Fauna from the Late Neolithic of the Central Balkans: Issues in Subsistence and Land Use

Abstract

The earliest “proto-urban” societies in Europe north of the Aegean appear in the central Balkans during the Late Neolithic and, as a result, are frequently included in discussions of the evolution of complex societies in Europe. Although such discussions often consider subsistence, little zooarchaeological research has been undertaken in the central Balkans. This study has two goals. First, it introduces and reviews the nature, quality, and problems pertaining to each of the major Late Neolithic zooarchaeological samples from this area to demonstrate the difficulty of inter-assemblage comparison. Second, it explores the potential of these assemblages for reconstructing animal exploitation strategies and land use patterns during the Late Neolithic, which are essential for understanding the economic processes involved in the evolution of early complex societies in SE Europe.