Just want to draw your attention to a very interesting
article by Marek Nowak in the September 2001 issue of
ANTIQUITY ("The second phase of neolithization in
East-Central Europe", pp. 582-592). Nowak argues that
LBK sites "aggregate mostly in small agricultural
enclaves distinguished by highly fertile soil" (582).
On p. 586 he notes about 11 such on the territory of
Poland (perhaps 5-8% of the land). These enclaves
apparently remained stable for hundreds of years after
the disappearance of LBK. The territory "in between"
continued to be inhabited by Mesolithic foragers. So
this initial agriculturalization produced "small
islands of farmers" among "the immense sea of
foragers" (p. 590). Nowak argues that it is only by
and by that these foragers became interested in
farming. But the break came shortly after 4000 BC. He
considers the TRB (Funnel Beaker culture) to be not so
much a development of previous farming communities as
a creation of Mesolithic ex-foragers ready to make the
transition to agriculture. The rest (incl. his
arguments {from Mesolithic "forest management" to
"farming") I omit here.===
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