Early Urbanism in Europe The Trypillia Megasites of the Ukrainian Forest-Steppe

For over 60 years, the accepted view of cultural evolution was that the world's first cities developed in the Fertile Crescent in the 4th millennium BC. This view overlooks the emergence of a much neglected class of sites—the Trypillia megasites of the Ukrainian forest-steppe. The megasites were in fact larger and earlier than the Mesopotamian cities and demonstrate an alternative pathway towards cities without strong central administration and any later urban legacy. In this book, a team of international authors examines the hypothesis of independent Eastern European urbanism using the evidence gathered from the multi-disciplinary investigation of the megasite of Nebelivka

Between Cereal Agriculture and Animal Husbandry: Millet in the Early Economy of the North Pontic Region

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) was frst domesticated in China and dispersed westward via Central Asia in the 3rd millennium BC, reaching Europe in the 2nd millennium BC. North of the Black Sea, the North Pontic steppe and foreststeppe areas are key regions for understanding the westward dispersal of millet, as evidenced by the earliest direct radiocarbon dates on European millet grains, which we present here. Examining various lines of evidence relevant to crop cultivation, animal husbandry, contacts and lifestyles, we explore the regional dynamics of the adoption of millet, broadening knowledge about past subsistence strategies related to the ‘millet farmers/consumers’ who inhabited the northern Black Sea region during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Our re-evaluation of crop evidence contributes to ongoing discussions on the mobility of prehistoric communities in the Eurasian steppe and forest-steppe—for instance, on whether millet was linked to full-time mobile pastoralists, who occasionally grew or only consumed it, or whether it was linked to sedentary farmers and cattle herders who regularly cultivated millet, among other crops. From the Bronze Age to the Late Antique, this crop is attested under diferent socio-cultural conditions that suggest it was adaptable to stockbreeding and the natural environment and consumed since the mid 2nd millennium BC in the northern Black Sea region

5 The Finds

No abstract available