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Small-scale transport of early Neolithic pottery in the west Mediterranean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

William K. Barnett
William K. Barnett*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston MA 02215, USA
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Extract

The early Neolithic of the west Mediterranean

The archaeological complex known as the early Neolithic in the west Mediterranean represents the arrival of Neolithic traits in western Europe. Dating to around 5000 BC (Evin 1987), this complex is marked by the appearance of pottery, ground stone tools, and transvcrse projectile points. It continues for about a millennium until middle Neolithic villages, such as Villeneuve-Toulousane, begin to appear. The early Neolithic is characterized by a transitional agricultural subsistence economy. At Aude Valley cave sites, domesticated sheep first appear in aceramic Mesolithic layers with typical Tardenoisian tool assemblages and fauna (Geddes 1983). Examination of these sheep remains show that this strain originated in the Near East (Geddes 1985). Early Neolithic deposits (as defined by the presence of ceramics) are found at many of the same Mesolithic sites and contain similar lithic assemblages as well as a continuation of mixed hunted and domesticated fauna. The presumably novel open-air coastal sites of this period, such as Leucate-Corrège (Guilaine et al. 1984), also appear to represent a mixed economy. Since there is no sudden apparent shift in settlement pattern or economy associated with the early Neolithic, this period appears to be best characterized as a time of gradual transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture.

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Notes
Information
Antiquity , Volume 64 , Issue 245 , December 1990 , pp. 859 - 865
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1990

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Footnotes

Petrographic analysis of Early Neolithic impressed ware vessels from the Aude Valley in southern France reveals patterns of multi-directional small-scale transport of pottery. These patterns have not been identified through previous studies of materials such as obsidian. Whereas some vessel movement may have resulted from seasonal transhumance, much is more likely the result of exchange

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