Prehistoric Europe

{{short description|none}}  {{Infobox |name = Prehistoric Europe |bodystyle = off the books |titlestyle = background:#bee5fe; |abovestyle = background:#fcfebe; border:1px solid #5599FF; |headerstyle = background:#ddf; |labelstyle = background:#ddf; |datastyle = |title = '''Prehistoric Europe''' |above = |imagestyle = |captionstyle = |image = |caption = |map_type = Europe 2 |relief = yes |header1 = '''Early Prehistory''' |label1 = |data1 = |header2 = |label2 = [[Lower Paleolithic]] |data2 = [[Homo antecessor]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/june-2013/article/oldest-human-fossil-in-western-europe-found-in-spain |title=Oldest Human Fossil in Western Europe Found in Spain |newspaper=Popular-archaeology |access-date= December 28, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carbonell |first1=Eudald |display-authors=etal |title=The first hominin of Europe |journal=Nature |date=27 March 2008 |volume=452 |issue=7186 |pages=465–469 |doi=10.1038/nature06815|pmid=18368116 |bibcode=2008Natur.452..465C |hdl=2027.42/62855 |s2cid=4401629 |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62855/1/nature06815.pdf }}</ref><br />[[Homo heidelbergensis]] |header3 = |label3 =[[Middle Paleolithic]] |data3 = [[Homo neanderthalensis]] |header4 = |label4 =[[Upper Paleolithic]] |data4 = [[Homo neanderthalensis]], [[Homo sapiens]] population of all regions |header5 = |label5 = [[Mesolithic]] |data5 = Hunter-gatherers |header6 = |label6 = [[Neolithic]] |data6 = Agriculture,<br /> herding, pottery |header7 = '''Late Prehistory''' |label7 = |data7 = |header8 = |label8 = [[Chalcolithic]] |data8 = [[Old Europe (archaeology)]], [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-Europeans]], [[Varna culture]] |header9 = |label9 = [[Bronze Age]] |data9 = [[Minoan Crete]], [[Mycenaean civilization]], [[Korakou culture]], [[Cycladic culture]], [[Lusatian culture]], [[Yamnaya culture]] |header10 = |label10 = [[Iron Age]] |data10 = [[Ancient Greece]], [[List of ancient Daco-Thracian peoples and tribes|Thracians]], [[Ancient Rome]], <br />[[Iberians]], [[Germanic tribes]], [[Hallstatt culture]] |belowstyle = background:#fcfebe; |below = {{portal-inline|Europe|size=tiny}} }}

[[File:Malta Hal Tarxien BW 2011-10-04 12-42-32.JPG|thumb|330x330px|[[Tarxien Temples]], [[Malta]], around 3150 BC]]

'''Prehistoric Europe''' refers to [[Europe]] before the start of written records,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/prehistory |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925201126/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/prehistory |archive-date=September 25, 2016 |title=Prehistory – definition of prehistory in English |publisher=oxford dictionaries |access-date= December 28, 2016}}</ref> beginning in the [[Lower Paleolithic]]. As history progresses, considerable regional unevenness in cultural development emerges and grows. The region of the eastern Mediterranean is, due to its geographic proximity, greatly influenced and inspired by the classical Middle Eastern civilizations, and adopts and develops the earliest systems of communal organization and writing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ancientscripts.com/lineara.html |title=Ancient Scripts: Linear A |newspaper=Ancientscripts.com |access-date= December 29, 2016}}</ref> The [[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]] of Herodotus (from around 440 BC) is the oldest known European text that seeks to systematically record traditions, public affairs and notable events.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/herodotus |title=Herodotus – Ancient History |date=4 February 2010 |publisher=History com |access-date= December 29, 2016}}</ref>

==Overview== {{Overview section|date=May 2026}} {{See also|History of Europe}} Widely dispersed, isolated finds of individual fossils of bone fragments (Atapuerca, Mauer mandible), stone artifacts or [[Assemblage (archaeology)|assemblages]] suggest that during the [[Lower Paleolithic]], spanning from 3 million until 300,000 years ago, palaeo-human presence was rare and typically separated by thousands of years. The [[karst]]ic region of the [[Atapuerca Mountains]] in Spain represents the currently earliest known and reliably dated location of residence for more than a single generation and a group of individuals.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/989%20Archeological%20Site%20of%20Atapuerca |title=Archaeological Site of Atapuerca |publisher= UNESCO World Heritage Centre |access-date= December 28, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E2D9113BF933A1575AC0A9619C8B63&scp=1&sq=dmanisi%201.8%20million&st=cse | work=The New York Times | title=Fossils Reveal Clues on Human Ancestor | date=20 September 2007}}</ref>

''[[Homo neanderthalensis]]'' emerged in [[Eurasia]] between 600,000 and 350,000 years ago as the earliest body of European people that left behind a substantial tradition, a set of evaluable historic data through a rich fossil record in Europe's limestone caves and a patchwork of occupation sites over large areas. These include [[Mousterian]] cultural [[Assemblage (archaeology)|assemblages]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1006/jasc.2002.0834 |title=The Sima de los Huesos Hominids Date to Beyond U/Th Equilibrium (>350kyr) and Perhaps to 400–500kyr: New Radiometric Dates |year=2003 |last1=Bischoff |first1=James L. |last2=Shamp |first2=Donald D. |last3=Aramburu |first3=Arantza |last4=Arsuaga |first4=Juan Luis |last5=Carbonell |first5=Eudald |last6=Bermudez de Castro |first6=J.M. |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=275–80|bibcode=2003JArSc..30..275B }}</ref><ref name=Neanderthal>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Neanderthal |title=Neanderthal Anthropology|quote=...Neanderthals inhabited Eurasia from the Atlantic regions… |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica |date=January 29, 2015 |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref> [[Homo sapiens|Modern humans]] arrived in Mediterranean Europe during the [[Middle Paleolithic]] between 56,800 and 51,700 years ago <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scientias.nl/onze-voorouders-arriveerden-veel-eerder-in-europa-dan-gedacht-en-dat-verandert-alles/|title=Onze voorouders arriveerden veel eerder in Europa dan gedacht - en dat verandert alles|first=Vivian|last=Lammerse|website=Scientias.nl|date=February 10, 2022|access-date=May 25, 2026}}</ref>, and both species occupied a common habitat for several thousand years. Research has so far produced no universally accepted conclusive explanation as to what caused the Neanderthal's extinction between 40,000 and 28,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/science/14neanderthal.html?ex=1315800000&en=ca90a9bfe57071f2&ei=5089&_r=0 |title=Neanderthals' Last Stand Is Traced |newspaper= The New York Times |date=September 13, 2006 |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/science/fossil-teeth-put-humans-in-europe-earlier-than-thought.html?scp=1&sq=kents%20cavern&st=cse | newspaper=The New York Times | title=Fossil Teeth Put Humans in Europe Earlier Than Thought | date=2 November 2011}}</ref>

Homo sapiens later populated the entire continent during the [[Mesolithic]], and advanced north, following the retreating ice sheets of the [[Last Glacial Maximum]] that spanned between 26,500 and 19,000 years ago. A 2015 publication on ancient European DNA collected from Spain to Russia concluded that the original hunter-gatherer population had assimilated a wave of "farmers" who had arrived from the [[Near East]] during the [[Neolithic]] about 8,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/science/dna-deciphers-roots-of-modern-europeans.html?_r=1 |title=DNA Deciphers Roots of Modern Europeans |newspaper=The New York Times |date= June 10, 2015 |access-date= December 28, 2016}}</ref>

The Mesolithic era site [[Lepenski Vir]] in modern-day [[Serbia]], the earliest documented [[Sedentary lifestyle|sedentary]] community of Europe with permanent buildings, as well as monumental art, precedes by many centuries sites previously considered to be the oldest known. The community's year-round access to a food surplus prior to the introduction of agriculture was the basis for the sedentary lifestyle.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/1558753 |title=Lepenski Vir – Schela Cladovei culture's chronology and its interpretation |journal=Brukenthal. Acta Musei |access-date= December 29, 2016|last1=Rusu |first1=Aurelian I. |date=January 2011 }}</ref> However, the earliest record for the adoption of elements of farming can be found in [[Starčevo culture|Starčevo]], a community with close cultural ties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.duncancaldwell.com/Site/Prehistory_Shows.html |title=Archaeological Exhibitions |publisher=Duncancaldwell |access-date= December 29, 2016}}</ref>

Belovode and [[Pločnik]], also in Serbia, is currently the oldest reliably dated copper smelting site in Europe (around 7,000 years ago). It is attributed to the [[Vinča culture]], which on the contrary provides no links to the initiation of or a transition to the [[Chalcolithic]] or [[Copper Age]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/calendar/articles/20100924 |title=Serbian site may have hosted first copper makers |publisher=UCL Institute of Archaeology |access-date= December 29, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://cof.quantumfuturegroup.org/events/5439 |title=Early metallurgy: copper smelting, Belovode, Serbia: Vinča culture |newspaper=quantumfuturegroup.org |access-date= December 29, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/21-1/Jovanovic.pdf |title=The oldest Copper Metallurgy in the Balkans |publisher=Penn Museum |access-date= December 29, 2016}}</ref>

The process of smelting bronze is an imported technology with debated origins and history of geographic cultural profusion. It was established in Europe about 3200 BC in the Aegean and production was centered around Cyprus, the primary source of copper for the Mediterranean for many centuries.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ab16 |title=HISTORY OF METALLURGY |publisher=HistoryWorld.net |access-date= December 29, 2016}}</ref>

The introduction of metallurgy, which initiated unprecedented technological progress, has also been linked with the establishment of social stratification, the distinction between rich and poor, and use of precious metals as the means to fundamentally control the dynamics of culture and society.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/3231693 |title=The Development of Social Stratification in Bronze Age Europe (and Comments and Reply) |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=1–23 |publisher=Academia.edu |access-date= December 29, 2016|last1=Gilman |first1=Antonio |last2=Cazzella |first2=Alberto |last3=Cowgill |first3=George L. |last4=Crumley |first4=Carole L. |last5=Earle |first5=Timothy |last6=Gallay |first6=Alain |last7=Harding |first7=A. F. |last8=Harrison |first8=R. J. |last9=Hicks |first9=Ronald |last10=Kohl |first10=Philip L. |last11=Lewthwaite |first11=James |last12=Schwartz |first12=Charles A. |last13=Shennan |first13=Stephen J. |last14=Sherratt |first14=Andrew |last15=Tosi |first15=Maurizio |last16=Wells |first16=Peter S. |doi=10.1086/202600 |year=1981 |s2cid=145631324 }}</ref>

The [[European Iron Age]] culture also originates in the East through the absorption of the technological principles obtained from the [[Hittites]] about 1200 BC, finally arriving in Northern Europe by 500 BC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-hittites-civilization-history-definition.html |title=The Hittites: Civilization, History & Definition |format= Video & Lesson Transcript |newspaper=Study.com |access-date= December 29, 2016}}</ref>

During the Iron Age, Central, Western and most of Eastern Europe gradually entered the actual historical period. Greek maritime colonization and Roman terrestrial conquest form the basis for the diffusion of literacy in large areas to this day. This tradition continued in an altered form and context for the most remote regions ([[Greenland]] and [[Eastern Balts]], 13th century) via the universal body of Christian texts, including the incorporation of [[East Slavs|East Slavic peoples]] and Russia into the Orthodox cultural sphere. [[Latin]] and [[ancient Greek]] languages continued to be the primary and best way to communicate and express ideas in [[liberal arts education]] and the sciences all over Europe until the early modern period.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Slomp |first1=Hans |title=Europe, A Political Profile: An American companion to European politics |page=50 |date=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-39181-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1uzkNq8xfIC&q=Latin+and+ancient+Greek+influence+europe&pg=PA50}}</ref>

==Stone Age== ===Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)=== {{Further|Paleolithic Europe}}

====Oldest fossils, artifacts and sites==== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin: auto; width:96%" |- ! scope="row" style="width: 16%; font-size:100%; background:#fcfebe; color:#000000;"|Name !! scope="row" style="width: 16%; font-size:100%; background:#fcfebe; color:#000000;"|Abstract !! scope="row" style="width: 16%; font-size:100%; background:#fcfebe; color:#000000;"| Age !! scope="row" style="width: 16%; font-size:100%; background:#fcfebe; color:#000000;"|Location !! scope="row" style="width: 16%; font-size:100%; background:#fcfebe; color:#000000;"|Information !! scope="row" style="width: 16%; font-size:100%; background:#fcfebe; color:#000000;"|Coordinates |- | [[Dmanisi skull 5]] || ''[[Homo erectus]]'' || 1.77 Mio || [[Dmanisi]] || "early Homo adult with small brains but large body mass" ||{{coord|41|19|N|44|12|E|display=inline|type:landmark}} |- | [[Lézignan-la-Cèbe]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://anthropology.net/2009/12/16/lithic-assemblage-dated-to-1-57-million-years-found-at-lezignan-la-cebe-southern-france/ |title=Lithic Assemblage Dated to 1.57 Million Years Found at Lézignan-la-Cébe, Southern France |newspaper=Anthropology.net |date= 2009-12-17|access-date= December 30, 2016}}</ref> || [[Lithic technology|Lithic]] [[Assemblage (archaeology)|Assemblage]] || 1.57 Mio ||Lézignan-la-Cébe || a 30 pebble culture, lithic tools, argon dated || {{coord|43|29|N|3|26|E|display=inline|type:landmark}} |- | [[Kozarnika]] || [[limestone]] cave || 1.5 Mio || [[Kozarnika]] || Human molar tooth (considered to be the earliest human—[[Homo erectus]]/[[Homo ergaster]]—traces discovered in Europe outside Caucasian region), lower palaeolithic assemblages that belong to a [[Flake tool|core-and-flake]] non-[[Acheulian]] industry, and incised bones that may be the earliest example of human [[symbolic behaviour]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vdcci.bg/kiosk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:kozarnika-cave&catid=14:nature&Itemid=127&lang=en |title="Kozarnika" cave |publisher=VDCCI BG |access-date=September 5, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915170614/http://vdcci.bg/kiosk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:kozarnika-cave&catid=14:nature&Itemid=127&lang=en }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3512470.stm |title=Early human marks are "symbols" |work=BBC News |date=March 16, 2004 |access-date=September 5, 2016}}</ref> ||{{coord|43|39|N|22|42|E|display=inline|type:landmark}} |- | [[Orce Man]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/a_orce.html |title=Creationist Arguments: Orce Man |newspaper=Talkorigins |access-date= December 31, 2016}}</ref> || tooth and tools || 1.4 Mio || Venta Micena ||most finds are stone tools ||{{coord|37|43|N|2|28|W|display=inline|type:landmark}} |- | [[Atapuerca Mountains|Pleistocene mandible]]<ref>{{cite journal |title=Early Pleistocene human mandible from Sima del Elefante (TE) cave site in Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain): a comparative morphological study |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |pmid=21531443 | doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.03.005 |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=12–25 | last1 = Bermúdez | last2 = de Castro | first2 = JM | last3 = Martinón-Torres | first3 = M | last4 = Gómez-Robles | first4 = A | last5 = Prado-Simón | first5 = L | last6 = Martín-Francés | first6 = L | last7 = Lapresa | first7 = M | last8 = Olejniczak | first8 = A | last9 = Carbonell | first9 = E|year=2011 |bibcode=2011JHumE..61...12B }}</ref> || ''[[Homo antecessor]]''||1.3 Mio || [[Atapuerca Mountains]] || ||{{coord|42|22|N|3|30|W|display=inline|type:landmark}} |- | [[Mauer 1]] || ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' ||600,000 || Mauer|| earliest ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' ||{{coord|49|20|N|8|47|E|display=inline|type:landmark}} |- | [[Boxgrove Man]] || ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' || 500,000|| [[Boxgrove]]|| ||{{coord|50|51|N|0|42|W|display=inline|type:landmark}} |- | [[Tautavel Man]] || ''[[Homo erectus]]'' || 450,000 ||[[Tautavel]]|| ''proposed subspecies'' ||{{coord|42|48|N|2|45|E|display=inline|type:landmark}} |- | [[Swanscombe Man]] ||''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' ||400,000 || [[Swanscombe]]|| ''north-western habitat maximum'' ||{{coord|51|26|N|0|17|E|display=inline|type:landmark}} |- | [[Schöningen Spears]]<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/9705/newsbriefs/spears.html |title=World's Oldest Spears |journal=Archaeology |volume=50 |issue=3 |date=May–June 1997 |author=Arlette P. Kouwenhoven |access-date= December 30, 2016 }}</ref> || wooden javelins || 380,000 ||Schoningen 1995|| ''active hunt'' ||{{coord|42|48|N|2|45|E|display=inline|type:landmark}} |}

====Lower and Middle Paleolithic human presence==== [[File:Acheulean implements. Flint. Abbeville, St Acheul. Neues Museum.jpg|thumb|264x264px|Acheulean hand axes and hand axe-like implements, flint, 800,000–300,000 BC]]

The climatic record of the Paleolithic is characterised by the [[Pleistocene]] pattern of cyclic warmer and colder periods, including eight major cycles and numerous shorter episodes. The northern maximum of human occupation fluctuated in response to the changing conditions, and successful settlement required constant adaption capabilities and problem solving. Most of Scandinavia, the [[North European Plain]] and Russia remained off limits for occupation during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/Paleolithic-settlement |title=Paleolithic settlement |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date= December 31, 2016}}</ref> Populations were sparse and small throughout the Palaeolithic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=French |first=Jennifer |title=Palaeolithic Europe: A Demographic and Social Prehistory |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2021 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/archaeology/prehistory/palaeolithic-europe-demographic-and-social-prehistory?format=PB |isbn=978-1-108-71006-0 |location=UK |pages=1–18}}</ref>

Associated evidence, such as stone tools, artifacts and settlement localities, numbers more than fossilised remains of the hominin occupants themselves. The simplest pebble tools with a few flakes struck off to create an edge were found in [[Dmanisi]], Georgia, and in Spain at sites in the [[Hoya of Guadix|Guadix-Baza]] basin and near [[Atapuerca Mountains|Atapuerca]]. The [[Oldowan]] tool discoveries, called ''Mode 1-type assemblages'' are gradually replaced by a more complex tradition that included a range of hand axes and flake tools, the [[Acheulean]], ''Mode 2-type assemblages''. Both types of tool sets are attributed to ''[[Homo erectus]]'', the earliest and for a very long time the only human in Europe and more likely to be found in the southern part of the continent. However, the Acheulean fossil record also links to the emergence of ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'', particularly its specific [[lithic technology|lithic]] tools and handaxes. The presence of ''Homo heidelbergensis'' is documented since 600,000 BC in numerous sites in Germany, Great Britain and northern France.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Early Evidence of Acheulean Settlement in Northwestern Europe – La Noira Site, a 700,000 Year-Old Occupation in the Center of France |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=11 |article-number=e75529 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0075529 |pmid=24278105 |year=2013 |last1=Moncel |first1=Marie-Hélène |last2=Despriée |first2=Jackie |last3=Voinchet |first3=Pierre |last4=Tissoux |first4=Hélène |last5=Moreno |first5=Davinia |last6=Bahain |first6=Jean-Jacques |last7=Courcimault |first7=Gilles |last8=Falguères |first8=Christophe |bibcode=2013PLoSO...875529M |pmc=3835824|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Although [[Paleoanthropology|palaeoanthropologists]] generally agree that ''Homo erectus'' and ''Homo heidelbergensis'' immigrated to Europe, debates remain about migration routes and the chronology.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo/homo_2.htm |title=Early Human Evolution: Homo ergaster and erectus |publisher=palomar edu |access-date= December 31, 2016}}</ref>

The fact that ''[[Homo neanderthalensis]]'' is found only in a contiguous range in [[Eurasia]] and the general acceptance of the [[Out of Africa I|Out of Africa]] hypothesis both suggest that the species has evolved locally. Again, consensus prevails on the matter, but widely debated are origin and evolution patterns.<ref>{{cite news |first=Clive |last=Cookson|url=https://www.ft.com/content/c8260378-fc36-11e3-98b8-00144feab7de |title= Palaeontology: How Neanderthals evolved | newspaper= Financial Times |date=June 27, 2014 |access-date=October 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Callaway|first1=Ewen|title='Pit of bones' catches Neanderthal evolution in the act|journal=Nature News|date=19 June 2014|doi=10.1038/nature.2014.15430|s2cid=88427585}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/oldest-ancient-human-dna-details-dawn-of-neandertals/ |title= Oldest Ancient-Human DNA Details Dawn of Neandertals | magazine= Scientific American |date=March 14, 2016 |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-heidelbergensis |title= ''Homo heidelbergensis'' |quote= Comparison of Neanderthal and modern human DNA suggests that the two lineages diverged from a common ancestor, most likely ''Homo heidelbergensis'' | publisher= Smithsonian Institution |date= 2010-02-14|access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref>

The Neanderthal fossil record ranges from Western Europe to the [[Altai Mountains]] in Central Asia and the [[Ural Mountains]] in the North to the [[Levant]] in the South. Unlike its predecessors, they were biologically and culturally adapted to survival in cold environments and successfully extended their range to the glacial environments of Central Europe and the Russian plains. The great number and, in some cases, exceptional state of preservation of Neanderthal fossils and cultural [[Assemblage (archaeology)|assemblages]] enables researchers to provide a detailed and accurate data on behaviour and culture.<ref name="smithsonian">{{Cite news|url = http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-skeletons-of-shanidar-cave-7028477/?no-ist=&page=1|title = The Skeletons of Shanidar Cave|last = Edwards|first = Owen|date = March 2010|work = Smithsonian|access-date = 17 October 2014}}</ref><ref name=Neanderthal/> Neanderthals are associated with the [[Mousterian culture]] (''Mode 3''), stone tools that first appeared approximately 160,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Shaw |editor1-first=Ian |editor2-last=Jameson |editor2-first=Robert |title=A Dictionary of Archaeology |date=1999 |publisher= Blackwell |isbn=978-0-631-17423-3 |page=408 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HKDtlPuM2oC&q=mousterian+40%2C000&pg=PA408|access-date=1 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-neanderthalensis |title=Homo neanderthalensis |quote=...The Mousterian stone tool industry of Neanderthals is characterized by… |publisher= Smithsonian Institution |date=September 22, 2016 |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref>

===Upper Paleolithic=== {{main|European early modern humans|Paleolithic Europe}} [[File:18 PanneauDesLions(PartieDroite)BisonsPoursuivisParDesLions.jpg|thumb|[[Chauvet Cave]] painting, [[Aurignacian culture]], France, c. 30,000 BC]]

''Homo sapiens'' arrived in Europe around 46,000 and 43,000 years ago via the [[Levant]] and entered the continent through the [[Danubian corridor]], as the fossils at the sites of [[Bacho Kiro cave]] and [[Peștera cu Oase]] suggest.<ref name=Wilford>{{cite news |first=John Noble |last=Wilford |title=Fossil Teeth Put Humans in Europe Earlier Than Thought |newspaper=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/science/fossil-teeth-put-humans-in-europe-earlier-than-thought.html |date=2 Nov 2011 |access-date=2012-04-19 }}</ref> With an approximate age of 46,000 years,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fewlass |first1=Helen |last2=Talamo |first2=Sahra |last3=Wacker |first3=Lukas |last4=Kromer |first4=Bernd |last5=Tuna |first5=Thibaut |last6=Fagault |first6=Yoann |last7=Bard |first7=Edouard |last8=McPherron |first8=Shannon P. |last9=Aldeias |first9=Vera |last10=Maria |first10=Raquel |last11=Martisius |first11=Naomi L. |last12=Paskulin |first12=Lindsay |last13=Rezek |first13=Zeljko |last14=Sinet-Mathiot |first14=Virginie |last15=Sirakova |first15=Svoboda |last16=Smith |first16=Geoffrey M. |last17=Spasov |first17=Rosen |last18=Welker |first18=Frido |last19=Sirakov |first19=Nikolay |last20=Tsanova |first20=Tsenka |last21=Hublin |first21=Jean-Jacques |title=A 14C chronology for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition at Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |date=11 May 2020 |volume=4 |issue=6 |pages=794–801 |doi=10.1038/s41559-020-1136-3 |pmid = 32393865 |hdl=11585/770560 |s2cid=218593433 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> the ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' fossils found in Bacho Kiro cave consist of a pair of fragmented [[mandibles]] including at least one [[Molar (tooth)|molar]]<ref>{{cite book|title=After Eden: The evolution of human domination |last=Sale |first=Kirkpatrick |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2006 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780822339380/page/48 48] |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780822339380 |url-access=registration |access-date=11 November 2011|isbn=0-8223-3938-2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kuhn |first1=Steven L. |last2=Stiner |first2=Mary C. |last3=Reese |first3=David S. |last4=Güleç |first4=Erksin |title=Ornaments of the earliest Upper Paleolithic: New insights from the Levant |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=19 June 2001 |volume=98 |issue=13 |pages=7641–7646 |doi=10.1073/pnas.121590798 |pmid=11390976 |pmc=34721 |bibcode=2001PNAS...98.7641K |doi-access=free }}</ref> This site yielded the oldest known ornaments in Europe, [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to over 43,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite book|title=European Prehistory: A Survey|last=Milisauskas|first=Sarunas|publisher=Springer|year=1974|isbn=978-1-4419-6633-9|access-date=June 8, 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gcGSn0eVs2oC&q=bulgaria&pg=PA234|quote=One of the earliest dates for an Aurignacian assemblage is greater than 43,000 BP from Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria ...}}</ref>

The fossils' genetic structure indicates a recent Neanderthal ancestry and the discovery of a fragment of a skull in Israel in 2008 support the notion that humans interbred with Neanderthals in the Levant.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Connor |first=Steve |date=2015-01-29 |title=Skull discovery proves humans lived side-by-side with Neanderthals |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/human-skull-discovery-in-israel-proves-humans-lived-sidebyside-with-neanderthals-10008717.html |access-date=2025-10-30 |website=[[The Independent]] |language=en}}</ref>

After the slow processes of the previous hundreds of thousands of years, a turbulent period of Neanderthal–''Homo sapiens'' coexistence demonstrated that cultural evolution had replaced biological evolution as the primary force of adaptation and change in human societies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.fiu.edu/~grenierg/chapter5.htm |title=Chapter 5: Hunting & Gathering Societies |publisher=Florida International University |access-date= December 31, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.u.arizona.edu/~mstiner/pdf/Kuhn_Stiner1998b.pdf |title=Creativity in human evolution and prehistory |publisher=Arizona University |access-date= December 31, 2016}}</ref>

Generally small and widely dispersed fossil sites suggest that Neanderthals lived in less numerous and more socially isolated groups than ''Homo sapiens''. Tools and [[Levallois technique|Levallois points]] are remarkably sophisticated from the outset, but they have a slow rate of variability, and general technological inertia is noticeable during the entire fossil period. Artifacts are of utilitarian nature, and symbolic behavioral traits are undocumented before the arrival of modern humans. The [[Aurignacian]] culture, introduced by modern humans, is characterized by cut [[bone]] or [[antler]] points, fine flint [[blade (archaeology)|blades]] and bladelets struck from prepared [[Lithic core|cores]], rather than using crude [[lithic flake|flakes]]. The oldest examples and subsequent widespread tradition of prehistoric art originate from the [[Aurignacian]].<ref name="MellarsArcheology">{{cite journal | last1 = Mellars | first1 = P. | year = 2006 | title = Archeology and the Dispersal of Modern Humans in Europe: Deconstructing the Aurignacian | journal = Evolutionary Anthropology | volume = 15 | issue = 5| pages = 167–182 | doi=10.1002/evan.20103| s2cid = 85316570 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://eol.org/pages/4454114/details |title=Homo neanderthalensis Brief Summary |publisher=EOL |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title =Symbolic or utilitarian? Juggling interpretations of Neanderthal behavior: new inferences from the study of engraved stone surfaces | pmid=25020018 | doi=10.4436/JASS.92007 | volume=92 | issue=92 | journal=J Anthropol Sci | pages=233–55 | last1 = Peresani | first1 = M | last2 = Dallatorre | first2 = S | last3 = Astuti | first3 = P | last4 = Dal Colle | first4 = M | last5 = Ziggiotti | first5 = S | last6 = Peretto | first6 = C| year=2014| doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=European Prehistory: A Survey|last=Milisauskas|first=Sarunas|publisher=Springer|year=2011|page=74|isbn=978-1-4419-6633-9|access-date=8 June 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gcGSn0eVs2oC&pg=PA234 |quote=One of the earliest dates for an Aurignacian assemblage is greater than 43,000 BC from Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria ...}}</ref>

After more than 100,000 years of uniformity, around 45,000 years ago, the Neanderthal fossil record changed abruptly. The Mousterian had quickly become more versatile and was named the [[Chatelperronian]] culture, which signifies the diffusion of Aurignacian elements into Neanderthal culture. Although debated, the fact proved that Neanderthals had, to some extent, adopted the culture of modern ''Homo sapiens''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archaeology.about.com/od/upperpaleolithic/qt/Chatelperronian-Guide.htm |title=Chatelperronian Transition to Upper Paleolithic |publisher=About.com |access-date= December 31, 2016}}</ref> However, the Neanderthal fossil record completely vanished after 40,000 years BC, but genetic studies show mixing may have been common in the prehistoric period, and modern Europeans all have Neanderthal DNA.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03335-3 | title=Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry |publisher=Nature |access-date= November 16, 2025}}</ref>.

[[Image:Europe20000ya.png|thumb|[[Last Glacial Maximum refugia]], c. 20,000 years ago<br/> {{legend|#c54b00|[[Solutrean]]}} {{legend|#ca00b0|[[Epigravettian]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fu|first1=Q.|last2=Posth|first2=C.|last3=Hajdinjak|first3=M.|last4=Petr|first4=M.|display-authors=3|date=May 2, 2016|title=The genetic history of Ice Age Europe|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=534|issue=7606|pages=200–205|doi=10.1038/nature17993|pmc=4943878|pmid=27135931|bibcode=2016Natur.534..200F}}</ref>}} ]]

Around 32,000 years ago, the [[Gravettian culture]] appeared in the [[Crimean Mountains]] (southern [[Ukraine]]).<ref name=orig>{{cite journal | title = The Oldest Anatomically Modern Humans from Far Southeast Europe: Direct Dating, Culture and Behavior | first1 = Sandrine | last1= Prat | first2= Stéphane C. | last2= Péan | first3= Laurent | last3= Crépin | first4 =Dorothée G. |last4= Drucker | first5 =Simon J. | last5= Puaud | first6 =Hélène | last6=Valladas | first7= Martina |last7 =Lázničková-Galetová | first8 =Johannes | last8 =van der Plicht | first9= Alexander | last9= Yanevich | journal = PLOS ONE |date = 17 June 2011 | volume = 6 | issue = 6 | article-number = e20834 | publisher = plosone | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0020834 | pmid = 21698105 | pmc = 3117838 | bibcode = 2011PLoSO...620834P | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name=bbc>{{cite news | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13846262 | title = Early human fossils unearthed in Ukraine | first = Jennifer | last = Carpenter |date = 20 June 2011 | publisher = BBC | access-date = 21 June 2011}}</ref> By 24,000 BC, the [[Solutrean]] and Gravettian cultures were present in Southwestern Europe. Gravettian technology and culture have been theorised to have come with migrations of people from the Middle East, Anatolia and the Balkans, and might be linked with the transitional cultures mentioned earlier since their techniques have some similarities and are both very different from Aurignacian ones, but this issue is very obscure. The Gravettian also appeared in the [[Caucasus]] and [[Zagros]] Mountains but soon disappeared from southwestern Europe, with the notable exception of the Mediterranean coasts of Iberia.

The Solutrean culture, extended from northern Spain to southeastern France, includes not only a [[stone technology]] but also the first significant development of cave painting and the use of the needle and possibly that of the bow and arrow. The more widespread Gravettian culture is no less advanced, at least in artistic terms: sculpture (mainly ''venuses'') is the most outstanding form of creative expression of such peoples.

[[File:Lascaux painting.jpg|thumb|[[Lascaux]] cave painting, [[Magdalenian]], 15,000 BC]]

Around 19,000 BC, Europe witnesses the appearance of a new culture, known as [[Magdalenian]], possibly rooted in the old Aurignacian one, which soon superseded the Solutrean area and also the Gravettian of Central Europe. However, in Mediterranean Iberia, Italy, the Balkans and Anatolia, [[Epigravettian]] cultures continued to evolve locally.

With the Magdalenian culture, the Paleolithic development in Europe reaches its peak and this is reflected in art, owing to previous traditions of paintings and sculpture.

Around 12,500 BC, the [[Würm Glacial]] Age ended. Slowly, through the following millennia, temperatures and sea levels rose, changing the environment of prehistoric people. Ireland and Great Britain became islands, and Scandinavia became separated from the main part of the European Peninsula. (They had all once been connected by a now-submerged region of the continental shelf known as [[Doggerland]].) Nevertheless, the Magdalenian culture persisted until 10,000 BC, when it quickly evolved into two ''microlith'' cultures: [[Azilian]], in Spain and southern France, and [[Sauveterrian]], in northern France and Central Europe. Despite some differences, both cultures shared several traits: the creation of very small stone tools called [[microlith]]s and the scarcity of figurative art, which seems to have vanished almost completely, which was replaced by abstract decoration of tools.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/paleoexhibit/masdazil.htm#thumbnails | title=Mas d'Azil|website = Logan Museum|publisher = Beloit College| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010430150334/http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/paleoexhibit/masdazil.htm |archive-date = 30 April 2001}}</ref>

In the late phase of the epi-Paleolithic period, the Sauveterrean culture evolved into the so-called [[Tardenoisian]] and strongly influenced its southern neighbour, clearly replacing it in Mediterranean Spain and Portugal. The recession of the glaciers allowed human colonisation in Northern Europe for the first time. The [[Maglemosian]] culture, derived from the Sauveterre-Tardenois culture but with a strong personality, colonised Denmark and the nearby regions, including parts of Britain.

<gallery> File:Floete Schwanenknochen Geissenkloesterle Blaubeuren.jpg|[[Bone flute]], [[Aurignacian]], [[Geissenklösterle]] cave, 43,000 BC File:Adorant, Geisenklösterle, Blaubeuren-Weiler, Alb-Donau-Kreis, Aurignacian culture, 35,000 to 45,000 years old, ivory - Landesmuseum Württemberg - Stuttgart, Germany - DSC02709.jpg|[[Adorant from the Geißenklösterle cave]], Aurignacian, 42,000 to 40,000 BC File:Loewenmensch1.jpg|[[Lion-man]], Aurignacian, c. 41,000 to 35,000 BC File:Chauvet´s cave horses.jpg|[[Aurignacian]] cave paintings, [[Chauvet Cave]], c. 30,000 BC File:Vestonicka venuse edit.jpg|[[Venus of Dolní Věstonice]], [[Gravettian]], c. 29,000 BC File:Venus-de-Laussel-vue-generale-noir.jpg|[[Venus of Laussel]], Gravettian, c. 23,000 BC File:Venus of Brassempouy.jpg|[[Venus of Brassempouy]], c. 23,000 BC File:F07 0054.Ma.JPG|Antler carving, Magdalenian, 15,000 BC </gallery>

===Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)=== {{main|Mesolithic Europe}} {{further|Balkan Mesolithic|British Mesolithic|Irish Mesolithic|Azilian|Fosna–Hensbacka culture|Kunda culture}} [[File:Gekerbter.Knochen.Thais.P1035755.jpg|thumb|[[Thaïs Bone|Thaïs bone]], France, [[Azilian]] culture, c. 10,000 BC<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www3.astronomicalheritage.net/index.php/show-entity?identity=83&idsubentity=1|title=The Thaïs Bone, France|website=UNESCO Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy|quote=The engraving on the Thaïs bone is a non-decorative notational system of considerable complexity. The cumulative nature of the markings together with their numerical arrangement and various other characteristics strongly suggest that the notational sequence on the main face represents a non-arithmetical record of day-by-day lunar and solar observations undertaken over a time period of as much as 3½ years. The markings appear to record the changing appearance of the moon, and in particular its crescent phases and times of invisibility, and the shape of the overall pattern suggests that the sequence was kept in step with the seasons by observations of the solstices. The latter implies that people in the Azilian period were not only aware of the changing appearance of the moon but also of the changing position of the sun, and capable of synchronizing the two. The markings on the Thaïs bone represent the most complex and elaborate time-factored sequence currently known within the corpus of Palaeolithic mobile art. The artefact demonstrates the existence, within Upper Palaeolithic (Azilian) cultures c. 12,000 years ago, of a system of time reckoning based upon observations of the phase cycle of the moon, with the inclusion of a seasonal time factor provided by observations of the solar solstices.}}</ref>|174x174px]]

A transition period in the development of human technology between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, the [[Balkan Mesolithic]] began around 15,000 years ago. In Western Europe, the Early Mesolithic, or [[Azilian]], began about 14,000 years ago, in the [[Franco-Cantabrian region]] of northern Spain and southern France. In other parts of Europe, the Mesolithic began by 11,500 years ago (the beginning [[Holocene]]) and ended with the [[Neolithic Europe|introduction]] of farming, which, depending on the region, occurred 8,500 to 5,500 years ago.

In areas with limited glacial impact, the term "Epipaleolithic" is sometimes preferred for the period. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the Last Glacial Period ended had a much more apparent Mesolithic era that lasted millennia. In Northern Europe, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands, which had been created by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviours that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. Such conditions delayed the coming of the Neolithic to as late as 5,500 years ago in Northern Europe.

As what [[Vere Gordon Childe]] termed the "Neolithic Package" (including agriculture, herding, polished stone axes, timber longhouses and pottery) spread into Europe, the Mesolithic way of life was marginalised and eventually disappeared.<ref>Childe 1925</ref> Controversy over the means of that dispersal is discussed below in the ''Neolithic'' section. A "[[Ceramic Mesolithic]]" can be distinguished between 7,200 and 5,850 years ago and ranged from Southern to Northern Europe.

<gallery> File:Laténium-dame-Monruz.jpg|[[Venus of Monruz]], Switzerland, c. 9000 BC File:Shigir idol.jpg|[[Shigir Idol]], Russia, c. 10,000 BC File:064 Pintures de la cova dels Moros, exposició al Museu de Gavà.JPG|[[Roca dels Moros]], Spain File:Magura - drawings.jpg|[[Magura Cave]] drawings, Bulgaria, c. 8,000- 6,000 BC File:Boomstamkano van Pesse, Drents Museum, 1955-VIII-2.jpg|[[Pesse canoe]], Netherlands, c. 8000 BC File:Huittisten hirvenpää.jpg|[[Elk's Head of Huittinen]], Finland, c. 6500 BC File:Lepenski Vir, muzej 13.jpg|[[Lepenski Vir]] sculpture, Serbia, c. 7000 BC File:Animal figurine carved from amber, Denmark.jpg|[[Amber]] animal figurine, [[Nordic Stone Age#Mesolithic|Denmark]], c. 12,000 BC File:Star Carr pendant 1.png|[[Star Carr Pendant|Star Carr pendant]], Britain, c. 9000 BC </gallery>

==Neolithic (New Stone Age)== {{Main|Neolithic Europe}} {{further|Old Europe (archaeology)}} [[File:Europe agricultural revolution.gif|thumb|220px|Chronology of agriculture introduction in Europe]]

The European [[Neolithic]] is assumed to have arrived from the Near East via [[Asia Minor]], the [[Mediterranean]] and the [[Caucasus]]. There has been a long discussion between ''migrationists'', who claim that the Near Eastern farmers almost totally displaced the European native hunter-gatherers, and ''diffusionists'', who claim that the process was slow enough to have occurred mostly through [[cultural transmission]]. A relationship has been suggested between the spread of agriculture and the diffusion of [[Indo-European languages]], with several models of migrations trying to establish a relationship, like the [[Anatolian hypothesis]], which sets the origin of Indo-European agricultural terminology in Anatolia.<ref>The supposed autochthony of Hittites, the Indo-Hittite hypothesis and the migration of agricultural "Indo-European" societies were intrinsically linked by Colin Renfrew 2001</ref>

===Early Neolithic=== [[File:Asparn Zaya Jungsteinzeithaus.JPG|thumb|[[Neolithic long house|Neolithic longhouses]] appeared in central Europe in connection with the early Neolithic cultures such as the [[Linear Pottery culture]] or [[Cucuteni culture]].]] Apparently related with the Anatolian culture of [[Hacilar]], the Greek region of [[Thessalia|Thessaly]] was the first place in Europe known to have acquired agriculture, cattle-herding and pottery. The early stages are known as [[pre-Sesklo]] culture. The Thessalian Neolithic culture soon evolved into the more coherent [[Sesklo|Sesklo culture]] (6000 BC), which was the origin of the main branches of Neolithic expansion in Europe. The [[Karanovo culture]] on the territory of modern day Bulgaria, was another early [[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic culture]] (Karanovo I-III ca. 62nd to 55th centuries BC) which was part of the [[Danube civilization]] and it is considered the largest and most important of the Azmak River Valley agrarian settlements.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues|last=Danver|first=Steven L.|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-7656-8222-2|location=Oxon|page=271}}</ref> The Karanovo I is considered a continuation of Near Eastern settlement type.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Whittle|first1=Alasdair|title=Living Well Together? Settlement and Materiality in the Neolithic of South-East and Central Europe|last2=Hofmann|first2=Daniela|last3=Bailey|first3=Douglass W.|publisher=Oxbow Books|year=2008|isbn=978-1-78297-481-9|language=en}}</ref> The [[Starčevo culture]] is dating to the period between ''c.'' 6200 and 4500 [[BCE]].<ref name="Istorijski atlas">Istorijski atlas, Intersistem Kartografija, Beograd, 2010, page 11.</ref>{{sfn|Chapman|2000|p=237}} It originates in the spread of the [[Neolithic package]] of peoples and technological innovations including farming and ceramics from [[Anatolia]]. The Starčevo culture marks its spread to the inland Balkan peninsula as the [[Cardial ware]] culture did along the Adriatic coastline. It forms part of the wider [[Starčevo–Körös–Criş culture]]. Practically all of the [[Balkan Peninsula]] was colonized in the 6th millennium from there. The expansion, reaching the easternmost Tardenoisian outposts of the upper [[Tisza]], gave birth to the [[Linear Pottery culture|Proto-Linear Pottery]] culture, a significant modification of the Balkan Neolithic that was the origin of one of the most important branches of European Neolithic: the [[Danubian culture|Danubian]] group of cultures. In parallel, the coasts of the [[Adriatic]] and of southern Italy witnessed the expansion of another Neolithic current with less clear origins. Settling initially in [[Dalmatia]], the bearers of the [[Cardium pottery]] culture may have come from Thessaly (some of the pre-Sesklo settlements show related traits) or even from Lebanon (Byblos). They were sailors, fishermen and sheep and goat herders, and the archaeological findings show that they mixed with natives in most places. Other early Neolithic cultures can be found in [[Ukraine]] and Southern Russia, where the Epigravettian locals assimilated cultural influxes from beyond the Caucasus (e.g. the [[Dnieper–Donets culture|Dniepr-Donets culture]] and related cultures) and in [[Andalusia]] (Spain), where the rare Neolithic of [[La Almagra Pottery]] appeared without known origins very early (c. 7800 BC).

===Middle Neolithic=== {{Main|Middle Neolithic}} This phase, starting 7000 years ago was marked by the consolidation of the Neolithic expansion towards western and northern Europe but also by the rise of new cultures in the Balkans, notably the [[Dimini]] (Thessaly) and related [[Vinča culture|Vinca]] (Serbia and Romania) and [[Karanovo culture|Karanovo]] cultures (Bulgaria and nearby areas). Meanwhile, the Proto-Linear Pottery culture gave birth to two very dynamic branches: the Western and Eastern [[Linear Pottery Culture]]s. The western branch expanded quickly, assimilating Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and even large parts of western Ukraine, historical [[Moldavia]], the lowlands of Romania, and regions of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, all in less than 1000 years. With this expansion came diversification and a number of local Danubian cultures started forming at the end of the 5th millennium. In the Mediterranean, the Cardium pottery fishermen showed no less dynamism and colonised or assimilated all of Italy and the Mediterranean regions of France and Spain. Even in the Atlantic, some groups among the native hunter-gatherers started the slow incorporation of the new technologies. Among them, the most noticeable regions seem to be southwestern Iberia, which was influenced by the Mediterranean but especially by the Andalusian Neolithic, which soon developed the first [[Megalithic]] burials ([[dolmen]]s), and the area around Denmark ([[Ertebølle|Ertebölle]] culture), influenced by the Danubian complex.

===Late Neolithic=== This period occupied the first half of the 6th millennium BC. The tendencies of the previous period consolidated and so there was a fully-formed Neolithic Europe, with five main cultural regions: # [[Danubian culture]]: from northern France to western Ukraine. Now split into several local cultures, the most relevant being the [[Boian culture]], the [[culture of Rössen|Rössen culture]] that was pre-eminent in the west, and the [[Lengyel culture]] of Austria and western Hungary, which would have a major role in later periods. # The area of Dimini-Vinca: Thessaly, Macedonia and Serbia but extending its influence to parts of the mid-Danubian basin (Tisza, [[Slavonia]]) and southern Italy. # Mediterranean cultures: from the Adriatic to eastern Spain, including Italy and large portions of France and Switzerland. They were also diversified into several groups. # Eastern Europe: basically central and eastern [[Ukraine]] and parts of southern Russia and [[Belarus]] (Dniepr-Don culture). This area has the earliest evidence for domesticated horses. # Atlantic Europe: a mosaic of local cultures, some of them still pre-Neolithic, from Portugal to southern Sweden. In around 5800 BC, western France began to incorporate the Megalithic style of burial.

<gallery> File:Ancient Greece Neolithic Pottery - 28421665976.jpg|[[Sesklo culture]], Greece, c. 6000-5300 BC File:NeolithicVessel B&W 1.jpg|[[Karanovo culture]], Bulgaria, 6th mill. BC File:Ovcharovo tell, miniature culture scene, Bulgaria, 6th millennium BC.jpg|[[Old Europe (archaeology)|Karanovo culture]], Bulgaria, 5th mill. BC File:Cultura di vinca, idolo, serbia 4500-3500 ac ca. 01.jpg|[[Vinca culture|Vinča culture]] figurine, Serbia, c. 5000 BC File:LBK house 1.jpg|[[Linear Pottery culture]], [[History of Germany|Germany]], 5000 BC File:Goseck Circle 1.jpg|[[Goseck Circle]], Germany, 4900 BC File:Dimini 3.jpg|[[Dimini]], walled acropolis, Greece, c. 4800 BC File:Gavrinis 2.jpg|[[Gavrinis]] megalithic tomb, [[Neolithic France|France]], 4000 BC File:Er Grah, Locmariaquer Megaliths.jpg|[[Locmariaquer megaliths]], [[Prehistory of France|France]], 4500 BC File:Monte d'Accoddi, reconstruction 1.jpg|[[Monte d'Accoddi]], Sardinia, c. 3500-3000 BC<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272651018|journal=Documenta Praehistorica|volume=38|title=Monte d'Accoddi and the end of the Neolithic in Sardinia (Italy)|last=Grazia Melis|first=Maria|date=2011|doi=10.4312/dp.38.16|pages=207–219}}</ref> File:Dolmen de Menga. Interior 2.jpg|[[Menga Dolmen]], [[Neolithic Iberia|Spain]], c. 3700 BC File:Irelands history.jpg|[[Newgrange]], [[Prehistoric Ireland|Ireland]], 3200 BC File:Durankulak-Golemija ostrov-Hamangia IV vessels.jpg|[[Hamangia culture]], [[History of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] File:Tisza1.jpg|[[Tisza culture]], [[History of Hungary before the Hungarian Conquest|Hungary]], 5300 BC<ref>{{cite web|url=https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/ritual-and-memory/objects/altar-szeged|title=Ritual and Memory: Neolithic Era and Copper Age|website=Institute for the Study of the Ancient World|date=2022}}</ref> File:R20S09-90 (52319225595).jpg|[[Bonu Ighinu culture]], Sardinia, 4500 BC File:Okoliste. Neolithic settlement 5200 BC. Bosnia and Herzegovina (cropped).jpg|[[Okolište (Neolithic site)|Okolište]], Bosnia and Herzegovina, c. 5000 BC </gallery>

==Chalcolithic (Copper Age)== {{Main|Chalcolithic Europe}} {{further|Old Europe (archaeology)}} [[File:20140611 Varna 08.jpg|thumb|[[Varna culture]] elite burial, Bulgaria, 4500 BC|203x203px]] Also known as "Copper Age", the European [[Chalcolithic]] was a time of significant changes, the first of which was the invention of [[Metallurgy during the Copper Age in Europe|copper metallurgy]]. This is first attested in the [[Vinča culture|Vinca culture]] in the 6th millennium BC. The Balkans became a major centre for copper extraction and metallurgical production in the 5th millennium BC. Copper artefacts were traded across the region, eventually reaching eastwards across the steppes of eastern Europe as far as the [[Khvalynsk culture|Khavalynsk culture]]. The 5th millennium BC also saw the appearance of economic stratification and the rise of ruling elites in the Balkan region, most notably in the [[Varna culture]] (c. 4500 BC) in Bulgaria, which developed the first known gold metallurgy in the world.

The economy of the Chalcolithic was no longer that of peasant communities and tribes, since some materials began to be produced in specific locations and distributed to wide regions. [[Mining]] of metal and stone was particularly developed in some areas, along with the processing of those materials into valuable goods.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/view/3936 | title= The Copper Age in northern Italy | publisher=University of Arizona Libraries | access-date=December 29, 2017}}</ref>

'''Early Chalcolithic, 5500-4000 BC''' [[File:Map of Early Neolithic migrations.jpg|thumb|Prehistoric migrations c. 5000–4000 BC. [[Comb Ceramic culture|Comb Ware]], [[Khvalynsk culture|Khvalynsk]], Dnieper–Donets and Sredny Stog cultures were found to have a significant [[Eastern hunter-gatherer|EHG]] component.]] From 5500 BC onwards, Eastern Europe was apparently infiltrated by people originating from beyond the Volga, creating a plural complex known as [[Sredny Stog culture]], which substituted the previous [[Dnieper–Donets culture|Dnieper-Donets]] culture in Ukraine, pushing the natives to migrate northwest to the Baltic and to Denmark, where they mixed with the natives ([[Funnelbeaker culture|TRBK]] A and C). The emergence of the Sredny Stog culture may be correlated with the expansion of Indo-European languages, according to the [[Kurgan hypothesis]]. Near the end of the period, around 4000 BC, another westward migration of supposed Indo-European speakers left many traces in the lower Danube area (culture of [[Cernavodă culture|Cernavodă]] I) in what seems to have been an invasion.<ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://www.academia.edu/4831344 |title=Re-Examining Late Chalcolithic Cultural Collapse in South-East Europe |publisher=University of Arkansas |type=MA Thesis |access-date= January 1, 2017|last1=Smith |first1=Harvey B.}}</ref>

[[Solnitsata]] ("The Saltworks"), a prehistoric town located in present-day [[Bulgaria]], is believed by archaeologists to be the oldest town in [[Europe]] - a fortified stone settlement - citadelle, inner and outer city with pottery production site and the site of a [[salt]] production facility approximately six millennia ago;<ref name=Maugh>{{cite news |title=Bulgarians find oldest European town, a salt production center |first=Thomas H. |last=Maugh II |url=https://www.latimes.com/science/la-xpm-2012-nov-01-la-sci-sn-oldest-european-town-20121101-story.html |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |date=1 November 2012 |access-date=1 November 2012}}</ref> it flourished ca 4700–4200 BC.<ref>[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120702232530/http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?category=Survival+of+Information Survival of Information: the earliest prehistoric town in Europe ]</ref><ref name=Squires>{{cite news |title=Archaeologists find Europe's most prehistoric town |first=Nick |last=Squires |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/9646541/Bulgaria-archaeologists-find-Europes-most-prehistoric-town-Provadia-Solnitsata.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=31 October 2012 |access-date=1 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://naim.bg/contentFiles/ARH_2012_1_res1.pdf |title=Salt, early complex society, urbanization: Provadia-Solnitsata (5500-4200 BC) (Abstract) |first=Vassil |last=Nikolov |publisher=[[Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]] |access-date=1 November 2012}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the Danubian [[Lengyel culture]] absorbed its northern neighbours in the Czech Republic and Poland for some centuries, only to recede in the second half of the period. The hierarchical model of the Varna culture seems to have been replicated later in the Tiszan region with the [[Bodrogkeresztúr culture|Bodrogkeresztur culture]]. Labour specialisation, economic stratification and possibly the risk of invasion may have been the reasons behind this development.

In the western Danubian region (the Rhine and Seine basins), the [[Michelsberg culture]] displaced its predecessor, the [[Rössen culture]]. Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean basin, several cultures (most notably the [[Chasséen culture]] in southeastern France and the [[:de:Chassey-Lagozza-Cortaillod-Kultur|Lagozza culture]] in northern Italy) converged into a functional union of which the most significant characteristic was the distribution network of honey-coloured [[flint|silex]]. Despite the unity, the signs of conflicts are clear, as many skeletons show violent injuries. This was the time and area of [[Ötzi]], the famous man found in the Alps.

;Middle Chalcolithic, 4000-3000 BC [[File:Goddess figurine with Tattoos.jpg|thumb|[[Cucuteni-Trypillia|Cucuteni]] figurine, Romania, 4000 BC|207x207px]]

This period extends through the first half of the 4th millennium BC. During this period the [[Cucuteni–Trypillia culture|Cucuteni-Trypillia]] culture in Ukraine experienced a massive expansion, building the largest settlements in the world at the time, described as the first cities in the world by some scholars. The earliest known evidence for wheeled vehicles, in the form of wheeled models, also comes from Cucuteni-Trypillia sites, dated to c. 3900 BC.

In the Danubian region the powerful [[Baden culture]] emerged circa 3500 BC, extending more or less across the region of [[Austria-Hungary]]. The rest of the Balkans was profoundly restructured after the invasions of the previous period, with the [[Coțofeni culture]] in the central Balkans showing pronounced eastern (or presumably Indo-European) traits. The new [[Ezero culture]] in Bulgaria (3300 BC), shows the first evidence of pseudo-bronze (or [[arsenic]]al bronze), as does the Baden culture and the [[Cycladic culture]] (in the Aegean) after 2800 BC.<ref name="cultural" />

In Eastern Europe, the [[Yamna culture|Yamnaya culture]] took over southern Russia and Ukraine. In [[Western world|western Europe]], the only sign of unity came from the Megalithic [[super-culture]], which extended from southern Sweden to southern Spain, including large parts of southern Germany as well. However, the Mediterranean and Danubian groupings of the previous period appear to have fragmented into many smaller pieces, some of them apparently backward in technological matters. From 2800 BC, the Danubian [[Seine-Oise-Marne culture]] pushed directly or indirectly southwards and destroyed most of the rich Megalithic culture of western France. After 2600 BC, several phenomena prefigured the changes of the upcoming period:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://alterling.ucoz.de/index/ethnicity_of_the_neolithic_and_eneolithic_cultures_of_eastern_europe/0-37 |title=Alternative Linguiatics – Ethnicity of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures of Eastern Europe |publisher=Alterling ucoz de |access-date= January 1, 2017}}</ref>

Large towns with stone walls appeared in two different areas of the Iberian Peninsula: one in the Portuguese region of [[Estremadura Province (historical)|Estremadura]] (culture of [[Vila Nova de Sao Pedro]]), strongly embedded in the Atlantic Megalithic culture; the other near [[Almería]] (southeastern Spain), centred around the large town of [[Los Millares]], of Mediterranean character, probably affected by eastern cultural influxes (''[[tholoi]]''). Despite the many differences, both civilisations seem to have had friendly contact and to have maintained productive exchanges. In the area of [[Dordogne]] ([[Aquitaine]], France), a new unexpected culture of [[archery|bowmen]] appears: the [[Artenac]] culture soon takes control of western and even northern France and Belgium. In Poland and nearby regions, the putative Indo-Europeans reorganised and reconsolidated with the culture of the Globular Amphoras. Nevertheless, the influence of many centuries in direct contact with the still-powerful Danubian peoples had greatly modified their culture.<ref name = cultural>{{cite book |last1=Haarmann |first1=Harald |title=Early civilization and literacy in Europe: an inquiry into cultural continuity in the Mediterranean world |date=1996 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |location=Berlin |isbn= 978-3-11-014651-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vXFW36L1hu4C&q=Chalcolithic+Europe&pg=PA49}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor=280864 |title=Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Early Bronze in West Mediterranean Europe |journal=American Antiquity |volume=51 |issue=4 |page=763 |doi=10.2307/280864 |year=2017 |last1=Wells |first1=Peter S. |last2=Geddes |first2=David S. |s2cid=163672997 }}</ref>

<gallery> File:Grave offerings.jpg|[[Varna culture]], Bulgaria, 4500 BC File:Neolithic Pottery (28650540752).jpg|[[Cucuteni-Trypillia]] pottery, Ukraine File:Maidanetske 3D model.jpg|[[Maidanetske]], Ukraine, c. 3800 BC File:Bodrogkeresztur gold.jpg|[[Bodrogkeresztúr culture]], Hungary, 4000-3600 BC File:Malta - Qrendi - Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Archaeological Park - Hagar Qim 08 ies.jpg|[[Ħaġar Qim]] temple, [[History of Malta#Temple period (3850 BC–2350 BC)|Malta]], 3600-3200 BC File:The Sleeping Lady, 2009.jpg|[[Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum|Ħal Saflieni]] figurine, Malta, 3300–3000 BC File:Ancient Greece Neolithic Gold Ornaments (28421389976).jpg|[[Dimini|Dimini culture]], Greece, c. 4000 BC File:Baden wagon 1.jpg|[[Baden culture]], Hungary, 3300 BC File:Skarpsallingkarret DO-9665 original.jpg|[[Funnelbeaker culture]], Denmark, 3200 BC File:Wheel 1a.jpg|[[Ljubljana Marshes Wheel|Ljubljana Wheel]], [[Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps|Slovenia]], 3150 BC File:Los Millares recreacion cuadro.jpg|[[Los Millares]], Spain, c. 3100 BC File:Керносовский идол.png|[[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] stone stele, Ukraine, c. 2600 BC File:Campaniforme M.A.N. 04.JPG|[[Bell Beaker culture]] burial, Spain, c. 2500 BC File:Stonehenge - panoramio - dtobias (1).jpg|[[Stonehenge]], [[Bell Beaker culture#Britain|Britain]], 2500 BC File:Silbury 1.jpg|[[Silbury Hill]], Britain, c. 2400 BC File:Blessington 1c.jpg|[[Bell Beaker culture#Ireland|Gold lunula]], Ireland, c. 2400 BC </gallery>

==Bronze Age== {{Main|Bronze Age Europe}} [[File:Art des Cyclades (musée national d'archéologie, Athènes) (30146370354).jpg|thumb|left|[[Cycladic culture]] marble figurine, 2700 BC|219x219px]] Use of Bronze begins in the [[Aegean civilization|Aegean]] around 3200 BC. From 2500 BC the new [[Catacomb culture]], whose origins were obscure but were also Indo-Europeans, displaced the Yamna peoples in the regions north and east of the Black Sea, confining them to their original area east of the Volga. Around 2400 BC, the [[Corded Ware culture]] replaced their predecessors and expanded to Danubian and Nordic areas of western Germany. One related branch invaded Denmark and southern Sweden ([[Corded Ware culture#Single Grave culture|Scandinavian Single Grave culture]]), and the mid-Danubian basin, though showing more continuity, had clear traits of new Indo-European elites ([[Vučedol culture]]). Simultaneously, in the West, the Artenac peoples reached Belgium. With the partial exception of Vučedol, the Danubian cultures, which had been so buoyant just a few centuries ago, were wiped off the map of Europe. The rest of the period was the story of a mysterious phenomenon: the [[Beaker people]], which seemed to be of a mercantile character and to have preferred being buried according to a very specific, almost invariable, ritual. Nevertheless, out of their original area of western Central Europe, they appeared only within local cultures and so they never invaded and assimilated but went to live among those peoples and kept their way of life, which is why they are believed to be merchants.

The rest of Europe remained mostly unchanged and apparently peaceful. In 2300 BC, the first Beaker Pottery appeared in Bohemia and expanded in many directions but particularly westward, along the Rhone and the seas, reaching the culture of Vila Nova (Portugal) and Catalonia (Spain) as their limits. Simultaneously but unrelatedly, in 2200 BC in the Aegean region, the [[Cycladic]] culture decayed and was substituted by the new palatine phase of the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] culture of [[Crete]].

The second phase of Beaker Pottery, from 2100 BC onwards, is marked by the displacement of the centre of the phenomenon to Portugal, within the culture of Vila Nova. The new centre's influence reached to all of southern and western France but was absent in southern and western Iberia, with the notable exception of Los Millares. After 1900 BC, the centre of the Beaker Pottery returned to Bohemia, and in Iberia, a decentralisation of the phenomenon occurred, with centres in Portugal but also in Los Millares and [[Ciempozuelos]].

[[File:Nebra 1b.jpg|thumb|[[Nebra sky disk]], [[Unetice culture|Germany]], 1800 BC|188x188px]]

Though the use of [[bronze]] started much earlier in the Aegean area (c. 3.200 BC), c. 2300 BC can be considered typical for the start of the Bronze Age in Europe in general.

* c. 2300 BC, the Central European cultures of [[Unetice culture|Unetice]], [[Adlerberg group|Adlerberg]], [[Straubing culture|Straubing]] and pre-[[Lusatian culture|Lausitz]] started working bronze, a technique that reached them through the Balkans and Danube. * c. 1800 BC, the culture of [[Los Millares]], in Southwestern Spain, was substituted by that of [[El Argar]], fully of the Bronze Age, which may well have been a centralised state. * c. 1700 BC is considered a reasonable date to place the start of [[Mycenaean Greece]], after centuries of infiltration of Indo-European Greeks of an unknown origin. * c. 1600 BC, most of these Central European cultures were unified in the powerful [[Tumulus culture]]. Simultaneously but unrelatedly, the culture of [[El Argar]] started Phase B, which was characterised by a detectable Aegean influence (''[[Pithos|pithoi]]'' burials). About then, it is believed that [[Minoan Crete]] fell under the rule of the [[Mycenaean Greeks]]. * Around 1300 BC, the Indo-European cultures of Central Europe, such as [[Celts]], [[Italics]] and certainly [[Illyrians]], changed the cultural phase conforming to the expansionist [[Urnfield]] culture, starting a quick expansion that brought them to occupy most of the Balkans, Asia Minor, where they destroyed the [[Hittite Empire]] (conquering the secret of [[iron]] [[smelting]]), northeastern Italy, parts of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, northeastern Spain and southwestern England.

Derivations of the sudden expansion were the [[Sea Peoples]], who attacked Egypt unsuccessfully for some time, including the [[Philistines]] ([[Pelasgians]]?) and the [[Dorians]], most likely Hellenised members of the group that ended invading Greek itself and destroying the might of [[Mycene]] and later [[Troy]].

Simultaneously, around then, the culture of [[Vila Nova de Sao Pedro]], which lasted 1300 years in its urban form, vanishes into a less spectacular one but finally with bronze. The centre of gravity of the Atlantic cultures (the [[Atlantic Bronze Age]] complex) was now displaced towards Great Britain. Also about then, the [[Villanovan culture]], the possible precursor of the [[Etruscan civilisation]], appeared in central Italy, possibly with an Aegean origin.

<gallery> File:Knossos1.jpg|[[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] palace at [[Knossos]], Crete, c. 1700 BC File:Mycenae 3a.jpg|[[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] diadem, Greece, c. 1600 BC File:Treasury of Atreus Mycenae.jpg|[[Treasury of Atreus]], Greece, c. 1300 BC File:Bush Barrow.jpg|[[Bush Barrow]], [[Bronze Age Britain|Britain]], 1900 BC File:Solvognen-00100.jpg|[[Trundholm sun chariot|Trundholm Sun Chariot]], [[Nordic Bronze Age|Denmark]], 1500 BC File:Diadem1.jpg|[[Argaric culture]] gold diadem, Spain, 1600 BC File:Nuraghe Santu Antine 02.jpg|[[Nuraghe Santu Antine]] in [[Torralba, Sardinia|Torralba]], [[Sardinia]], [[Italy]], c. 1600 BC File:Navicella nuragica.jpg|[[Nuragic civilization|Nuragic]] ship model, Sardinia, 1000 BC File:Valchitran-treasure.jpg|[[Valchitran treasure]], Bulgaria, c. 1300 BC File:В музее - заповеднике Аркаим.jpg|[[Sintashta culture]] chariot, Russia, c. 2000 BC File:Ricostruzione grafica della Terramara di Montale (Modena), disegno di Riccardo Merlo.jpg|[[Terramare culture]], Italy, 1650–1150 BC File:Età del bronzo finale, due spade, 1300-800 ac ca..JPG|[[Urnfield culture#Tools and weapons|Bronze swords]], [[Bronze Age Switzerland|Switzerland]], 1000 BC File:Neues Museum, Berlin 2017 099.jpg|[[Urnfield culture#Golden hats|Berlin Gold Hat]], Germany, c. 1000 BC File:Cuirasses Marmesse.JPG|[[Prehistory of France#The Bronze Age|Bronze cuirasses]], France, c. 900 BC File:Hühnenburg bei Watenstedt rekonstruktion.jpg|[[Urnfield culture]], Germany, c. 1100 BC File:Spoked wheel from Arokalja.jpg|[[Urnfield culture#Chariots and wagons|Bronze chariot wheel]], Romania, c. 13th century BC File:Muralla La Bastida (Totana).jpg|Ruins of [[Argaric culture|La Bastita de Totana]], Spain, c. 1600 BC </gallery>

==Iron Age== {{Main|Iron Age Europe}} {{further|Hallstatt culture|La Tène culture|Archaeology of Northern Europe}}Though the use of [[iron]] was known to the Aegean peoples about 1100 BC, it failed to reach Central Europe before 800 BC, when it gave way to the [[Hallstatt culture]], an Iron Age evolution of the [[Urnfield culture]]. Around then, the [[Phoenicians]], benefitting from the disappearance of the Greek maritime power ([[Greek Dark Ages]]) founded their first colony at the entrance of the Atlantic Ocean, in Gadir (modern [[Cádiz]]), most likely as a merchant outpost to convey the many mineral resources of Iberia and the British Isles.

Nevertheless, from the 7th century BC onwards, the Greeks recovered their power and started their own colonial expansion, founding Massalia (modern [[Marseille]]) and the Iberian outpost of Emporion (modern [[Empúries]]). That occurred only after the [[Iberians]] could reconquer [[Catalonia]] and the [[Ebro]] valley from the Celts, separating physically the Iberian Celts from their continental neighbours.

The second phase of the European Iron Age was defined particularly by the Celtic [[La Tène culture]], which started around 400 BC, followed by a large expansion of them into the Balkans, the British Isles, where they assimilated [[druidism]], and other regions of France and Italy.

The decline of Celtic power under the expansive pressure of [[Germanic tribes]] (originally from [[Scandinavia]] and [[Lower Germany]]) and the forming of the Roman Empire during the 1st century BC was also that of the end of prehistory, properly speaking; though many regions of Europe remained illiterate and therefore out of reach of written history for many centuries, the boundary must be placed somewhere, and that date, near the start of the calendar, seems to be quite convenient. The remaining is regional prehistory, or, in most cases, [[protohistory]], but no longer European prehistory, as a whole.

<gallery> File:Protogeometric amphora BM A1124.jpg|[[Protogeometric style|Protogeometric]] amphora, Greece, c. 975–950 BC File:Corredo della tomba maschile 871 della necropoli di casal del fosso, 730-720 ac ca. 01.jpg|[[Villanovan culture]] warrior burial, [[Prehistoric Italy#Iron Age|Italy]], 730 BC File:Hallstatt culture Kleinklein - muscle cuirasses & double ridge helmet.jpg|[[Hallstatt culture]] armour, Austria, 7th century BC File:Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave reconstruction.jpg|[[Celts|Celtic]] [[Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave|Hochdorf Grave]], [[History of Germany#Iron Age|Germany]], 530 BC File:Palais Lassois07.jpg|[[Vix Grave|Vix palace]], Hallstatt culture, [[Prehistory of France#The Iron Age|France]], 500 BC File:Sofia - Panagyurishte Thracian Gold Treasure.jpg|[[Panagyurishte Treasure]], Bulgaria, 400–300 BC File:Sveshtari Thracian tomb Bulgaria IFB.JPG|[[Thracian]] tomb, [[Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari|Bulgaria]], 3rd century BC File:Pektoral111.JPG|[[Scythians|Scythian]] gold pectoral, Ukraine, 4th century BC File:Casco (51642727532).jpg|[[Helmet of Coțofenești|Geto-Dacian]] gold helmet, Romania, c. 400 BC File:London - British Museum - 2453.jpg|[[Battersea Shield]], [[British Iron Age|Britain]], c. 350–50 BC File:Broch of Mousa - geograph.org.uk - 2079773.jpg|[[Broch|Broch of Mousa]], [[Prehistoric Scotland#Iron Age|Scotland]], c. 300-100 BC File:Dama de Elche.jpg|[[Lady of Elche]], [[Prehistoric Iberia#Iron Age|Spain]], 4th century BC File:Oppidium Manching Osttor Modell.jpg|Celtic [[oppidum]] of [[Oppidum of Manching|Manching]], Germany, 2nd century BC File:Broighter Gold, Dublin, October 2010 (02).JPG|[[Broighter Gold|Broighter gold boat]], [[Prehistoric Ireland#Iron Age (500 BC–AD 400)|Ireland]], c. 100 BC File:Dôme aux dragons - Bronze gaulois de Roissy, dans le Lieu dit de La Fosse Cotheret (Val d'Oise).jpg|Chariot fitting, [[La Tène culture]], France File:Dejbjerg wagon, Nationalmuseet Copenhagen.jpg|[[Dejbjerg wagon]], [[Pre-Roman Iron Age|Denmark]], 1st century BC </gallery>

==Genetic history== {{Main|Genetic history of Europe}} [[File:Indo-European migrations.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Indo-European migrations]] spread [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] Steppe pastoralist ancestry and [[Indo-European languages]] across large parts of Eurasia.<ref>{{cite news |title=Steppe migrant thugs pacified by Stone Age farming women |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170404084429.htm |work=[[ScienceDaily]] |publisher=Faculty of Science - University of Copenhagen |date=4 April 2017}}</ref>]] The genetic history of Europe has been inferred by observing the patterns of genetic diversity across the continent and in the surrounding areas. Use has been made of both classical genetics and molecular genetics.<ref>Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994</ref><ref>Metspalu et al. 2004</ref> Analysis of the DNA of the modern population of Europe has mainly been used but use has also been made of ancient DNA.

This analysis has shown that modern man entered Europe from the Near East before the Last Glacial Maximum but retreated to refuges in southern Europe in this cold period. Subsequently, people spread out over the whole continent, with subsequent limited migration from the Near East and Asia.<ref>Achilli et al. 2004</ref>

According to a study in 2017, the early farmers belonged predominantly to the paternal [[Haplogroup G-M201]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lipson|first1=Mark|last2=Szécsényi-Nagy|first2=Anna|last3=Mallick|first3=Swapan|last4=Pósa|first4=Annamária|last5=Stégmár|first5=Balázs|last6=Keerl|first6=Victoria|last7=Rohland|first7=Nadin|last8=Stewardson|first8=Kristin|last9=Ferry|first9=Matthew|date=2017-11-16|title=Parallel paleogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers|journal=Nature|volume=551|issue=7680|pages=368–372|doi=10.1038/nature24476|issn=0028-0836|pmc=5973800|pmid=29144465|bibcode=2017Natur.551..368L}}</ref> The maternal haplogroup [[haplogroup N (mtDNA)|N1a]] was also frequent in the farmers.<ref>{{harvnb|Crabtree|Bogucki|2017|p=55}}</ref>

Evidence from genome analysis of ancient human remains suggests that the modern native populations of Europe largely descend from three distinct lineages: Mesolithic [[hunter-gatherer]]s, derivative of the Cro-Magnon population of Europe, [[Early European Farmers]] (EEF) introduced to Europe during the [[Neolithic Revolution]], and [[Ancient North Eurasians]] which expanded to Europe in the context of the [[Indo-European expansion]].<ref>{{cite news |title=When the First Farmers Arrived in Europe, Inequality Evolved |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-first-farmers-arrived-in-europe-inequality-evolved/ |work=Scientific American |date=1 July 2020}}</ref> The Early European Farmers migrated from Anatolia to the Balkans in large numbers during the 7th millennium BC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lipson |first1=Mark |last2=Szécsényi-Nagy |first2=Anna |display-authors=1 |date=November 8, 2017 |title=Parallel palaeogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers |url= |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |publisher=[[Nature Research]] |volume=551 |issue=7680 |pages=368–372 |doi=10.1038/nature24476 |pmc=5973800 |pmid=29144465 |bibcode=2017Natur.551..368L |ref={{harvid|Lipson et al.|2017}}}}</ref> During the [[Chalcolithic]] and early [[Bronze Age]], the EEF-derived cultures of Europe were overwhelmed by successive invasions of [[Western Steppe Herders]] (WSHs) from the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]], who carried about 60% [[Eastern Hunter-Gatherer]] (EHG) and 40% [[Caucasus Hunter-Gatherer]] (CHG) admixture. These invasions led to EEF [[paternal]] DNA lineages in Europe being almost entirely replaced with EHG/WSH paternal DNA (mainly [[Haplogroup R1b|R1b]] and [[Haplogroup R1a|R1a]]). EEF [[maternal]] DNA (mainly haplogroup N) also declined, being supplanted by steppe lineages,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crabtree |first1=Pam J. |last2=Bogucki |first2=Peter |title=European Archaeology as Anthropology: Essays in Memory of Bernard Wailes |date=25 January 2017 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-1-934536-90-2 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2A76DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 |language=en}}p.55: "In addition, uniparental markers changed suddenly as mtDNA N1a and Y haplogroup G2a, which had been very common in the EEF agricultural population, were replaced by Y haplogroups R1a and R1b and by a variety of mtDNA haplogroups typical of the Steppe Yamnaya population. The uniparental markers show that the migrants included both men and women from the steppes."</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Översti |first1=Sanni |last2=Majander |first2=Kerttu |last3=Salmela |first3=Elina |last4=Salo |first4=Kati |last5=Arppe |first5=Laura |last6=Belskiy |first6=Stanislav |last7=Etu-Sihvola |first7=Heli |last8=Laakso |first8=Ville |last9=Mikkola |first9=Esa |last10=Pfrengle |first10=Saskia |last11=Putkonen |first11=Mikko |last12=Taavitsainen |first12=Jussi-Pekka |last13=Vuoristo |first13=Katja |last14=Wessman |first14=Anna |last15=Sajantila |first15=Antti |last16=Oinonen |first16=Markku |last17=Haak |first17=Wolfgang |last18=Schuenemann |first18=Verena J. |last19=Krause |first19=Johannes |last20=Palo |first20=Jukka U. |last21=Onkamo |first21=Päivi |title=Human mitochondrial DNA lineages in Iron-Age Fennoscandia suggest incipient admixture and eastern introduction of farming-related maternal ancestry |journal=Scientific Reports |date=15 November 2019 |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=16883 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-51045-8 |pmid=31729399 |pmc=6858343 |bibcode=2019NatSR...916883O |language=en |issn=2045-2322}} ""The subsequent spread of Yamnaya-related people and Corded Ware Culture in the late Neolithic and Bronze Age were accompanied with the increase of haplogroups I, U2 and T1 in Europe (See8 and references therein)."</ref> suggesting the migrations involved both males and females from the steppe. EEF mtDNA, however, remained frequent, suggesting admixture between WSH males and EEF females.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Juras |first1=Anna |last2=Chyleński |first2=Maciej |display-authors=1 |date=August 2, 2018 |title=Mitochondrial genomes reveal an east to west cline of steppe ancestry in Corded Ware populations |url= |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |publisher=[[Nature Research]] |volume=8 |issue=11603 |page=11603 |doi=10.1038/s41598-018-29914-5 |pmc=6072757 |pmid=30072694 |bibcode=2018NatSR...811603J |ref={{harvid|Juras et al.|2018}}}}</ref><ref>Kristian Kristiansen, Morten E. Allentoft, Karin M. Frei, Rune Iversen, Niels N. Johannsen, Guus Kroonen, Łukasz Pospieszny, T. Douglas Price, Simon Rasmussen, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Martin Sikora, Eske Willerslev. [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/retheorising-mobility-and-the-formation-of-culture-and-language-among-the-corded-ware-culture-in-europe/E35E6057F48118AFAC191BDFBB1EB30E Re-theorising mobility and the formation of culture and language among the Corded Ware Culture in Europe]. ''[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]]'', Volume 91, Issue 356, April 2017, pp. 334 - 347.</ref>

A 2025 study conducted by scientists from the [[University of Ferrara]] had found that many of the prehistoric Europeans, including genetic remains from the Stonehenge inhabitants, retained dark skin of their African ancestors until the [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age|Iron Ages]]. The analysis suggested that lighter skin had evolved in Europe more sporadically than conventionally believed in academic scholarship.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |last1=Perretti |first1=Silvia |last2=Santos |first2=Patrícia |last3=Vizzari |first3=Maria Teresa |last4=Tassani |first4=Enrico |last5=Benazzo |first5=Andrea |last6=Ghirotto |first6=Silvia |last7=Barbujani |first7=Guido |title=Inference of human pigmentation from ancient DNA by genotype likelihoods |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=22 July 2025 |volume=122 |issue=29 |article-number=e2502158122 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2502158122 |bibcode=2025PNAS..12202158P |url=https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2502158122#sec-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Shemary |first1=Josef Al |title=Britons - including ones who built Stonehenge - 'were mostly black 5,000 years ago,' study suggests |url=https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/britons-including-ones-who-built-stonehenge-were-mostly-black-5000-years-ago-stu-5Hjd229_2/ |website=LBC |language=en |date=3 March 2025}}</ref> The study had analysed 348 samples pooled from human remains across the British Isles, mainland Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and the Middle East with a chronological range extending from 45,000 to 1,700 years ago.<ref name="auto"/>

==Linguistic history== {{Main|Paleo-European languages|Pre-Indo-European languages}} The written linguistic record in Europe first begins with the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] record of [[Mycenaean Greek|early Greek]] in the Late Bronze Age. Unattested languages spoken in Europe in the Bronze and Iron Ages are the object of reconstruction in [[historical linguistics]], in the case of Europe predominantly [[Indo-European linguistics]].

Indo-European is assumed to have spread from the [[Pontic steppe]] at the very beginning of the Bronze Age, reaching Western Europe contemporary with the [[Beaker culture]], after about 5,000 years ago.

Various pre-Indo-European substrates have been postulated, but remain speculative; the "[[Pelasgian]]" and "[[Tyrsenian languages|Tyrsenian]]" substrates of the Mediterranean world, an "[[Old European hydronymy|Old European]]" (which may itself have been an early form of Indo-European), a "[[Vasconic substratum hypothesis|Vasconic]]" substrate ancestral to the modern [[Basque language]],<ref>Vennemann 2003</ref> or a more widespread presence of early [[Finno-Ugric languages]] in northern Europe.<ref>Wiik 2002.</ref> An early presence of Indo-European throughout Europe has also been suggested ("[[Paleolithic continuity theory]]").<ref>Adams and Otte 1999</ref>

[[Donald Ringe]] emphasizes the "great linguistic diversity" which would generally have been predominant in any area inhabited by small-scale, tribal pre-state societies.<ref name="Ringe 2009">{{cite web|last=Ringe|first=Don|title=The Linguistic Diversity of Aboriginal Europe|url=https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=980|website=Language Log|publisher=Mark Liberman|access-date=22 September 2011|author-link=Donald Ringe|date=January 6, 2009}}</ref>

==See also== {{div col|colwidth=18em}} * [[Atlantic Europe]] * [[European megalithic culture]] * [[Mediterranean Europe]] * [[Prehistoric Britain]] * [[Prehistoric Cyprus]] * [[Prehistoric France]] * [[Prehistoric Georgia]] * [[Pannonian basin before Hungary|Prehistoric Hungary]] * [[Prehistoric Iberia]] * [[Prehistoric Ireland]] * [[Prehistoric Italy]] * [[Prehistoric Romania]] * [[Prehistoric Scotland]] * [[Prehistoric Transylvania]] * [[Prehistory of Brittany]] * [[Prehistory of Poland (until 966)]] {{div col end}}

==References== {{reflist}}

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==External links== {{commons category-inline}} {{Wikivoyage|Prehistoric Europe|Prehistoric Europe|travel information}} * [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20156681 Europe's oldest prehistoric town unearthed in Bulgaria] * [Hans Slomp (2011). Europe, a Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. pp. 50–. {{ISBN|978-0-313-39181-1}}. Europe, a Political Profile] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070116061308/http://www.worldmuseumofman.org/balkanneolithic1.htm Neolithic and Chalcolithic Artifacts from the Balkans] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070107140155/http://www.comp-archaeology.org/Central_European_Neolithic_Chronology.htm Central European Neolithic Chronology] * [http://www.eliznik.org.uk/EastEurope/History/history-pre.htm South East Europe pre-history summary to 700 BC] * [https://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/app/eng/artprepy.htm Prehistoric art of the Pyrenees] Paleolithic sanctuaries: * [https://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/ ] * [https://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/fr/index.html ]

[[Category:Prehistoric Europe| ]]