by Chris Fowler
Cattle mortality usually approximates to a ‘meat’ strategy, but together with ‘traction pathologies’ suggests draught oxen in south-east Spain in the LN–Copper Age, compatible with Sherratt’s (1981) fourth to third millennium BC ‘secondary products revolution’. Data from Crete, however, indicate much earlier use of draught cows, consistent with small-scale tillage and thus intensive crop husbandry, and suggesting particular reliance on draught cattle where autumn sowing was under greatest time stress. In south-east Europe, early dominance of sheep suggests small-scale herding tied to arable land; later increases in pigs, cattle, or goats may reflect larger numbers making wider use of the landscape, although dental microwear in both periods implies close confinement on disturbed or overgrazed land. In the south-west, species composition displays a similar trend; differences in some regions may partly be due to sampling. Wild animals are scarce on most open settlements, but better represented at some caves and rock shelters especially in the west Mediterranean, where hunting is also celebrated in rock art. Use of wild animal teeth as ornaments in south-west and south-east Europe, however, and the introduction of wild animals to Aegean islands, suggests more widespread cultural significance. Use of caves for burial and herding is better documented in south-west than south-east Europe, probably reflecting regional differences in social reproduction rather than land use; in both regions caves sheltered small-scale, short-distance herding with limited impact on the regional landscape.
With domestic storage and intensive crop husbandry in stable clearings, households probably enjoyed recurring rights to cultivated plots, even if a larger ‘village’ community undertook clearance, enclosure, and defence. Household control of plots and produce would have reduced risk of underproduction in the face of highly seasonal demands for hard labour, but threatened collective cohesion. Neolithic societies in southern Europe asserted domestic independence through architectural elaboration of houses and communal solidarity through enclosure, burial, and other rites emphasizing collective identity. Rituals in caves confirm that collective identity was bound up with control of the wider cultural landscape, beyond enclosed gardens.
Elaborate ceramic ‘tableware’ stresses the importance of formal commensality. In contrast to domestic storage of staple crops, most livestock were killed too old, and so too big, for consumption by a single household, but carcasses were processed intensively (Halstead 2007; Saña 2000, 160). Pre-depositional dispersal of carcass parts at EN–FN Knossos and EN Paliambela-Kolindrou suggests widespread distribution of meat (Isaakidou 2007). Since most domesticates could have been slaughtered younger and smaller, they were arguably raised for consumption by large social groups. The animals slaughtered ranged from small lambs to large adult cattle, however, so the consumption of meat, and of beverages such as wine or milk (Urem-Kotsou et al. 2002; Valamoti et al. 2007), was probably a vehicle for competition as well as solidarity. At LN Makriyalos, northern Greece, a pit with remains of hundreds of butchered animals, standardized serving vessels, and individualized cups simultaneously signals collective solidarity and intra-communal competition (Pappa et al. 2004). Commensality presupposes surplus, probably intrinsic to grain production in the highly seasonal and somewhat uncertain climate of southern Europe (Halstead 1989). Given unpredictable harvests and labour supply varying over the domestic cycle, early farming households will periodically have under- or overproduced relative to their needs. Surplus grain of limited ‘shelf-life’ could have been used to recruit labour or to fatten livestock for consumption at a feast that would earn political capital and so help recruit labour in future. Although of secondary dietary importance, therefore, livestock were central to Neolithic political economies and their articulation with staple crop production.
CONCLUSION: FROM PATTERN TO PROCESS
The traditional model of sudden change from mobile Mesolithic foragers to sedentary Neolithic farmers has rightly been questioned. To a surprising degree, however, south-west Asian crop and livestock species were adopted rapidly and as an integrated package across southern Europe. The transition was doubtless gradual and piecemeal on the timescale of human agents, but available temporal resolution obscures this, and much purported evidence for gradual transition may be illusory. Hunting played an important role in Neolithic social reproduction and landscape enculturation, but not normally in subsistence. Neolithic settlement patterns varied regionally and diachronically, as did subsistence practices, but regional variability in archaeobotanical and faunal data is mainly shaped by archaeological formation processes and research traditions. Available evidence suggests Neolithic populations across southern Europe subsisted primarily on cereal and pulse crops, probably grown under small-scale, intensive, and stable conditions. Livestock were of secondary dietary significance, though integral to crop production and social interaction. Adoption of south-west Asian domesticates was linked with unprecedented forms of social integration (household, local community), property (domestic control of stored crops and probably arable plots), and cultural landscape (often focused on relatively long-lived settlements), making discussions surrounding the relative role of economy and ideology in Neolithization meaningless; much of the elaborate material culture of Neolithic southern Europe may represent strategies for mediating tensions inherent to the new and dynamic social order, domestic economy, and ideology. Despite adopting a largely common set of domesticates, Neolithic societies across southern Europe exhibit considerable regional, and sometimes local, diversity in strategies of residence, social reproduction, and landscape enculturation. Whether colonists or acculturated foragers were the biological ancestors of Europe’s earliest farmers is currently unanswerable, but in any case sheds little light on EN social formations, let alone those that developed over the following three or four millennia. The agency of early European farmers is evident in their diverse mediations of the tensions and contradictions inherent to Neolithic economy and ideology, not in obedience to environmental constraints or cultural templates.
REFERENCES
Albore Livadie, C., Fedele, F., Albarella, U., Matteis, F. di, Esposito, E., and Federico, R. 1987–88. Ricerche sull’insediamento tardo-neolitico di Mulino Sant’Antonio (Avella). Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche 41, 65–103.
Andel, T. van, Zangger, E., and Demitrack, A. 1990. Land use and soil erosion in prehistoric and historical Greece. Journal of Field Archaeology 17, 379–396.
Badal, E. 2002. Bosques, campos y pastos: el potencial económico de la vegetación mediterránea. In E. Badal, J. Bernabeu, and B. Martí (eds), El paisaje en el Neolitico mediterráneo, Saguntum Extra 5, 129–146. Valencia: Universitat de València.
Badal, E., Bernabeu, J., and Vernet, J.L. 1994. Vegetation changes and human action from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (7000–4000 B.P.) in Alicante, Spain, based on charcoal analysis. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 3, 155–166.
Balasescu, A., Moise, D., and Radu, V. 2006. Une utilisation des bovins pour la traction pendant le Chalcolithique en Roumanie? In P. Pétrequin, R.-M. Arbogast, A.-M. Pétrequin, S. van Willigen, and M. Bailly (eds), Premiers chariots, premiers araires. La diffusion de la traction animale en Europe pendant les IVe et IIIe millénaires avant notre ère, CRA Monograph 29, 269–273. Paris: CNRS.
Barnard, A. and Woodburn, J. 1991. Property, power and ideology in hunting and gathering societies: an introduction. In T. Ingold, D. Riches, and J. Woodburn (eds), Hunters and gatherers, 2: property, power and ideology, 4–31. Oxford: Berg.
Bartosiewicz, L. 2005. Plain talk: animals, environment and culture in the Neolithic of the Carpathian Basin and adjacent areas. In D. Bailey, A. Whittle, and V. Cummings (eds), (Un)settling the Neolithic, 51–63. Oxford: Oxbow.
Bartosiewicz, L. 2007a. Mammalian bone. In A. Whittle (ed.), The Early Neolithic on the Great Hungarian Plain: investigations of the Körös culture site of Ecsegfalva 23, Co. Békés, 287–325. Budapest: Institute of Archaeology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Bartosiewicz, L. 2007b. Fish remains. In A. W
hittle (ed.), The Early Neolithic on the Great Hungarian Plain: investigations of the Körös culture site of Ecsegfalva 23, Co. Békés, 377–394. Budapest: Institute of Archaeology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Bernabeu, J., Aura, J.E., and Badal, E. 1995. Al Oeste del Eden: las primeras sociedades agrícolas en la Europa mediterránea. Madrid: Editorial Síntesis.
Bernabeu, J., Barton, C.M., and Pérez Ripoll, M. 2001. A taphonomic perspective on Neolithic beginnings: theory, interpretation and empirical data in the western Mediterranean. Journal of Archaeological Science 28, 597–612.
Bernabeu, J., Orozco Köhler, T., Díez Castillo, A., Gómez Puche, M., and Molina Hernández, F.J. 2003. Mas d’Is (Penàguila, Alicante): aldeas y recintos monumentales del Neolítico inicial en el Valle del Serpis. Trabajos de Prehistoria 60, 39–59.
Binder, D. and Maggi, R. 2001. Le Néolithique ancien de l’arc liguro-provençal. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 98, 411–422.
Bogaard, A. 2002. Questioning the relevance of shifting cultivation to Neolithic farming in the loess belt of Europe: evidence from the Hambach Forest experiment. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 11, 155–168.
Bogaard, A., Bending, J., and Jones, G. 2007. Archaeobotanical evidence for plant husbandry and use at Ecsegfalva 23. In A. Whittle (ed.), The Early Neolithic on the Great Hungarian Plain: investigations of the Körös culture site of Ecsegfalva 23, Co. Békés, 421–445. Budapest: Institute of Archaeology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Bökönyi, S. 1971. The development and history of domestic animals in Hungary: the Neolithic through to Middle Ages. American Anthropologist 73, 640–674.
Bökönyi, S. 1973. Stock breeding. In D.R. Theocharis (ed.), Neolithic Greece, 165–178. Athens: National Bank of Greece.
Bökönyi, S. 1976. The vertebrate fauna from Anza. In M. Gimbutas (ed.), Neolithic Macedonia, 313–363. Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, University of California.
Bonsall, C., Cook, G., Hedges, R.E.M., Higham, T.F.G., Pickard, C., and Radovanovic, I. 2004. Radiocarbon and stable isotope evidence of dietary changes from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages in the Iron Gates: new results from Lepenski Vir. Radiocarbon 46, 293–300.
Borojevič, K. 2006. Terra and silva in the Pannonian Plain. Opovo agro-gathering in the Late Neolithic. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Boschian, G. and Montagnari-Kokelj, E. 2000. Prehistoric shepherds and caves in the Trieste karst (northeastern Italy). Geoarchaeology 15, 331–371.
Brochier, J.E. 1991. Géoarchéologie du monde agropastoral. In J. Guilaine (ed.), Pour une archéologie agraire à la croissée des sciences de l’homme et de la nature, 303–322. Paris: Armand Colin.
Brochier, J.E. 2006. Des hommes et des bêtes: une approche naturaliste de l’histoire et des pratiques de l’élevage. In J. Guilaine (ed.), Populations néolithiques et environnements, 137–152. Paris: Errance.
Brochier, J.E., Claustre, F., and Heinz, C. 1998. Environmental impact of Neolithic and Bronze Age farming in the eastern Pyrenees forelands, based on multidisciplinary investigations at La Caune de Bélesta (Bélesta Cave), near Perpignan, France. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 7, 1–9.
Brochier, J. E., Villa, P., Giacomarra, M., and Tagliacozzo, A. 1992. Shepherds and sediments: geo-ethnoarchaeology of pastoral sites. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 11, 47–102.
Buxó, R. 2007. Crop evolution: new evidence from the Neolithic of west Mediterranean Europe. In S. Colledge and J. Conolly (eds), The origins and spread of domestic plants in southwest Asia and Europe, 155–171. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Buxó, R., Rovira, N., and Saüch, C. 2000. Les restes vegetals de llavors i fruits. In A. Bosch, A. Chinchilla, and J. Tarrús (eds), El poblat lacustre Neolític de la Draga. Excavacions de 1990 a 1998, 129–139. Girona: Centre d’Arqueologia Subaquàtica de Catalunya.
Cantuel, J., Gardeisen, A., and Renard, J. 2008. L’exploitation de la faune durant le Néolithique dans le bassin Égéen. In E. Vila, L. Gourichon, H. Buitenhuis, and A. Choyke (eds), Archaeozoology of the Near East 8, 279–298. Lyon: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée.
Cassoli, P.F. and Tagliacozzo, A. 1995. I reperti ossei faunistici dell’area della piroga, in M.A. Fugazzola Delpino and M. Mineo, La piroga neolitica del lago di Bracciano (‘La Marmotta 1’). Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana 86, 267–288.
Chaix, L. and Maamar, H.S. 1993. La chasse au Néolithique dans les Alpes du Nord (Valais, Italie du nord, Haute-Savoie et Dauphiné): des données archéozoologiques aux modélisations archéologiques. In J. Desse and F. Audoin-Rouzeau (eds), Exploitation des animaux sauvages à travers le temps, 161–181. Juans-les-Pins: Éditions APDCA.
Costantini, L. 1989. Plant exploitation at Grotta dell’ Uzzo, Sicily: new evidence for the transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic subsistence in southern Europe. In D.R. Harris and G.C. Hillman (eds), Foraging and farming: the evolution of plant exploitation, 197–206. London: Unwin Hyman.
Courty, M.A., MacPhail, R.I., and Wattez, J. 1991. Soil micromorphological indicators of pastoralism; with special reference to Arene Candide, Finale Ligure, Italy. Rivista di Studi Liguri 57, 127–150.
Craig, O.E., Chapman, J., Heron, C., Willis, L.H., Bartosiewicz, L., Taylor, G., Whittle, A., and Collins, M. 2005. Did the first farmers of central and eastern Europe produce dairy foods? Antiquity 79, 882–894.
Delhon, C., Martin, L., Argant, J., and Thiébault, S. 2008. Shepherds and plants in the Alps: multi-proxy archaeobotanical analysis of neolithic dung from ‘La Grande Rivoire’ (Isère, France). Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 2937–2952.
Delhon, C., Thiébault, S., and Berger, J.-F. 2009. Environment and landscape management during the Middle Neolithic in southern France: evidence for agro-sylvo-pastoral systems in the Middle Rhone valley. Quaternary International 200, 50–65.
Dimitrijevič, V. 2008. Vertebrate fauna of Vinča-Belo Brdo (excavation campaigns 1998–2003). Starinar 56, 245–269.
Driesch, A. von den 1987. Haus- und Jagdtiere im vorgeschichtlichen Thessalien. Prähistorische Zeitschrift 62, 1–21.
Evershed, R.P., Payne, S., Sherratt, A.G., Copley, M.S., Coolidge, J., Urem-Kotsu, D., Kotsakis, K., Özdoğan, M., Özdoğan, A.E., Nieuwenhuyse, O., Akkermans, P.M.M.G., Bailey, D., Andeescu, R.-R., Campbell, S., Farid, S., Hodder, I., Yalman, N., Özbasaran, M., Bıçakcı, E., Garfinkel, Y., Levy, T., and Burton, M.M. 2008. Earliest date for milk use in the Near East and southeastern Europe linked to cattle herding. Nature 455, 528–531.
Forenbaher, S. and Miracle, P.T. 2005. The spread of farming in the eastern Adriatic. Antiquity 79, 514–528.
Gál, E. 2007. Bird remains. In A. Whittle (ed.), The Early Neolithic on the Great Hungarian Plain: investigations of the Körös culture site of Ecsegfalva 23, Co. Békés, 361–376. Budapest: Institute of Archaeology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Gibaja, J.F. 2004. Neolithic communities of the northeastern Iberian peninsula: burials, grave goods and lithic tools. Current Anthropology 45, 679–685.
González Urquijo, J.E., Ibáñez Estévez, J.J., and Zapata Peña, L. 1999. El V milenio cal BC en el País Vasco atlántico: la introducción de la agricultura y la ganadería. In J. Bernabeu and T. Orozco Köhler (eds), Actes del II Congrés del Neolític a la Península Ibèrica, Universitat de València, 7–9 d’Abril, 1999. Saguntum-PLAV Extra 2, 559–564. Valencia: Universitat de València.
Greenfield, H.J. 1999. Fauna from the Late Neolithic of the Central Balkans: issues in subsistence and land use. Journal of Field Archaeology 18, 161–186.
Greenfield, H.J. 2005. A reconsideration of the secondary products revolution: 20 years of research in the central Balkans. In J. Mulville and A. Outram (eds), The zooarchaeology of milk and fats, 14–31. Oxford: Oxbow.
Gyulai, F. 2007. Seed and fruit remains associated with Neolithic origins in the Carpathian Basin. In S. Colledge and J. Conolly (eds), The origins and spread of domestic plants in southwest Asia and Europe, 125–139. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Halstead, P. 1987. Man and other animals in later Greek prehistory. Annual of the British School of Archaeology at Athens 82, 71–83.
Halstead, P. 1989. The economy has a normal surplus: economic stability and social change among early farming communities of Thessaly, Greece. In P. Halstead and J. O.’Shea (eds), Bad year economics, 68–80. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Halstead, P. 1994. The north-south divide: regional paths to complexity in prehistoric Greece. In C. Mathers and S. Stoddart (eds), Development and decline in the Mediterranean Bronze Age, 195–219. Sheffield: J.R. Collis.
Halstead, P. 1996. Pastoralism or household herding? Problems of scale and specialisation in early Greek animal husbandry. World Archaeology 28, 20–42.
Halstead, P. 2005. Resettling the Neolithic: faunal evidence for seasons of consumption and residence at Neolithic sites in Greece. In D. Bailey, A. Whittle, and V. Cummings (eds), (Un)settling the Neolithic, 38–50. Oxford: Oxbow.
Halstead, P. 2006. Sheep in the garden: the integration of crop and livestock husbandry in early farming regimes of Greece and southern Europe. In D. Serjeantson and D. Field (eds), Animals in the Neolithic of Britain and Europe, 42–55. Oxford: Oxbow.
Halstead, P. 2007. Carcasses and commensality: investigating the social context of meat consumption in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Greece. In C. Mee and J. Renard (eds), Cooking up the past: food and culinary practices in the Neolithic and Bronze Age Aegean, 25–48. Oxford: Oxbow.
