using communities, in south Spain are fortified, and some have 2 high walls with outlying fortresses. | 2500 mxfld |
c.2500 | BARKAER founded in Jutland. Grave goods include amber beads, copper pendants, evidence of trade. | 2500 MCAW |
c.2400 | ![]() |
map: DEMIS Mapserver |
c.2350 | ![]() |
map: Cre. Com. photo: Einsamer Schutze 2350 wikCWC |
2300 | Corded Ware or Battle Axe people represent the first Indo-European speakers of Europe as precursors of Celts, and dominate the earlier Neolithic Cultures of north central and west Europe. | 2300 mxfld, wikBC |
c.2300 | ![]() |
2300 wikUnt |
c.2300 | ![]() |
photo: Bautsch 2300 wikPmlt wikUnt |
c.2300 | INDO-EUROPEANS, in Danube area from 3500, migrate to Adriatic and Aegean. | 2300 B76 2-614 |
c.2300 | Central European cultures of Unetice, Adlerberg, Straubing and pre-Lausitz start working BRONZE, a technique that reached them thru the Balkans and Danube. | 2300 wikPE |
c.2300 | BEAKER POTTERY people appear in Bohemia, and expand in many directions, particularly westward, along the Rhone and the seas. | 2300 wikPE |
2300 | Corded Ware or Battle Axe people represent the first Indo-European speakers of Europe as precursors of Celts, and dominate the earlier Neolithic Cultures of north central and west Europe. | 2300 mxfld |
4.2 kiloyear event begins from 2200 to 2150?. A volcanic eruption causes marked increase in aridity and wind circulation, induces degradation of land-use conditions.
![]() Global distribution of 4.2 kiloyear event. Hatched areas get wet conditions or flooding. Dotted areas get drought or dust storms. |
map: Jianjun Wang 2200 wik4.2, wikAE, wikAkE, wikOKE |
c.2260 | Balto-Slavic and Indo-Iranian Λ LANGUAGES V, united from 2760 SPLIT. | 2723-1790 wikIEM |
c.2200 | BELL BEAKER Culture, in Europe 2900- 1800, evolves into RHONE Culture around the Rhone until 1500. Characterized by metalwork and pottery. | 2200 wikRnC |
c.2200 | POLANDA Culture begins in Italy until 1500. Settlements are built of pile-dwellings (stilt houses). | 2200 wikPln |
c.2200 | SINGLE GRAVE Culture in northwest Europe from 2800 ends, succeeded by BELL BEAKER culture 2900-1800. | 2200 wikSGC |
c.2200 | ![]() ![]() |
photo: Felicisimo 2200 wikMtl |
c.2175 | GREECE: EARLY HELLADIC II Period from 2650 ends. EARLY HELLADIC III begins until 2000. No longer thought different from EH-II. |
2200-2150 wikHP |
c.2150 | STRAUBING Culture begins in Lower Bavaria and Upper Austria until 1600. 1 or 2 wooden long-houses placed west of graveyards. Economy based on agriculture, herding, and metallurgy. Dead are buried in a crouched position. Artifacts include bronze daggers, bracelets, and amber objects. | 2150 wikStr |
c.2100 | Italic-Germanic-Celtic Λ LANGUAGE V, united from 2760 SPLITS. | 2655-1537 wikIEM |
c.2100 | The 2nd phase of Beaker Pottery, from 2100 to 1900, is marked by displacement of the center of the phenomenon to Portugal, within the culture of Vila Nova. | 2655-1537 wikPE |
Europe 2000-1001
V