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Do not fill this in! ===Prehistory=== {{Main|Prehistoric Europe}} [[Image:Europe20000ya.png|thumb|[[Last Glacial Maximum refugia]], c. 20,000 years ago<br /> {{legend|#c54b00|[[Solutrean]] culture}} {{legend|#ca00b0|[[Epigravettian]] culture<ref name="Nature-2023"/>}} ]] [[File:Lascaux painting.jpg|thumb|Paleolithic cave paintings from [[Lascaux]] in [[France]] ({{c.}} 15,000 BCE)]] [[File:Stonehenge, Condado de Wiltshire, Inglaterra, 2014-08-12, DD 09.JPG|thumb|[[Stonehenge]] in the [[United Kingdom]] (Late Neolithic from 3000 to 2000 BCE)]] During the 2.5 million years of the [[Pleistocene]], numerous cold phases called [[Glacial period|glacials]] ([[Quaternary glaciation|Quaternary ice age]]), or significant advances of continental ice sheets, in Europe and North America, occurred at intervals of approximately 40,000 to 100,000 years. The long glacial periods were separated by more temperate and shorter [[interglacial]]s which lasted about 10,000–15,000 years. The last cold episode of the [[last glacial period]] ended about 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/quaternary|title=Quaternary Period|magazine=National Geographic|date=6 January 2017|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129042714/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/quaternary/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Earth is currently in an interglacial period of the Quaternary, called the [[Holocene]].<ref>{{cite news |title=How long can we expect the present Interglacial period to last? |url=https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-long-can-we-expect-present-interglacial-period-last |work=U.S. Department of the Interior |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=26 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726044340/http://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-long-can-we-expect-present-interglacial-period-last |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Homo erectus georgicus]]'', which lived roughly 1.8 million years ago in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], is the earliest [[Hominini|hominin]] to have been discovered in Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=A. Vekua |author2=D. Lordkipanidze |author3=G.P. Rightmire |author4=J. Agusti |author5=R. Ferring |author6=G. Maisuradze |s2cid=32726786 | year = 2002 | title = A new skull of early ''Homo'' from Dmanisi, Georgia | journal = Science | volume = 297 | pages = 85–89 | doi = 10.1126/science.1072953 | pmid = 12098694 | issue = 5578 |display-authors=etal|bibcode=2002Sci...297...85V }}</ref> [[Homo antecessor|Other]] hominin remains, dating back roughly 1 million years, have been discovered in [[Archaeological Site of Atapuerca|Atapuerca]], [[Spain]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6256356.stm The million year old tooth from ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922200046/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6256356.stm |date=22 September 2021 }} [[Atapuerca Mountains|Atapuerca]], [[Spain]], found in June 2007</ref> [[Neanderthal man]] (named after the [[Neandertal (valley)|Neandertal valley]] in [[Germany]]) appeared in Europe 150,000 years ago (115,000 years ago it is found already in the territory of present-day [[Poland]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/10/health/neanderthal-child-eaten-by-giant-bird/index.html|title=Bones reveal Neanderthal child was eaten by a giant bird|first=Ashley|last=Strickland|website=CNN|date=10 October 2018|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=7 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707235740/https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/10/health/neanderthal-child-eaten-by-giant-bird/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>) and disappeared from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago,<ref>{{cite news |title=Neanderthals Died Out 10,000 Years Earlier Than Thought, With Help From Modern Humans |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140820-neanderthal-dating-bones-archaeology-science |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218071546/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140820-neanderthal-dating-bones-archaeology-science |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 February 2021 |work=National Geographic |date=21 August 2014}}</ref> with their final refuge being the Iberian Peninsula. The Neanderthals were supplanted by modern humans ([[Cro-Magnons]]), who appeared in Europe around 43,000 to 40,000 years ago.<ref name="natgeo 21">National Geographic, 21.</ref> Homo sapiens arrived in Europe around 54,000 years ago, some 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1038/d41586-022-01593-3 | title=My work digging up the shelters of our ancestors | year=2022 | last1=Fleming | first1=Nic | journal=Nature | volume=606 | issue=7916 | page=1035 | pmid=35676354 | bibcode=2022Natur.606.1035F | s2cid=249520231 | doi-access=free }}</ref> The earliest sites in Europe dated 48,000 years ago are [[Riparo Mochi]] (Italy), [[Geissenklösterle]] (Germany) and [[Isturitz]] (France).<ref name=range>{{cite journal |last1=Fu |first1=Qiaomei |display-authors=etal|title=The genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western Siberia |journal=Nature |volume=514 |issue=7523 |pages=445–449 |date=23 October 2014 |doi=10.1038/nature13810|pmid=25341783 |pmc=4753769 |bibcode=2014Natur.514..445F |hdl=10550/42071 }}</ref><ref>42.7–41.5 ka ([[68–95–99.7 rule|1σ CI]]). {{cite journal | last1 = Douka | first1 = Katerina | display-authors = etal | year = 2012| title = A new chronostratigraphic framework for the Upper Palaeolithic of Riparo Mochi (Italy) | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | volume = 62 | issue = 2| pages = 286–299 | doi = 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.11.009 | pmid = 22189428 }}</ref> The [[European Neolithic]] period—marked by the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock, increased numbers of settlements and the widespread use of pottery—began around 7000 BCE in [[Greece]] and the [[Balkans]], probably influenced by earlier farming practices in [[Anatolia]] and the [[Near East]].<ref name="Borza">{{Citation | last = Borza | first = E.N. | title = In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon | page = 58 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=614pd07OtfQC&pg=PA58 | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 1992 | isbn = 978-0-691-00880-6 | access-date = 30 July 2022 | archive-date = 1 August 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200801114047/https://books.google.com/books?id=614pd07OtfQC&pg=PA58 | url-status = live }}</ref> It spread from the Balkans along the valleys of the [[Danube]] and the [[Rhine]] ([[Linear Pottery culture]]), and along the [[Mediterranean coast]] ([[Cardial Ware|Cardial culture]]). Between 4500 and 3000 BCE, these central European neolithic cultures developed further to the west and the north, transmitting newly acquired skills in producing copper artifacts. In Western Europe the Neolithic period was characterised not by large agricultural settlements but by field monuments, such as [[causewayed enclosure]]s, [[burial mound]]s and [[megalithic tomb]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Chris|last=Scarre|author-link=Chris Scarre|title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology|editor-first=Brian M.|editor-last= Fagan|publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]|year=1996|pages=215–216|isbn=978-0-19-507618-9|editor-link=Brian M. Fagan}}</ref> The [[Corded Ware]] cultural horizon flourished at the transition from the Neolithic to the [[Chalcolithic]]. During this period giant [[megalithic]] monuments, such as the [[Megalithic Temples of Malta]] and [[Stonehenge]], were constructed throughout Western and Southern Europe.<ref>[[Richard J. C. Atkinson|Atkinson, R.J.C.]], ''Stonehenge'' ([[Penguin Books]], 1956)</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Prehistory|title=European Megalithic|volume=4 |editor1-first=Peter Neal|editor1-last=Peregrine|editor1-link=Peter N. Peregrine|editor2-first=Melvin|editor2-last=Ember|editor2-link=Melvin Ember|publisher=Springer|year= 2001 |isbn=978-0-306-46258-0|pages=157–184}}</ref> The modern native populations of Europe largely descend from three distinct lineages:<ref name="Indo-European"/> Mesolithic [[hunter-gatherer]]s, descended from populations associated with the Paleolithic [[Epigravettian]] culture;<ref name="Nature-2023">{{cite journal |last1=Posth|last2= Yu|last3=Ghalichi|title=Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |date=2023 |volume=615 |issue=2 March 2023 |pages=117–126 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-05726-0 |pmid=36859578 |pmc=9977688 |bibcode=2023Natur.615..117P }}</ref> Neolithic [[Early European Farmers]] who migrated from Anatolia during the [[Neolithic Revolution]] 9,000 years ago;<ref>{{cite news |title=When the First Farmers Arrived in Europe, Inequality Evolved |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-first-farmers-arrived-in-europe-inequality-evolved/ |work=Scientific American |date=1 July 2020}}</ref> and [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] [[Western Steppe Herders|Steppe herders]] who expanded into Europe from the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] of Ukraine and southern Russia in the context of [[Indo-European migrations]] 5,000 years ago.<ref name="Indo-European">{{Cite journal|last1=Haak |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Lazaridis |first2=Iosif |last3=Patterson |first3=Nick |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Mallick |first5=Swapan |last6=Llamas |first6=Bastien |last7=Brandt |first7=Guido |last8=Nordenfelt |first8=Susanne |last9=Harney |first9=Eadaoin |last10=Stewardson |first10=Kristin |last11=Fu |first11=Qiaomei |date=11 June 2015 |title=Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=522 |issue=7555 |pages=207–211 |doi=10.1038/nature14317 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=5048219 |pmid=25731166 |bibcode=2015Natur.522..207H |arxiv=1502.02783}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gibbons |first1=Ann |title=Thousands of horsemen may have swept into Bronze Age Europe, transforming the local population |journal=Science |date=21 February 2017 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/thousands-horsemen-may-have-swept-bronze-age-europe-transforming-local-population}}</ref> The [[European Bronze Age]] began c. 3200 BCE in Greece with the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan civilisation]] on [[Crete]], the first advanced civilisation in Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/europe/ancient_greece.aspx |publisher=British Museum |title=Ancient Greece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615141437/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/europe/ancient_greece.aspx |archive-date=15 June 2012 }}</ref> The Minoans were followed by the [[Mycenean Greece|Myceneans]], who collapsed suddenly around 1200 BCE, ushering the [[European Iron Age]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/classical-archaeology-periods.html|title=Periods – School of Archaeology|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119063421/http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/classical-archaeology-periods.html|archive-date=19 November 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Iron Age colonisation by the [[Greeks]] and [[Phoenicians]] gave rise to early [[Mediterranean basin|Mediterranean]] cities. Early [[Iron Age Italy]] and [[Archaic Greece|Greece]] from around the 8th century BCE gradually gave rise to historical Classical antiquity, whose beginning is sometimes dated to 776 BCE, the year of the first [[ancient Olympic Games|Olympic Games]].<ref>{{Citation | first = John R. | last = Short | title = An Introduction to Urban Geography | page = 10 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uGE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA10 | publisher = Routledge | year = 1987 | isbn = 978-0-7102-0372-4 | access-date = 30 July 2022 | archive-date = 20 March 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220320034104/https://books.google.com/books?id=uGE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA10 | url-status = live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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