EAA 2023: Abstract

Early Neolithic populations reached central Europe in the form of gradual migration from the Balkans and Anatolia. While some social and technological phenomena have a southeastern origin, others only develop in the context of the beginnings of the Neolithic in Central Europe. These are long wooden houses, and the building is connected with polished stone tools intended for processing wood. These were mostly made of metabasite originally from the Jizera Mountains. The source of metabasite, which was rarely used already in the Mesolithic, became a central territory of several hundred kilometers and its distribution reached most of the populated regions in Central Europe, which is an important factor for understanding the social structure of Early Neolithic populations. The paper focuses on the current state of knowledge about the distribution of Jizera Mountains-type metabasite, on three levels. The first areas are the mining areas themselves which are also related to the primary processing of semi-finished products. The second area is the wider region around the Jizera Mountains, in which there are hoards of ground tools or extremely large artefacts. The third level is the supra-regional distribution on a European scale.

Early Neolithic, metabasite, distribution, mining

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Frantisek Trampota³

Pavel Burgert³
Václav Kachlík⁴
Petr Šída¹
Antonín Přichystal²