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The Danube and settlement prehistory – 80 years on

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

John Chapman
John Chapman*
Affiliation:
Durham University, UK
*
[email: j.c.chapman@dur.ac.uk]
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Abstract

Although commentators have discussed myriad themes presented in the rich and extensive oeuvre of Childe, one of the topics that has been, in my view, seriously neglected is the topic of settlement types. In this article, I seek to make good this omission, starting from a consideration of The Danube in Prehistory. The basis of Childe's ideas on settlement types in the Neolithic and Copper Age of eastern Europe was a binary classification into ‘tells’ and ‘flat sites’ that, in turn, reflected a division between permanent and shifting cultivation and greater and lesser cultural complexity. However, the introduction into this debate of questions of trade, surplus production, and Neolithic ‘self-sufficiency’, as well as metallurgy and ritual, meant that the initial binary classification left a series of contradictions that Childe struggled to transcend in the last decade of his life.

Bien qu'on ait examiné un nombre infini des thèmes présentés dans la riche et importante œuvre de Childe, un des sujets à mes yeux largement négligés sont les types d'habitat. J'essaie dans cet article de parer quelque peu à cette omission en partant d'une analyse de Le Danube dans la préhistoire. À la base des idées de Childe sur les types de villages durant le Néolithique et l'âge du Cuivre en Europe de l'est se trouvait une classification binaire en ‘tell’ et ‘sites plats’, qui, à tour de rôle, représentait une division entre cultures permanentes et cultures itinérantes et complexité culturelle plus ou moins importante. Toutefois, avec l'introduction dans ce débat de questions concernant le commerce, la production de surplus et l'autosuffisance' néolithique de même que la métallurgie et le rituel, cette classification binaire initiale a abouti à une série de contradictions contradictions que Childe essayait de dépasser pendant la dernière décade de sa vie.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Während Kommentatoren tausende Themen aus dem reichen und umfangreichen Œuvre Childes diskutiert haben, ist nach Ansicht des Verf. eine der ernsthaft vernachlässigten Fragestellungen die der Siedlungstypen. In diesem Beitrag versucht Verf., ausgehend von einer Erörterung von The Danube in Prehistory, dieses Versäumnis auszuräumen. Die Basis von Childes Ideen von Siedlungstypen des Neolithikums und der Kupferzeit Osteuropas war eine binäre Klassifikation in Tells und Flachsiedlungen, die wiederum eine Unterteilung zwischen dauerhafter und wechselnder Kultivierung sowie größerer und geringerer kultureller Komplexität widerspiegelte. Allerdings zeigte der Eintritt in diese Debatte von Fragen des Handels, von Überschussproduktion und neolithischer Selbstversorgung wie auch von Metallurgie und Ritual, dass die ursprüngliche binäre Klassifikation eine Reihe von Widersprüchen besaß, um deren Überwindung sich Childe im letzten Jahrzehnt seines Lebens bemühte.

Keywords

binary classificationcultural complexityeconomic basisland ownershipNeolithic self-sufficiencytells versus flat sitesVere Gordon Childeclassification binairecomplexité culturellebase économiquepropriété des terresautosuffisancenéolithiquetells contre sites platsVere Gordon Childebinäre Klassifikationkulturelle Komplexitätökonomische BasisLandbesitzneolithische SelbstversorgungTellsiedlungenFlachsiedlungenVere Gordon Childe
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 12 , Issue 1-3 , 2009 , pp. 145 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Sage Publications 

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