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The Neolithic transition - fact or fiction? Palaeoecological evidence from the Balkans

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK

K.D. Bennett

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK

Extensive study of the spread of agriculture from the near east to northern Europe by archaeologists has failed to establish the extent to which early Neolithic farmers had an impact upon the landscape. Two current theories for how early farming spread from southeast to northern Europe (population expansion resulting in the surplus population moving northwards, and cultural migration of technologies and crops without a large population movement) are examined in the light of palaeoeco logical evidence for the temporal and spatial scale of the development of extensive agriculture. Both theories assume on a time-transgressive spread starting at 10000BP in the near east, reaching the Balkans at 8000-6000 BP, and northern Europe at 5000-4000 BP. The model of the so-called 'Neolithic transition' is fully incorporated into the archaeological literature and has further been used to suggest the spread of the Indo-European language. However, evidence from Holocene palaeoecological records of the Balkans suggests that the time-transgressive explanation for the spread of agriculture is unsatisfactory. The impact of agriculture upon the landscape did not follow a time-transgressive spread and did not occur until at least 6000BP, considerably later than either of the prevailing theories. Ideas about how, why, and when the impact took place need revision.

Key Words: Neolithic transition • Balkans • palaeoecology • human impact • early agriculture • archaeology • forest clearance • Indo-European language.

The Holocene, Vol. 4, No. 3, 326-330 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/095968369400400313


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