Home / Branches / Barcelona / Collections / Prehistories / Farmers, shepherds and metallurgy. From Neolithic to Bronze Age
Farmers, shepherds and metallurgy. From Neolithic to Bronze Age
From predators to producers
The Neolithic (-6,000 to -3,000) was a period of enormous economic, cultural and social transformation. People often talk about the Neolithic revolution, and compare the significance of this process with the importance for mankind of the domestic control of fire.
This was the time when human beings, who had survived two million years by hunting and gathering, adopted agriculture and livestock farming as means of subsistence and the Middle East exploitation of domesticated species began from 8000 B.C. onwards. Stable human settlements and the first mines appeared, and the use of ceramics became widespread. However, along with these new forms of social organisation, which permitted the concentration of communal effort towards specific objectives, came the seeds of social inequality.
From the first metal to the middle Bronze Age
The Neolithic era ended around 2500 B.C. with the arrival of the first tools made of metal and the techniques to obtain this material. It was the introduction of this technology that marked the beginning of the Bronze Age. They gradually marked out their territory and, as well as occupying the natural hollows in the land, they built well structured settlements, with huts and dwellings that often had stone bases.
The individual pit burials gave way to group burials, veritable ossuaries that sometimes contained the remains of dozens of individuals. There were different types, but the most unusual are undoubtedly the megalithic monuments, great pantheons whose construction required the effort of the whole group and increasingly complex technological knowledge.
Image Gallery
Arrowheads
Ceramic vase
Ceramic vase
Gerra
Fulles de s...
