THE EFFECTS OF VERY SHORT CLIMATE ANOMALIES ON THE IDENTITY DIVERSITY OF EARLY FARMING GROUPS
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-11-27

Using an example from western Central Europe, the possible effect of very short climate anomalies on what is interpreted as identity diversity dynamics among early farming populations is discussed. It appears that such climate extremes, like droughts, had a forcing effect on already existing tendencies to socially more rigid societies. This rigidity might find its expression in an increase in interpersonal violence, and communal building activities. Possibly, these cycles of identity diversity constituted a forcing factor for the long-term dynamics of the Neolithic and may equally at least partially explain the observed population dynamics. Three population cycles from the Early to Young Neolithic in western Central Europe are used as an example. These constitute a trajectory from simple farming societies with lineage-based social structures but little political hierarchies to societies of the Young Neolithic with, albeit ephemeral, indications for hierarchical structures, at least from the settlement data and also from burials and recent DNA analyses. Although these three periods and cycles (Early Neolithic – Middle Neolithic – Young Neolithic) probably represent rather different social, political and economic structures and forms of organization, they appear to have underdone repeated cyclical dynamics. All three cycles and especially their termination display a sensitivity to climatic changes.


Author(s): Gronenborn, Detlef (Roemisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz; Johannes-Gutenberg University, Mainz) - Wirtz, Kai (Institute for Coastal Research Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht) - Strien, Hans-Christoph (Johannes-Gutenberg-University) - Lemmen, Carsten (Institute for Coastal Research Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht)