Neolithic Pottery Spread (6700 to 3600 BCE)

(Dec. 30, 2022) Neolithisation is the term for the cultural transition of Europe brought about by migrations of Akkadian speaking Neolithic farmers into the broad river valleys. This migration had two branches with the main one going along the coastlines from Crete and a lessor one going up the Danube river. The farmers who reached Britain would have belonged to the coastal tradition.

Gronenborn, Detlef and Barbara Barbara (2021) Expansion of farming in western Eurasia, 9600 - 4000 cal BC (update vers. 2021.2. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/9424525/Map_Expansion_of_farming_in_western_Eurasia_9600_4000_cal_BC_update_vers_2021_1_

Early Neolithic Farmer Pottery Types

Image from Wikimedia Commons at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:European-middle-neolithic-en.svg

Neolithic Dairy Production

Image from Spiteri (2012)

Map showing the distribution of mitochondrial Haplogroup H among modern populations which is the main marker for Neolithic farmer migrations. This genetic mutation originated in modern day Syria around 23,000 BCE. Not well shown on the map is that the Basques in Spain have a high percentage (28%) of this haplogroup meaning that their unique language should be a direct descendent of Akkadian.
from Wikipedia Commons via Alvarez and all (2009) at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spatial_frequency_distribution_of_different_sub-lineages_of_mtDNA_haplogroup_H.png

Mitochondrial genealogy of main haplogroups. Since language would have been mostly transmitted to the next generation by the mothers, this haplogroup genealogy is also likely the genealogy of ancient language. from Wikipedia at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_H_(mtDNA)

Neolithic Farmer Genetics

The main genetic marker for the Neolithic farmers is the female side mitochondrial DNA haplogroup H. A mitochondria is an organelle in the cell body which generates energy for the cell. Thus it only exists in the egg and from there it is transmitted to future offspring only by the mother.

Haplogroup H had frequency of 19% among Neolithic Early European Farmers and is virtually absent among Mesolithic European hunter gatherers. (Brotherton and all 2013)

Haplogroup H was also present in the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. Nikitin and all (2017)

The clade has been observed among ancient Egyptian mummies excavated at the Abusir el-Meleq archaeological site in Middle Egypt, which date from the pre-Ptolemaic/late New Kingdom and Ptolemaic periods. Schuenemann and all (2017)

Additionally, haplogroup H has been found among specimens at the mainland cemetery in Kulubnarti, Sudan, which date from the Early Christian period (AD 550–800). Sirak (2016)

References

Álvarez-Iglesias V, Mosquera-Miguel A, Cerezo M, Quintáns B, Zarrabeitia MT, Cuscó I, et al. (2009) New Population and Phylogenetic Features of the Internal Variation within Mitochondrial DNA Macro-Haplogroup R0. PLoS ONE 4(4): e5112. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005112 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0005112
Brotherton P, Haak W, Templeton J, Brandt G, Soubrier J, Jane Adler C, et al. (2013). "Neolithic mitochondrial haplogroup H genomes and the genetic origins of Europeans". Nature Communications. 4: 1764. Bibcode:2013NatCo...4.1764.. doi:10.1038/ncomms2656. PMC 3978205. PMID 23612305.
Nikitin AG, Potekhina I, Rohland N, Mallick S, Reich D, Lillie M (2017). "Mitochondrial DNA analysis of eneolithic trypillians from Ukraine reveals neolithic farming genetic roots". PLOS ONE. 12 (2): e0172952. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1272952N. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0172952. PMC 5325568. PMID 28235025.
Schuenemann VJ, Peltzer A, Welte B, van Pelt WP, Molak M, Wang CC, et al. (May 2017). "Ancient Egyptian mummy genomes suggest an increase of Sub-Saharan African ancestry in post-Roman periods". Nature Communications. 8: 15694. Bibcode:2017NatCo...815694S. doi:10.1038/ncomms15694. PMC 5459999. PMID 28556824.
Sirak K, Frenandes D, Novak M, Van Gerven D, Pinhasi R (2016). "Abstract Book of the IUAES Inter-Congress 2016 – A community divided? Revealing the community genome(s) of Medieval Kulubnarti using next- generation sequencing". Abstract Book of the Iuaes Inter-Congress 2016. IUAES: 115.
Wikipedia (2022) at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_H_(mtDNA)

Earliest Neolithic Farmer Pottery from Eastern Europe

Early Northern Vinca Culture Pottery Near Modern Hungary (6000 BCE)

Figures 8 and 9 show linear pottery of the Danubian tradition.
János Jakucs and all (September 2016) Between the Vinča and Linearbandkeramik Worlds: The Diversity of Practices and Identities in the 54th–53rd Centuries cal BC in Southwest Hungary and Beyond
Online at: DOI: 10.1007/s10963-016-9096-x

Dimini Pottery from Peloponnese and Crete (6700 BCE)

This early pottery along the coast is undecorated indicating either that it is very early or that the new settlers were barely surviving at this time.
Photo taken in National Museum of Archaeology, Athens, Greece and from Wikimedia at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Greece_Neolithic_Pottery_%26_Stone_Artifacts.jpg

Neolithic Coastal Pottery (short repeating impressions)

Impressed (Cardium) Pottery from Apulia Italy (6000-5500 BCE)

Impressed/Cardial Wares have patterns are made from impressions from fingers, fingernails, other small instruments and especially the edges of the Cerastoderma edule L.(Cardium) and Glycymeris insubricus Broc. shells. Cardium pottery seems to be a tradition of coastal Neolithic farmers because this style ranges from Phoenicia into the Iberian Peninsula only skipping Greece and Crete.
Photo from Spiteri (2012). Section A shows: Impressed decorative motifs from Balsignano (Apulia, Italy) (Muntoni, 2002a); B: Rocker decoration, created by the continuous zig-zag motion of a shell along a set trajectory, from Balsignano (Apulia) (Muntoni, 2002a)

Impressed Pottery from Calabria Italy (6000-5500 BCE)

Cardium pottery from Capo Alfiere, Calabria, Italy (From Morter, 2002:732 via Spiteri (2012)

Impressed Pottery from Iberia (5600 BCE)

Pottery from Cova del’Or (From Martí-Oliver, 2002:58 via Spiteri 2012)

Coastal Pottery in France (5250-4900 BCE)

Early bone-tempered Non-LBK vessels (Drawing: Author with figures from Caillaud & Lagnet, 1972, p. 151; Lüning et al., 1989, p. 400, Figure 14, p. 412, Figure 26.3, p. 414, Figure 28.2; Pétrequin et al., 2009, p. 495; Ghesquière & Aubry, 2013, p. 518; Rousseau et al., 2015, p. 24).
Image from: Kirschneck, Erich (November 2021) The Phenomena La Hoguette and Limburg – Technological Aspects. Open Archeology volume 7 issue 1. Online at: https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2020-0195

Coastal Pottery in France (5250-4900 BCE)

Distribution areas of early bone-, organic-, and mineral-tempered Non-LBK pottery. Examples from Machecoul (red, left), Goddelau (green, top right), and Anröchte (blue, bottom right). (Drawing: Author with figures from Lüning et al., 1989, p. 398, Figure 12.10, p. 414, Figure 28.1; Rousseau et al., 2015, p. 24).
Image from: Kirschneck, Erich (November 2021) The Phenomena La Hoguette and Limburg – Technological Aspects. Open Archeology volume 7 issue 1. Online at: https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2020-0195

Neolithic Danubian Pottery (impressed geometric lines)

Linear Pottery Style (5500–4500 BCE)

The Linear Pottery culture existed between 5500 and 4500 BCE. It is abbreviated as LBK (from German: Linearbandkeramik), is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V. Gordon Childe.
Two variants of the early Linear Pottery culture are recognized:

The Early or Western Linear Pottery Culture developed on the middle Danube, including western Hungary, and was carried down the Rhine, Elbe, Oder and Vistula.
The Eastern Linear Pottery Culture flourished in eastern Hungary.

Photo from: https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/2150725

References

Cynthianne Debono Spiteri (2012) Pottery use at the transition to agriculture in the western Mediterranean. Evidence from biomolecular and isotopic characterization of organic residues in Impressed/Cardial Ware vessels. Online at: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/77048320/CDS_PhD_2012-libre.pdf?1640181235=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DPottery_use_at_the_transition_to_agricul.pdf&Expires=1660575423&Signature=gbmyCei0uxGzGuLtZUKc~WXirAiM-lgQJGUJvIUDBglJyTvRcSvAzZxl56A2LItZeCzhW~NNJjGlanyInwgVj14Q4Y6buODs8aHpVgZNnYqqVSlfO4LGx-7FRfyhL4LrtGU6a3iXXaI6Fgw-FnpJzNDobt6qAyyLAaTNJrihn6Tum6QefKkx1KQTmampCmNlFpnbgRPPuP58moYK37-hh8PrRLN75iwd18UtaAAU~zMVLbYJmB-dx4y0QgdV5kc5RhLY1UVm9P7fsGPaV~ylhDmMFBCAH0g1qOydPbjYNK61dVOy6mfEnzO5CKzUIdbzhvAowzSnipQDHyNXwDGfPg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

Britain and North Sea Pottery

Swifterbant Pottery Tradition (5000-3400 BC) in the Netherlands

This lessor known pottery tradition belongs to the coastal tradition.
Raemaekers, Daan and de Roever, J.P. (2010) The Swifterbant pottery tradition (5000-3400 BC), Matters of Fact and Matters of Interest in Pots, Farmers and Foragers edited by B. Vanmontfort, L. Louwe Kooijmans, L. Amkreutz, L. Verhart. Leiden University Press. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/1883252/2010_The_Swifterbant_pottery_tradition_5000_3400_BC_matters_of_fact_and_matters_of_interest

Windmill Hill Pot Near Stonehenge (4000 BCE)

Windmill hill was excavated between 1925 and 1929 and became one of the sites used by archaeologists to define the southern British Neolithic. It was built around 4000 BCE
Pot on display at the Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury, Great Britain. Image from: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/pot-from-windmill-hill-causewayed-enclosure-avebury/hAFVqAjEzgMIbA

Pottery from Lockerbie Scotland Settlement - 1 (3700-3900 BCE)

Images from: Magnus Kirby with contributions by S Anderson, M Hastie, A Jackson, M Johnson, R McBride, D McLaren, P Northover, A Sheridan, J Thoms & G Warren Illustrations prepared by L Whitelaw, K Clarke, C Evenden & M O’Neil (2011) Neolithic and Early Historic timber halls, a Bronze Age cemetery, an undated enclosure and a post-medieval corn-drying kiln in south-west Scotland. In Scottish Archaeological Internet Report 46, 2011. Online at: http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/sair/issue/view/76

Pottery from Lockerbie Scotland Settlement - 2 (3700-3900 BCE)

Skarpsalling Pot from Northern Denmark (3200 BC)

This is the last and most developed pottery style from the Neolithic farmers before the Indo-European invasion.

Now at the Danish National Museum at Kobenhaven (Nationalmuseet i København). Online at: https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-neolithic-period/the-skarpsalling-pot/

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