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Plant- Female Iconography in Neolithic Europe
It took about a thousand years, from about 8000 to 7000 bce, for the complete
agricultural ensemble consisting of the eight founder crops and four livestock animals to
permeate all the societies of the Near East. These early Neolithic cultures were economi-
cally reliant on three major industries strongly associated with women: textiles, agricul-
ture, and pottery. Livestock were maintained on a small, farmyard scale and were used
almost exclusively as a source of meat, although hunting persisted as in the Epipaleolithic
period. (This period is referred to as the Mesolithic period when discussing Northern
Europe .)
Several lines of archaeological evidence suggest that early Neolithic societies were quite
egalitarian in their social organization and relatively peaceful compared to the highly strati-
fied, hierarchical Bronze Age societies that succeeded them. Although obsidian projectile
points and other weapons were produced in abundance, these were used primarily for hunt-
ing animals rather than for warfare. Perhaps the ready availability of nearby sparsely inhab-
ited lands acted as a safety valve to prevent conflicts as the population densities of individual
settlements increased.
Around 6900 bce, agriculture, accompanied by the new ceramic technology, began to
spread westward across the Aegean from Hacilar and other central Anatolian settlements
to Greece and Crete.^1 The Franchthi cave in the northeastern region of the Peloponnese,^2
which had been occupied intermittently by hunter- gatherers since 20,000 bce, provides a
microcosm illustrating the rapid changes that occurred in Greece during the period of agri-
cultural expansion. Prior to 7000 bce, the remains of local wild game (including wild cattle
and pigs) and tuna from the Aegean were abundant, whereas wild cereals, lentils, pistachios,
and almonds made up the bulk of the plant remains. By 6900 bce, however, after a period
of abandonment, there was an abrupt shift to domesticated food sources, including emmer