Agricultural Dispersals in Mediterranean and Temperate Europe

Aurélie Salavert (1)

1 AASPE - Archéozoologie, archéobotanique : sociétés, pratiques et environnements

Along with ceramics production, sedentism, and herding, agriculture is a major component of the Neolithic as it is defined in Europe. Therefore, the agricultural system of the first Neolithic societies and the dispersal of exogenous cultivated plants to Europe are the subject of many scientific studies. To work on these issues, archaeobotanists rely on residual plant remains—crop seeds, weeds, and wild plants—from archaeological structures like detritic pits, and, less often, storage contexts. To date, no plant with an economic value has been identified as domesticated in Western Europe except possibly opium poppy. The earliest seeds identified at archaeological sites dated to about 5500– 5200 BC in the Mediterranean and Temperate Europe. The cultivated plants identified were cereals (wheat and barley), oleaginous plant (flax), and pulses (peas, lentils, and chickpeas). This crop package originated in the Fertile Crescent, where it was clearly established around 7500 BC (final Pre-Pottery Neolithic B), after a long, polycentric domestication process. From the middle of the 7th millennium BC, via the Balkan Peninsula, the pioneer Neolithic populations, with their specific economies, rapidly dispersed from east to west, following two main pathways. One was the maritime route over the northwestern basin of the Mediterranean (6200–5300 BC), and the other was the terrestrial and fluvial route in central and northwestern continental Europe (5500–4900 BC). On their trajectory, the agropastoral societies adapted the Neolithic founder crops from the Middle East to new environmental conditions encountered in Western Europe. The Neolithic pioneers settled in an area that had experienced a long tradition of hunting and gathering. The Neolithization of Europe followed a colonization model. The Mesolithic groups, although exploiting plant resources such as hazelnut more or less intensively, did not significantly change the landscape. The impact of their settlements and their activities are hardly noticeable through palynology, for example. The control of the mode of reproduction of plants has certainly increased the prevalence of Homo sapiens, involving, among others, a demographic increase and the ability to settle down in areas that were not well adapted to year-round occupation up to that point. The characterization of past agricultural systems, such as crop plants, technical processes, and the impact of anthropogenic activities on the landscape, is essential for understanding the interrelation of human societies and the plant environment. This interrelation has undoubtedly changed deeply with the Neolithic Revolution.

Mots clés: archaeology; Neolithic; Palaeoethnobotany; ancient cereals; opium poppy; early farming systems

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire; Etudes de l'environnement

Aurélie Salavert. Agricultural Dispersals in Mediterranean and Temperate Europe. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science, 2017, ⟨10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.307⟩. ⟨halshs-02165870⟩