6000 BCE: Life in Greece & The Balkans - Neolithic Europe Documentary

6000 BCE, the first farmers of Europe were making their way north along the rivers of the Balkans. What was life like for these agricultural pioneers?
Thanks to Archaia Istoria for the quotes. One of the best channels on Greek history!
/ @archaiahistoria
Sources:
1 - Bogaard, Amy, and Paul Halstead. “Subsistence Practices and Social Routine in Neolithic Southern Europe.” The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, by Chris Fowler et al., Oxford University Press., 2019.
2 - Boric, Dusan. “Mortuary Practices, Bodies and Persons in the Neolithic and Early-Middle Copper Age of South-East Europe.” The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, by Chris Fowler et al., Oxford University Press., 2019, pp. 927-957.
3 - Borić, Dušan, and T. Douglas Price. “Strontium Isotopes Document Greater Human Mobility at the Start of the Balkan Neolithic.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 110, no. 9, 2013, pp. 3298-3303., doi:10.1073/pnas.1211474110.
4 - Borić, Dušan, et al. “High-Resolution AMS Dating of Architecture, Boulder Artworks and the Transition to Farming at Lepenski Vir.” Scientific Reports, vol. 8, no. 1, 2018, doi:10.1038/s41598-018-31884-7.
5 - Chapman, John. “The Balkan Neolithic and Chalcolithic.” The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, by Chris Fowler et al., Oxford University Press., 2019, pp. 157-174.
6 - Douka, Katerina, et al. “Dating Knossos and the Arrival of the Earliest Neolithic in the Southern Aegean.” Antiquity, vol. 91, no. 356, 2017, pp. 304-321., doi:10.15184/aqy.2017.29.
7 - Fowler, Chris, et al. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe. Oxford University Press., 2019.
8 - Lightfoot, E., et al. “Exploring the Mesolithic and Neolithic Transition in Croatia through Isotopic Investigations.” Antiquity, vol. 85, no. 327, 2011, pp. 73-86., doi:10.1017/s0003598x00067442.
9 - Muller, Johannes. “Movement of Plants, Animals, Ideas and People in South-East Europe.” The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, by Chris Fowler et al., Oxford University Press., 2019, pp. 63-80.
10 - Paschou, P., et al. “Maritime Route of Colonization of Europe.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no. 25, 2014, pp. 9211-9216., doi:10.1073/pnas.1320811111.
11 - Perlès Catherine, and Gerard Monthel. The Early Neolithic in Greece: the First Farming Communities in Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
12 - Raczky, Pal. “Settlements in South-East Europe.” The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, by Chris Fowler et al., Oxford University Press., 2019, pp. 235-253.
13 - Runnels, Curtis N, et al. “Warfare in Neolithic Thessaly: A Case Study.” Hesperia, vol. 78, no. 2, 2009, pp. 165-194., doi:10.2972/hesp.78.2.165.
14 - Scarre, Christopher. The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies. Thames & Hudson, 2018.
15 - Shennan, Stephen. The First Farmers of Europe an Evolutionary Perspective. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
16 - The Genomic History of Southeastern Europe www.nature.com/articles/natur...
17 - Georgiadis, Mercourios. “The Obsidian In The Aegean Beyond Melos: An Outlook From Yali.” Oxford Journal of Archaeology, vol. 27, no. 2, 2008, pp. 101-117., doi:10.1111/j.1468-0092.2008.00299.x.
18 - Budja, Mihael. “Pots and Potters In the Mesolithic_Neolithic Transition in South-East Europe.” The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, by Chris Fowler et al., Oxford University Press., 2019, pp. 535-553.
19 - Mlekuz, Dimitrij. “The Neolithic Year.” The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, by Chris Fowler et al., Oxford University Press., 2019, pp. 447-461.
20 - Gaastra, J. S., Greenfield, H. J., & M, V. L. (2018). Gaining traction on cattle exploitation: Zooarchaeological evidence from the neolithic western balkans. Antiquity, 92(366), 1462-1477. doi:dx.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.178
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[@StefanMilo]

Bonus video: What happened to the hunter gatherers that already lived in Southeast Europe?? kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2LEe5KLd6eqe5Y

[@jozz2248]

Ever read the book The Chalice and the Blade by Rhian Eisler? A fascinating read about this time of preHistory.

[@hellboy7424]

I'm a sling shooter here in Spain. Even today, there are contests or shooting meetings with "honda" in Malaga and balearic islands. It's a "weapon" that requires a lot, a lot of training, practice and skill. In many parts where there are still Neolithic tribes they still do tournaments and games with many types of weapons such as bows ... even when they no longer need to hunt. In short: fun. That's why they would have so many arrowheads and projectiles for slingshot.

[@tsopmocful1958]

Is it possible that they cremated most of their dead or gave them 'sky funerals' up in trees or something?

[@colinp2238]

@@tsopmocful1958 Maybe the men folk died whilst away from the settlements and their remains carried off by scavengers. That would be one reason why there are more female burials.

[@archenema6792]

Is that guest voice Epimetheus?

[@douglasyoung927]

My family actually lived on a self sustainable subsistence farmstead and sheep ranch built along the banks of the Green river. We often ate what we grew in the gardens, we kept chickens, we made all kinds of dairy products from the sheep milk, and occasionally ate the sheep. Grandma made wool clothing, grandpa made all kinds of leather goods. We subsidized it with fish from the river and what little money we made from farmers markets and off season jobs. What you learn very quickly is that everyone needs everyone in the community to thrive because there's not enough time in the season to do everything alone, so everyone tends to pick a few things they do well and everyone else shares and benefits from it. The second thing you learn is that the work is really hard for about 4 months, then life is really hard for about 4 months, and then you get 4 months where there's nearly nothing to do. Of course we had modern machinery and tools and science and husbandry, etc. And we didn't have to make our own clothes and hand grind flour and that sort of thing. I'd imagine that even with the added difficulty of doing things by hand, they would have functioned together in diverse groups with diverse jobs and skills and they would have had more free time than you might imagine. Certain enough free time to develop things like art, pottery, jewelry, weaving, basketry, reading and writing, interpersonal relationships, tool and technology advancements, etc. Not saying it would have been easy, but it wouldn't have necessarily been overwhelmingly or insurmountably difficult either. A manageable but never ending work load that sustains your life sounds hard but eventually it becomes a very rewarding part of daily life. This is often what people find prolonged wilderness survival situations as well. The work is often extremely difficult but the days are often long and largely filled with a whole lot of nothing.

[@semaj_5022]

Which Green River? I know of a few of them and I'm curious if it's one near(ish) me. Sounds like a really interesting lifestyle to have in this day and age. I'd love to give it a shot, but I don't know how long I'd last if I'm being honest. Lol

[@douglasyoung927]

@@semaj_5022 It was the Green river on the Uintah Ouray Reservation in Central Utah. It actually no longer exists, there is currently a complex of oil derricks where our families land used to be.

[@semaj_5022]

@@douglasyoung927 Ohh, okay. The one near me is in Kentucky, feeding the Ohio. That's really sad, though. I can't imagine how upsetting it must be to know the land you and your family used to live off of has been essentially destroyed. On a reservation, no less. One would hope land with such cultural value would be protected from destructive resource extraction.

[@HandyDandy6]

"From each according to their ability, to each according to their need."

[@eurybaric]

I grew up in this 4 - 4- 4 months routine, but in a different context. That was very interesting to read, thank you!

[@bremdamiller3629]

Ancient spring cleaning just burn the house down and start again :)

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

bremda miller -That’s what I do; but they’ve charged me with arson!

[@DarkImplement]

Clear history, update browser. When they run away > incognito mode

[@oliversmith9200]

Got roaches? Not for long.

[@momstermom2939]

That holds a certain appeal!

[@quoththeraven3985]

A spider!..... ..burn it down..lol

[@klatie256]

I'm a poor uni student, but I'll be giving 3 dollars a month to your patreon. It's the least I could do after you have brought me so much joy with these fascinating videos! I feel like what you're doing is the internet at its best- education, discourse, and building communities based on common interests. Thank you so much!

[@davidec.4021]

“Pottery on the other hand, we. Have. TONS. Of it.” Every married man ever

[@RestingJudge]

My girlfriend does pottery as a career. I haven't bought a mug or plate in years.

[@timenixe]

@Ryan Sedy lol

[@HistoryTime]

Yes! Thanks for these double videos. You're spoiling us. More Neolithic please!

[@fahimuddin8782]

"It's called a tree!" "Wow! It's so green." "Yup! It's where chickens come from!"

[@HVLLOWS1999]

Ain't chickens from south east asia?

[@damenwhelan3236]

@@HVLLOWS1999 No. See. Tree.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

both chickens!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[@Forgan_Mreeman]

dont chickens live in a lamp?

[@johnbland1585]

While on tour in Iraq, I noticed may names of locations beginning with Tel- (Tel Afar for one also ever heard of Tel Aviv) and learned later the word translation Tel = hill. Your video proves this. While in Iraq I have seen several Tels rising up in villages out of the flat ground. These were sometimes 500-1000 feet in diameter. I thought - possible graves for the last millemia.

[@moodist1er]

Imagine how big a tel would have to be to bury a million Dead innocent Iraqis murdered by dumb child war criminals on behalf of haliburton's private corporate profit.

[@brentw741]

Respect to these neolithic farmers. We owe our existence and society to the contributions they’ve made. ✊

[@thehittite6536]

native people of eastern turkey,western iran,northern syria and iraq=kurds

[@mimorisenpai8540]

@@thehittite6536 kurds don't exist during Neolithic

[@PilotW65]

Agreed dude, i often don't feel worthy of the sacrifices these tough-as-nails individuals made to give their descendants better lives.

[@AaronTheGreat________]

@@PilotW65😂😂😂😂 Christ unoriginal u just like to complain probably

[@thomasmalacky7864]

ITS BC NOT BCE

[@ridleyroid9060]

Greetings from Serbia. This is a fascinating video. Thank you!

[@raystargazer7468]

I call it yes Sirbia!

[@ingGS]

When you said: “Imagine having to do every single thing by hand”… you described my grandparents. Grandpa had to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to milk the cows and sow the fields. Grandma woke up at the same time to cook and care for her 12 children and any of the workers. My mom was the oldest, so she had to learn to saw to make clothes for everyone.

[@ingGS]

Rice was harvested and processed right there. And my oldest uncle was forced to marry young and stay there to take over. Any meat eaten came from butchering at the farm as well.

[@pipersolanas3322]

12 kids? Your grandma was a victim of r*pe by your grandpa

[@Game_Hero]

but your grandparents had metal

[@mnomadvfx]

Many hands make light work but when the workload is big enough it is still hard.

[@seanfaherty]

my dad grew up with no plumbing but at least they had metal.

[@davepuxley7387]

Ok, I just need to take a moment and say: Stefan, I looooooove your practice of footnoting. Is it your own devising? If so, you should be commended on making a contribution of profound value to this medium. A way to not only textually but visually note that "there is a source/rabbit hole here" is huge, and allows for a common ground of practice in terms of supporting one's views with the work of others as or more knowledgeable on the topic. Thanks for this!

[@thehittite6536]

native people of eastern turkey,western iran,northern syria and iraq=kurds

[@jozz2248]

Brendaaaaaa! Appreciate the jokes as well as covering the lesser known parts of history. Prehistory completely fascinates me.

[@konstantinoskotsomytis2544]

Fun fact" Brenda is actually the name of the goat.

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Konstantinos Kotsomytis - Kalo! 😂

[@WatchmanofMKDN]

Jozz Wheeden HLA genes in Macedonians and the sub saharan origin of Greeks. Go read the study by the Spanish analysists who done tests not only on Greeks and Macedonians but on other nations also, and no one else complained about the other results. When Greeks do DNA tests, usually their origins are outside of Greece, out of the Mediterranean. Go see all the popular DNA tests... they show the “Greek” DNA along North Africa and Asia minor in the origin shade. Macedonians show in the Balkans shaded and it’s called “Balkan” DNA not to offend Greeks 😂. How can we be Slavs from other places if our thousands of years origins show balkans??? Our thousands of years origins are the same amount of years as Greeks and everyone else’s thousands of years back origins. So the Spanish HLA test as well as other tests that show Macedonians origins in the Balkans and most Greeks majority origins out of Europe show that WE MACEDONIANS 🇲🇰🇲🇰 we here BEFORE THE GREEKS!!!

[@Dionysios_Skoularikis]

@@WatchmanofMKDN Are you making good money on this endeavor? You are Greeks. I'm very proud to tell.

[@ww2wall561]

You do not mind us readind from the original texts do you? In latin and greek. Just as oxford cambridge leipzig universities teaches that you are a lot of b@@@@

[@ArchaiaHistoria]

Great video and glad I could help! Your videos have gotten really good, just like the good ol’ History Channel days!

[@StefanMilo]

Thanks man! wish I had your artistic ability though.

[@bcast9978]

I am old enough to remember when door dash meant bride stealing from your hunter-gatherer neighbours.

[@DrCorvid]

Nice one, Brandon hehe; fun to watch too!

[@ameremortal]

You had doors?

[@Alorand]

More likely to have happened the other way around. Farmers put down roots, while the hunters just go where the animals are.

[@overbeb]

Other way around. Settled farmer girls would see bad boy hunter gatherers come through and want to run off with them 😂

[@daniellejoseph1576]

I remember the dead sea just being sick

[@alexanderdoddy7590]

I 2nd that stew life! The BEST thing, especially in the winter with fresh bread

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Timothy McCaskey - I’m Grea... - I mean, Greek, and I do it all the time!

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Alexander Doddy - Third the motion...

[@AreHan1991]

Also, cooked food is much more easily digested so you get more nourishment out of your food. It also made new types of food possible, like porridge, something even babies could eat. Which meant they didn't necessarily die if their mother did --> more people!

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Are Hansen - All true; good points! Also, before the advent of cooking, mothers had to thoroughly masticate hard foods in order to render them digestible and palatable for very young children. This simple but necessary task alone took up considerable time and energy; apart from the many other benefits it afforded, cooking permitted women more time for other productive activities like foraging, food processing, weaving, etc.

[@cleonstutler3475]

Stefan If the homes were being burnt creating the Tells maybe the bodies were being burnt at the same time. As an architect it seems a great way to start a new life, and keep the family nearby.

[@moocyfarus8549]

I guess they didn't have good cleaning products and yeah to get the stink a death out of their you would just want to burn it all down

[@michaelhull1813]

The burnt houses and dead bodies are NOT connected. They buried their dead. Later... They burnt their homes due to pest infestations.

[@danielbordeianu5841]

to burn a human body to ash you need a good amount of hardwood for prolonged heat. Bushes flash hot and short and would leave the body there. Try cutting one tree even neolothic time then divide it into logs etc... too much waste and work. What if burial was practiced in the water of the river, sending the loved one on his or her's last journey? Sort of what Moses is said to have been sent away as a child, sort of like the viking king burial at the sea. It might have been just practicality

[@fukkitful]

@@michaelhull1813 Pest infestation was my thought too. Ive had bed bugs and you have to just burn everything to get rid of them. They can live up to a year without blood. I know with Fleas certain plants will repell them. Not sure if that technic cant be used with bed bugs.

[@fukkitful]

​@@danielbordeianu5841 I know "sky burials" were used in the Turkey around that time. Which is just leaving the body out for scavengers. I'd bet it was a common method back then.

[@Yiannis2112]

Yes how on earth could you farm the land without metal? Especially without the first Black Sabbath album...

[@kirkmorrison6131]

You shape a hand split board to be the plow to the outside you affix a mortar board to turn the soil out to create attach to a framework. It works almost as well as an iron or steel one except you might need to clean it more often.

[@aidenhorton3856]

@@kirkmorrison6131 I think you missed the joke

[@meisteremm]

@@aidenhorton3856 Not if you consider Black Sabbath to be hard ROCK.

[@aidenhorton3856]

@@meisteremm Black Sabbath is metal

[@meisteremm]

@@aidenhorton3856 But it is also hard ROCK.

[@BriarPipeKing]

Just wanna say I love your channel. You have an authenticity that makes it feel like a unique form of entertainment rather than just TV-lite that you get from a lot of KZbinrs these days. Thanks for climbing down that hill into that river. I definitely had a good chortle.

[@george-by]

KZbin occasionally suggests your old videos, and they are all so fascinating. Keep up the good work, Mr Legend!

[@dawnmarieantoinette]

Hey Stefan, I just subscribed bc every time i look for a new doc I choose yours 9 times out of 10.

[@conorfennell8475]

It channels like yours that don't get enough praise, so here have some of mine: I've watch this for years always interesting and I've never left a video i started unfinished. Love the topic of early human migration and development, and I often use your show as a means to keep updated on the ever expanding topic. You don't just gloss over highlights for clicks but dive deep into the new evidence and help me keep up with the current understanding of our history on earth

[@uttcftptid4481]

This was my first Stefan Milo video, and I always come back for inspiration.

[@lorrainedzeka]

Thanks Stefan, this is very informative and I enjoyed watching the video. Keep up the good work

[@YoungStevesie]

I'm always looking for channels that make history fun again, glad I stumbled upon yours!

[@MarkVrem]

The Sava river basin still floods a lot even today, back then all of what is Slavonia in Croatia heading towards Serbia where the Sava joins the Danube would have been flood-plains. This is why there were ancient obvious farming communities there, and also I believe some of the oldest bronze work found. Centuries later it is one of the reasons that kept Vienna from falling into Ottoman hands. The Ottomans could not move their largest cannons in time before winter and safely from Turkey to Austria due to the flooding, spring rains, mud, etc. And every fort within Croatia and Hungary on the few dry paths were like little mini-Vienna sieges themselves. Feeding an army of over 100,000 that has halted for weeks in a flooded plain because the only dry path is blocked by a fort manned by 200 Croatian or Hungarian farmers was a constant problem. Which consecutively led Ottoman invasions further up north into what is today Checkoslovakia and having control of the Crimean region. They thought it would be a better path for their largest cannon to go all the way around the flood basins of the Balkans around Croatia, Serbia, Sava/Danube plains. By then Western Europe caught up with Ottoman cannon technology and improved their fortifications. Point is there is a lot more going on in that regions that got washed away by the Sava and Danube a thousand times over and over again by now, probably taken out into the black sea from the Balkans

[@cathjj840]

Thanks a lot for these explanations. Geography, indeed geology, have so much to do with what happened where, and I think they are sadly often somewhat neglected, at least when vulgarizing research on prehistoric eras, indeed on historic ones as well. I would hope the experts take them seriously into account. The wider Eastern European/Western Eurasian area is largely unfamiliar to W. Euro and American ordinary people so I find your remarks very helpful.

[@ivangangur8207]

Marko

[@ivangangur8207]

Marko Uremovic, thanks for sharing your knowledge of historical past of Balkans. My extended family arrived into River Sava district of Slavonia in 1930-35 into villages of Zbjeg, Bebrina, Kanjiza and couple of other villages. All approx 14kilometars from Slavonski Brod. We're Karpatski Rusini, most from a village of Kopasnovo in what is now Ukraine From my extended family folklore, Swamp called Mirosheva was the life saver when things got tough. Should you have any historical information about this geographicial area, please share 😋

[@trim90str88]

The Serbs themselves invaded the Balkans during the barbaric invasion of Europe approx. 600 years AD along with other Slavic peoples.

[@TheDesertBird]

@@trim90str88How can Serbs and other Slavic people do "barbaric invasion" of Europe when they were N/E of Europe? But all other tribes "came democratically and civilised" into Europe from Pontiac steppe?!? WTF man :)

[@warmbabaganoush4825]

Awesome stuff Stefan. Will grap a warm blanket and binge watch all your videos I've missed in my abscence tonight 😀

[@gzpo]

Nice work, bro. Always learning from you. Thanks! 💖😎

[@artifactsantlersoh]

Really enjoy your content. I spend a lot of time listening while I’m walking farm fields for artifacts. Thanks!

[@jamesjacobs3753]

Dropped a like for the eagle animation 😂

[@jturtle5318]

They nest along the rivers. One dropped a catfish on a neighbor's windshield, put a good dent in it. Explain that to your insurance agent.

[@kennethkustren9381]

My question... was it a Brit, Quebecois, or Democrat ??

[@tehbonehead]

"Mang, I tell you hwut!"

[@Bogey1022]

I love your work, man. Thank you for this

[@gergelybakos2159]

Highly interesting stuff, thanks for the video!

[@christophkuropkaGR]

another undoubtly heroic adventure in cognition and reality the world has been waiting for - thanks stefan

[@horompolierik3590]

My favorite part was when your video supposedly was on "pause", interesting to hear about just how hard every-day life was back then. Greetings from Hungary! ;)

[@kirstenwhitworth8079]

I feel pampered by these two vids. Thanks!

[@CaptainPreferences]

Great videos man. Keep it up!

[@elenivlachou1452]

Excellent work! Premium quality information. Congratulations and thank you. Eleni Vlachou, State-qualified Tour Guide for Greece.

[@calinradu1378]

Stefan you're bringing Neolithic closer to our hearts!

[@thefisherking78]

Love your work man, thank you for making such great content

[@josebenjaminmedeirosdeazev709]

My god I've been looking for a channel with this kind of info. AWESOME

[@tek5692]

I paused to respond re: Stew. My personal theory is that stew is an essential step in developing civilization. I don't know if you have addressed this already--I'll search--but if not, please do!

[@smallbeginning2]

They certainly made stew using animal hides long before pots were invented. 😁

[@lenabreijer1311]

Making stew is easy. All you need is a semi waterproof container. You heat rocks in the fire, make sure they are granite of some sort, and when they are hot you drop them into the container with the water, vegetables and meat. Repeat until the stew is cooked. The container can be hide or a basket lined with clay or a real pottery vessel.

[@parkerthanyou]

Archaeologist student here, very cool video and i would like to point out some stuff "Tell" is an arabic word for "hill", because usually what's left of an ancient settlement is a hill with dirt mixed with pottery and the remains of the homes. It's usually more used for the context of the middle east, for example in Turkey that word is substituited with "tepe" which is turkish for, again, hill As for their deads, expecially in Anatolia it's thought that the bodies of the ruler/head of the family/head of the community was buried under the floor of their houses probably as a cult of the ancestors, and the common people were probably left outside the village, probably not buried at all I'm months late but in my defense i just found your channel xD

[@anabananin9848]

What do you want to say, that Turks started civilization on the Balkan and Europe??

[@parkerthanyou]

Well not exactly, the people of that period weren't Turkish (which came in Anatolia much much later in the 10th century AD)

[@bogdancr4292]

Archaeologist here, I have to say I don't agree with you in regards to the "tell" subject. Although it's indeed an arabic word, it's not used especially in the context of the middle ages, it's actually used quite extensively in Europe as well. Since the late 60's and early 70"s (approximately), the term "tell" has become a common word in the terminology arsenal of the average european archaeologist, especially when discussing the Neolithic/Eneolithic/Bronze Age settlements from Central Europe, South-East Europe and the Balkans. So, what I'm trying to say is that the term "tell" is used very often in the european context of prehistoric settlements.

[@parkerthanyou]

Mh, i didn't hear it that often, curious, thanks for telling!

[@bogdancr4292]

@@parkerthanyou Cheers. Maybe it's not in your area of study, if you are from France for example, i doubt you would use the term "tell" that often,but if you'r from Hungary or Serbia, it's as common as the term "storage pit". Good luck with your studies, i hope it's soon enough you'll be a fully fledged archaeologist.

[@AlexandraBryngelsson]

Love your videos, very interesting and factual to the point

[@reddirtroots5992]

Good piece. Thanks Stefan!

[@Great_Olaf5]

On the question of deaths and bodies, I know that some of the ancient peoples of Anatolia practiced assure burials, where they would put corpses as high up as was practical, mountaintops, tall trees, whatever, as long as it was high up and exposed to the elements. In the more arid environment of Anatolia and Persia, it's entirely possible, though rare, for some skeletons to survive to modern times, in the much wetter and more hospitable Balkans, that's highly unlikely, so all that remains were those who were buried under the floors of buildings which were frequently burned and rebuilt. That happening repeatedly could easily destroy fragile human bones.

[@hglundahl]

11:11 While on pilgrimage in Spain, I did a medium walk of 15 km per day. The Merriweather and Lewis expedition had no roads most of their way, their average was c. 6 km per day. First trip to a place for obsidian probably 100 km / 6 km/day = 17 days. Tenth trip to the place, perhaps 100 km / 15 km/day = 7 days. Each direction. Obviously.

[@travsd]

you're a great presenter, man! learned tons and was entertained to boot

[@gabrielabdul8372]

Stefan, thank you so much

[@darioalemanno4600]

Just discovered your channel, man you are amazing. Finally a dude using scientific method in internet. Keep it up, you're doing a great job.

[@thehittite6536]

native people of eastern turkey,western iran,northern syria and iraq=kurds

[@bulevarknjiga6691]

4:57 Near Niš (Serbia), there is a Tell that's unfortunately destroyed by construction of near by roads and highway. Lots of findings of stone spears and figurines. River shells, tooths of small carnivores etc

[@joshuamacha2150]

Wow! How cool, I have family in the Balkans and am planning a visit to see some of the old archeological sites :)

[@bulevarknjiga6691]

@@joshuamacha2150 that's interesting

[@makavelirip8343]

@@bulevarknjiga6691 Well Serbs immigrated in 600Ad so that can only mean since they are that old they can only belong to the illyrians or the pelasgians.This last one being older and being the Ancestors of Illyrians and Hellens.

[@techiguru]

@@makavelirip8343 Please read the Hebrew origins of the Serbs. It explains and proves it well.

[@enderman_666]

@@makavelirip8343 Yeah, Illyrians were an Indo-European group so if it's a pre-IE site it wouldn't have been them neither. The Pelasgians may have been just an umbrella term for pre-Hellenic populations living in the southern Balkans, there's not enough known about them to claim that they were a culture.

[@dannybrown5744]

Seen this before but worthy of another look. Thanks again Stefan

[@Rytoast99]

I love this video. Cool man. You seem pretty entertaining and are a joy to watch.

[@lesleeg9481]

Just wanted to add that it's possible to cook in animal skins or stomachs as long as there is liquid seeping through the skin/stomach. Could have had stew. And different preservation environments preserve different materials. So it is possible to find preserved wool, but maybe not from the Neolithic. Love your stuff, btw. Keep the prehistory videos coming!

[@joshuamacha2150]

Thanks for this video! I will try to visit lepenski vir someday :)

[@sherylcrowe3255]

Excellent research and preparation. Thank you very much.

[@whangadude]

Love your stuff dude. Very interesting.

[@juliarobson3804]

I love how an occasional skull pops up on the pictures. It's like where's waldo with skeletons!

[@rayagantcheva8701]

You absolutely must research the Varna necropolis! It's on the coast of the Black Sea and as far as we know the oldest gold in the world, found in several graves, some with buried bodies, others symbolic, dating back to around this time period

[@dorabastable7028]

Really fun and informative videos. Also, I appreciated the Black Sabbath album cover when you mentioned metals! Cheers!

[@backwoodsmodified]

This video is excellent! Thank you.

[@bulletsfordinner8307]

These Tells remind me of Gobleki Teppe ❤️

[@petrmaly9087]

0:54 ...If you were alive back then you would have lived in a rectangular house with possible stone foundations and possibly mud brick or clay walls... watching this in Europe in 2020... I still am! Although mine is from 19th century AD.

[@Noosa21]

Thanks some great detail there mate!

[@iceshadow207]

Awesome video and what a nice channel you have here! 😁

[@BenniBarmann]

nice video! Good work! but is there maybe an error regarding göbelike tepe? wikipedia says: "The site was deliberately backfilled sometime after 8000 BCE: the buildings were buried under debris, mostly flint gravel, stone tools, and animal bones." so, göbelike tepe was long gone during the time of the first farmers settlements in europe.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

"at a prehistoric village just 20 miles away, geneticists found evidence of the world's oldest domesticated strains of wheat; radiocarbon dating indicates agriculture developed there around 10,500 years ago, or just five centuries after Gobekli Tepe's construction." www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/ . It seems Tepe may be very close geographically and fairly close in time to the origins of agriculture, which then spread to Europe. . Was there a particular statement you took issue with (time stamp?)

[@lexington476]

5:57 what is the grease in Bulgarian diets also have included a lot of fish, at least within a few miles of the coastlines?

[@AreHan1991]

Strangely enough, the farmers ate very little fish. The same pattern persisted all the way up to Britain and Scandinavia. Seems really weird, such an easy source of high quality protein and minerals. Even the Vikings who much later emigrated from Iceland to Greenland didn't eat the marine mammals (seals, whales,...). They tried to live as they had back in Iceland or Norway, bringing cows, sheep and goats. They held on for a quite a while, but then starved and died out. Also they didn't have anything nearly as advanced as the technology of the Iniuts, who continued to thrive eating fish, seals, whales, karibou and the occasional polar bear. With excellent clothes to keep them warm and dry, fast dog sleds and kajaks, etc

[@JamesKerLindsay]

Fascinating video. Thanks.

[@rexinkognito2740]

Whoaaa two videos you're spoiling us ;)

[@killgora1]

0:21 Thank you for that.

[@jean-baptistelully]

0:22

[@killgora1]

@@jean-baptistelully 0:23

[@FernandaSomenauer]

I'm really glad for the pottery. My favorite food is goulash! A life without stew would be really sad!

[@jimmywebb4429]

i live a life without stew -- luckily there is chile verde

[@SaveWesternCivilisation]

Sensational stuff, old fruit, absolutely love it! Thank you so much 😃

[@arcstrider5728]

I'm way behind with this channel but I'm glad I found it. Great content, currently gorging myself....

[@AreHan1991]

Nice video! Just a little correction: your example of building huge stone monuments are from Göbekli Tepe, which is not in Anatolia, but way South-East in Turkey. Also, this activity stopped almost 2000 years before any farmers reached Europe, so it hadn't been done in the Middle East either for a long, long time, maybe 50 generations

[@nmarbletoe8210]

good points

[@thehittite6536]

native people of eastern turkey=kurds

[@akostarkanyi825]

Polghaar, Churs-halom (this is how it is suggested to pronounce these two Hungarian names in English). Polgár is a rural town at the northern edge of the Hungarian Great Plains (Alföld), near the river Tisza (and the also mentioned Tokaj), with 8000 inhabitants. Csőszhalom is a small, peripheral part of this town, with an archeological park built around the mentioned tell. The archeologists could find the remains of another neolithic village near the tell. And, surprisingly, this was bigger, with much more remains of houses, with traces of agriculture, and with approximately 2000 former inhabitants, while only few houses were in the tell, which had less than 100 inhabitants. The tell was built according to a geometric pattern with a kind of a small temple in the centre of it, and people used to have great parties in the tell, eating the meat of wild animals, especialy of aurochs.

[@olinayoung6287]

Loved it, thanks!

[@bertilfaux4194]

I'm surprised nobody has brought it up yet but I want to commend you on the most accurate impersonation of Dimitrij Mlekuz I've ever heard.

[@reckin87]

Nice documentary, but you should also check Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, is a Neolithic-Eneolithic archaeological culture (c. 5500 to 2750 BCE) of Eastern Europe.

[@piperar2014]

There's a lot of drawbacks but they also don't have to pay taxes to support a noble class. I'd bet subsistence farmers in this time period lived a better lifestyle than peasants taxed into poverty.

[@drevenezeliezko3115]

another great channel... subbed !!!

[@jaxellis3008]

Amazing video as usual, don't know how i missed this one but definitely one of the most fascinating time periods to study. We know there was much struggle and privation but to survive with not even Black Sabbath for extra sustenance must have been truly daunting!

[@notwhatiwasraised2b]

All this while suffering incomprehensible illness, dental decay, 3 kinds of lice, mice, rats, fleas, ticks, internal parasites and avoiding or fighting off marauders and other tribes - good times

[@kyu7238]

Dental decay has only appeared in the last few centuries because of our new diets.... They didn't have such problems

[@kyu7238]

And they bathed in water and ash which being alkaline was enough to kill any parasites

[@notwhatiwasraised2b]

@@kyu7238 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth_decay#History

[@notwhatiwasraised2b]

@@kyu7238 "The first concrete evidence we have of soap-like substance is dated around 2800 BC.....Soap wasn't made and use for bathing and personal hygiene but was rather produced for cleaning cooking utensils or goods or was used for medicine purposes." www.soaphistory.net/

[@Football__Junkie]

And not to mention the wives nagging about coming home with enough grains that day and complaining that you hang out with your buddies practicing rock slinging

[@LuisAldamiz]

War: Thessaly, Macedonia and Serbia particularly (with some extension to Bulgaria, Slavonia and parts of Hungary in various times) were INVADED c. 5000 BCE by a second Neolithic wave (Dimini-Vinca) from beyond Anatolia, clearly related to Tell Halaf (Halafian) culture of North Syria. In my interpretation, the first Neolithic wave were Vasconic speakers (i.e. Basque is the sole survivor of their languages), while the invaders were Pelasgo-Tyrsenian speakers (i.e. precursors of Etruscans and other groups we find in ancient Greece either alive like Lemnians or still remembered: Pelasgoi, etc.) This "Pelasgian" invasion had a limited impact in parts of SE Europe, was clearly violent (repeated signs of destruction in many villages), had a greater role for some male god (first male icons, maybe Kronos) and survived in Thessaly (and probably other areas) all the way to the Greek-Indoeuropean invasion c. 2000 BCE. By this I don't mean this was the sole cause of war but it is important to understand such a major ethno-demographic shift as a cause for war and increased conflict, and has anyhow left one of the most notorious evidence of violent destruction in the area.

[@paulmayson3129]

Couldn’t we say that Greeks are also partly speaking this pre-Indoeuropean Language, Pelasgian? I am asking because the Greeks of today are the direct ancestors of the Ancient Greeks and thus the Mycanean Greeks, who came from an amagalm of Proto-Greeks and Pre-Greeks, part of which were Pelasgians. There is a very large portion of the Ancient Greek Language, and especially Vocabulary, which comes from Pelasgian. Such words are still in use today. For example in Attica, where the Ancient Athenians boasted for their Ionian and Pelasgian origin, many many Pelasgian place names still survive, such as «Ιλισσος» (Ilyssus), «Βριλισσος» (Vrilissus) and it’s derivative «Βριλισσια» (Vrillissia), «Κηφισσος» (Kifissus) and it’s derivative «Κηφισσια» (Kifissia), «Υμηττος» (Ymettus), «Λυκαβηττος» (Lykabettus), «Αρδηττός» (Ardettus) and many others. It is interesting that they have a similarity with the Luwian Citie names ending with double words like Salagassus

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@paulmayson3129 - It may be indeed, it may even be that both Pelasgian (Tyrsenian?) and Vasconic have permeated Greek from below. I certainly see (with more or less doubts) some Vasconic (Basque-like) elements, for example the name of (Grand)Mother Goddess GAIA is almost certainly Vasconic to me, as gai (gaia declined in the simplest nominative sing. form) means both (1) matter, substance and (2) potential, capacity in Basque, what fits like 200% the name of the Goddess (also strong parallels in Basque mythology). Other words I suspect vasconic are oikos/ekos (Basque etxe), okhi (Basque ez), bios (Basque bizi)... Pelasgian is not well attested, although Tyrsenian is somewhat, but it's very possible that pre-IE Greece had both Pelasgian and Vasconic regions, otherwise I find it difficult to understand what I perceive as Vasconic persistence. Pelasgian regions would be Thessaly and West Macedonia (Dimini-Rakhmani culture area), probably also Crete but less clear and surely also areas of Anatolia and a Aegean scatter. But for all I know Peloponese and Epirus could well be Vasconic all the way to the IE invasions. Maybe a defining marker could be Y-DNA: areas strong on G2 and E1b would be Vasconic (first Neolithic), areas strong in J would be Pelasgo-Tyrsenian instead (an educated guess in any case).

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@paulmayson3129 - It's very difficult to be sure of what is what but, when you happen to speak Basque you "see" stuff other people don't see in toponimy and language (provided you are also intelligent and language-interested and critical), what of that you see is real and what is coincidence and capricious pattern seeking? One can never be sure but... Also is difficult to reinterpret words that have been altered, for example, in Greek is convenient to drop consonantic endings (masculine) for etymology, so ekos is actually *eko or even *ek-, just as keltos is Celt (and probably Basque keldo = uncouth, but this is not substrate but borrowing at Marseilles or Ampuries). So I see Knossos and on first sight it's nothing like Basque but if I take off the -s ending and imagine a vowel inside "kn-", then it becomes kanosso = ganetxo (small hill or elevation) and can be interpreted as Vasconic. Is it? Can't say. Or is it Athens, Athína, derived from Vasconic ate = door, gate (notice also the similitude ate = gate) or just a coincidence? Well it's labyrinithine and only in depth professional research may be able to say, I lean for it because there are strong reasons to imagine Vasconic substrate but case on case may be impossible to discern with any certainty. So among the words you mention, I recognize clearly "ili" (Ιλισσος), which is actually neither Vasconic nor Pelasgian but a Wanderwort of West Asian origins meaning city. Variants of it are "iri" (Iriko = Jericho, Eridu), "ili" (Ilion-Troy, Ellis), "uli", "uri", "uru" (Ur, Uruk, etc.) We see "ili" in Ancient Iberian toponimy (Iliberi, Ilerda, etc.) its variant "eli" in ancient Basque-Aquitanian ones (Elimberis, instead of Iliberi, same thing: "new city"), "hiri" or "hiri" in modern Basque (with Hiriberri = new town as common toponimy) but also "uli", "iru" and "uri" in toponimy (Ulia, Uribe, Irun, etc.) We see "urbs" (from "uru" or "uri" probably in Latin, from which urbanism, urbanization, etc.). We see "uru" in Dravidian languages with the same town/city meaning (per my Dravidian sources, I don't speak those languages). For me this is a clear wanderwort, pre-Indoeuropean but not attributable to any single clear origin other than Ancient West Asia. Brulissius and Brulissia could also include the element "ili" or "uli" but I can't say for sure. "Υμηττος" (umettos) to me sounds Vasconic: umetxo = little kid. Similarly "Αρδηττός" (ardettos) could be arditxo = little sheep. This one can also be the same as Ardèche = Ardetxe = sheep-house (i.e. shepherd's barn). But as said before uncertain.

[@TheGentry000]

@@LuisAldamiz have you ever studied albanian language? Most of those words are prensent today

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@TheGentry000 - No, sorry, but I'm pretty sure that Albanian deserves much more attention from linguists than it usually gets. Even if it is an Indoeuropean language it seems to be a rather divergent one and that I'd say it is very interesting. Also because of the rough geography of the Western Balcanic lands and the paleohistorical fact of the Adriatic Balcans being of a distinct Neolithic branch (and later also experiencing intriguing local Megalithism), I strongly suspect that the wider "Illyrian" or "Dinaric" area deserves some attention but I have only so much time and attention span in my life...

[@dinojack9000]

Great video, thanks!

[@JohnVance]

History Time sent me here and I’ve subscribed. 😊

[@StefanMilo]

Nice! He told me he shared my video. Plenty of prehistory to come!

[@theMOCmaster]

I bought Tokaj yesterday :O

[@lexington476]

When and where on Continental Europe would the last hunter-gatherers have converted to agriculture? I would tend to think the last Europeans to do so would have been in the British Isles, but I'm wondering about Continental Europe.

[@Great_Olaf5]

Depending on how you define the boundaries of Europe, it would either be the people or Ireland or the ones in and around the Ural mountains. EDIT: As others have pointed out, Scandinavia is also probably one of the lay places to get agriculture, I want thinking of it at the time because when I think of Scandinavia, I tend to think of the more southern parts, like Denmark or the southern parts of Sweden and Norway, which have been agricultural productive for a long time, but to be completely accurate, there are parts of the world today that still haven't adopted agriculture, even in Europe. The Sami of Northern Scandinavia are to this day primarily nomadic reindeer herders, as are similar groups of people throughout northern Russia. Agriculture with currently domesticated plants is effectively impossible north of a certain point without far more expense in forcing it to work than the food is worth to grow.

[@skellagyook]

@@Great_Olaf5 Maybe also Scandinavia/Finland and northeastern Europe.

[@skellagyook]

Scandinavia?

[@Great_Olaf5]

Edited my previous.

[@Jacob-yg7lz]

I think the northeast, like the baltic states. The Sami people of Finland still haven't really converted much.

[@tristanbaravraham6349]

Superb, as always. You spoil me and the cats.

[@ishaaqsultan9040]

Your videos are great dude

[@nhstorage]

An easy explanations for all the sling stones is, it's probably easier and more time efficient to make 100 at a time vs 1 or 2 here and there.

[@MendTheWorld]

And I thought "tel" is spelled with one "l", as in Tel Aviv, but apparently it can be either. Do tell!

[@apextroll]

And I think Tepe essentially means the same.

[@bcast9978]

@@apextroll Tepe is hill in turkish. Tel is hill of ruins in Hebrew.

[@DrCorvid]

Out west we can tell how long the natives were here by the size of the middens.

[@brentw741]

apextroll I believe “höyük” also means the same in Turkish as well (e.g. çatalhöyük)

[@morningmidnight9398]

Tel Aviv is a bastard greek Semitic gibirish

[@doeeyes2]

"Im all about that stew life" Preach! 🙌 I need that on a tshirt.

[@GilgameshEthics]

Please do a video on the mound builders. The origins and composition of the mounds themselves I am particularly interested in understanding.

[@theknave4415]

There were neolithic traders who traveled far and wide, so that was a career option. ;)

[@wfcoaker1398]

I wonder if the repeated burning of houses had something to do with death rituals. The Māori had a tradition of holding a body in the house the first night after someone died, and carrying it to the whare nui, the great house of the marae, the next day for the tangihanga, or funeral. The house was then burnt because it had become tapu after having housed a dead body.

[@michaelstevens9256]

Stefan I learned about the LBK and Cardium from your videos, and now am realizing it’s hard to get a clear explanation of the timeline of this period into the chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Do have any recommendations, and can you make a video on this ?

[@NorthernChev]

Man, I'm glad I subb'd this channel.

[@rameyzamora1018]

Dogs played a larger part in the ancient world than we currently know.

[@JamesBarraletMusic]

Excellent point about doing agriculture with no metal. Imagine! When bronze was discovered, the few areas with tin deposits must have become very wealthy and important.

[@evanwetzel8641]

Stephen thank you for your content. I believe it is highly informative and factual and helped me get away from crazy ideas like those of Graham Hancock. I've always been interested in archeology and anthropology and now I'm considering pursuing a career

[@Steven-dt5nu]

The Eagle and the dude from King of the Hill was great!