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Subsistence Practices in Western and Northern Europe

Rowley-Conwy, P.; Legge, A.J.

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Authors

A.J. Legge



Contributors

C. Fowler
Editor

J. Harding
Editor

D. Hofmann
Editor

Abstract

Early agriculture in north-west Europe was highly diverse. Sometimes it spread rapidly, at other times it scarcely advanced at all, and in southern Scandinavia it retreated after its initial advance. Linearbandkeramik (LBK) farmers occupied small clearings on loess soils, concentrating on cattle and cereals and hardly exploiting the surrounding forest at all. After more than a millennium agriculture spread into southern Scandinavia; after an initial period in which some settlements contained many wild animals, by the middle Neolithic agriculture was ubiquitous. It did not spread into southern Norway until the late Neolithic, and in the badlands between the loess soils of central Europe and the glacial moraine of southern Scandinavia hunting remained important throughout the Neolithic. In Britain, most regions saw cultivation and domestic animals rapidly come to predominate the economy, but north-western Scotland may have continued hunting, fishing, and gathering until later in the Neolithic.

Citation

Rowley-Conwy, P., & Legge, A. (2015). Subsistence Practices in Western and Northern Europe. In C. Fowler, J. Harding, & D. Hofmann (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of neolithic Europe (429-446). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199545841.013.022

Acceptance Date Oct 30, 2013
Online Publication Date Aug 30, 2014
Publication Date Mar 1, 2015
Deposit Date Jul 19, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 429-446
Series Title Oxford handbooks
Book Title The Oxford handbook of neolithic Europe.
Chapter Number 22
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199545841.013.022

Files

Accepted Book Chapter (1.1 Mb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
This is a draft of a chapter that was accepted for publication by Oxford University Press in the book 'The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe' edited by Chris Fowler, Jan Harding, and Daniela Hofmann and published in 2015.





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