EUROPE
BY KIRK H. BEETZ
Th e earliest Stone Age populations of Europe were mobile
hunter-gatherers who lived in camps for short periods and
then moved in search of game. Not until agriculture began
in southeastern Europe around 7000 b.c.e. were settlements
established with the permanence and character of farming
villages. Archaeologists refer to people who live in perma-
nent settlements throughout the year as sedentary. Th e prac-
tice of agriculture demands that people stay in one place to
tend their crops and have a place to store the foodstuff s aft er
the harvest. Eventually some hunter-gatherers who lived in
rich environments displayed a few sedentary characteristics.
An example from Europe is the communities of the Ertebølle
culture that occupied the coasts of Denmark and Sweden be-
tween 6000 and 4000 b.c.e.
By 5000 b.c.e. farming had spread across central and
southern Europe, and by 4000 b.c.e. it had reached the British
Isles and Scandinavia. Th e earliest European farmers lived in
various types of settlements. In the Balkans the houses made
from mud were generally clustered into settlements that
suggest true villages, whereas in central Europe the earliest
farmers lived in farmsteads with timber houses that formed
loose groupings along small streams. It is unclear whether
these settlements had the organization of villages or whether
each farming household functioned relatively independently.
Whatever the structure of the settlement, its inhabitants were
linked to other similar settlements through a network of trails
and streams. Fields and pastures surrounded the houses.
By 3000 b.c.e. ancient Europeans managed to build vil-
lages even in the extreme climates of the far north. Perhaps
the most famous of these villages is Skara Brae in the Orkney
Islands, northeast of Scotland, where it is very cold and very
windy. Skara Brae was one of many small villages made of
stone near the northern seas. It was not the oldest stone vil-
lage, because an older, well-developed village was found
underneath it. However, Skara Brae was well preserved, al-
lowing its remains to tell much about ancient village life. It
was deliberately built in a midden, an ancient trash heap. Its
walls were made of stone slabs, and there were passageways
with stone walls between the village’s houses, allowing people
to walk from house to house without being exposed to the
wind. Th e roofs of the houses were dirt with grass cultivated
on them to hold them fi rmly together. Building the houses in
the midden and covering both roofs and midden with soil in
which grass was grown helped keep the village warm. Each
house had a room set aside for a toilet, and beneath that room
ran a channel that carried away the waste.
Skara Brae comprised only six houses. Th e climate was
not good for most crops, but judging by the numerous bones
found among the remnants of the village, grass grew well
enough for the inhabitants to raise sheep and cattle. Villagers
were likely related to one another. Some archaeologists be-
lieve that each house was closely associated with a particu-lar family. Bodies of elderly women were found within the
walls of houses, possibly an indication of villagers’ belief that
by revering their ancestors they could protect their houses.
Th e village was occupied from about 3100 to 2480 b.c.e. and
may have been abandoned slowly and voluntarily. Each house
seems to have been ritually fi lled in with varying layers of
debris. A common item found in the abandoned houses was
antlers, which may have marked a house so closely associated
with the family that no one else would have been allowed to
live in it.
Other famous settlements of the early European farmers
are the lake villages in central Europe, built in the foothills of
the Alps between 4000 and 1200 b.c.e. At one time archae-
ologists thought these villages were constructed over lake
waters, but it is now known that they were actually built over
marshes near lakes. Th e levels of the lakes had risen to and
sometimes over the dwellings aft er the villages were built,
misleading early archaeologists. Piles were driven deep into
the lakeside marshes until they hit a solid subsurface. Set on
these piles were wooden houses with sharply peaked roofs to
shed rain and snow.
Settlements that unequivocally have the character of
towns began to appear during the fi nal millennium b.c.e.
One of the best known of these settlements is Biskupin in
Poland, located about 143 miles to the west of Warsaw on a
marshy peninsula along a lake. Th e town was a planned com-
munity from the start. Instead of the irregular arrangement
of houses commonly seen in earlier villages, Biskupin had
houses in several neat rows. Th ey were built end to end as one
long house divided by walls into many one-room dwellings.
Because of the marshy character of the peninsula, the streets
had to be paved with wood. In Biskupin the wooden streets
stretched under the houses from one side of the town to the
other, leaving no open spaces.
A rou nd Bisk upi n wa s a wa l l of wood a nd d i r t 20 feet h ig h
and 6 feet wide. Its sides and top were wooden, and the inside
was fi lled with dirt. Within the wall were about 100 dwell-
ings, housing roughly 700 people by about 720 b.c.e. Within
the village all the craft s work took place, including metal-
working. Fires either from blacksmiths or hearths burned
part of Biskupin seven times. Whom the lake villagers feared
is not known, though archaeologists in general speculate that
raiders from the Baltic region or from the East pressed people
into fortifi ed villages like Biskupin.
By 600 b.c.e. the Celts were spreading through Europe.
Along the Atlantic seaboard their villages tended to be made
of stone, but inland they favored wood. Some Celtic towns
were set on top of hills and were surrounded by wooden
fences, but many villages were small and scattered through
lowlands, usually near water but nearly always where farm-
ing was possible. Industrial centers with population densities
and probably structures similar to towns were established in
central Europe, where it was possible to carry out activities
like ironworking and salt mining. Two of the most important
centers of industry were Hallstatt in Austria, where salt wastowns and villages: Europe 10910895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1091 1091 10/10/07 2:31:02 PM