Refugial Foragers to Invasive Farmers: Socio-environmental Transitions During the Early Holocene in the Balkans

Abstract

The early Holocene in the Balkans is synonymous with extensive transformations of both environments and human societies. The new climatic conditions indeed led to a spatial expansion of thermophilous (warmth-loving) plant and animal species that were previously confined to refugial areas, eventually reshaping the local biomes, while glacial species disappeared from the region. These processes were paralleled by profound transformations in the distribution of the foraging populations, the existing yet sparse documentation suggesting clustering in specific ecological niches (e.g., Iron Gates, shores of the Adriatic coast). It is upon this template that, towards the second half of the 9th millennium calBP, cultigens and animal domesticates appear in the local archaeological record, apparently under the impetus of an incoming population of eventual Near Eastern origins, as suggested by recent ancient DNA (aDNA) research. This contribution will review the available environmental and archaeological evidence for the early Holocene, focusing on the extent to which ecological factors drove variation in human behaviours, especially food acquisition techniques (either foraging or farming). Particular attention will also be devoted to the identification and characterisation of population history as inferred from multiple categories of evidence, such as the 14C record, settlement patterns and aDNA.