Timing and Pace of Neolithisation in the Dutch Wetlands (c. 5000–3500 cal. BC)

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the current evidence on the process of Neolithisation in the Dutch wetlands. Over the years, several models have been proposed with different perspectives on the timing and pace of the process: a long transition, an early short transition, and a late short transition. The applicability of any of these models is, of course, dependent of the evidence. In this article, we briefly discuss recently obtained data from the Netherlands on vegetation disturbance (woodland clearing), soil disturbance (tillage), cereal cultivation, animal husbandry, and the use of ceramics. The data discussed involve palynological, sedimentary, micromorphological, archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, as well as lipid analyses. Hence, it is concluded that from the mid fifth millennium cal. BC onwards, various aspects of a more “Neolithic lifestyle” become apparent in the archaeological record, including cereal cultivation on a structural, but small-scale basis in wetland environments. However, despite the “gradual” tendency that can be observed, the evidence is as yet inconclusive with regard to any of the models, due to persisting limitations of the datasets, potential regional variability, and aspects of scale. A new project, the Emergence of Domestic Animals in the Netherlands (EDAN), aims at a better understanding of animal husbandry through aDNA and isotope analyses, within a framework of statistical chronological modelling. We expect this project to enhance the debate greatly.

Blind dates: Exploring uncertainty in the radiocarbon evidence on the emergence of animal husbandry in the Dutch wetlands

“…The Swifterbant culture, represented by sites across the Netherlands, the Scheldt valley in Belgium, and north-western Germany, has been in the centre of the debate on Neolithization in northwest Europe, since it features the introduction of pottery, domesticated animals and cereal cultivation in the 5 th millennium BCE (Louwe Kooijmans, 1993;Raemaekers, 2003Raemaekers, , 2014Raemaekers et al, 2021). During this period, these subsistence changes were so small scale in a largely hunter gatherers' lifestyle, that a new term was coined -the 'extended broad spectrum economy' (Louwe Kooijmans, 1993).…”

“…In such find assemblages, it remains challenging to get a clear insight into the timing and scale of food production, as well as its significance in a broader sociocultural context. Unsurprisingly, the debate is still ongoing (Raemaekers et al, 2021), with the current dominance of a Long Neolithization model (Zvelebil, 2001) opposed by Short Early (Raemaekers, 2003) and Short Late models (Raemaekers, 2014).…”

“…Notwithstanding a range of issues surrounding the evidence on the introduction of cereal cultivation (Cappers & Raemaekers, 2008;Raemaekers et al, 2021) the aspect of animal husbandry has its own specific set of challenges. Currently, the timing of the earliest domesticated animals in the Dutch wetlands relies on four direct dates on sheep/goat specimens from Hardinxveld-Giessendam De Bruin and Brandwijk-Kerkhof in the Rhine-Meuse delta (Çakırlar et al, 2020) (Fig.…”

High-resolution Bayesian chronology of the earliest evidence of domesticated animals in the Dutch wetlands (Hardinxveld-Giessendam archaeological sites)

“…Notwithstanding the explicit evidence of crop cultivation in the Dutch wetlands [ 10 , 11 ], reconstructing the timeline of animal husbandry remains ambiguous due to the difficulties in determining the domestic status of locally available species ( Sus and Bos ) without multi-proxy research [ 4 , 12 , 13 ]. Moreover, and central to the research presented here, there is a lack of direct dates on animals for which the domesticated status has been established.…”

“…In the Low Countries, the fifth millennium BCE sees several remarkable changes with the emergence of pottery production, animal husbandry, and cereal cultivation in the Swifterbant culture [1][2][3][4][5]. In view of the socio-cultural and economic implications of these changes, much discussion centers around their timing and the duration of transitions, and several models have been proposed.…”