Islands of Difference: An Ecologically Explicit Model of Central European Neolithisation

Early Pastoralism in Central European Forests: Insights from Ancient Environmental Genomics

“…Clearer genetic representation of domesticated species at VM begins during the Late Neolithic (∼6.1 kyr BP), long after their initial introduction to Central Europe. This supports the perspective of slow environmental neolithization, where the full impact of agriculture across varied ecological zones depended on population expansions associated with Late Neolithic innovations in cultivation and land tenure ( 5 , 10 ). In a peripheral environment like Český Ráj, it is interesting that DNA from the full range of domesticates - cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep are initially represented; with the exception of a few bone fragments of sheep or goat, these are absent in the archaeozoological assemblage from this period at VM ( 22 , 23 ).…”

“…However, the Late Neolithic (sometimes referred to as Eneolithic ~6.4 -4.2 kyr BP) witnessed the advent of forest grazing, facilitating a full expansion of pastoralism across varied Central European environments (3)(4)(5)(6)(7). By the Bronze Age (~4.1 kyr BP), rich and diverse broadleaf mosaics transitioned into the comparatively species-poor structure that continues to define many Central European forests today (8)(9)(10). Human influence likely played a significant role in this profound transformation as pastoral activities can impact forest succession (11).…”

Long-term demographic trends and spatio-temporal distribution of past human activity in Central Europe: Comparison of archaeological and palaeoecological proxies

“…9700 BCE) meant significant environmental changes, including rapid warming and long-term forest succession (Kuneš and Abraham, 2017). From previous research we know that the local hunters and gatherers used seasonally available resources in very diverse landscapes: their sites have been registered in lowlands, lakes and marshy landscapes, abris, caves, and mountains in southern, eastern and northern Bohemia (Figure S1; Kapustka et al, 2020;Ptáková et al, 2021). Both of our demographic proxies provide us with low values for the human population (Figures 2 and 4).…”

“…Transition to an agro-pastoral economy was not sudden, indeed, it took a long time. Such economic and social overlaps or delayed agro-pastoral transitions have been registered in peripheral regions such as the Bohemian Paradise or southern Bohemia (Ptáková et al, 2021(Ptáková et al, , 2020 that have higher altitudes, a colder regional climate, or less favourable soils. Here, the yields given by Early Neolithic farming systems could be less predictable, meaning that farmers may have relied more on foraging and actively establishing closer contact with hunters and gatherers, a strategy that persisted for several centuries (cf.…”

Testing the presence of cereal-type pollen grains in coastal pre-Elm Decline peat deposits: Fine-resolution palynology at Roudsea Wood, Cumbria, UK

“…Pioneer Neolithic immigrants to Britain might well have farmed within the forest rather than making large clearings (Edwards, 1993;Göransson, 1982). As was the case for a long period in continental Europe (Gron and Sørensen, 2018;Groß and Rothstein, 2023;Perrin, 2003;Ptáková et al, 2023), there could have been a period of overlap and contact of some centuries between the latest Mesolithic and the earliest Neolithic in the sixth millennium cal. BP (Griffiths, 2022;Warren, 2013;Zvelebil, 1994), although much shorter than in mainland Europe and with little genetic transfer (Mithen, 2022).…”