FROM STONE TO HISTORIC AGE NEOLITHIC AGE 6

FROM STONE TO HISTORIC AGE

NEOLITHIC AGE (6. 800 – 3. 200 BC) First clay and metal pottery for storing grains, food, etc. Beginning of community life by living in larger groups Domestication of goats, sheep, donkeys and similar animals for people’s benefit Invention of wheel and use for fetching water from wells, making pottery, etc. First family tombs First earrings, necklaces and ring idol figurine Pendants made of silver and gold

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE 1899 -1906: first archaeological investigations of Neolithic Period in Greece, by Chr. Tsountas in Thessaly Most important archaeological points: Sesklo & Dimini (Thessaly) Paradimi (Thrace) Sitagroi & Dispilio (Macedonia) Knosos (Crete) o o

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE Stabilization of climatic conditions Permanent group settlements Economy based on systematic farming, stock-rearing, exchange of raw materials and products and pottery production Transition from hunting, foodgathering and fishing stage to productive stage

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE o o Characteristics: Usually open settlements in coastal or inland areas, lowlands or hills, close to water sources (lakes, rivers, etc. ) "magoula“ or "toumba“ (< "tymvos”): a form of artificial low hill (2 -4 m. high, with diameter of 100200 m. ), created by successive habitation layers on the same spot

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE o o o Characteristics: Pile-dwellings (Dispilio) or huts with walls made of posts and later houses with stone foundations and walls of mud-bricks One-room houses, in some cases with an additional open or closed porch ("megaron-type"). Settlements often surrounded by ditches or stone enclosures, for defense or to mark the limits of settlement

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE o o o Characteristics: Communities of 50 -100 individuals at the beginning, which later increased to 100 -300, organized on the basic unit of clan or extended family No economic differentiation among the members of community or social stratification (at least until very late Neolithic Age) Signs of community and equality: Ditches & stone enclosures – Shared production - Hearths and ovens in open spaces for common use – No private property

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE o o Characteristics: Primitive form of authority (now essential), exercised by the oldest or strongest members Exchange networks of products with many communitiespartners Some kind of social prestige in late Neolithic Age, based on finds of distinctive objects, owned only by a few members of community (leaf-shaped arrow heads of Melian obsidian, jewels of gold, silver or even sea-shell and copper tools) Defined roles of both sexes, ALTHOUGH the role of women in Neolithic society seems to have been stressed, at least on a symbolic level (numerous female figurines)

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE Characteristics: o Hunting and fishing in a secondary role Domestication of specific plants - Cultivation of cereals, pulse and flax (+ wool = basic raw materials for weaving) Domestication and rearing of animals (sheep, goats, cattle, pigs and dogs) Elaboration of leather, weaving, basketry and pottery (as part of household) o o o

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE o o Characteristics: Tools made of stone and bone Figurines made of stone or marble (forerunners of Cycladic figurines) with wide ideological content, expressing different aspects of life, or used in symbolic acts (e. g. as offerings in house-foundation).

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE Pottery for preparation, consumption and storage of food, produced by its users (at first) in a surprising variety of colors and decorative styles and themes Seals, probably used for adornment of body (tattoo)

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE o o Characteristics: Import of obsidian from Melos, used in sharp tools & arrows Practice of metallurgy in Aegean �Gold and silver jewels Development of exchange networks in Aegean & Balkans Specialization of production � Workshops specialized in pottery & jewels made of metal or sea-shell

GREECE IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE Jewels & seals �Human need for adornment & social promotion Belief in life after death (burial gifts) An early form of written speech (POSSIBLY) � Wooden tablet with engraved linear symbols, found in lakeside settlement of Dispilio (5260 BC)