Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 bc. in europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 bc, but recent radiocarbon dating of a dozen 'early' grains cast doubt on these claims. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals that millet was common in Europe from the 2nd millennium bc, when major societal and economic transformations took place in the Bronze Age. We conducted an extensive programme of AMS-dating of charred broomcorn millet grains from 75 prehistoric sites in Europe. Our Bayesian model reveals that millet cultivation began in europe at the earliest during the sixteenth century bc, and spread rapidly during the fifteenth/ fourteenth centuries bc. Broomcorn millet succeeds in exceptionally wide range of growing conditions and completes its lifecycle in less than three summer months. Offering an additional harvest and thus surplus food/fodder, it likely was a transformative innovation in European prehistoric agriculture previously based mainly on (winter) cropping of wheat and barley. We provide a new, high-resolution chronological framework for this key agricultural development that likely contributed to far-reaching changes in lifestyle in late 2nd millennium bc europe.

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Der Forschungsstand zum mittelneolithischen Siedlungswesen ist äußerst lückenhaft. Für viele Regionen liegen kaum Daten vor, die Auskunft darüber geben könnten, wie die Siedlungen strukturiert waren oder wie die Wirtschaftsweise ihrer Bewohner zu rekonstruieren ist. Noch weniger Informationen existieren zu mittelneolithischen Siedlungen mit Kreisgrabenanlage. Am nordwestbayerischen Fundort Ippesheim konnten nun durch geomagnetische Prospektion, Grabungen, archäozoologi-sche sowie archäobotanische Analysen erste Ergebnisse zu den genannten Aspekten gewonnen werden.Abstract: L'état de la recherche sur l'habitat au Néolithi-que moyen est extrêmement lacunaire. Maintes régions n'ont guère livré de données sur l'organisation spatiale des habitats ou permettant de reconstituer le mode de subsistance de leurs habitants. On dispose encore moins d'informations sur les habitats néolithiques moyens avec système de fossés circulaires. Prospection géomagnéti-que, fouilles, analyses archéozoologiques et archéobota-niques ont livré de premiers résultats au site d'Ippesheim dans le Nord-Ouest de la Bavière. Abstract:The state of research on Middle Neolithic settlements is extremely patchy. For many regions there are little available data which could give information on how settlements were structured or how the economy of their inhabitants was organised. There is even less information on Middle Neolithic settlements with circular enclosures.At the Northwestern Bavarian site of Ippesheim, initial findings on the above-mentioned aspects have been obtained through geomagnetic surveys, excavations, as well as archaeozoological and archaeobotanical analyses.

The beginnings of food production-animal husbandry and crop cultivation-and of a sedentary way of life represent one of the most drastic changes in human history. Likewise, this is accompanied by an increasing human impact on nature, which is mainly caused by agricultural practices. Agriculture is related to the clearing of forests, tillage, maintenance of the cultivated land, and finally harvesting, which alters not only the vegetation cover but also soil fertility as there is a potential risk for a loss of nutrients. People already countered this loss of nutrients in the times of early agriculture through different techniques and practices. The article summarizes the earliest evidence of fertilization in the prehistory of Central Europe and presents the most important methods for their investigation. What significance fertilization had for early farming societies can presently not be estimated due to the small amount of data. We therefore advocate the development of a routine for sampling during archaeological excavations and for the analysis of various materials (sediment and plant remains) using various methods. For this, the awareness must be raised that anthropogenic sediments, such as pit fills, are important archives for research into the history of humankind.

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