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u2HWEY

This helpful YouTube video titled The History of the World: Every Year by Ollie Bye has a timelapse progression of world cultures and nations.  Here is what he has for Europe 10,000-8500 BCE.

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
10,000 link
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 MaglemosianMesolithic MAGLEMOSIAN Culture begins in forest and wetlands of Doggerland and north Europe until 6000.  People live in huts made of bark, use fishing and hunting tools made of wood, bone, horn, and flint microliths.  Domesticated dogs.  Most are nomadic.  They hunt aurochs, bison, elk, deer, wild horse, boar, lynx, fox, polecat, badger, wildcat, and birds. 9000 wikBrl, wikMgm, 7800 u2HWEY
c.9000 TardenoisianMesolithic TARDENOISIAN Culture begins in north France and Belgium, then expands into Spain and Britain until 4000.  Artifacts differ from earlier industries by presence of geometric microliths, microburin, scalene triangles, trapezoids and chisel-ended arrowheads, and small flint blades made by pressure. 9000 wikTrd, 6000 u2HWEY
c.9000 flow westΛ BALTIC LAKE V has now gotten high enough to spill over thru a narrow corridor near Mount Billingen in southwest Sweden into the North sea.  Water level drops 25m in a few years. 9200 wikBIL 9500-8700 u2Scn
c.9000 MESOLITHIC AGE in Greece begins until 6800 13,000 wikMs     9000 Copilot     8300 agt
by 8800 blockedBALTIC LAKE has dropped 55m.  At that point the climate reverts to cooling, and the glacier advances again over the central Swedish exit.  Lake is blocked again, and starts rising when the glacier starts melting. 8800 wikBIL
c.8540 Antrea NetWorld's oldest extant FISH NET sinks to the bottom clay of the Ancylus Lake at Antrea near the west end of the Gulf of Finland.  Made of willow.  It will be found in 1913 along with 18 bobbers and 31 net weights.  The size of the mesh is suitable for catching salmon and common bream. photo Sakari Pälsi

8540 wikANet 8300 wikHFn 8000 mxfld
c.8500 flow westClimate warms.  The ice retreats to north of Mount Billingen, and the Baltic Lake rises and breaks thru central Sweden again, providing a 2nd egress. 8500 wikBIL 95-8700 u2Scn
c.8500 KundaMesolithic KUNDA Culture evolves off of the Swiderian from the Baltic forest eastward into Russia until 5000.  Most settlements are near the edge of forests beside rivers, lakes, or marshes.  They hunt elk, seal, pike and other fish from rivers.  Tools are bone and antler, some decorated with simple geometric designs.  8500 wikKnd 8000 u2HWEY animation
c.8500 SauveterianMesolithic SAUVETERRIAN Culture begins in central Europe until 4500.  Artifacts include geometric microliths and backed points on micro-blades.  Woodworking tools are missing.  There is evidence for ritual burial. 10,000 wikPE, 8500 u2HWEY animation 7000 ox
6500 wikSvt
c. 8350 LepenskiLEPENSKI VIR site begins in Serbia on south bank of the Danube until 6000.  One large settlement (1,330 km2 (510 sq mi)) around 10 villages, permanent and planned, with an organized societal life.  Site and culture have trapezoidal buildings with hearth at center, and doors facing the river, and monumental sculpture.  Eventually has 7 successive settlements with remains of 136 residential and sacral buildings.  Dead are buried outside the village in an elaborate cemetery. 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 KomsaHunter-gatherer FOSNA-KOMSA Culture in south Scandinavia from 10,000 replaced by FOSNA-HENSBACKA Culture until 7300.  Main difference is that Komsa is along the coast of Norway, and Hensbacka is in former Bromme land in west Sweden and Denmark. 8300 u2HWEY, wikFH
c.8200 SwiderianSWIDERIAN Culture in northeast Europe from 11,000 ends.  Hunter-gatherers live in small seasonal campsites on sand dunes.  Only flint objects have been discovered:  cores with 2 striking platforms, leaf-shaped arrowheads with hafts, end scrapers, and gravers.  Later replaced by Neman culture. 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 extinctionsQUATERNARY EXTINCTION EVENT, which has been ongoing since Late-Pleistocene, ends.  About 65% of all megafaunal species worldwide go extinct, rising to 72% in North America, 83% in South America and 88% in Australia.  Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia have much lower extinctions than other regions.  Extinct mammals include megatherium, woolly rhinoceros, Irish elk, cave bear, cave lion, and sabre-toothed cats.  The mammoth goes extinct in Eurasia and North America, but is preserved in small island populations until c.1650. 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 Combe-CapelleA man dies at COMBE-CAPELLE site in the Couze valley in the Perigord region of south France, leaving a skull and necklace. photo: Gary Todd

7600 wikCC, wikLHEF, 7500 wikCC
c.7510 SeskloSESKLO Village is founded on east coast of Thessaly until 5300.
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 KomsaHunter-gatherer FOSNA-HENSBACKA Culture mainly in west Sweden from 8300 evolves into SANDARNA Culture. 7300 u2HWEY, wikFH
c.7250 FrancthiFRANCHTHI CAVE in the Argolid, Greece, occupied seasonally from 38,000BC, now shows earliest evidence of burials and possibly agriculture in Greece.  Occupation continues until 3000. 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 SwiderianMesolithic NEMAN Culture begins in former Swiderian land (Poland / Lithuania) until 3000.  They are nomads, but travel shorter distances and stay in the same place longer.  They live in small camps used once, and larger ones used repeatedly.  They hunt with arrows and spears, and fish with harpoons.  Other artifacts include trapezoid blades, oval axes. 8200 u2HWEY, 7000 dftNmn, 5100 wikNmn
c.7000 agricultureAGRICULTURE V, confined to the Fertile Crescent from 9000, spreads from Ionia to the southeast Balkans. 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 Lep Vir sculpeLepenski Vir sculptures:
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 farmingGenetic studies of Europeans show that FARMING V spread from Anatolia to Aegean Islands and Europe, starting 7000 with a radial rate of advance of about 1km a year.  This is evidenced by fanning out of certain alleles in gene frequencies, spreading in Europe from southeast to northwest and from the Near East to North and East Africa, Arabia - and from Southwest Asia to the Indus Valley. map: Eva Fernández

7000 mxfld
c.6900 KaranovoKARANOVO hilltop site in central Thrace occupied, wattle and mud-walled houses loosely scattered in a village area.  18 buildings, house 100 inhabitants.  Divided into 7 phases.  Burial practices of Karanovo I and II are similar to practices of other east Balkan cultures.    Lasts until 2000. 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 Brit detBRITAIN is separated from the rest of Europe.  DOGGERLAND, the landbridge to the continent via Netherlands is submerged by rising water levels.  The Dogger Bank, a high area of Doggerland, remains an island until at least 5000. 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 elk headElk's Head of Huittinen, oldest stone sculpture found in Finland.  10cm long figurine made of soapstone, probably imported from east Finland.  Has a hole for mounting a rod. Rauno Träskelin

7-6000 wikEHH
c.6500 KaranovoNeolithic KARANOVO Culture begins from the Danube to the Aegean Sea.  Largest of the Azmak River Valley agrarian settlements.  Has white-painted pottery and dark-painted vessels.  Divided into 7 phases.  Burial practices of Karanovo I and II are similar to other eastern Balkan cultures.    Lasts until 4000. 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 CardiumNeolithic CARDIUM POTTERY Culture encroaches into Sauveterrian culture in South Europe until 5500.  Characterized by geometric shapes and designs impressed with a sharp object, once thought to be the heart-shaped shell of the Corculum cardissa.  Earliest sites, 64-6200, are in Epirus and Corfu;  next in Albania and Dalmatia 61-5900;  next in southeast Italy 6000;  next Spain 5500. 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 agricultureΛ AGRICULTURE V spreads from the southeast Balkans to the central and west Balkans, Italy, Sicily, Corsica/ Sardinia, and Cyrene. timelapse: Wikirictor
c.6200 StoregaSTOREGGA SLIDE:  3 underwater landslides west of Norway caused by structural failure of Norway's continental shelf trigger tsunamis that strike Iceland, Greenland, North America, depositing sediment in Scotland up to 80km inland and 4m above current normal tide levels. 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 StarcevoNeolithic STARCEVO Culture begins on both sides of the Danube and both sides of the Carpathians.  Pottery is usually coarse but finer fluted and painted vessels later emerge.  A bone spatula, perhaps for scooping flour, is a distinctive artifact.  The Koros is a similar culture in Hungary named after the River Koros with a closely related culture which also used footed vessels but fewer painted ones.  Lasts until 5000. 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 MaglemosianMAGLEMOSIAN Culture in north Europe from 9000 ends, not yet replace by Linear Pottery Culture.  6400 wikBrl 6000 u2HWEY, wikMgm
c.6000 LoschbourLOSCHBOUR MAN, age 34-47, 1.6m tall, carrying flint tools used for stalking and killing prey, dies, and is buried under a rock shelter in Mullerthal on the Black Ernz river in Waldbillig, Luxemburg.  He is a hunter/gatherer.  DNA shows a lactose-intolerant man of intermediate to light skin tone (90%), brown or black hair (98%), and likely blue eyes (56%). photo: Ingozwank

6000 wikLHEF, wikLsc
c.6000 KongemoseMesolithic KONGEMOSE Culture begins in former Hensbacka land of south Scandinavia until 5300.  Artifacts include long flint flakes, used for making rhombic arrowheads, scrapers, drills, awls, and toothed blades.  Tiny micro blades fit into the edges of bone daggers often decorated with geometric patterns.  Stone axes and other tools made of horn and bone.  They hunt red deer, roe deer, and wild boar, plus fishing at coastal settlements.  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 LepenskiLEPENSKI VIR site on south bank of the Danube from 8350, and its culture, end.  Replaced by Starcevo Culture. 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 CAPSIAN culture, in Africa from 8000, people migrate from Tunisia to Spain, and become Ibero-Capsian culture.  They introduce rock paintings depicting hunting and food gathering. 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
agricultureΛ AGRICULTURE V spreads from the Balkans into central Europe, and to the coast of the west Mediterranean, even to the west coast of Spain.  It also expands from the Fertile Crescent north and south. timelapse: Wikirictor
c.5700 megaronFirst "megaron house" at Sesklo, on east coast of Thessaly.  The great hall in early Mycenean and Greek palace complexes, a rectangular hall enclosing 4 interior columns around a central, circular hearth vented thru a hole in the roof, plus an anteroom, and fronted by an open, 2-column portico.  May be free standing, or part of a larger building. 5700 agt
no date: wikMgr
c. 5700 Vinca VINCA Culture emerges within Star-cevo culture in the Balkans until 4500.  Farming improved (PLOW V used), settlement pattern and ritual behavior.  Settlement size and density of population increases (50-200 people per hectare).  Subsisted on agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting, and foraging.  Cattle are more important than sheep and goats.  Introduced common wheat, oats and flax to temperate Europe.  Leather and wool clothing has open-necked tunics and decorated skirts.  Pottery is polished with a multi-colored finish.  Various styles of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines   Copper ores mined, but few are smelted and cast into metal artefacts.  Possibly the earliest known example of COPPER V SMELTING in the Old World.  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 LinearSOPOT Culture begins in Europe until 3800.  A continuation of Starcevo culture and influenced by Vinca.  Artifacts include weapons of bone, flint, obsidian, and ironed volcanic rocks; some ceramic pottery of various sizes (biconical pots with 2 handles, conic bowls, and s-shaped pots) decorated by carvings or light stabbings and painting. map: w:Sugaar

5500 wikSpt
c.5500 CucuteniChalcolithic CUCUTENI-TRYPILLIA Culture begins from Carpathian Mountains to the Dniester and Dnieper, centered on Moldova and covering parts of west Ukraine and northeast Romania.  Small settlements 3 or 4km apart, mainly in the Siret, Prut and Dniester river valleys.  Settlements are periodically destroyed, each site lasting 60 to 80 years.  Culture lasts until 2750. 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 LinearLINEAR POTTERY (German: Bandkeramic) Culture begins on the middle Danube, and spreads along rivers over the next 360 years thru Central Europe.  It is NOT evidenced in Denmark or the north coast of Germany and Poland, or the Black Sea coast.  Pottery consists of simple cups, bowls, vases, jugs without handles and, in a later phase, with pierced lugs, bases, and necks.  Decorations composed of convolute bands of paint: spirals, converging bands, vertical bands, etc.  Mostly evidenced on the middle Danube, upper and middle Elbe, and upper and middle Rhine.      Lasts until 5000 on the middle Danube, and 4500 in Central Europe. map: w:Sugaar photo: Warszawa

6000 u2HWEY 5500 wikLPC
c.5500 PlocnikPLOCNIK Serbia occupied until 4700.  A 120 hectare Neolithic Vinca culture settlement with copper smelting.  Houses have stoves and holes for rubbish.  Dead are buried in cemeteries.  People sleep on wool mats and fur, make clothes of wool, flax and leather.  Figurines represent deities, and daily life.  Crude pottery appears made by children.  Women are depicted in short tops and skirt wearing jewelry.  A thermal well is near the settlement. 5500 wikPlc, wikTop
farming5500, Λ FARMING V in Greece from 6500, spreads up Danube to Hungary. map: Eva Fernández

5500 TAWH 16
c.5400 TiszaNeolithic TISZA Culture begins in the Alfold plain in Hungary, Western Romania, Eastern Slovakia, and Ukrainian Zakarpattia Oblast until 4500 5400 wikTz
agricultureΛ AGRICULTURE V spreads into northwest Europe, Eurasia, Asia, more in Spain.  It also expands into central Italy. timelapse: Wikirictor
c.5300 KundaNARVA Culture begins within Kunda Culture, and extends from Estonia to Russia until 1750.  Hunter-fisher-gatherers with little access to flint; so they trade for it.  They live in the same settlements for a long timr as evidenced by pottery, middens, and structures built in lakes and rivers to help fishing.  Artifacts include bone, horn, schist.  Dead are buried on their backs with few grave goods. 5300 wikNrv
c.5300 SeskloNeolithic SESKLO Culture in Thessaly and parts of Macedonia from 7510, acquires ceramic pottery and figurines, continues until 4400. center:
Gary Todd right: Zde

5300 wikSsk
c.5300 KongemoseMesolithic KONGEMOSE Culture in south Scandinavia from 6000 ends.  Neolithic ERTEBOLLE Culture begins on Kongemose land until 3950.  Fishers who also hunt-gather;  canoe builders;  pottery-makers.  Similar to the Ellerbek culture of Schleswig-Holstein.  No agriculture, but they use domestic grain from the south.  5300 u2HWEY, wikErt 5200 wikKgm
c.5250 HamangiaLate Neolithic HAMANGIA Culture begins between the Danube and Black Sea.  Painted vessels have complex geometric patterns based on spirals.  Shapes include: bowls and cylindric glasses (most with arched walls), decorated with dots, straight parallel lines and zig-zags.  Figurines are stylized; standing naked faceless women have big breasts and buttocks.  Lasts until 4550. map: w:Sugaar

5250 wikHmn, wikPSE
farming5000, Λ FARMING V, in Danube basin from 6000, spreads northwest as far as Netherlands.  They use wooden saws fitted with chipped flint teeth. 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 HamangiaLINEAR POTTERY Culture at maximum extent. map: u2HWEY timelapse
c.5000 KundaMesolithic KUNDA Culture from the Baltic forest eastward into Russia from 8500 ends. 5000 wikKnd
c.5000 PRAGUE Bohemia, Neolithic settlement begins until 2700. 5000 B76 14-944
c.5000 dolmenFirst DOLMENS built in west Europe.  A dolmen is a table made of large stone slabs with a space in the middle for a corpse.  Most date 4-3000.  They exist in Europe, India, and Korea.  This one, the Crucuno dolmen in Plouharnel Brittany, dates c.4000.  When covered with dirt, it's called a barrow; and a large barrow is a tumulus. photo: Myrabella

5000 wikDlm
c.5000 longhouseNeolithic LONGHOUSE is introduced with the first farmers of central and western Europe.  A narrow, single-room home for large extended families and kin, built in groups of 6 to 12.  Earliest form of permanent structure in many cultures. 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 LengyelLinear Pottery Culture from 5500 replaced by Neolithic LENGYEL Culture on the middle Danube until 4000.  It is a wide interaction sphere or cultural horizon rather than an archaeological culture.  It overlaps with Tisza and Stroked Pottery.  Settlements consist of small houses and trapezoidal longhouses, sometimes open, sometimes surrounded by a defensive ditch.  They farm and raise stock (mainly cattle, but also pigs, and some ovicaprids).  Dead are buried in separate cemeteries, in flexed position on either side. map: Joostik

5000 wikLng
c.5000 CHALCOLITHIC AGE, in some parts of Europe from 5500, begins in the Balkans. 5000 wikNlE
c.5000 PlocnikPLOCNIK Serbia, (Vinca culture) the oldest reliably dated Λ COPPER V SMELTING site in Europe. 5000 wikPE
c.5000 SeskloSESKLO Culture in Thessaly and parts of Macedonia from 7510 violently conquered (POSSIBLY by people of the Dimini culture) but doesn't end until 4400. 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 StarcevoNeolithic STARCEVO Culture on both sides of the Danube and both sides of the Carpathians from 6200 replaced by Vinca.  map: Panonian

4500 wikStr
c.4900 rslLINEAR POTTERY Culture from 5500 evolves into STROKED POTTERY Culture in Poland and east Germany until 4400, overlapping Lengyel and Rossen.  They modify their long houses with one end shorter than the other, making a trapezoid.  Pottery design abandons incision in favor bands of small punctures, also in zig-zag patterns, with a vertical band dividing each angle.  Effect is a band pattern of contiguous A-frames.  Stroked culture will spread down the Vistula and Elbe. map: Joostik photo: Wolfgang Sauber

4900 wikSPC
Gosek 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

Tumulus A photo: Liberliger
c.4800 BougonBOUGON TUMULUS-A built on a limestone plateau within a loop of the Bougon river.  Diameter 42m, height 5m, rectangular chamber (7.8 x 5m, 2.25m high) lies south of its center, covered by a 90 ton capstone supported by 2 monolithic pillars, which subdivide the chamber.  It is connected by a non-centrally placed passage.  200 skeletons were discovered in 3 layers, separated by stone slabs.  Artifacts include flat-bottomed and round-bottomed pottery, beads, pierced teeth, chains of seashells and stone tools, including a diorite mace.  About 1,000 years later, it is re-used for more burials by people of a different culture who reach the passage from above. 4800 wikMgl, wikTmBg

Barnenez photo: New Papillon
c.4800 Neolithic megalithic BARNENEZ CAIRN built on the north coast of Brittany. 4800 wikBrn, wikMgl
agricultureΛ AGRICULTURE V spreads thruout Europe, except for the north coast of Spain, Netherlands and Denmark. timelapse: Wikirictor
c.4800 Sesklo DiminiDIMINI Village near Sesklo on east coast of Thessaly occupied until 3200.    Neolithic DIMINI Culture begins until 3200.  Known for abstract painted vessels.   Fortified 3400 4800 wikDm
c.4800 BEADS, made of stone, bone, and amber, found in Megalithic graves in Scandinavia and west Europe. 3000 Copilot
Tumulus F photo:
Joachim
Jahnke
c.4700 BougonBOUGON TUMULUS-F built.  A trapezoidal stepped mound, 72m long x 12-16m wide.  Largest monument of the Bougon complex.  West end abuts a pit from which the mound (originally 3m high) was built.  Mound contains 1 chamber at each end.  Between them are 7 chamber-less structures.  1 mound is steep and hemispherical containing a circular structure 2.5m diameter, within a triple concentric drystone facade and covered with a corbelled vault.  Tomb contains about 10 bodies, half of them children.  Artifacts include 2 pots, 6 bone chisels and some flint tools.  It will be re-used in 3rd mil.  Click link for 2nd chamber. 4700 wikTmBg
c.4700 PlocnikPLOCNIK Serbia, a Neolithic Vinca culture site occupied from 5500, destroyed by fire. 4700 wikPlc
c.4700 GumelnitaChalcolithic GUMELNITA Culture begins south of the Danube and bordering the Black Sea.  Figurines of people (1% male, 10% asexual, 89% female) and animals, painted vessels, seashell ornaments.  Lasts until 3950. 4700 wikGml
Kercado 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 RossenMiddle Neolithic ROSSEN Culture begins until 4300.  Trapezoidal or boat-shaped long houses, up to 65m long are main structures.  Internal partitions are common.  Some settlements surrounded by earthwork enclosures.  Pottery decorated with double incisions with incrustation of white paste.  On later vessels it is mostly restricted to the neck or entirely absent.  Vessels are usually burnished; colored brown to grey-black.  Flint tools include blades with pyramid-shaped cores.  Most typical solid rock tool is a pierced tall cleaver, but unpierced axes and adzes are also common.  Dead are mostly buried in a crouched position, on their right side facing east.  Some are cremated.  Ceramic grave goods include cups, bowls, flasks, amphoras, jugs and basins, limestone rings, stone axes, flint blades and animal bones. 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 SauveterianSAUVETERRIAN Culture in central Europe from 8500 ends. 6000 u2HWEY 4500 wikSvt
c.4500 St. MicST. MICHEL TUMULUS, a tomb for the ruling class, built in Brittany.  125 x 60m at base by 12m high.  It contains funerary objects, such as 15 stone chests, large jade axes, pottery, and callais jewelry, photo: Ji-Elle

5-4000 wikSMT 5-3400 wikCrnS
c.4500 LengyelLINEAR POTTERY Culture in Central Europe from 5500 ends.  Replaced by ROSSEN Culture. 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:
  • a long either rectangular or trapezoidal mound of soil and stone
  • Flanking ditches or pits, where the stone for the mound's construction would have come from
  • Chambers inside the mound built from either timber or orthostats (an upright stone that is used to form part of a structure)
  • elaboration at the higher and wider end of the mound in the form of either a concave forecourt or facade
The purpose of barrows remains debated.
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 VincaVINCA CULTURE, in southeast Europe from 5700, ends.  It leaves Λ BRONZE V artifacts . map: Joe Roe
4500 wikCpr, wikTop, wikVnc
3000 u2HWEY
c.4500 TiszaNeolithic TISZA Culture in the Alfold plain from 5400 ends.  4500 wikTz
c.4500 TiszaTISZAPOLGAR Culture, a continuation of the Tisza culture, begins in central Balkan Pen. until 4000.  Pottery is unpainted but often polished and frequently decorated.  Most info about it comes from cemeteries - 150 individual graves. photo: Jozefsu

4500 wikTzp
c.4500 Var NecChalcolithic VARNA Culture begins in northeast Bulgaria until 4100.  Has polychrome pottery and rich cemeteries, notably the Varna Necropolis and the Durankulak lake complex,  Shows trade relations with distant lands, possibly including the lower Volga and the Cyclades.  Had sophisticated religious beliefs about AFTERLIFE and developed hierarchical status differences.  Necropolis photo: ChernorizetsHrabar

4500 wikPE, wikTop, wikVrn
c.4500 GKK6GUMELNITA-KODZADERMEN-KARANOVO-VI Cultural complex begins south of the Danube and bordering the Black Sea.  Lasts until 4000. 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 MichelsbergMICHELSBERG Culture emerges in northeast France from migration from the Paris Basin.  It is soon on both sides of the Rhine, and spreads violently east into Central Europe.  Settlements are often on hilltops and fortified.  Architecture is daub-covered wooden structures.  They eat barley, emmer, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, deer and fox.  Pottery is characterised by undecorated pointy-based tulip beakers.  They don't use copper, and have no organised burial grounds.  Skeletons have been found in pits and ditches.  Lasts until 3500. map: Krakkos photo: Carl Schuchardt

4400 wikMcb
c.4400 rslSTROKED POTTERY Culture in Poland and east Germany from 4900 ends. map: Joostik

4400 wikSPC
c.4400 Var NecΛ VARNA V NECROPOLIS, 294 graves containing the oldest gold artifacts in the world, copper, 600 pieces of pottery, high-quality flint and obsidian blades.  Europe's oldest known JEWELRY (e.g. a 24-carat gold pendant) is made of gold, beads and shells. photo: ChernorizetsHrabar

46-4200 wikPSE 4300 rtnt
c.4400 Sesklo DiminiNeolithic SESKLO Culture in Thessaly and parts of Macedonia from 7510 ends.  DIMINI culture continues 4800-3200. 4400 wikDm, wikSsk
agricultureΛ AGRICULTURE spreads to the north coast of Spain, British Isles, and south Scandinavia. timelapse: Wikirictor
c.4300 Funl BkrFUNNELBEAKER Culture begins in north-central Europe until 2800.  A technological merger of local neolithic and mesolithic techno-complexes between the lower Elbe and middle Vistula rivers.  Introduces farming and husbandry to pottery-using hunter-gatherers.  photo: Silar

4300 wikFBC 4200 eupFBC
c.4300 flintFLINT MINES open at Spiennes Belgium; active until 220.  Remarkable for diversity of technological solutions used for extraction.  Covers 250 acres.  Several pits are gradually turned into vertical mine shafts to over 10m deep.  Underneath is an elaborate man-made network of caverns accessible via the many shafts. 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 rslMegalithic constructions in south Spain (Dolmen de Alberite, Cadiz). photo: Menesteo

4300 wikMgl 4000 wikDdA
c.4300 rslMiddle Neolithic ROSSEN Culture from 4600 ends. map: Joostik

4300 wikRsn 2800 u2HWEY
c.4200 Pit-Comb WareMesolithic PIT-COMB WARE Culture begins from the Baltic Sea east to the Volga until 2000.  Characterized by large pots with rounded or pointed bases, holding 40-60 litres.  The forms of the vessels are constant but the decoration varies.  Asbestos is often used to temper the clay.  Settlements are beside sea or lakes.  Main dwelling is a teepee of 30 square meters where some 15 people could live.  They subsist on hunting, fishing and gathering plants.  Dead are covered with red ochre.  Grave goods include objects of flint and amber. 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 FunnelbeakersFUNNELBEAKER  V Culture, in central Europe from 4300, emerges in Scandinavia and Germany until 2800, thru migration of colonists from the Michelsberg culture.   Here are examples of funnelbeakers. photo: Silar

4100 ttcFBC, wikFBC
c.4100 TeviecMegalithic cemetery of TEVIEC island off the coast of Brittany has remains of over 20 people, plus many flint microliths.  Geometric microliths are mainly used in hunting and fishing, but a skeleton has a geometric microlith lodged in one of its vertebrae.  Skeletons of 2 women who died violently are buried under a 'roof' of antlers and decorated with necklaces made of shells. 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 ZambujeiroGreat Dolmen of Zambujeiro, near Valverde in the municipality of Evora Portugal.  An east-facing irregular free-standing single chamber tomb, with polygonal chamber and rectangular corridor.  The polygonal chamber and access corridor are covered by size-specific slabs of rock: large granite slabs over the funerary chamber and smaller slabs on the entrance corridor.  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 TardenosianTARDENOISIAN Culture, in France and Britain from 9000, ends. 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 LengyelLENGYEL Culture on the middle Danube from 5000, ends.  Later period shows use of copper in form of beads and hammered ribbons. map: Joostik

4000 wikLng
c.4000 pit houseIRON GATES MESOLITHIC Culture in Romania and Serbia from 11,000 ends.  Hunter-gatherers who rely on Danube fish for food, but also domesticate dogs, which are eaten when food is low.  Some buildings are trapezoidal shape and have plaster floors, but most houses are pit houses shown here.  Practiced several different types of burials.  Artifacts include marine shells and carp pharyngeal teeth beads, which are worn on clothes. photo: Milos Tod

4000 wikIGM
c.4000 TISZAPOLGAR Culture in central Balkan Pen. from 4500 ends. 4000 wikTzp
c.4000 KaranovoKARANOVO settlement from the Danube to the Aegean Sea from 6500, level 6 ends.  Replaced by Vinca and Cernavoda Cultures. map: w:Sugaar

4000 wikKrn 3950 u2HWEY
c.4000 GumelnitaCERNAVODA Culture begins along the lower Eastern Bug and Danube Rivers, along the coast of the Black Sea and inland.  Has defensive hilltop settlements.  Pottery shares traits with that found further east, in the Sredny Stog culture on the south-west Eurasian steppe.  Burials resemble those further east.  Lasts until 3200. 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 KongemoseNeolithic ERTEBOLLE Culture in south Scandinavia from 5300 ends.  Fishers who also hunt-gather;  pottery-makers.  Replaced by Funnelbeaker Culture. 3950 wikErt 2800 u2HWEY
c.3950 GumelnitaChalcolithic GUMELNITA Culture south of the Danube and bordering the Black Sea from 4700 ends.  Replaced by CERNAVODA Culture 4000-3200. 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

Tumulus E photo:
Joachim
Jahnke
c.3750 BougonBOUGON TUMULUS-E built.  A doubly stepped mound, 22m long x 10m wide, accessible by near-central passages from the east.  The chamber is a 3m diameter circle, built on 11 blocks.  It contained 5 or 6 skeletons, pottery, bone tools and stone tools.  A 2nd north chamber will be added c.2500. 4000-3500 wikTmBg
c.3600 Michelsberg CeramicsMICHELSBERG POTTERY. photo: Landesmuseum

3600 wikMcb
c.3520 BadenLengyel Culture, centered on the Middle Danube 5-4000, evolves into Chalcolithic BADEN Culture in the western Carpathian Basin until 2690.  Southeast end of ROSSEN Culture becomes BADEN Culture  Large but seasonal settlements with constantly changing inhabitants.  But some are permanent fortified settlements on hilltops.  Agricultural with domestic stock: pigs, goats, etc.  Artifacts include ceramic models of wheeled carts, but no actual wagons.  Language is Finno-Ugric.  Dead are buried or cremated, ashes often in anthropomorphic urns. 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 MichelsbergMICHELSBERG Culture in Central Europe from 4400 ends, succeeded in its core area by Wartberg culture, and by Funnelbeaker Culture elsewhere. map: Krakkos

3500 wikMcb
c.3500 WHEELS V with axles, in Mesopotamia from 5500, first evidenced in Europe. 3500 guess
c.3500 Glob Am1st Λ WHEELED V VEHICLES in Europe evidenced in Hungary.  Oldest known depiction of a wheeled vehicle (Bronocice pot, Funnelbeaker culture north-central Europe).  But if so, what is that thing in the middle?  A spare tire? 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 Glob AmGLOBULAR AMPHORA Culture begins from the Elbe to the Vistula, extending south to the middle Dniester and east to the Dnieper.  Settlements are sparse and possibly temporary, normally just containing small clusters pits, no houses.  They raise livestock, mostly pigs in its early phase.  Grave goods include animal parts or whole animals, globular amphorae, and stone axes.  There are also cattle-burials, often in pairs, accompanied by grave gifts.  Lasts until 2800. photo: Gary Todd

3400 u2HWEY, wikGA
c.3400 UsatovoUSATOVO Culture northwest of Black Sea begins until 2900.  A mixture of the Eneolithic agrarian cultures of southeast Europe, having clay figurines, painted ceramics, tumulus (kurgan) burials, shell-tempered coarse wares, items made of metal, such as arsenical bronze and silver. 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 CarnacMain phase of activity at at Carnac Brittany.  Over 10,000 MENHIRS (standing stones) hewn from local rock are erected by pre-Celts from 4500 to 2000.  There are 3 major groups of stone rows - Menec, Kermario and Kerlescan - which may have once formed a single group, but have been split up as stones are removed for other purposes.  Possibly successive generations visit the site to erect a stone in honour of their ancestors. photo: Odedr

4000 wikMgl 3300 wikCrn, wikCrnS, wikMgl
Carnac2 photo:
Yolan Cheriaux
c.3300 Bad WagonBADEN WAGON sculpture photo: Creative Commons

3300 wikBdn
c.3250 Bad WagonOTZI the ICE MAN murdered in the Otztai Alps between Austria and Italy, with an arrowhead embedded in his left shoulder and various other wounds.  He has an axe with a copper head 99.7% pure.  Europe's oldest known natural human mummy.  Copper particles and high levels of arsenic in his hair suggest an involvement in copper smelting. 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 GumelnitaCERNAVODA Culture along the lower Eastern Bug and Danube Rivers, along the coast of the Black Sea from 4000 ends.  3200 wikCrn
c.3200 Sesklo DiminiΛ DIMINI Village and culture from 4800, ends.  Known for abstract painted vessels.  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 wheelOldest discovered Λ WHEEL V (diameter 72cm) is made of ash, and is left in the Ljubljana Marsh of Slovenia.  The hole for the 120cm long axle is square, which means that the wheel and axle (made of oak) rotated together.  The wheel is primarily made of 2 planks held together with 4 cross braces.  Belonged to a 2-wheel cart. 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 YamnaYAMNAYA Culture, in Asia 3300-2600, begins expanding into the Danube valley until 2600. 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 YamnaYAMNAYA Culture expands west up the Danube. 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 NemanNEMAN Culture in Poland / Lithuania from 7000 ends.  In late Neman culture, pottery becomes more varied. 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 YamnaYAMNAYA Culture expands northwest. 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
Yamna
NemanCORDED WARE Culture begins in Eurasia, from the Rhine to the Volga, until 2350.  Originated from the westward migration of Yamnaya-related people from the steppe-forest zone.  Named after cord-like design on its pottery.
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 Funl BkrΛ FUNNELBEAKER V Culture is at maximum extent.  map: Krakkos photo: Silar

3000 eupFBC
c.3000 EARLY NEOLITHIC-2, in Greece and Aegean from 5100, ends.  BRONZE AGE in Greece begins until 1200EARLY 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 FrancthiFRANCHTHI CAVE in the Argolid, Greece, occupied seasonally from 38,000, showing earliest evidence of burials and possibly agriculture in Greece from 7250, is now abandoned. 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 UsatovoUSATOVO Culture northwest of Black Sea from 3400, ends. photo: Jona Lendering

2900 wikUsC
c.2800 Funl BkrΛ FUNNELBEAKER Culture, in Scandinavia, German, and north-central Eurasia from 4300, ends, superseded by Single Grave culture.  photo: Silar

2800 ttcFBC, wikFBC, wikSGC
c.2800 Single GraveSINGLE GRAVE Culture, a local variant of Corded Ware culture, emerges from migration from the Pontic-Caspian steppe into northwest Europe.  People hunt, fish, have agriculture (mostly barley) and raise cattle.  Single burials have a pottery vessel; men have a battle-axe or mace and flint tools; women have necklaces of amber beads.  Lasts until 2200. 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 Glob AmGLOBULAR AMPHORA Culture from 3400 ends, from the Elbe to the Vistula, extending south to the middle Dniester and east to the Dnieper. 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 CucuteniCUCUTENI-TRYPILLIA Culture from Carpathian Mountains to the Dniester and Dnieper, centered on Moldova and covering parts of west Ukraine and northeast Romania from 5500 ends.  . photo: CristianChirita

3460 u2HWEY 2750 wikCTC
  c.2700 2700 map: DEMIS Mapserver
c.2700 PRAGUE Bohemia, Neolithic settlement from 5000, ends. 2700 B76 14-944
c.2690 BadenChalcolithic BADEN Culture across Austria-Hungary from 3520 ends. 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 YamnaYAMNAYA Culture, mostly in Asia, north of Black & Caspian Seas from 3300, in Europe from 3100, ends.  Nomads, with a chiefdom system and wheeled carts and wagons that allowed them to manage large herds, buried their dead in tumuli (kurgans) containing simple pit chambers.  Displaced by CATACOMB Culture, which lasts until 1950.  Economy is based mostly on cattle, sheep, goat, horse and some pigs.  Dead are buried in a flexed position on their right side, often accompanied by silver rings, wheeled vehicles, wooden plows, and weapons such as stone and metal axes, arrows, daggers and maces.  Skulls of aristocrats are sometimes modelled in clay.  Livestock is often sacrificed. gif: Joshua Jonathan

2800 u2HWEY timelapse 2600 wikYmn 2500 wikCtc, wikIEM, wikPE
c.2500 Bell BeakersBELL BEAKERS appear in west Europe graves, which also contain copper daggers.  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 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
Durrington 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 2400 map: DEMIS Mapserver
c.2350 NemanCORDED WARE Culture in Eurasia, from 3000, ends. 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 UneticeUNETICE Culture (named for site at Unetice northwest of Prague), in central Europe begins until 1600Phase A1 begins until 1800.  A1 has triangular daggers, flat axes, stone wrist-guards, flint arrowheads. 2300 wikUnt
c.2300 PommeltePOMMELTE Ring astronomical observatory built of wood, in Germany by Unetice people. 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 motillas motillasMOTILLAS begin around LaMancha Spain until 1350 1300:  man-made hills 4-5m high with forts on top.  The hills are separated by 4-5km, and used as control centers for agricultural resources, to secure water, store and process cereals, occasionally keep livestock, and to produce pottery and other domestic artefacts. 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