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Draft:History of Eastern Europe

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This article covers the history of Eastern Europe from early hominids to modern day.

Prehistory

Paleolithic

The first modern human culture in Eastern Europe and Europe in general was the Aurignacian culture, parts of which were apart of modern day Czechia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. It is thought to have lasted from around 43,000 to 28,000 BP.[1][2]

Entrance of Szeleta Cave, Bükk Mountains, Miskolc, Hungary

The Szeleta Culture was a culture contemporary to that of the that of the Aurignacian culture that existed between the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic periods in Austria, Moravia, northern Hungary and southern Poland.[3] It is dated to have existed 44,000 to 40,000 years ago when both modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed with each other. Most experts believe it to be a Neanderthal culture though this is still disputed.

Venus of Moravany, a Gravettian Venus figurine discovered in Slovakia

In around 33,000 BP, the Gravettian culture of the Upper Paleolithic would form.[4][5] The eastern Gravettians lived in modern day Ukraine and Russia and would hunt mammoths in the East European Plain.[6][7]

The eastern Gravettian culture would be succeeded by the Epigravettian culture. The Epigravettian culture was the last Upper Paleolithic culture and existed in parts of modern day Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. It is estimated to have started around 21,000 years ago and ended around 10,000 years ago.

Mesolithic and Neolithic

The Elshanka culture was a culture located in the middle of the Volga river in modern day Russia. The culture first appeared around 7,000 BCE.[8]

The sites of the Elshanka culture are home to the oldest pottery ever discovered in Eastern Europe and Europe.[9][10][11] The creation of pottery would spread to other cultures in Eastern Europe such as the Dnieper–Donets culture (c. 5000-4200 BCE), which was a culture was located in Ukraine near the Black Sea, and the Narva culture (c. 5300 to 1750 BCE)[12], which was a culture located in the eastern Baltic.

References

  1. ^ Milisauskas, Sarunas (2012-12-06). European Prehistory: A Survey. Springer. ISBN 9781461507512.
  2. ^ Shea, John J. (2013-02-28). Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East: A Guide. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139619387.
  3. ^ B, Adams (1998). The Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition in Central Europe: The Record from the Bükk Mountain Region. BAR Publishing. p. 175.
  4. ^ Jacobi, R.M.; Higham, T.F.G.; Haesaerts, P.; Jadin, I.; Basell, L.S. (2015). "Radiocarbon chronology for the Early Gravettian of northern Europe: New AMS determinations for Maisières-Canal, Belgium". Antiquity. 84 (323): 26–40. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00099749. S2CID 163089681.
  5. ^ Pike, A. W. G.; Hoffmann, D. L.; Garcia-Diez, M.; Pettitt, P. B.; Alcolea, J.; De Balbin, R.; Gonzalez-Sainz, C.; De Las Heras, C.; Lasheras, J. A.; Montes, R.; Zilhao, J. (2012). "U-Series Dating of Paleolithic Art in 11 Caves in Spain". Science. 336 (6087): 1409–13. Bibcode:2012Sci...336.1409P. doi:10.1126/science.1219957. PMID 22700921. S2CID 7807664.
  6. ^ Marquer, L.; Lebreton, V.; Otto, T.; Valladas, H.; Haesaerts, P.; Messager, E.; Nuzhnyi, D.; Péan, S. (2012). "Charcoal scarcity in Epigravettian settlements with mammoth bone dwellings: The taphonomic evidence from Mezhyrich (Ukraine)". Journal of Archaeological Science. 39 (1): 109–20. Bibcode:2012JArSc..39..109M. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.09.008.
  7. ^ Germonpré, Mietje; Sablin, Mikhail; Khlopachev, Gennady Adolfovich; Grigorieva, Galina Vasilievna (2008). "Possible evidence of mammoth hunting during the Epigravettian at Yudinovo, Russian Plain". Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 27 (4): 475–92. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2008.07.003.
  8. ^ Baumer, Christoph (18 April 2018). History of Central Asia, the: 4-volume set. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781838608682.
  9. ^ Anthony, David W. (26 July 2010). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1400831104.
  10. ^ Anthony, D.W. (2007). "Pontic-Caspian Mesolithic and Early Neolithic societies at the time of the Black Sea Flood: a small audience and small effects". In Yanko-Hombach, V.; Gilbert, A.A.; Panin, N.; Dolukhanov, P.M. (eds.). The Black Sea Flood Question: changes in coastline, climate and human settlement. Springer. pp. 245–370. ISBN 978-9402404654.
  11. ^ Anthony, David W. (2010). The horse, the wheel, and language : how Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691148182.
  12. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas; Luchtanas, Aleksiejus; Česnys, Gintautas (2007). "Papildymai. Narvos kultūra". Tautos kilmė (in Lithuanian). Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22.