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A Thousand Year Gap Before Megaliths
- There is a millennium-long gap between first farmer expansion and megalith construction driven by social change.
- After LBK collapse (~5000 BC) regional cultures and interaction with Mediterranean epicardial groups set the stage for new developments.
Different Landscapes Kept Groups Apart
- Mesolithic hunter-gatherers persisted alongside incoming farmers, occupying different ecological niches and limiting early mixing.
- Farmers chose fertile 'islands' of loose soil; hunter-gatherers favored marshes, river edges, and coasts, reducing contact.
Middle Neolithic Hybridization Sparked Change
- Increased contact during the Middle Neolithic (~4800–4000 BC) produced cultural hybridity and genetic mixing.
- Sites like Lipensky-Viet show Mesolithic communities adopting pottery and farmers' women marrying in, creating blended lifeways.