--- Miguel Carrasquer Vidal <
mcv@...> wrote:
> The
> circumstances were
> not so favourable in "temperate Europe": population
> densities were
> lower, the lifestyle was more nomadic, and the
> number of newly arrived
> farmers much higher.
>
> Where the agricultural wave petered out (due to
> climate and/or
> terrain) there were again opportunities for a model
> of acculturation.
****GK: I'm not familiar with the situation in Central
Europe. But I think that another factor must have been
at work, since it certainly was in Eastern Europe: and
that was the attitude of the nomadic hunters-gatherers
towards incoming colonizers. I would think that these
would be pretty tough customers, prepared to defend
their haunts. This was certainly the case in the East.
The Trypilians for instance vastly outnumbered the
Dnipro-Donetz and then the Serednyj Stih people (of
course the latter had evolved somewhat). But although
the lands east of the Dnipro (and even some to the
west north of the old Dnipro falls) were excellent
agricultural lands, the Trypilians were unable to
seize control of them. This may in fact explain the
rise of their "proto-cities": they were stuck and had
to intensify rather than extensify. So might we not
assume that the spread of agriculture in Central
Europe was to a large extent facilitated by the
readiness of the older population to participate in
the process?******
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