"On stratigraphic grounds alone, the 'Linear Pottery Culture is the oldest, clearly identifiable Neolithic culture in Central Europe. It completely conforms to the classicable definition of a Neolithic society. Both pottery and ground-stone artifacts, as well as an agrarian way of life, are indisputable present. This statement does not preclude that some kind of stockbreeding and / or farming were practised in the preceeding period. .....a date of c. 5000 B.C.E. is generally accepted....."
(P.J.R. Modderman. The linear pottery culture: diversity in uniformity, 1988). Prof. Dr. P.J.R. Modderman died April 2005.
Contents:
- First farmers in the Netherlands: Culture, housing, tools, clothes
- Links to many other sites on the internet about the prehistory (before 2000 B.C.E.)
- Chronology: the prehistory of mankind
- Images of the past
- The origins of the First Farmers
- News about neolithic findings and discoveries
- Early farmers burials in Germany
- Information about Ötzi, the glacier man
- A reconstruction and a theory about Ötzis bow and quiver
- The Adonis of Zschernitz - the first male clay figurine
(Nederlands)
- Klokbeker graven: Meer dan macht en prestige (door Prof. Harry Fokkens)
- De Adonis van Zschernitz - het eerste mannen-beeldje in klei
- Bandkeramische nederzettingen bij Brunn, Oostenrijk
- Lineaire Bandkeramiek: Microlithen uit Hongarije
- De jager wordt eerst mijnbouwer en dan boer
- Stein, Elsloo en de bandkeramiekers
- Informatie over Ötzi, de gletsjerman
- Een reconstructie en een theorie over Ötzis boog en pijlkoker
- Een theorie over Ötzi: sneeuwschoenen
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(Short
Guideline)
The Linear Pottery Culture in the Netherlands
- Everything you always wanted to know about Dutch prehistoric life between 5500 B.C.E. and 4900 B.C.E.
- Daily life, contacts, pottery, food from the first farmers
First some general historic information (vertaling)
Prehistoric life in the Netherlands starts about 250,000 years
ago! The North Sea is dry and partly covered with a thick layer of
ice.
35,000 Years ago Neanderthalers hunt all over Europe, and also near the Black Sea and in Israël.
25,000 Years ago Cro Magnon hunters live in caves in France
(Lascaux) and Spain (Alta Mira).They make beautiful, mysterious paintings,
perhaps to cast a spell on their prey?
The last ice-age ends about 8,000 years B.C.E.
Then people start to live like farmers in the Middle-East.
Their knowledge spreads all over Europe.
The daily life
Imagine a big farm, 5300 B.C.E., as a
part of a village in the southern part of the Netherlands.
After waking up, I`ll try to blow the fire back to life again. My wife walks to
the river to get water and some herbs for the tea. We mix some flour, water and honey
and heat it for a delicious porridge...
Now and then we also bake some flat breads or cookies on stones near the fire. Each morning my wife
grinds the grains on a grindstone to make flour. It takes about 4 hours to grind
10 pounds of cerials, which is enough for 10 people for just one day!
We can only harvest the grains during 3 weeks in September. The right time to harvest is very important; when we start too early, the grain won`t be eatable, when we finish too late, too many grains have been falling on the ground.
And birds try too steal some grain, too, and not to mention bigger animals.
The provisions of our last harvest have all gone, so we have to gather some eatable plants until we can harvest again. It`s the same as with the slaughter of pigs, sheep, goats and cows. We can`t slaughter them unlimited, that`s why we also hunt and fish, although that doesn`t provide a lot: we`re mainly farmers. Some settlements even grow apple trees.
The 2 pigs make hungry noises as I climb over the fence to feed them with some weeds that are uneatable to us. As I climb over the fence they try to give me 'friendly bites'. The pigs are very strong, so I push them away. Pigs are very smart; when they are young, they can escaped simply by digging holes under the fences...
Other contacts.
We hear a few blows on a cow-horn. That`s the signal for a few men and me to
join a group of hunters to perform a hunting ritual. 
We have trading contacts with them: we need some basalt stones for a good axe.
The hunters travel a lot and know where to find basalt: a 3 days travel to the
east. In return we join their ritual
once in a while, so we better our good, essential contacts.
Their magician welcomes us and we greet the others very friendly.
We all know how important this ritual is. It`s the only way to influence the
magical world around us; it`s the difference between life (a good prey) and
death (no prey, injured hunters).
Pottery.
The hunters use hides with
hot stones and cold water to cook in, but we use pottery. (That difference
occurs while it`s far too heavy for them to carry the jars when they move to
another territory)
I've planned to make some pottery. To do so, I use the yellow clay, some
sand and water. Sand gives the clay a better quality. The results have to dry a few days,
after which I wanted to bake it in an open fire. Unfortunately, the weather was
really bad and now it`s time to harvest the peas and cereals.
Sometimes broken bowls aren't thrown away, but repaired (see picture below). It
is possible to drill 2 holes next to the burst, after which a thin rope will
hold the 2 sides to eachother.
The linear pottery is beautiful.The rims are
thin, mostly round
(that`s stronger) and decorated with waves or spirals, lines as well as dots. In
the beginning the shapes and decorations are :
-flat bases
-small open bowls
-tall jars with narrow openings ("amphorae")
-biconical shapes with a small vertical rim
-a very simple linear decoration
A bit later other forms appear ; small, short lines and imprints have been
added ('music notes').
In succeeding phases, flat bases are changed into round ones;
except in Poland. In the latest phases a dentated spatula could fill in the
space between the lines with as many dots as possible.
Harvest.
The peas can be handled in a few ways:
-Young peas can be eaten as pod-peas,
-Ripe peas can be cut off the plants, shelled and dried (or eaten) ,
-Over-ripe plants can be pulled out of the earth and must dry.
The cereals we know are called 'emmer' (or 'emer') and 'hulled
barley'.
The emmer has bigger and more seads , so that`s my favorite grain.
The harvest process goes as follows: first we grab some 'ears' , then we
cut the straws just below the ears with a piece of
flint. We must dry the grain as soon as possible on a cow's skin by the wind
and the sun. I've heard some people use a special dry-oven to dry the cereals.
The drying process is important to prevent the cereals from
moulding.
Then it's time to thrash the cereals; it's a way to reduce the volume of the
cereals (for an easier storage). Now the small straws can be devided from the
grain.
That`s easy; put it all into a big pot, shake and the seeds (+husk!) will fall
on the bottom.
The storage will be in the same big pot, covered with a skin. Next spring it can
be sowed.
When cereals get mouldered, they must be consumed as soon as possible. This
time the husk must be removed from the grain. The easiest way is to roast it in
a pot near the fire.
The husks come loose and the grain softens (the grain then tastes delicious!).
A settlement in the east (near the Neckar) even grows its own apples;
the malus paradisiaca, which comes from West-Asia (West-Turkestan).
Its fruit is small, but sweeter than from its European, wild, relatives.
Question: How do you make fire?
Answer: I know about two methods, but there are certainly
more.
1st method: I try to keep the fire smouldering.So when I need fire, I just
blow some oxygen towards the fire, together with some straw and twigs.
2nd method: I use the fire-bow,a small stick, a piece of wood and a tinder
for cathing the sparks.The horizontal bow turns the vertical, hard, stick (e.g.
ash-tree) around in a piece of soft, dry wood (e.g. linden tree). When it happens fast
enough the sparks will fall in the tinder which will glow. Put some straw and
wood on the tinder and there`s the fire.
Question:How do you make flint tools?
Answer: watch the sequences below and there 's someone who can explain more about flint knapping on this site
The University of Oslo, Norway, has made a study and (large!) report about all the details on working with flint.
I would like to thank the following persons for making this information as realistic
as possible:
-J. Flamman
-Prof. H. Fokkens
-G. Geertsema
-F.A. Hassan
-Prof. P.J.R. Modderman
-Prof. L.P. Louwe Kooijmans
-All other persons / institutes that gave information.
Pictures below: ground plan and impression of an early neolithic house
picture below: probable dates of Linear Pottery Culture in Austria: about 5550 - 4900 B.C.E.
These web pages have been designed on December 1st, 1997 and are updated and extended on a regular base.
