Subsistence and population development from the Middle Neolithic B (2800-2350 BCE) to the Late Neolithic (2350-1700 BCE) in Southern Scandinavia.

ABSTRACT: The present study aims to explore the hypothesis of a link between a population increase derived from intensified food production and the development from the widespread cultural diversity of the Middle Neolithic B (MNB) to the cultural unity towards the end of the Late Neolithic (LN) in Southern Scandinavia. We explore this through quantitative modelling of radiocarbon dates, aoristic time series of material culture and palynological data. On this basis, we propose three main results that may explain the transformation: (1) A supra-regional population increase, culminating in the middle of the LN (c. 2100 BCE). (2) A depopulation in Western Jutland at the transition from the MNB to the LN (c. 2400-2300 BCE) counterbalanced by a population increase in North and East Denmark. (3) A populati

SUBMITTER: Winther Johannsen J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11516014 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature