Ancient Europe Timeline

Ancient Europe

1st Millennium BC

• At around this time, societies are becoming more city based such as the Greeks and Etruscans
• by around 600 - 530 BC, Greek major colonies can be found along the Atlantic coast

Scarre, Christopher. "Halocene Europe." In The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies, 426. 3rd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

2400 BC metallurgy

4th and 5th millennium BC

Scarre, Christopher. "Halocene Europe." In The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies, 423. 3rd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

• Some signs of a political hierarchy as shown by what is known as the “princely centers”
• The princely centers are round, lavishly equipped graves.
• These graves show certain signs of contact with the Mediterranean world such as the presence of Greek and Etruscan pottery.

Princely Centers 700 - 480 BC

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• Around this time, the use of bronze and copper is spreading.
• A technique known as fire-setting was being used to gather copper ore from limestone fissures
• As time progresses, male status can be seen from the finely crafted, bronze daggers, and golden ornaments that adorn them.

• In Germany, bronze objects could have been seen in hoards of weapons and trinkets put together as contributions to the gods.

Scarre, Christopher. "Halocene Europe." In The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies, 421. 3rd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

• The Neolithic of south Scandinavia buried their dead inside wooden long houses covered by mounds of dirt.
• It is unclear where the long mound house tradition seems to have originated from. However, it is fairly common throughout Germany, northern Poland, southern Scandinavia, northern France, and Britain.

Scarre, Christopher. "Halocene Europe." In The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies, 418. 3rd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

The Bandkeramik Culture 5600 BC

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• Around the middle of the 6th millennium(5600 BC), first signs around western Hungary and eastern Austria, at a settlement known as Linearbandkeramik. (often shortened to be termed as Bandkeramik)
• This society can be distinguished by a number of features.
• The most noticeable of which are their decorated pottery, their long houses, and their single person graves grouped in cemeteries.
• Another interesting feature of the Bandkeramik was the fact that their residences were of varying sizes, suggesting a possible form of social inequality.

SHENNAN, STEPHEN. 2009. "Evolutionary Demography and the Population History of the European Early Neolithic." Human Biology 81, no. 2/3: 339-355. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed December 8, 2014).

Scarre, Christopher. "Halocene Europe." In The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies, 406-407. 3rd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

10000 BC

9000 BC

8000 BC

7000 BC

4000 BC

5000 BC

6000 BC

3000 BC

2000 BC

1000 BC

5100 BC social diversity develops

• The introduction of metals does not drastically change the development of southeastern European cultures and societies beyond the development of copper mines in 5100 BC through which, people began harvesting copper and gold from the Balkan and Carpathian mountains.
• These metals became markers for social differences as society increased in complexity
• As shown in grave sites by the amount of valuable items and materials in the graves

Scarre, Christopher. "Halocene Europe." In The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies, 393&402. 3rd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

One of the Tartaria tablets.

Its got a size of about 3 cm. (Not very big)

Graphic:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:T%C4%83rt%C4%83ria_Amulet_Tablet.png

Tartaria tablets 5500-5300 BC

Emergence of iron use 700 - 480 BC

4000 BC agriculture becomes more wide spread

• In 1961 in the ancient city of Tartaria, Romania, three clay tablets were discovered.
• They were covered with carvings that look to be pictographs dating back to around 5500-5300BC
• These are theorized to be amulets of some kind for religious purposes.
• The tablets were found along with the cremated remains of a 35-40 year old man.
• It is estimated that these are signs that the owner of the bones was involved in some sort of sacrificial ritual
• These are some of the only known signs of writing during this time period and this location, marking some of this areas first writing, an important stage in the development of any society.

"Tartaria Tablets." The Living Moon. January 1, 2012. Accessed December 7, 2014. http://www.thelivingmoon.com/46ats_members/Lisa2012/03files/Tartaria_Tablets.html.

Merlini, Marco. "TARTARIA TABLETS." TARTARIA TABLETS. Accessed December 7, 2014. http://www.prehistory.it/ftp/tartaria_tablets/tartaria_tablets_03.htm.

7000-6000 BC

• Europe is showing signs of having taken up the working of iron
• However bronze is still being seen as a material used for ornaments along with gold.

Scarre, Christopher. "Halocene Europe." In The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies, 423. 3rd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

• The expansion of agriculture continued until around 4000 BC
• By this time, it will have touched nearly every corner of Europe, except for the high mountains and arctic outskirts which remained as hunter-gathers until they were later absorbed into Neolithic societies such as Iberia, Britain, and Scandinavia. (p. 431)

Scarre, Christopher. "Halocene Europe." In The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies, 431&393. 3rd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

• Once the glacial ice sheets had melted, it made way for a new kind of innovation: the domestication of plants for use in agriculture.
• The first signs of this, in Europe, can be found in the southeasterly portion closest to the region of southwestern Asia where it is believed the Europeans got the technology.

• This innovation of technology in addition to social diversity and the introduction of metallurgy has been seen as a commonality throughout the various European societies.

Scarre, Christopher. "Halocene Europe." In The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies, 393. 3rd ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

Graphical image of Europe:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_European_Geography_from_Rees%27s_Cyclopaedia.jpg

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