Current Knowledge of the Neolithisation Process: a Central European Perspective

Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica. Natural Sciences in Archaeology (IANSA). — 2012. — No 01, III(1). — pp. 141-153.The present work provides a literature review of the Neolithisation process in Central Europe. Certain particular aspects including genetics, stable isotope analysis, lithic studies, and demography have been dealt with in order to obtain the clearest possible picture of the process. It has become clear that the spread of agriculture involved a variety of mechanisms and cannot be merely explained by a simple model of migration or acculturation. In conclusion it will be argued that there is evidence which points to contact and interaction between local hunter gatherers and the earliest farming communities. It has recently become increasingly apparent that such a scenario provides a plausible explanation for the situation in the Czech Republic, where the spread of farming had traditionally been accepted as an example of agricultural colonization by farmers of LBK.