sapiens neanderthalensis into Europe and the replacement of
that population by modern Homo sapiens sapiens, along with
the encroachment on hunter-gatherers and herder-horticul-
turalists by agriculturalists, were colonizing episodes. Th ese
population movements extended across vast territories and
occurred over many thousands of years. Th e social reorgani-
zation of the metal ages and corresponding Urnfi eld/Celtic
migrations were part of a process during which societies
ruled by chiefs developed an increasingly centralized author-
ity. Finally, the migrations of Germans and Huns that pre-
cipitated the eventual decline of the Roman Empire were part
of a series of strategically directed migration events targeting
people and places with more wealth and resources than the
migrating forces controlled. It is signifi cant that migration
in prehistory frequently served very diff erent purposes than
it does today. Many populations prided themselves on their
mobility, and movement over vast distances was not neces-
sarily perceived as a hardship. For the brief historic period
from about 400 b.c.e. until 400 c.e., this model of migration
as a socioeconomic opportunity is well illustrated.
Several models have been developed to account for the
successive episodes of population increase following glacial
maximums (times of maximum extent of ice sheets), dur-
ing which people and other animals were restricted to areas
with microclimates that allowed survival. Human popula-
tions appear to have increased during these episodes, as can
be seen in the example provided by the Dordogne region in
western France. Cave sites and rock shelters there attest to the
presence of concentrated populations in the deeply eroded
river valleys that provided a refuge from the glacial advance.
During the warmer interstadials (a short period of relatively
warmer climate within an ice age) people left the area, again
following the grazing ungulates (mammals with hooves). Th e
success of these groups frequently depended on their ability
to anticipate and plan ahead, using tool-making technolo-
gies and food-storage facilities that ensured group survival.
Th roughout the period that hunter-gatherers occupied Eu-
rope they continued to migrate. Even in areas where settle-
ment fi rst appears—typically coastal settings with abundant
resources—transhumance, or the seasonal movement of
people between grazing lands) is evident. Regular movement
occurred between summer and winter camps, where access
to diff erent resources promoted dietary variability and inter-
group dependence.
THE DOMESTICATION OF EUROPE
Th e spread of agriculture and animal domestication is a colo-
nizing process that established largely sedentary communi-
ties across temperate Europe beginning as early as 7000 b.c.e.
Th is expansionist movement emerged out of the Levant and
migrated north and east into western, central, and eastern Eu-
rope. According to one theory, the diff usion of farming com-
munities—whose subsistence economy was based on wheat
and barley, along with sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs—spread
like a wave geographically and over time. Farming com-
munities were established from Hungary to Scandinavia in
less than 2,000 years, beginning around 5600 b.c.e. Another
model used to explain this distribution relies on the division
of communities, with steady movement into optimal farming
and grazing territories away from other farmers.
Th e Linear Pottery culture (also called Linearband-
keramik, or LBK), named for its distinctive pottery, is the
culture associated with the beginning of the Neolithic and
the spread of farming and animal husbandry into areas for-
merly occupied by hunter-gatherers and herder-horticultur-
alists (ca. 5500–4500 b.c.e.). Chemical analyses of teeth and
bones confi rm a relatively high rate of immigration for the
Rhineland in Germany well into the Middle LBK Period, and
the demography and numbers of immigrants diminished by
the Late LBK Period. Evidence from this research project also
suggests a high degree of mobility within the region.
People who occupied environmental zones that attracted
farmers, such as the loess belt (an area of fi ne-grained soil
suitable for cultivation), were eventually forced to change
their course of seasonal migration or were incorporated into
the new subsistence system. While the coexistence between
groups with diff ering lifestyles was probably benefi cial at a
time when regions were sparsely populated, the practice of
land clearance for farming may eventually have threatened
wild populations of animals upon whom the nomads de-
pended. Evidence from coastal Scandinavia demonstrates not
only a shift to the domesticated economy but also a subsequent
rejection of wild sea species that had previously dominated
local diets. In these areas of settlement continuity, from the
Mesolithic to the Neolithic, migration probably played a less
determinative role in subsistence strategies. Dependence on
domesticated species became pervasive, however, and human
migration was the mechanism by which plant and animal do-
mestication initially transformed European populations.THE INDO-EUROPEAN EXPANSION
Th e Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, and Indo-European migra-
tions describe the movement of language groups, technolo-
gies, and ideas that have been interpreted as a sign of massive
population shift s. Competing hypotheses outline the mecha-
nisms for this transformation of European cultures. One
model suggests that the expansion developed at around 2000
b.c.e. during the terminal Neolithic Period. In this model
warrior societies, whose technologies included horsemanship
and bronze metallurgy, diff used in waves from the steppes
that crossed Europe and Asia to dominate agriculturalists.
Community subsistence in the aff ected areas continued to be
based on agriculture and animal management, but economic
strategies were supplemented with metallurgy and a form of
petty warfare that was maintained through an elaborate so-
cial hierarchy by an increasingly elite warrior class. Linguistic
evidence links this expansion with agricultural subsistence
technologies from an origin in Anatolia.
Th e impact of peoples from the steppes was felt across
Europe as they made forays into neighboring regions to con-708 migration and population movements: Europe