Farming in Europe 394-395 Flashcards
At the beginning of what period was the hunter-gatherer population of Europe directly descended from the previous Upper Paleolithic populations?
The postglacial period
From what year was the genetic map of Europe transformed by the expansion of farmers from the Near East?
8000 BCE
Studies of ancient DNA from early farming communities in Greece have shown that their origin lay where?
Anatolia
Early farming communities spread northwestward into Central Europe, where they formed the basis of what communities
Linearbandkeramik (LBK)
There is a sharp discontinuity in DNA profiles between the … communities and European populations following the spread of farmers?
Postglacial hunter-gatherer
What type of analysis in the Rhineland have shown that early farming communities there incorporated people from other areas, who may have been indigenous hunter-gatherers?
Stable isotope analyses
Stable isotope analyses in the Rhineland have shown what about early farming communities?
That early farming communities there incorporated people from other areas, who may have been indigenous hunter-gatherers
The initial wave of farming expansion into Central Europe appears to have been followed by what process?
The DNA signal from early farmers was diluted by DNA from the indigenous hunter-gatherer groups
In what region did one study show an 80% contribution of Near Eastern DNA among the earliest farming communities?
The Middle Elbe/Saale region of central Germany
Why did the contribution of Near Eastern DNA among farming communities decline from 80% in 5500 BCE to 50% in 3500?
Early farming communities that had been clustered in river valleys had expanded into intervening regions, and northward into Scandinavia. In process, hunter-gatherer groups were absorbed through intermarriage, while others adopted domesticated plants/animals from neighbors
When were the first farming settlements in mainland Europe established?
Around 6600 BCE
Where were the first farming settlements in mainland Europe established?
The fertile alluvial plains of Thessaly in east-central Greece
What suggested that the population levels on the fertile alluvial plains of Thessaly in east-central Greece had been relatively low and communities small and mobile?
This was an area with little evidence for indigenous hunter-gatherer occupation
The process of overspil
As population levels in each of the lowland basins reached a critical threshold, groups split off to settle the nearest available pocket of prime arable land
By what process may the spread of farming across southeastern Europe been largely driven?
The process of overspill
