!!!Jungsteinzeit

New Stone Age (Neolithic Age), in central Europe 6000/5000 to 
2300/2200 B.C. The beginning of the New Stone Age is marked by the 
transition from nomadic hunting and gathering as a means of obtaining 
sustenance to a more settled way of life depending on agricultural 
production and animal husbandry, a transition also known as the 
Neolithic Revolution. In the Near East, this prolonged process of 
development occurred during the 9%%sup th/%  millennium B.C., whereas 
in central Europe it did not take place until the 6%%sup th/%  
millennium B.C. Agricultural production was mixed: einkorn wheat, 
emmer wheat, wheat, barley, millet, peas, lentils, flax, and poppies 
were planted and livestock was bred. Sheep and goats were domesticated 
first; the domestication of pigs and cattle followed somewhat later. 
Gradually the Neolithic population learned how to make vessels of 
fired clay, which considerably improved the possibilities for storing 
and preparing food. In addition to a wide diversity of small tools 
made of flint, new types of stone tools for clearing and cultivating 
the land became necessary, which, in contrast to the  Old Stone Age, 
were polished and sometimes drilled through. The houses had walls of 
woven branches covered with clay and roofs of straw or reeds. They 
served as both dwelling and work area for extended families. The 
settlements consisted of single farmsteads, groups of farms, or small 
villages. Based on the types of pottery embellishments and forms, the 
New Stone Age is divided into ( Prehistory), the Early Neolithic Age 
(until 4800/4700 B.C.) with the  Linear Pottery Culture, the Middle 
Neolithic Age (until 4000/3900 B.C.) with the  Painted Pottery Culture 
 or  Lengyel Culture, and the late Neolithic Age (until 2300/2200 
B.C.) with the  Mondsee Culture,  Baden Culture, Corded Ware Culture, 
and the  Bell Beaker Culture. The first traces of metalworking and 
metal objects date from the late Neolithic Age. Important locations of 
archaeological finds from the New Stone Age are  Attersee,  Baden,  
Falkenstein, Kamegg, Lake  Keutschach,  Laa an der Thaya,  Mondsee,  
Ossarn,  Poysdorf, Schletz, Stollhof, and Mauer near Vienna.

!Literature
E. Ruttkay, Das Neolithikum in Niederoesterreich, 1985; 
O. H. Urban, Wegweiser in die Urgeschichte Oesterreichs, 1989; 
J.-W. Neugebauer, Oesterreichs Urzeit, 1990; idem, Archaeologie in 
Niederoesterreich, 1993.


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