The Early Neolithic in Greece

This 2001 book looks at Neolithic society, including perspectives on funerary rituals and figurines.

The settlements of farmers, first appearing in Greece around 7000 BC, link the first Near East agricultural communities to the spread of the new technologies. Drawing evidence from many archaeological sources, and introducing perspectives on funerary rituals and figurines, this 2001 book constructs a complex, subtle picture of early Neolithic societies.Farmers made a sudden and dramatic appearance in Greece around 7000 BC, bringing with them new ceramics and crafts, and establishing settled villages. They were Europe's first farmers, and their settlements provide the link between the first agricultural communities in the Near East and the subsequent spread of the new technologies to the Balkans and on to Western Europe. In this 2001 book, Catherine Perlès argues that the stimulus for the spread of agriculture to Europe was a colonisation movement involving small groups of maritime peoples. Drawing evidence from a wide range of archaeological sources, including often neglected 'small finds', and introducing daring new perspectives on funerary rituals and the distribution of figurines, she constructs a complex and subtle picture of early Neolithic societies, overturning the traditional view that these societies were simple and self-sufficient.