Stone Age societies and environments in Europe

AE 2044 Stone Age Societies and Environments in Europe
Reading list (compulsory)

Atıcı, L., Pilaar Birch, S. and Erdoğu, B. (2017) Spread of domestic animals across Neolithic western Anatolia: New zooarchaeological evidence from Uğurlu Höyük, the island of Gökçeada, Turkey, PLoS ONE, 12(10), e0186519.

Fowler, C., Olalde, I., Cummings, V. et al. (2022) A high-resolution picture of kinship practices in an Early Neolithic tomb, Nature, 601, pp. 584-587. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04241-4.

Fowler, C., Pollard, J. and Whittle, A. (eds.) (2026) Kinship in Neolithic Europe. Oxford: Oxbow Books. Chapters 1, 3, 9 and 14-15.

Graeber, D. and Wengrow, D. (2021) The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Chapters 3-4 and 6-7.

Higginbottom, G.M., Verdonkschot, J., Scarre, C., González-García, A.C. and Criado-Boado, F. (eds.) (2026) Megalithic Societies: Old Questions, New Narratives. Oxford: Archaeopress. Open access. Chapter 16.

Hofmann, D., Cummings, V., Bjørnevad-Ahlqvist, M. and Iversen, R. (eds.) (2025) The Early Neolithic of Northern Europe: New Approaches to Migration, Movement and Social Connection. Leiden: Sidestone Press. Open access. Chapters 4-8.

Larson, G. and Fuller, D. (2014) The evolution of animal domestication, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 45, pp. 115-136.

Macleod, R., Seersholm, F.V., De Sanctis, B. et al. (2026) Lethal plague outbreaks in Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers 5,500 years ago, Nature, 654, pp. 697-705. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10540-5.

McColl, H., Schulz Paulsson, B. et al. (2026) Migrations facilitated the cultural diffusion of megaliths in Neolithic Europe, bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.24.753699. Please consult the extensive online supplementary material for the latest overview of the Neolithic in Europe.

Rivollat, M., Rohrlach, A.B., Ringbauer, H. et al. (2023) Extensive pedigrees reveal the social organization of a Neolithic community, Nature, 620, pp. 600-606. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06350-8.

Russell, N. (2002) The wild side of animal domestication, Society & Animals, 10(3), pp. 285-302.

Schulz Paulsson, B. (2017) Time and Stone: The Emergence and Development of Megaliths and Megalithic Societies in Europe. Oxford: Archaeopress.

Schulz Paulsson, B. (2019) Radiocarbon dates and Bayesian modeling support maritime diffusion model for megaliths in Europe, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(9), pp. 3460-3465. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1813268116.

Scott, J.C. (2017) Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Chapters 1-2.

Seersholm, F.V., Ramsøe, A., Cao, J. et al. (2026) Population discontinuity in the Paris Basin linked to evidence of the Neolithic decline, Nature Ecology & Evolution, 10, pp. 677-688. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-026-03027-z.

Shennan, S. (2018) The First Farmers of Europe: An Evolutionary Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Spengler, R.N. III (2025) Nature's Greatest Success: How Plants Evolved to Exploit Humanity. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. Chapters 1-4.

Vigne, J.-D. (2008) Zooarchaeological aspects of the Neolithic diet transition in the Near East and Europe, and their putative relationships with the Neolithic demographic transition, in Bocquet-Appel, J.-P. and Bar-Yosef, O. (eds.) The Neolithic Demographic Transition and its Consequences. New York: Springer, pp. 179-222.

Widlok, T. (2017) Anthropology and the Economy of Sharing. London: Routledge. Chapters 1-3