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Reference.org
Neolithic Europe
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<p>The European Neolithic is the period from the arrival of <a href="/facts/Neolithic/wRS0Bnh4">Neolithic</a> (New Stone Age) technology and the associated population of <a href="/facts/Early_European_Farmers/grdH7u43">Early European Farmers</a> in <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a>, c. 7000 BC (the approximate time of the first farming societies in <a href="/facts/Greece/lqHw8bTB">Greece</a>) until c. 2000–1700 BC (the beginning of <a href="/facts/Bronze_Age_Europe/kaqyoMry">Bronze Age Europe</a> with the <a href="/facts/Nordic_Bronze_Age/x3e8bnrB">Nordic Bronze Age</a>). The Neolithic overlaps the <a href="/facts/Mesolithic/XTNS0x3r">Mesolithic</a> and <a href="/facts/Bronze_Age/c09qWcTt">Bronze Age</a> periods in Europe as cultural changes moved from the southeast to northwest at about 1 km/year – this is called the <a href="/facts/Neolithic_Expansion/P5tLdcgU">Neolithic Expansion</a>. </p><p>The duration of the Neolithic varies from place to place, its end marked by the introduction of bronze tools: in <a href="/facts/Southeast_Europe/zxgEvCdQ">southeast Europe</a> it is approximately 4,000 years (i.e. 7000 BC–3000 BC) while in parts of Northwest Europe it is just under 3,000 years (c. 4500 BC–1700 BC). In parts of Europe, notably the Balkans, the period after c. 5000 BC is known as the <a href="/facts/Chalcolithic_Europe/cQqcBqKY">Chalcolithic</a> (Copper Age) due to the invention of <a href="/facts/Copper_smelting/Ghdvhlga">copper smelting</a> and the prevalence of copper tools, weapons and other artifacts. </p><p>The spread of the Neolithic from the <a href="/facts/Pre-Pottery_Neolithic/1tHLXIU2">Pre-Pottery Neolithic</a> in the Near East to Europe was first studied quantitatively in the 1970s, when a sufficient number of <a href="/facts/Radiocarbon_dating/qjNglhKP">14C age determinations</a> for early Neolithic sites had become available. <a href="/facts/Ammerman/Fa1x2pX2">Ammerman</a> and <a href="/facts/Cavalli-Sforza/poHQI8Ub">Cavalli-Sforza</a> discovered a linear relationship between the age of an Early Neolithic site and its distance from the conventional source in the Near East (<a href="/facts/Jericho/934P9FMl">Jericho</a>), thus demonstrating that the Neolithic spread at an average speed of about 1 km/yr. More recent studies confirm these results and yield a speed of 0.6–1.3 km/yr at a 95% confidence level. </p>