Old Europe (archaeology)

, 5th millennium BC Neolithic Europe refers to the time between the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods in Europe, roughly from 7000 BC (the approximate time of the first metal processing societies in Bosnia and Serbia, and first farming societies in Greece), to c. 2000 BC (the beginning of the Bronze Age in Scandinavia). Its peak period is estimated as 5000–3500 BC, during which its population centers exceeded the first Mesopotamian cities. A high level of craft skill and trade is evident from tons of recovered copper artifacts and a small amount of gold, as well as pottery and carved items. These include the period's signature female figurines which have raised interest in the role of the society's women, as well as suspected proto-writing. pottery, c. 4500 BC Regardless of specific chronology, many European Neolithic groups share basic characteristics, such as living in small-scale communities, being more egalitarian than the city-states and chiefdoms of the Bronze Age, subsisting on domestic plants and animals supplemented with the collection of wild plant foods and hunting, and producing hand-made pottery, without the aid of the potter's wheel. There are also many differences, with some Neolithic communities in southeastern Europe living in heavily fortified settlements of 3,000–4,000 people (e.g., Sesklo in Greece) whereas Neolithic groups in Britain were usually small (possibly 50–100 people). figurine, Romania, 4050–3900 BC|221x221px Marija Gimbutas studied the Neolithic period in order to understand cultural developments in settled village culture in the southern Balkans, which she characterized as peaceful, matristic, and possessing a goddess-centered religion. In contrast, she characterizes the later Indo-European influences as warlike, nomadic, and patrilineal. and the Vasconic substratum hypothesis of Theo Vennemann (also see Sigmund Feist's Germanic substrate hypothesis). ==Indo-European origins==

, Ukraine, c. 3700 BC. Cucuteni-Trypillia culture. According to Gimbutas' version of the Kurgan hypothesis, Old Europe was invaded and destroyed by horse-riding pastoral nomads from the Pontic–Caspian steppe (the "Kurgan culture") who brought with them violence, patriarchy, and Indo-European languages. More recent proponents of the Kurgan hypothesis agree that the cultures of Old Europe spoke pre-Indo-European languages but include a less dramatic transition, with a prolonged migration of Proto-Indo-European speakers after Old Europe's collapse due to other factors. Colin Renfrew's competing Anatolian hypothesis suggests that the Indo-European languages were spread across Europe by the first farmers from Anatolia. In the hypothesis' original formulation, the languages of Old Europe belonged to the Indo-European family but played no special role in its transmission. According to Renfrew's most recent revision of the theory, however, Old Europe was a "secondary urheimat" (linguistic homeland) where the Greek, Armenian, and Balto-Slavic language families diverged around 5000 BC. Three genetic studies in 2015 gave partial support to the Steppe theory regarding the Indo-European Urheimat. According to those studies, haplogroups R1b and R1a, now the most common in Europe (R1a is also common in South Asia) would have expanded from the steppes north of the Pontic and Caspian seas, along with at least some of the Indo-European languages; they also detected an autosomal component present in modern Europeans which was not present in Neolithic Europeans, which would have been introduced with paternal lineages R1b and R1a, as well as Indo-European languages. ==Gallery==

Artifacts File:Female figurine with child small painted terracott neolithic, NAMA 5937 080804.jpg|Sesklo culture figurine File:Ancient Greece Neolithic Pottery - 28171056730.jpg|Sesklo and Dimini culture ceramics File:Clay vase with polychrome decoration, Dimini, Magnesia, Late or Final Neolithic (5300-3300 BC).jpg|Dimini culture ceramic vessel File:Serbia, Vinça culture, Neolithic Era - Vinca Idol - 2000.202 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|alt=Vinca culture figurine|Vinča culture figurine File:Винча — Бело брдо 2.jpg|alt=Vinca culture ceramics|Vinča culture ceramics File:Copper axes with modern replicas, National Museum of Serbia 04 2413-2423 (09).jpg|Vinča culture copper axe File:Tartaria2.jpg|alt=Vinca culture, Tartaria tablet|Vinča culture, Tartaria tablet File:Керамичен съд от с. Слатино, ранен халколит 009.jpg|Karanovo culture ceramic vessel File:NeolithicVessel B&W 1.jpg|Karanovo culture ceramic vessel File:Hotarani bowl 5500-5000 vadastra culture nrim.jpg|Vădastra culture ceramic bowl File:Tisza1.jpg|Tisza culture ceramic altar File:Gumelnita1.jpg|Gumelnița culture ceramic vessel File:Ceramic House Model - National History Museum of Romania 12156.jpg|Gumelnița culture architectural model File:思想者塑像.JPG|Hamangia culture figurine File:Human-sized clay head found at Varna necropolis.png|Hamangia culture ceramic sculpture File:Bodrogkeresztur gold.jpg|Bodrogkeresztúr culture gold idol File:Boian culture 2011 12 (edited angle).jpg|alt=|Boian culture ceramic File:Journal.pone.0278116.g008.png|Tiszapolgár culture, copper ornaments File:Museum of History Kardzhali 2011 PD 015.JPG|Jade pendant, Karanovo culture File:Butmir1.jpg|Butmir culture ceramic vessel File:Zivotinjski riton.jpg|Danilo culture ceramic vessel File:Bull pendants from Grave 36 (Varna Necropolis) (36756066545).jpg|alt=|Varna culture gold pendants File:Alba Iulia National Museum of the Union 2011 - Petresti Culture Pottery Belonging to a Ritual Complex from Ghirbom.JPG|Petresti culture pottery File:MuzeuldeistorienaturalavienaCucutenitripolieartefacts.JPG|alt=|Cucuteni-Trypillia ceramic and copper artefacts File:Neolithic Pottery (28650540752).jpg|Cucuteni-Trypillia ceramics Settlements File:Sesklo DSC 2020a.jpg|alt=|Sesklo, Sesklo culture File:Dimini 3.jpg|Dimini walled acropolis File:Okoliste. Neolithic settlement 5200 BC. Bosnia and Herzegovina (cropped).jpg|Okoliste, Butmir culture File:Durankulak-Tell Golemija ostrov.JPG|alt=|Durankulak, Varna/ Hamangia culture File:Solnitsata 4700 - 4200 B.C..jpg|Solnitsata, Varna culture File:Talianki 1c.jpg|Talianki, Cucuteni-Trypillia culture File:ScaleRepoductionOfaCucutenivillage.JPG|alt=|Village model, Cucuteni culture File:Cucuteni houses 1.jpg|alt=|Houses, Cucuteni-Trypillia culture File:Maidanetske ground plan.jpg|Maidanetske ground plan, Ukraine File:Trypillia house.png|House with raised platform at Maidanetsk, c. 3700 BC File:Nebelivka megastructure, reconstruction.jpg|Nebelivka temple, Cucuteni-Trypillia culture. File:TellYunatsite.jpg|Tell Yunatsite, Karanovo culture. File:Magura - Pietrele, Neolithic - Chalcolithic tell site, Romania.png|Magura tell site, Gumelnița culture File:White Hill in Vinča, profile and approach.jpg|Vinča-Belo Brdo, Vinča culture File:LBK house 1.jpg|Longhouse model, Linear Pottery culture File:Smac Neolithikum 122.jpg|Linear Pottery culture settlement File:Neolitic houses reconstruction 01.JPG|Neolithic house reconstructions, Karanovo culture. ==See also==