But not a semi-nomadic lifestyle? The pioneers of agriculture in Europe apparently already lived permanently in one place. This emerges from the features of a Neolithic house that researchers discovered in southern Serbia. The stable construction of the building as well as structures for storing grain and seeds suggest sedentary behavior. The discovery sheds light on how the farming lifestyle became established in the first regions of Europe, say the researchers.
The so-called Neolithic Revolution still shapes our civilization today: around 12,000 years ago, people in the Middle East began to grow food crops and keep livestock instead of hunting and gathering. During the Neolithic period, this way of life spread more and more and finally reached Europe. Little by little, farming societies are replacing the traditional hunter-gatherer cultures there too. However, there is the assumption that the early farmers in Europe initially lived nomadically or only sedentary lives on a seasonal basis.
Exciting location in southern Serbia
One of the areas of early expansion history was the Balkan region. An Austrian-Serbian research team led by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) has been dedicated to studying early agricultural societies in this area for several years. Since 2018, their focus has been on the site of Svinjarička Čuka in the south of Serbia. It lies in the area of a suspected connecting route as part of the expansion of the agricultural way of life between the Aegean and the Danube region. The archaeological site is located on a plateau by the Svinjarička River. The researchers have detected several phases of settlement there. They were able to assign the oldest to the so-called Starčevo culture. It was at the beginning of the Neolithic development in the Balkans and played a central role in the further spread of agriculture in Europe.
As the ÖAW now reports, the researchers have now come across the remains of a house in the early Stone Age settlement layer of Svinjarička Čuka, which they were able to date to around 8,000 years old. It therefore comes from an early phase of Neolithic development. Apparently the building had fallen victim to a fire – which has now become a stroke of luck for archeology. As a result, structures and traces have been preserved that can provide important information about the construction and lifestyle of the early agricultural pioneers.
Not a nomad hut
As the team reports, it was initially clear that it was a building made from a combination of wattle and daub with sturdy wooden posts. In addition, the researchers discovered many other details: “The partially collapsed and burned architectural elements covered floors on top of each other inside the house as well as artifacts, tools and scattered vessels in the suspected outside area,” says OeAW archaeologist Barbara Horejs, describing the discovery. Traces of structures that were used to store grain and seeds were also particularly important.
“These new finds in Svinjarička Čuka provide substantially new insights and data that are likely to change previous models of the development of sedentarism in the Balkans,” says Horejs. As she explains, the results now call into question the previous assumption that the early farming societies of Europe were nomadic or only seasonally sedentary. It was based on archaeological traces that were interpreted as the remains of light huts. “But apparently the Neolithic pioneers in the Balkans, in contrast to nomadic or seasonally settled groups, already built stable houses with facilities for supplies and grain storage,” says Horejs.
In order to gain more detailed insights, the investigations will now continue: microarchaeological methods, such as examinations of sediments, botanical and zoological remains as well as chemical soil analyses, will be used to analyze the finds more precisely. “The application of microarchaeological methods could provide new data on the use of early houses or the coexistence of people and animals, which may have developed in Europe during the Neolithic around 8,000 years ago,” says Horejs. “We also want to research the geographical and cultural origins of people and possible interaction with regional hunters and gatherers,” says the archaeologist.
Source: Austrian Academy of Sciences