Video 4 Bandkeramik Flashcards
Bandkeramik Culture in short
LBK
During what time did the Bandkeramik farmers colonize huge parts of Europe?
5500-4900 BCE
What Culture brought the farming way of life to almost half of Europe?
The Bandkeramik Culture
Where did the Bandkeramik Culture originate?
Hungarian plane
When did the number of Bandkeramik settlements start rapidly increasing?
5500 BCE
Why was a new Bandkeramik settlement usually founded farther away from an old settlement?
Food shortages due to population growth
What soils did the Bandkeramik people prefer?
Loess soils, most fertile soils
What did Bandkeramik settlements look like?
Separate houses forming hamlets or even small villagas
What does the presence of long, elaborate houses in the Bandkeramik Culture suggest?
Places where leading families lived -> some kind of hierarchy
In what kind of area where Bandkeramik settlements
Open space created in lime trees (Tilia)-dominated forest
Why could you say that the Bandkeramik Culture lead a predatory way of existence?
Original forest cut down, once soils were exhausted moved on and created new settlements
Characteristic Bandkeramik pottery
Bowl-shaped pottery with decoration in ‘bands’
Material culture Bandkeramik Culture
- Pottery with ‘waved-bands’ decoration
- Stone adzes
What where stone adzes from the Bandkeramik Culture often made from?
Amphibolite
What where stone adzes in the Bandkeramik Culture used for?
Cutting trees
Agricultural focus Bandkeramik
Wheat, barley, line seed, flax
Domesticated animals Bandkeramik Culture
Cattle, sheep/goat, pig
What were domesticated animals in the Bandkeramik Culture intended for
Meat consumption, no milk or manure
Why was manuring of the ground by Bandkeramik Culture not necessary?
Soil was already fertile
Why is the Bandkeramik Culture considered extremely conservative?
Throughout 400 years, hardly any changes in way of life
What did the Bandkeramik Culture confide in due to their conservatism?
Their ability to always find new fertile areas of loess soil
For how long did hardly any changes occur to the Bandkeramik Culture?
400 years
What happens around 5100 to the Bandkeramik Culture?
Signs that large-scale networks collapse, contact networks from which they acquired special stones for adzes (social fragmenting)
Signs social fragmentation Bandkeramik Culture
Groups in particular regions start to get more regional, unique characteristics
When does the Bandkeramik Culture disappear almost entirely in some areas, like the Netherlands?
4900 BCE
What changes in subsistence economy do we see in the Bandkeramik Culture around 4900 BCE?
Settlements no longer built on poorer soils like sand
What is the evidence that conflicts causing mass casualties were caused by war between farming communities?
Victims head wounds caused by adzes or axes which hunter-gatherers did not have
Hexheam, Germany, Bandkeramik site
Remains of hundreds of individuals found in long ditch. Sings of cannibalism
What kind of systems replaced the Bandkeramik Culture?
More flexible systems, people adapted to different environments and soils and started to add new crops to diet
