Life in the Neolithic
El cambio climático provoca una lenta conversión de la economía de subsistencia, basada en la caza, hacia una economía más estable de base pastoril y apoyada en los cultivos (agricultura). Se aprecia que el hombre deja las montañas para desplazarse hacia los llanos en persecución de sus presas de caza. El hombre vuelve a las cuevas aunque en algunos puntos pudo conservar la utilización de chozas en las cercanías de ríos. El desarrollo del pastoreo da lugar a la trashumancia y a los contactos relativamente frecuentes con gente de otras tierras, existiendo una mayor intercomunicación entre las diversas tribus.
Para las hachas y otros instrumentos se utiliza la piedra pulida y los útiles y algunas herramientas se fabrican frecuentemente con hueso. Aparecen también útiles de obsidiana.
Emergence of agriculture and towns
The first agricultural cultures appear with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) (ca. 10,500/10,000-8800 BC), which is the first archaeological cultural phase of the Ancient Neolithic recorded in the Near East in the so-called "Fertile Crescent": Levant, Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Later, the Pre-Ceramic Neolithic B (PPNA) and the ancient Ceramic Neolithic appear. Among the first agricultural settlements from 10,500 to 7000 BC, Gesher"), Mureybet, Jericho, Çatalhöyük, Hacilar or Çayönü among others stand out.
It is known about the planting, harvesting and storage of cereals. Among the useful inventions for agricultural work, there are the wooden sickle, the polished stone axe, the hand mill for grinding grain or cereal, and esparto objects, such as wicker baskets, the sacks, or esparto sandals. time.[10].
From the beginning of the Neolithic in the Near East until its arrival in the Iberian Peninsula (ca. 5700/5600 BC) several millennia passed. According to radiocarbon dating from the archaeological records of the Atapuerca mountain range and the Arlanzón basin (Burgos, Spain),[2][3] in the Northern Iberian Plateau the Neolithic is already present in the last third of the 6th millennium cal. BC with the archaeological record in caves and in open-air sites of domestic wheat and barley agriotypes, ovicaprid livestock, Neolithic ceramics, sheet stone industries and polished artifacts. The Bureba depression, the Atapuerca mountain range and the Arlanzón valley is a natural corridor that connects the Ebro basin with the Duero basin. In this natural corridor, a significant density of Neolithic cave and open-air sites and megalithic structures has been recorded,[2][3] being, according to the cited references, one of the expansion routes of the neolithic process from the peninsular Levant towards the Northern Plateau.
Ceramics
An invention of vital importance for people's lives, and which had a very rapid development, is ceramics. It allowed the construction of containers for liquids and greatly facilitated the life of man, who no longer needed to be permanently near water, or often make long journeys to obtain supplies, since he stored water, and also grains, seeds, ground products, etc., in ceramic containers. It only needed to move periodically to renew the supply of the amount consumed from the previous supply.
Before, empty gourds (which could contain water but could not be placed on the fire) and wicker baskets (which could not contain water) were used. Later these wicker containers were waterproofed with clay dried in the sun or baked in the fire. Later they learned to shape the clay with a very simple wicker skeleton and then without a skeleton. The shape was often pumpkin-like and the dimensions similar to a wicker basket.
Hunters rarely used clay pieces (for example, they did not serve as a quiver due to their fragility), preferring those made of wicker or fabric. On the other hand, it provided ranchers and farmers with security in the storage of water and other products, which, together with the means of preserving meat, made them less dependent on daily hunting.
At this time, the use of ceramic pieces spread, the use of which in the Iberian Peninsula is certain, with remains from the Middle Neolithic existing.
Once the pottery appears, the man tries to decorate it. There are indications that the first decorations were made with ropes, often used as reinforcement, but later other variants were introduced: the groove, the cord (a raised line like a rope, slightly below the edge) and handles of various types.
The ceramics of the initial period (around 4000 BC) are of the so-called "cardial", with incisions of various types in the soft but already molded clay, made with the fingers or with punches or spatulas of bone or polished stone, but mainly with the shell of the mollusk Cardium edule (cockle) from which it receives its name. The incisions, often combined, sought symmetrical effects.
Fiber braiding and loom
The first braided fibers began to be used, especially in wicker.
Surely the first ones were crudely made from branches. The technique evolved until it reached very well-made baskets in the Neolithic, a product of the need to collect fruits, which existed hundreds or thousands of years ago. The baskets were made of wicker. Anyone who has seen the nests of weaver birds can easily imagine the source of inspiration for the first baskets. Eggs were probably even collected from the nests of weaver birds.
The spindle and the loom (can be seen in the attached image) are some of the most revolutionary inventions of the Neolithic.[11] Humans realized, for unknown reasons, perhaps by chance, that some products, such as wool and linen (and later others, such as hemp) could be stretched using a crude spindle or a round wooden bar. As an imitation of basket weaving, these threads could be woven and fabrics made (wool for winter and linen for summer). Surely at first it was intended to use the invention to make lighter baskets, before using them for dress fabrics. Another very widespread garment is the jacket, woven with another material, esparto "Esparto (fiber)").
Domestication of animals
It is known that at this time some animals were domesticated, and among them, the first, the dog.
To preserve the meat, the cured, sun-dried or salted system is used, placing it hanging in the center of a figure of three stakes with the ground at the same vertex.
The manual skill of the inhabitants of the time was used in the preparation of rope traps of a certain complexity. The animal captured by the knotted ropes stretched by the man was later finished off by him. The development of traps coincides with the spider cult, widespread throughout the Neolithic cultures of Western Europe and others, a cult probably linked to the ability of this small animal to set its traps, spider webs.
Humans were accustomed to following the footprints of animals and the specialization they had achieved is notable, to the point that in the cave paintings, the hooves are perfectly represented on the feet as they were marked on the ground. Apparently, from the pictorial representations, the men ran at a very high speed, chasing their prey.
The first spoons are also from this time, which were not used for eating but for mixing cooking food.
At this time, as a result of captures of live wild boars (wild boars), mainly females, these animals were domesticated and gave rise to the pig (in general the wild boar was a game). Herds of wild boar that are not hunted and could be herds in the process of domestication are often depicted in paintings.
Ritual dances
The ritual dances, associated with fertility rites, the religious practices (of which we are now unaware) of the time, continue to be practiced. Each group probably had a sorcerer, who adorned himself with a hollow wild bull's head and a bull's skin that included the tail. These sorcerers are the ones who learned and spread the new techniques, transmitted their knowledge to their successor or successors and it is even possible that they were the authors of the cave paintings since in general these are supposed to be associated with religious or magical rites.
The sorcerers had vague astronomical knowledge (they observed the sky and the Big Dipper is represented in a painting); They observed the habits of animals, wild or not, to make it easier to capture them or imitate them (for example the spider, but also others) and they tested vegetables, edible or not.
Executions and assemblies of warriors
There are representations of executions: a phalanx of warriors, among whom one seems to be distinguished from the others by his position and by the use of a piece at his waist, and who probably must have been the leader of the group, shoots arrows at a condemned man. In this period, assemblies or meetings of warriors were held, represented not only for executions, believing that they had political or religious importance. Scenes are represented with about twenty warriors, which would demonstrate the existence of groups of about a hundred individuals or more, since women, children, the elderly, adolescents, sorcerers and their assistants, sentinels, and others must be included (it is assumed that the population of Çatalhöyük was about 3,000 inhabitants). It is believed that the assembly of warriors exercised decisive power, since in some representations it is deduced that the assembly, if it did not have a military character, had a religious purpose, venerating the paintings of large animals or these animals themselves (there is evidence of the veneration of Neolithic paintings in later times, even in Roman times, it is presumed that the tradition of their veneration continued without interruption from the Neolithic to the Roman period).
First towns
Villages of adobe houses "Adobe (construction)") were built, approximately rectangular in party walls), without streets and with entrance through the roof, which was flat. Also circular, semi-subterranean huts, with a single chamber, with the walls and floor covered with mud (Khirokitia, in Cyprus).
The innovation spread extremely quickly and before 7000 BC. C. there is already evidence of at least one village, Jericho "Jericho (Israel)"), with an area of about four hectares, with a stone wall and an excavated moat about 8 meters wide by 3 meters deep, and with, at least, a large circular tower 9 m high, which was thought to serve as a watchtower, with a ladder to access the roof and the upper part of the wall, but which actually turned out to be a flood wall and a storage warehouse. grain.
This first Neolithic culture (Pre-Ceramic Neolithic) lasted from approximately 7500 BC. C. to 6500 BC. C. and was replaced by another "invasion" from the north, from Anatolia, which also lasted about a thousand years (6500 to 5500 BC); Another Neolithic culture followed, also from the north, which survived for another thousand years (5500-4500 BC). These cultures spread throughout Eurasia, the diffusion accelerating after 5000 BC. C., date on which the beginning of the Neolithic period can be established on the European continent, reaching the Iberian Peninsula shortly after.
Dense clusters of villages and small towns, initially confined to the margins of natural watercourses, increasingly had to resort to artificial irrigation to irrigate their wheat and barley fields. Around 6350 BC. C. monumental adobe brick temples were built in the centers of important cities such as Eridu and Al Ubaid.
The first cities arose in the Middle East around 7,000 years ago and were associated with the first Neolithic cultures. The proximity of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers allowed the cultivation of cereals and other plants that could be irrigated through the canalization works carried out by the inhabitants of these first cities.
The first public buildings that characterize the city also emerged, the palaces and temples. Both functioned as large administrative offices in which control of food production and commerce was carried out. The need to manage this information led to the emergence of simple forms of annotation, accounting and writing.
Honey and drinks
The use of honey continues. Its importance derives from the fact that it was the only sweet food known, just as salt was the only salty one. In addition, wax was obtained from the honeycombs, which was surely used in magical, religious or funerary rituals.
Mead was obtained from honey at an indeterminate period, an aqueous solution of honey that as a result of alcoholic fermentation has lost all or part of the sugary matter and has become ethyl alcohol, being similar in flavor to some types of wine. The mead had a bright, golden color, which also resembled certain wines. To make mead, the water used to wash utensils that had contained honey was used, to which honey was added (25% honey and 75% water) with the pollen extracted from the honeycombs for fermentation (0.05%), creating a drink of about fifteen degrees.
Another drink is beer, which predates crops. It is believed that Neolithic settlers heated a hollow stone containing water and wild plants to the maximum, fermenting it with the same herbs chewed and spit into the liquid. This procedure was still used in the Basque dairy industry at the beginning of the century to make curds or mamilla (although the milk was placed in wooden containers into which hot stones were placed). It was in Egypt where they learned to make beer with barley, a system that probably did not reach Europe until the period of the Indo-Europeans or Celts.
Wine was not known nor oil, and animal fats were used. However, as a result of the domestication of livestock, milk was known, although only goat's milk was used, and the use of cow's milk did not spread until Roman times.
Flours
Wheat, which was a wild plant widespread in Asia Minor, was cultivated in the Middle East and its cultivation spread in the Neolithic, reaching Europe around 5000 BC. C. They ate wheat grains and other cereals. They were later ground up, eaten mashed or made into paste. Sometimes the boiled grains were also eaten.
The system of grinding flour with stone mills spread in the Neolithic. The paste or dough of flour and water was cooked on hot stones. Later the fermentation system was discovered and cooking began to be carried out in increasingly more evolved ovens. Bread "Bread (food)") was made with wheat, barley and rye flour, and probably also with other cereals such as millet and oats.