FUZZFARM · Modelling of the early agricultural spread in south of the Eastern Europe

Modelling of the early agricultural spread in south of the Eastern Europe

The project aims at modelling of the early agricultural spread, the process that brought agriculture and the settled way of life to large portions of Europe in VII-V mill. BC. It is focused on the archaeological record of south Eastern Europe. The archaeological record of Eastern Europe is still badly integrated into pan-European theoretical context. The project will work towards the more general aim of building a unified European archaeology and incorporation of prehistory of the modern-day Moldova and Ukraine into the discourse on prehistory of Europe. The project will address the issue of agricultural spread by means of the spatial statistics and agent-based modelling. The agent-based modelling is a meaningful framework for incorporating various lines of inquiry on the prehistoric land-use. Such approach was rarely applied to Neolithic studies and never – to the archaeological record of the south of Eastern Europe. At least for two millennia the easternmost fringe of Neolithic world moved across through the plains of south of Eastern Europe, sometimes stopping for several centuries without obvious geographic barriers (mountains, seas, major rivers etc.). Why did they stop? The project is aimed to answer this question as well as clarify the mechanisms and peculiarities of Neolithization in the south of Eastern Europe. The main result include the novel understanding of Neolithization. The inevitable, steady pace of “progress” is a lousy representation of the actual processes of the productive economy establishment. Moreover, there were specific steps back and “retreats” of the early farming areas. The indigenous fishers, hunters, and gatherers seem to react actively to the fluctuations of the early farming groups. After the demise of Linear Pottery Culture farmers, in the region, there could be a revival of fishers, hunters, and gatherers equipped with ceramic vessels. The adaptations based on an extractive economy appeared successful enough to “regain terrain,” at least temporarily. Thus, in the future modeling efforts the indigenous groups with extractive economy should be included as an active agent.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union