Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 4, Europe

drained. Thick deposits of redeposited loess cover the countryside. Drier areas were far back from the major river systems and were of lower agricultural productivity. The area has a continental rainfall regime, with precipitation evenly distributed throughout the year (600 mm annual average). The highest precipitation is during the summer (June) and the lowest during the winter (February). Rainfall across the entire area is sufficient for dry farming. The area has an annual average temperature of 11-l2°e and 2100 hours of sunshine. In the late fall and early winter (November), snow begins to fall and may last until March. The average temperature in January is -2 to -I °and in July may exceed 23°. The average temperature for the growing season is 18-19°. The open plains allow snow accumulations to be easily blown away by the winds. Even fast-flowing streams and rivers may freeze. The plant community falls in the central European biotic region. Pollen diagrams indicate that the environment was probably much the same in the Bronze Age as at present, barring modern deforestation. Typical central European types of deciduous forests and grasslands, each of which contains a rich diversity of plant and animal life, characterize the region. Ribbon forests alongside the rivers and marshland environments, with rich terrestrial and aquatic resources, were intensively exploited. Marsh, meadow, and other aquatic communities border the rivers, oxbows, and other wet depressions dotting the area. The drier interfluves of the lowlands were covered by grassland steppe biota, although some areas were drier than others.

Settlements

The distribution of settlements is somewhat dictated by the flat terrain, poorly drained countryside, and seasonal flooding of the rivers. Settlement was often linearly distributed on levees parallel to the river course or clustered isolated areas that rose above the surrounding seasonally flooded or marshy countryside. The drier interfluves were relatively insignificant foci of settlement, although they were probably intensely exploited for domestic grazing. The population was distributed in small villages separated by 5-10 km. There are two types of sites: settlement sites (shallow and deeply stratified or tell sites) and separate cemetery sites. Tell sites (often more than 3 m deep) are an outstanding feature of Pannonia and other lowland areas. In some areas, tells appear to be purposely formed, possibly for defensive purposes (with surrounding

European Early Bronze Age 151

ditches). In other areas, there does not appear to be differences in the functions or nature of settlement at tell and shallow sites. Instead, the nature of terrain appears to govern the formation of tell sites. Tell sites are most often located in areas of land scarcity (near areas that area repeatedly flooded), whereas shallow sites are located in areas that are better drained. The settlements are small farming villages « I00 people) dotting the landscape inhabited by closely related families, pursuing a diversified subsistence strategy, including small-scale craft production, plow agriculture, and diversified pastoralism.

Houses tend to small and rectangular, with earthen or prepared clay floors, wattle-and-daub walls, and roofs of matted or woven reeds. They tend to be 8- 14 m long and 4 m wide. There is some evidence for interior features (ovens and hearths), room dividers, and storage pits. They were probably occupied by a nuclear or small extended family. There is little evidence of functional differences between houses in settlements, because the nature and distribution of artifacts does not vary dramatically. Exterior features are also found on all sites, such as large bell-shaped storage pits, ovens, kilns, and prepared clay living surfaces.

Economy

Wild animals and plants represent a minor, but still significant component of the food species at most sites. The most common animals include red and roe deer, aurochs, wild pig, and fish (carp, pike, bream, perch and zander). The quantities of fish are determined by proximity to major watercourses. The major domestic animals include sheep, goat, cattle, pig, dog, and horse. With the exception of dog, they were exploited for both primary (meat, hide, bone) and secondary products (traction, milk, and wool). Horse bones constitute a regular but small percentage of the domestic fauna. Bone artifacts, often elaborately decorated, believed to be cheekpieces for horse bits, are found. Plow agriculture and the cart are prevalent. Low-risk crops, such as wheat (emmer) and barley (twoand six-row), are the most common domestic plants. These are especially suitable for the wet and unpredictable environment of the region. There is a greater variability in crop types than in previous periods, although they are of lesser importance (e.g., bread wheat, rye, field pea, lentils). Wild plants do not seem to have been very important in the diet. There is an abundance of storage and drinking vessel forms. Storage took place in each household. It

152European Early Bronze Age

has been suggested that mead appeared as a social beverage.

Metal tools become common during this period (see below). The number of metal finds is relatively few at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, and they are largely made of copper. Metal artifacts increase in frequencies toward the end of the Early Bronze Age. Early in the Early Bronze Age, bronze (copper and tin alloy) tools begin to be produced. Silver and gold are also found. Most finds are in graves. Metals are either cast in molds or hammered. Metal types include weapons (swords, daggers, adzes, and battle-axes, flat axes, spears), ornaments (pins), and sheet metal ornaments. Metal was imported probably from Romanian sources. Only a relatively small proportion of metal types appears to be utilitarian. The rest were of social rather than practical significance. Stone almost completely disappears by this period, and the most common types are small blades, most of which were probably used for cutting grasses or reeds. Cut marks on animal bones indicate that stone remains an important part of the butchering technology. Wood, reed, and other raw materials are used for tools and containers. Wool is an important source of cloth, and weaving of wool is an important activity. There is an abundance of loom weights, ceramic spindle whorls, wooly sheep figurines, and changes in sheep-culling patterns that indicate a shift toward secondary products exploitation. There is extensive use of liquids, such as milk and mead, as attested by an emphasis on ceramic forms clearly designed for the drinking and pouring of liquids (cups, jugs, and ceramic sieves). Biconical beakers, oneand two-handled cups, and pitchers are important elements of the ceramic assemblage. Ornaments were made from bone, metal, land snail, freshand saltwater mollusk, and faience. Fine-grained stone and mollusks for beads and pendants derive from distant sources (Black Sea, and Carpathian mountains) and are indications of long-distance exchange. The gold derives from Romanian Carpathian sources. The river systems form "natural corridors" for communication and movement through the lowlands, which were often flooded or remained marshy. The technology of moving goods includes carts and boats. There is intense local interaction between settlements because style zones have limited spatial distributions. Interaction appears to decrease in intensity once the style zone of neighboring cultures is crossed.

Sociopolitical Organization

This period saw the emergence of new gender differences in production. Men were more clearly associated

with warfare, pastoralism, and other pursuits that take them away from the homestead. Weapons and tools associated with warfare, plow agriculture, and hunting are linked to males, both symbolically and in grave goods. Fingerprints on pottery appear to indicate that women were decorating (if not making) pottery. Ornaments were also gender related. Men's accessories included metal torques with recurved terminal, whereas women wore necklaces strung from small bronze tubes, snail and other shell, and faience. Even though communities were small, there was a strong emphasis on symbolic expression of status. There are status differences within genders, as attested by differential treatment during burial. Status differences for individuals and households were displayed through the acquisition of exotic wealth. Some men clearly had greater access to scarce and valuable resources than did others. It has been suggested that rank and status were inherited patrilineally. Even children were buried with indicators of high status. Men tended to be buried with more highly valued goods than women, including artifacts made of bronze, copper, and gold and nonlocal goods obtained through long-distance exchange. Most burials have only a few (or no) goods made from only local materials. This would imply the existence of an internal low-level social hierarchy in local communities (also known as a tribal or big-man type of society). There is no evidence yet, however, of an extralocal elite in the absence of an associated settlement hierarchy (unlike in surrounding areas). Therefore, local communities were autonomous. Regional sociopolitical integration is achieved by broadly shared cultural and ideological structures. There is a suggestion of low-level raiding or warfare between neighboring cultures owing to the sharp cultural boundaries.

Religion and Expressive Culture

The Maros culture sites are linked by a common ideology as reflected in symbolism displayed on locally produced artifacts and funerary behavior. The evidence for ritual beliefs is best derived from mortuary remains. Major differences in social rank are expressed through differences in handling, manipulation, and mortuary ritual. The relative rarity of ritually associated artifacts emphasizing images of females has been interpreted as a shift in the role of women in religion and society. A maleoriented ideology is often argued to become prominent, and male deities are hypothesized to become more powerful during this period. Female figurines have been interpreted as a survivals of the earlier fertility cults,

whereas the appearance of male figurines is often interpreted as the appearance of male deities. There is no evidence for specialized religious practitioners. Art extends into the realm of social status and specific functions in corporate groups through the decoration of garments and ornaments. A general motif is the representation of a single figure. Zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines tend to be small and simplified with only slight indications of anatomical detail. Motifs used to decorate ceramics, figurines, sculpture (e.g., embroidered dress, jewelry, long hair of figures.) are generally abstract geometric expressions. Burials are mostly individual inhumations, although multiple burials are not uncommon. Both the range and quality of goods dramatically increase and are generally associated with higher status individuals. Mortuary rituals were modified to express the newfound status hierarchies in society.

References

Basler, Djuro, Alojz Benac, Stane Gabrovec, Milutin Gara6anin, Nikola Tasii:, Borivoj Covii:, and Ksenija Vinska-Gasparini, eds.

(1983). Praistorija Jugoslavenskah Zemalja, vol. 4: Bronzano Doba.

Akademija Nauka Umjetnosti Bosne Hercegovine. Sarajevo: Center za Balkanoloska Ispitivanja.

Berciu, Dumitru (1967). Romania. New York: Praeger.

B6k6nyi, Sandor (1974). History of Domestic Mammals in Central and Eastern Europe. Budapest: Akademiai Kiad6.

Brukner, Bogdan, ed. (1974). Symposium Ober das Spiitaneolithikum und die Friihbronzezeit im Donaugebiet. Istrazivanja 5. Novi Sad: Filozofski Fakultet, Institut za Istoriju.

Choyke, Alice M. (1983). "An Analysis of Bone, Antler and Tooth Tools from Bronze Age Hungary." Unpublished Ph.D. diss., University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Coles, John. M., and Anthony. F. Harding (1979). The Bronze Age in Europe. New York: St. Martins Press.

Dumitrescu, Vladimir (1983). "The Prehistory of Romania from the Earliest Times to 1000 B.C'." In The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 3, part I. 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1-74.

Frenzel, B. (1966). "Climatic Change in the Atlantic/sub-Boreal Transition." In World Climate 8000-0 B.C'., ed. J. S. Sawyer. London: Royal Meteorological Society, 99-123.

Garasanin, Milutin (1983). "The Bronze Age in the Central Balkans." In The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 3, part I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 163-186.

Gimbutas, Marija (1965). Bronze Age Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe. The Hague: Mouton.

Girii:, M. (1971). Mokrin: Nekropola Ranog Bronzanog Doba. Belgrade: Arheolosko Drustvo Jugoslavije.

Kalicz, N., and R. Kalicz, ed. (1981). Die Friihbronzezeit im Karpatenbecken und in den Nachbargebieten. Budapest: Mitteilungen des Archiiologischen Instituts der Ungarischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Beiheft 2.

Kovacs, Tibor (1977). The Bronze Age in Hungary. Budapest: Corvina Press.

O'Shea, John (1996). Villagers of the Maros: A Portrait of an Early Bronze Age Society. New York: Plenum.

European Early Bronze Age 153

Tasic, Nikola, ed. (1984). Kulturen der Friihbronzezeit das Karpatenbeckens und Nordbalkans. Balkanoloski Institut SANU, posebna izdanja Belgrade: 22.

Z6lyomi, B. (1980). "Landwirtschaftliche Kultur und Wandlung der Vegetation im Holozan am Balaton." Phytocoenologia (StuttgartBraunschweig) 7 (Festband Tuxen): 121-126.

,

U netice Culture

TIME PERIOD: 2300-1800 B.C. (calibrated radiocarbon dates).

LOCATION: The Unetice culture is located in northern Moravia and eastern Bohemia (in modern-day Czechia) in the drainage of the Elbe river. It is centered in the Bohemian basin.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Characteristic ceramics

vessels in Phase I are pouch-shaped jugs, undecorated or with a poor plastic ornamentation. Forms are pots with a handle, cups, bowls with a widened rim, and polypod bowls. Phase II has jug-shaped forms with incised fringes and a range of cups, pots, and bowls. Typical Phase III ceramics are classic Unetice cups, spherical vessels, and plain conical bowls. Decorated vessels almost disappear. Metal is made from copper and bronze (tin alloy). Metal is rare in Phase I, but in Phase II includes Cypriote knotheaded pins, racquet-, eyelet-, disk-headed pins, lockrings. It is richest in Phase III, with richly decorated weapons (daggers), undecorated tools (axes, chisels), and weapons (arrowheads, spears), various types of ornaments (bracelets, necklaces, armlets, wire, and decorative mountings, plates, and bosses), and pins (for securing c1othes~racquet-, eyelet-, disk-, and ring-headed pins) similar to those in Phase II. Ornaments of gold and silver are also found. Most metal finds come from cemeteries. Bone and antler from both wild and domestic animals were used as tools (hammers, awls, needles, maces, chisels) and ornaments (ringlets, clothing pins, beads, and pendants). Some are highly decorated. Beads and pendants were made from nonlocal stone (amber) and faience. Stone tools are rare. Flaked stone tools include blades and arrowheads, whereas ground-stone tools include hammer battle-axes. Flaked stone blades often have sickle gloss and/or heavily denticulated working edges and are very heavily worn. Cloth production is attested through spindle whorls and loom weights.

154European Early Bronze Age

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

The Unetice culture lies within the drainage of the Elbe river. This environment encompasses broad river alluvial valleys of the Elbe and its tributaries and the surrounding highlands. There is a great deal of topographic variation in this area, ranging beyond 1,000 m above sea level in the surrounding mountains. The Bohemian basin has a gentle undulating terrain with rich soils and a climate conducive for agriculture. The soils are mainly loess and loams. The surrounding highlands were covered with forests and are not suited for agriculture. During the sub-Boreal, oak and beech forests are common in the low and middle altitudes, whereas fir trees dominate in the higher altitudes. The area has a Central European continental rainfall regime, with precipitation evenly distributed throughout the year. Highest precipitation is during the summer (June) and the lowest during the winter (February). Rainfall across the entire area is sufficient for dry farming. In the late fall and early winter (November), snow begins to fall. In the open lowlands, snow accumulations may be easily blown away by the winds. In the uplands, accumulations often remain for long periods, inhibiting movement. Fast-flowing streams and rivers freeze in the lowlands, but less in the uplands. The highest precipitation is during the summer (June) and the lowest during the winter (February). Rainfall across the entire area is sufficient for dry farming. The area has warm summers and cold winters. Temperatures vary greatly by elevation. They range from an average of 230 F (_50 C) in winter to 680 F (200 C) in summer. Annual precipitation (rain, melted snow, and other forms of moisture) ranges from 18--41 inches (45-103 cm). The plant community falls in the Central European biotic region. Typical Central European types of deciduous forests and grasslands, each of which contains a rich diversity of plant and animal life, characterize the region.

Settlements

Each village is integrated into a larger regional social and economic system, in which it derives access to nonlocal mineral and other goods and to which it owes political allegiances and obligations. Settlement hierarchies emerge with two clearly distinguishable levels:

1. The upper level sites or regional centers are often located in a commanding position (naturally defensible hilltop or spur), fortified (ditch, palisade, stone walls), and permanently occupied. Each river valley area is

dominated by one or two such sites. They are frequently associated with a richer metal inventory and are occasionally accompanied by relatively richly equipped individual burials. There are indications that craft activities and items obtained through long-distance exchange occur more frequently at such sites. By implication of their position and differential access to resources, these sites and their inhabitants probably had additional functions of an economic, social, or religious nature, such as a regional center of metal production and political organization. Most are extremely small ( < 0.5 ha) and could not have contained large populations. They were probably occupied by no more than the household of the local chief and retainers.

2. The lower level sites are ubiquitous, very small scale « 1 ha), and undifferentiated. Several sites may occur per small stream valley. These represent local villages or hamlets. The settlements are mostly small farming villages « 100 people) dotting the landscape inhabited by closely related families, pursuing a diversified subsistence strategy, including small-scale craft production, plow agriculture, and diversified pastoralism.

Houses are mostly surface, although semisubterranean are often mentioned. The surface houses are made of wattle-and-daub walls, plastered inner walls, and thatch roofing. They may have more than one room. In general, they are small (on average 10 m x 4--5 m) and rectangular, with earthen or prepared clay floors. There is some evidence for interior features (ovens and hearths), room dividers, and storage pits. They were probably occupied by a nuclear or small extended family. Little is known about the semisubterranean houses. There is little evidence of functional differences between houses in settlements, because the nature and distribution of artifacts do not vary dramatically. Exterior features are also found on all sites, such as large bell-shaped storage pits, ovens, kilns, and prepared clay living surfaces.

Economy

Wild animals and plants represent a minor but still significant component of the food species at most sites. The most common animals include red and roe deer, aurochs, and wild pigs. River mussels, turtles, and fish were also found in sites along the rivers. The major domestic animals include sheep, goat, cattle, pig, dog, and horse. With the exception of dog, they were exploited for both primary (meat, hide, bone) and secondary products (traction, milk, and wool). Horse bones constitute a regular but small percentage of the domestic fauna. The shift in subsistence toward greater

diversification is reflected by changes in land use, from a reliance on the rich alluvial soils along the edges of rivers, streams, and lakes (during the Neolithic) to a wider range of locations, including most major environmental zones-from highlands to lowlands, from dry loess terraces to swamps. Settlement begins to occur in the higher altitudes (subalpine and alpine zones), which are colonized to control pastures and other resources. There was more of an emphasis on pastoralism and transhumance, with potentially greater numbers of domestic animals being herded to produce primary and secondary products. Plow agriculture and the cart are prevalent. Low-risk crops, such as wheat (emmer) and barley (twoand six-row), are the most common domestic plants, although lentils, millet, and peas were also grown. Wild plants do not seem to have been very important in the diet. There is an abundance of storage and drinking vessel forms. Storage took place in each household. It has been suggested that mead appeared as a social beverage.

Metal tools become common during this period (see below). Copper and tin sources are found in the general region. The number of metal finds is relatively low at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age and are largely made of copper. Metal artifacts increase in frequencies toward the end of the Early Bronze Age. Early in the Early Bronze Age, bronze (copper and tin alloy) tools begin to be produced. Silver and gold are also found. Most metal finds come from graves and were ornaments. Metals are either cast in molds (crucibles) or hammered. Metal types include weapons (chisel, axes, daggers, adzes), ornaments (pins), and sheet metal ornaments. Metal was locally obtainable from local sources. Only a relatively small proportion of metal types appear to be utilitarian. The rest were of social rather than practical significance. The quantity and sophistication of metal goods are suggestive of full-time or seasonal specialization in production. Stone almost completely disappears by this period, and the most common types are small blades, most of which were probably used for cutting grasses or reeds. Wood, reed, and other raw materials are used for tools and containers. Wool is an important source of cloth, and weaving of wool is an important activity. There is an abundance of loom weights, ceramic spindle whorls, wooly sheep figurines, and changes in sheepculling patterns that indicate a shift toward secondary products exploitation. There is extensive use of liquids, such as milk and mead, as attested by an emphasis on ceramic forms clearly designed for the drinking and pouring of liquids (cups, jugs, and ceramic sieves). Biconical beakers, oneand two-handled cups, and pitchers are important elements of the ceramic assemblage.

European Early Bronze Age 155

Ornaments were made from bone, metal, land snail, freshwater mollusk, and faience. Fine-grained stone for beads and pendants derived from distant sources (Baltic sea) are indications of long-distance exchange. The technology of moving goods includes carts and boats.

Sociopolitical Organization

This period saw the emergence of new gender differences in production. Men are more clearly associated with artifacts (weapons and tools) suggesting warfare, pastoralism, hunting, and other pursuits that take them away from the homestead, both symbolically and in grave goods. Men's accessories included metal torques, whereas women wore necklaces strung from small bronze tubes, snail and other shell, and faience. Even though communities were small, there was a strong emphasis on symbolic expression of status. The nature and quantity suggests that there were status differences in and between genders as attested by differential treatment during burial. Almost all individuals had access to metal goods. Status differences for individuals and households were displayed through the acquisition of exotic wealth. Some men clearly had greater access to scarce and valuable resources than did others. It has been suggested that rank and status were inherited patrilineally. Even children were buried with indicators of rank. Men tended to be buried with more highly valued goods than were women, including artifacts made of bronze, copper, and gold and nonlocal goods obtained through long-distance exchange. Most burials have only a few (or no) highly valued goods. This would imply the existence of an internal low-level (1-2 tiers) social hierarchy in local communities. The presence of associated settlement hierarchy suggests an extralocal elite. Local communities were not autonomous units. Regions were integrated not only by broadly shared cultural and ideological structures, but also politically. Often one fortified settlement dominates each valley system. There is a suggestion of low-level raiding or warfare between neighboring cultures owing to the sharp cultural boundaries, the prevalence of weapons associated with males, and the strategic positioning or fortification of settlements.

Religion and Expressive Culture

The Unetice culture sites are linked by a common ideology as reflected in symbolism displayed on locally produced artifacts and funerary behavior. Decoration often consisted of geometric patterns, found on metal, bone, and ceramic objects. The evidence for ritual beliefs

156European Early Bronze Age

is best derived from the mortuary remains. Most people are buried in simple oval graves, although there have been some coffins of hollowed-out tree trunks. Differences in social rank are expressed through differences in handling, manipulation, and mortuary ritual. The relative rarity of ritually associated artifacts emphasizing images of females has been interpreted as a shift in the role of women in religion and society. A male-oriented ideology is often argued to become prominent, and male deities are hypothesized to become more powerful during this period. Female figurines has been interpreted as survivals of the earlier fertility cults, whereas the appearance of male figurines is often interpreted as the appearance of male deities. There is no evidence for specialized religious practitioners. Art extends into the realm of social status and specific functions in corporate groups through the decoration of garments and ornaments. A general motifis the representation of a single figure. Sculpture becomes rare, in contrast to previous periods. Zoomorphic (cattle and pigs) and anthropomorphic figurines tend to be small and simplified with only slight indications of anatomical detail. Motifs used to decorate ceramics, figurines, sculpture (embroidered dress, jewelry, long hair of figures.) are generally abstract geometric expressions. Burials are mostly individual inhumations, although multiple burials are not uncommon. Both the range and quality of goods dramatically increase and are generally associated with higher status individuals. Mortuary rituals are modified to express the newfound status hierarchies in society. Crania are ritually modified. Trepanation of skulls occurs, and the disks removed from skulls during trepanation are worn as amulets.

References

Benes, A. (1986). "An Early Bronze Age Settlement at Hosty and the Expedition at the Building of the Nuclear Power Station at Temelin (S. Bohemia)." In Archaeology in Bohemia, 1981-1985, ed. M. Richter. Prague: Archaeological Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 67-78.

Beug, H.-J. (1982). "Vegetation History and Climatic Changes in Central and Eastern Europe." In Climatic Change in Later Prehistory. ed. A. F. Harding. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 85-102.

Champion, Timothy, Clive Gamble, Stephen Shennan, and Alasdair Whittle (1984). Prehistoric Europe. Orlando: Academic Press.

Coles, John. M., and Anthony. F. Harding (1979). The Bronze Age in Europe. New York: St. Martins Press.

Cunliffe, Barry, ed. (1994). The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gimbutas, Marija (1965). Bronze Age Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe. The Hague: Mouton.

Harding, Anthony F. (1980). "Radiocarbon Calibration and the Chronology of the European Bronze Age." Arheologicke Rozhledy

32: 178-186.

Milisauskas, Sarunas (1978). European Prehistory. New York: Aca-

demic Press.

Neustupny, E., and 1. (1961). Czechoslovakia: Before the Slavs.

London: Thames and Hudson.

Osborne, R. (1967). East Central Europe. Praeger, New York. Pounds, N. (1969). Eastern Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press.

Shennan, Stephen J. (1993). "Settlement and Social Change in Central Europe, 3500-1500 B.C." Journal of World Prehistory 7, 2: 121162.

HASKEL J. GREENFIELD

University of Manitoba

Department of Anthropology

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Canada

6000-4500 B.P.

Follows the Impressed Ware and Linear Ware traditions, precedes the Corded Ware, Bell Beaker, and European Early Bronze Age traditions.

LOCATION: Continental and island Europe west of and including the northern European plain, including southern Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, peninsular Italy, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, France, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: The European Mega-

lithic is characterized by the appearance of megalithic constructions, such as long barrows, dolmens, and passage graves. Many of these constructions housed collective burials. In some regions, fortified hilltop settlements were characteristic. Ceramic forms and decoration vary by region, although the use of polished stone tools and, toward the end of the tradition, copper objects, typify the period.

REGIONAL SUBTRADITIONS: British Isles, France, Iberia, Ireland, Central Mediterranean, North-central Europe.

IMPORTANT SITES: Anta Grande do Zambujeiro (Portugal), Barnenez (France), Bougon (France), Carnac

(France), Locmariaquer (France), Los Millares (Spain), Newgrange (Ireland), Skara Brae (Scotland), Stonehenge (England), Tarxien (Malta).

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

Climate. The Megalithic tradition spans the transition from the Atlantic (8200-5000 B.P.) to Subboreal (50002300 B.P.) climatic periods. This transition, in northern Europe, may have been accompanied by a shift from a warmer and maritime (wetter) climate to a more continental climate, and in southern Europe, by an increase in aridity.

Topography. Three major topographic systems make up western Europe. First, there are the major mountain ranges (Alps, Pyrenees, Cantabrians, Apennines), which generally exceed 1000 m in elevation and which are located in the southern half of the continent. Although these ranges circumscribed human (and biotic) activities to some extent, the numerous passes through these mountains did allow for the movement of human and their domesticates in antiquity. Second, there are hills and low mountains, such as the Massif Central of France; these were important grazing lands for the animal domesticates of the period. And third, there are

158European Megalithic

the plains and lowlands, some of which, such as the north European plain, were the product of glacial activity. These lowlands were, in some places, highly fertile (as in the loessic soils), and in others, not conducive to agricultural production (as in the heathlands).

Geology. Western Europe is highly variable in its bedrock geology. Precambrian and Paleozoic formations occur along the Atlantic seaboard (western Iberia, Brittany, Ireland, western Britain), southern France, Germany, the Alpine region, Corsica, Sardinia, and southern peninsular Italy. More recent Tertiary and Quaternary deposits, including limestone beds, also occur, particularly along the major river valleys. Important stone resources used by Megalithic communities occur throughout western Europe, including flint, obsidian, basalt, and a variety of metamorphic stones. Copper ores are also found in numerous locales, such as Iberia, Italy, the British Isles, and central Europe.

Biota. There were important variations between the biota of northern Europe and that of southern Europe. In general, the natural Holocene vegetation of northern Europe was a mixed forest of coniferous and deciduous trees. In southern, Mediterranean Europe, trees able to withstand periods without precipitation, such as cork oak and chestnut, were typical. Important changes did occur during this period, however. For example, at about the time of the beginning of farming and herding in the British Isles, around 6000 B.P., the vegetation of the British Isles was a mixture of pine, birch, hazel, elm, oak, and alder. At about 5000 B.P., during the transition to the Subboreal period, pollen sequences indicate a decline in elm. Current explanations for the elm decline point to a combination of forest clearance and a disease similar to Dutch Elm disease.

Settlements

Settlement System. The settlement evidence that exists for this tradition is highly variable by region, but in some areas (Iberia, southern France, east-central Italy, British Isles) it suggests the emergence of aggregation sites. Walls, palisades, towers, and ditches enclosing settlements in these areas may have functioned as defenses or as refuges for human groups, but they may also have served as corrals for animal domesticates or as symbolic markers of space and territory.

Europe, it is difficult to speak of a typical community organization. Many archaeologists now suggest that populations during this period were still highly mobile, and settlements were rather impermanent (thus, explaining their elusiveness). Special activity areas for the production of stone tools, copper objects, pottery, and textiles are, however, regularly found in settlements of this period.

Housing. Houses are extremely rare for this period, but what domestic structures are known suggest that their forms are highly variable by region, reflecting different environmental constraints, building materials, and social groupings. Many appear to be simple round or oval depressions in the soil. One of the best-known house complexes, however, is that at Skara Brae, on the mainland of Orkney. It is a cluster of flagstone houses interconnected by narrow roofed passages, also made of flagstone. Ten houses built over a number of phases, some with walls preserved to 3 m high and plastered with clay on the outer face, have been identified. Another, recently discovered, house was found at the Ghajnsielem road site on Gozo. This house was an oval hollow, 8 x 5 m, with a central mud-brick pillar and multiple layers of a limestone floor.

Population, Health, and Disease. A typical community of this period might best be described as a hamlet or small village, although the poor preservation of settlements throughout much of western Europe makes any statements of community size tentative. In Iberia, for example, most settlements from this period are about I ha, with population estimates ranging from a dozen to over 1000 individuals.

In general, burial populations are represented by adult women and men as well as children, often buried together. In some cases, such as at the Pas-de-Julie cave (France), the large number of individuals buried together (300) as well as the presence of some bone pathologies on the skeletons suggest the possibility of epidemic disease, such as tuberculosis, by this time. Other skeletal remains show signs of violent death, either as a result of ritual sacrifice or conflict. Examples of individuals with flint arrowheads lodged in their bodies are known from Hambledon Hill (England) and Roaix (France).

Economy

Community Organization. Because well-excavated settlements are relatively rare for this period in western

Subsistence. The herding of animal (cattle, sheep, goat, pig) and farming of plant (wheat, barley) domesticates

dominated the subsistence economy of Megalithic communities, although the degree to which they were relied on varied regionally. Wild animals and plants, however, continued to be exploited for a variety of subsistence needs. The Mediterranean tree crops (olive, grape) also began to play an important role in the Mediterranean economy during this period. Beginning around 5000 B.P., domestic animals were increasingly used for their secondary products (traction, wool, milk). Cattle used for traction, for example, allowed for the tillage of heavier soils (and, thus, the exploitation of larger tracts of land and previously marginal land) and the cartage of goods (making the labor costs for transportation lower). The increased use of animal secondary products and the cultivation of the olive and vine would have provided enhanced opportunities for trade in subsistence commodities (wool, olive oil, wine, etc.). The increased reliance on plow animals (the ownership and use of which are, ethnographically, male activities) would have likely created greater divisions of labor by gender. In Iberia, evidence for irrigation by 5000 B.P. provides further evidence for subsistence intensification during the Megalithic tradition.

Wild Foods. In forested and upland zones, wild game, such as rabbit, boar, ibex, and red deer, were hunted. Fishing, fowling, and the gathering of shellfish along coastal and riverine sites, as well as the gathering of wild plants, such as water chestnuts, also supplemented the diets of Megalithic communities.

Domestic Foods. Animal (cattle, sheep, goat, pig) and plant (wheat, barley) domesticates dominated the subsistence economy of Megalithic communities, although the degree to which they were relied on varied regionally. The Mediterranean tree crops (olive and grape) also began to play an important role in the Mediterranean economy during this period. Beginning around 5000 B.P., domestic animals were increasingly used for their secondary products (traction, wool, milk).

Industrial Arts. The technology used for food production is varied. What evidence exists includes plow marks, ard shares, and adzes (evidence for plowing and tillage), stone sickle blades (harvesting), querns and grinding stones (food preparation), pottery (food preparation, cooking, and storage), hearths (cooking), and spoons (food preparation and consumption).

A number of other industries are also represented in the Megalithic tradition, including polished and flaked stone working (evidenced in quarries, hammer stones, antler picks, roughouts, cores, and debitage), pottery production (kilns, wasters, burnishers), textile production (loom weights and spindle whorls), and copper and

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gold metallurgy (crucibles and slag). The raw materials necessary in these industries, the stone, clay, fibers, and metal ores, were not all available locally and had to be obtained either by direct acquisition or through exchange. In ceramic production and metallurgy, a high degree of pyrotechnological skill was involved, in addition to access to a significant and reliable fuel source.

Utensils. Those utensils found most commonly in domestic contexts include pottery (form and decoration variable by region), flaked-stone tool implements (blades, flakes, daggers, arrowheads), and polished and groundstone tools (axes, adzes, hammers, and querns).

Ornaments. Beads, pendants, bracelets, and pins made from a variety of materials, such as bone, shell, amber, and jadeite, were common personal ornaments in Megalithic Europe.

Trade. Goods were likely acquired through a combination of gift exchange and redistribution.

Division of Labor. The knowledge and skills to produce all the goods used by Megalithic communities were probably not found in all individuals. Some division of labor, by gender, age, descent group, and community, likely organized the production of domestic and craft goods at this time.

Differential Access or Control of Resources. It is unclear whether individuals or groups had special or differential access to certain raw materials or finished goods. It is quite possible, however, that resources that were rare and valued for their symbolic or material qualities (such as jadeite) accorded certain individuals or groups, who either lived near these resources or possessed finished goods made from these resources, a certain status or power.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. The evidence for sociopolitical organization during the Megalithic comes largely from the burial record. The large numbers of collective inhumations that are generally found in megalithic tombs point to an important sense of corporate identity, at least at death. The segregation of bones by age and sex in tombs in some regions of western Europe

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suggests, however, that individual social distinctions from life may have been considered important enough to be reproduced at death. Some archaeologists have argued that the collective unity of groups suggested by the corporate nature of megalithic tombs masked internal social conflict and competition. That conflict and competition were components of Megalithic society seems fairly clear (given the regular occurrence of violent injuries in skeletons), but whether the construction of megalithic tombs was a conscious attempt by individuals and groups at the time to mask these disharmonies is difficult to demonstrate.

Political Organization. The burial of some individuals during the Megalithic in such prominent and enduring monuments as megaliths suggests that communities at this time needed to make the presence of some ancestors (or descent groups) clearly and publicly visible. This might have derived from a need to legitimate family or lineage rights to land or resources (in a rapidly filling landscape) and may have signaled the beginnings of hereditary forms of social inequality. Megalithic societies were likely tribal, although in some regions chief- dom-like political structures may have emerged.

Social Control. Social control mechanisms likely resided in the authority of ritual and political leaders. There is no evidence for institutionalized coercive force in the form of armies.

Conflict. There is indirect and direct evidence for conflict and competition at this time. Walls, palisades, towers, and ditches enclosing settlements during this period may have functioned as defense or as refuges for human groups. Some skeletal remains show signs of violent death, such as those individuals found with flint arrowheads lodged in their bodies from Hambledon Hill (England) and Roaix (France).

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. The regular orientation of many megalithic sites suggests that these sites may have served as means of marking or measuring time through the movements of the sun and the moon. Unlike the role of astronomy in industrial societies, however, tracking the movement of celestial bodies in nonindustrial societies (as exemplified by the ancient Maya) was probably more closely tied to mythology, ritual, and seasonal economic activities, such as planting and harvesting crops. The use of megalithic tombs as burials for ancestors as well as

markers of time suggests that, at least at some sites, ancestor worship was an integral component in the regeneration and renewal of life. The existence of perforated disk "amulets" made from trepanned human skulls seems to provide further evidence for the importance attached to ancestor worship.

Religious Practitioners. The existence of religious specialists is unclear, but many items that have been labeled as ritual objects, such as the slate croziers of Portugal, may have been the insignia of such specialists. Those individuals who carried out the traporation of human skulls (perhaps primarily carried out to create ancestor "amulets") may have also been religious specialists (as well as skilled "surgeons" - many trepanned skulls indicate that their subjects survived their "operation").

Ceremonies. Megaliths were often the site of feasting, burning, and ritual deposition of human and animal bones and artifacts. These ceremonies were likely public and, given the narrow spaces constraining movement in many megalithic sites, private, as well.

Arts. Expressive or decorative art is regularly found on pottery, stone and clay figurines and plaques, and the stones that make up megalithic constructions. Common designs on these media include ocular ("eye") and ax motifs, spirals, various geometric patterns (lozenges, chevrons, and circles), and, occasionally, animals as humans.

Death and Afterlife. A vast expenditure of physical and social energy was used to house the dead and to provide the dead with suitable grave goods, many of which were unused "replicas" of functional objects, such as axes and adzes. These practices suggest that Megalithic peoples had a belief in an afterlife for their deceased ancestors.

Suggested Readings

Barker, Graeme (1985). Prehistoric Farming in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Champion. Timothy, Clive Gamble, Stephen Shennan, and Alasdair Whittle (1984). Prehistoric Europe. London: Academic Press.

Chapman, Robert (1981). "The Emergence of Formal Disposal Areas and the "Problem" of Megalithic Tombs in Prehistoric Europe." In The Archaeology of Death. ed. R. Chapman, 1. Kinnes, and K. Randsborg. New York: Cambridge University Press, 71~81.

Gimbutas, Marija (1991). The Civilization of The Goddess: The World of Old Europe. New York: HarperCollins.

Mohen, lean-Pierre (1990). The World of Megaliths. New York: Facts on File.