Neolithic Notes on the Development of Agriculture

Domesticating the wild
The origins of farming in the Levant
In this lecture we will discuss the beginnings of food production, primarily focusing on the region of southwest Asia known as the Levant, but we will also briefly discuss the beginnings of farming in other parts of the world. We will review the various forms of evidence archaeologists have employed to investigate the onset of cereal cultivation and animal domestication from c.10,000 years ago. This will be addressed in relation to several key sites that provided a focus for early agriculture. We will close with a discussion on the different interpretations on how and why these changes may have taken place in the Levant at that particular time.
Key terms and phrases: origins of agriculture, domestication, cultivation, plants and animals, Levant, Natufian, Epi-palaeolithic, tell sites, PPNA/B, Abu Hureyra, Jericho, Çatalhöyük

Marching West
The 'advance of agriculture' across Europe
For the second lecture in this series we will move further west to central and eastern Europe and consider the arrival of neolithic lifeways there. We will discuss a number of key locations and review the main changes as well as continuities from earlier periods. While considering the large scale, global, phenomenon of these developments we will continually hone in on the local events visible in the archaeological record, such as evidence for settlement, material culture and the treatment of the dead.
Key terms and phrases: spread of agriculture, models, colonisation, migration, demic/cultural diffusion, Mediterranean, Cyprus & Crete, the Balkans, Franchthi Cave, Danube Gorges, Lepenski Vir, central and west Mediterranean, cardial ware.
Lecture 10. Longhouse life ? Settlement and daily life in neolithic Europe
This lecture will continue the themes of the previous one but will pay particular attention to aspects of daily life within the so called Linear Potter Culture (LBK) of central and eastern Europe. We will primarily examine the evidence from the longhouse ?villages? so typical of the period from c.5500BC and discuss what this evidence can tell us about people?s lives within and around these settlements. Again we will seek to make inferences about technology, social organisation and ideology, but in slight contrast to the previous lecture aim to focus our analysis at a smaller scale with questions relating to people?s daily life in early neolithic central Europe at its heart. As part of this we will also explore questions of social organisation, conflict and ideology.
Key terms and phrases: Linear Pottery Culture (LBK), Long house settlements, distribution, rapid spread, treatment of the dead, ideology, conflict
Lecture 11. Postcard from the Alps ? Ötzi the Iceman, a case study for neolithic daily life
For the final lecture on the neolithic period in continental Europe we will change our perspective, from looking for clues on a rather broad scale level of the earlier lectures to the material related to one particular discovery. More specifically, we will consider in detail the fate of one later neolithic person who died in the Similaun glacier close to the Italian ? Austrian border around 3300BC. Instead of asking who that person was and what brought him there we will investigate what this find can reveal about the conditions of the lives of people in late neolithic ? also known as Chalcolithic ? central Europe.
Key terms and phrases: ice mummy, Ötzi, organic preservation, equipment, materials, tattoos and body art, conflict
Lecture 12. Neolithic beginnings in Ireland
The first lecture on the neolithic period in Ireland will begin by addressing the question of the earliest evidence for domesticated animals and cultivated cereal crops on the island. We will then move on to discuss other developments of the late fifth and early fourth millennia BC, such as the first use of pottery, the construction of large timber and stone built structures, and changes in lithic technology. We will consider this evidence in the context of contrasting views, interpreting these developments as primarily economic ones on one hand or largely ideologically driven ones on the other.
Key terms and phrases: Island ecology, environmental signatures, elm decline, pollen diagrams, cereal crops, domesticated animals, pottery, lithic artefact technology, timber post built structures, neolithic ?houses?, causewayed enclosures, colonisation, migration, indigenous adoption
Lecture 13. Grand statements in stone ? Irish middle neolithic trends
This lecture will concentrate on the period between c.3600 and 3100BC, best known for the increase and diversification in the construction of large megalithic monuments, with three of the four commonly classified tomb types largely dating to this phase, although at least some of these may have had their origin in preceding centuries. Therefore along with continued construction of rectangular timber structures ? often referred to as neolithic ?houses? ? the use of these monuments suggests some degree of continuation from early neolithic times. We will also address the significance of wide and far reaching exchange links between many parts of Ireland, Britain and continental Europe, which represent another important feature of the archaeology of the fourth millennium BC.
Key terms and phrases: megalithic tombs (passage, court, portal tombs), Linkardstown burials, continuity, exchange networks, stone axe ?trade?, communication
Lecture 14. Continuity and change in late neolithic Ireland
The final lecture in our neolithic series will concentrate of the last five centuries of the period, preceding the arrival of metal working. Once again this phase shows continuity from the earlier middle neolithic but equally into the earlier Bronze Age. While initially passage tombs appear to remain in use we will see that they are oftentimes associated with new pottery styles and also a tendency to create ?ritual complexes? or landscapes. We will also discuss the significance of an increase in open-air ?ceremonial? enclosures. Our exploration of neolithic Ireland will draw to a close with the arrival of the fourth type of megalithic tomb in Ireland and that of beaker pottery. These events, which appear to immediately precede ? or even coincide with ? the development of metallurgy, will provide us with a suitable point from which to reflect on the changes of the preceding 1500 years.
Key terms and phrases: passage tomb complexes, open air enclosure, henges, cursus monuments, grooved ware, wedge tombs, beaker pottery.