Iberian Peninsula to the indus

Papyrella
(
fig. 1
, “papyrus boat”) that was experimented from Attica to milos, or 
long dug-outs carved in massive tree-trunks, as the canoe excavated at la marmot-
ta (5450 BC) near rome – ten meters long can be envisioned. they were large and 
reliable to transport not only families of farmers, but also their crops and domestic 
animals, sometimes even wild ones.
Cyprus was the first island colonised by farmers, in the ninth millennium BC. Con-
tinental greece and Crete were reached at the beginning of the seventh millennium. 
the dynamics of expansion accelerated in the early sixth millennium along the north-
ern shores
 
of the mediterranean, reaching spain around 5700 BC.
 
the expansion 
was rapid but not continuous: in a process of “leap-frogging”, these farmers targeted 
selected alluvial plains or basins, often far one from the other and neglected hilly or 
mountainous stretches. they did not expand along the African shores, except for a 
small enclave around tangier settled by groups coming from spain around 5600 BC. 
Archaeogenetic studies confirm the near eastern or Anatolian origin of the groups 
that settled in greece, italy, france and spain, even if these – probably small – groups 
of colonists sometimes intermarried with local hunter-gatherers.
the expansion of the neolithic profoundly transformed the coastal landscapes 
and ways of life: sedentary villages were built on fertile alluvial soils; domestic sheep, 
goats, pigs and cattle were introduced into europe; the soil was tilled and crops of 
feMale geoMetric figure
Sardinia, Turriga (Senorbì) 
Late Neolithic (V–IV millennia BC)
Polo Museale della Sardegna –
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, 
Cagliari, inv. 135887
(cat. 7, detail)

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grains and pulses were grown; and a whole range of new techniques were brought 
along, such as pottery, weaving, stone polishing, etc.
By 5500 BC farming groups had settled along all the northern mediterranean 
coasts and all the major islands were colonised: sardinia, Corsica, sicily, Crete and of 
course Cyprus. Although most of the smaller islands remained uninhabited, several 
were exploited for their mineral resources and became the node of long-ranging 
trade networks that connected groups of different cultural traditions. the earliest 
network, already established by 6500 BC, was centred around the obsidian from 
milos and certainly benefitted from the knowledge of the sources by local mesolithic 
groups. it encompassed the Anatolian coast to the northwest, thessaly to the north, 
and Crete to the south, where obsidian was distributed and worked by highly skilled 
itinerant specialists. during their excursions in the Cyclades they also would occa-
sionally provision continental farmers with marble from naxos and jadeitite from 
syros. settlements from both sides of the Aegean thus shared the same sources of 
obsidian, and some of the techniques to produce the blades and bladelets. this did 
not lead, however, to cultural homogenisation, probably because the contacts were 
indirect. on the other hand, the striking similarities between anthropomorphic figu-
rines from greece and the levant raises the possibility of repeated contacts between 
early settlers and their homeland, even if this example remains isolated.
When migrant farmers reached the Western mediterranean basin, in the early 
sixth millennium, they again actively searched for obsidian sources, even on unin-
habited islands. 
As soon as they settled in southern italy, the sources from lipari and Pantelleria 
provided abundant obsidian to southern italy, sicily and the eastern maghreb. soon 
after, Palmarollan obsidian reached liguria and the languedoc, in the latter case 
seemingly brought by colonists coming respectively from latium and liguria, and 
some obsidian bladelets travelled all the way from lipari to Provence. if regional 
trade networks were soon established, the long-distance transfer of goods during 
this early period was still in part linked to the high mobility of the group of farmers 
that expanded across the mediterranean basin. 
these long-distance movements of population ceased in the mid-sixth millennium, 
when most of the coasts were colonised. the obsidian trade was mainly regional and 
the long-distance transfers no longer reached the french coasts. Corsica, devoid of 
good flakeable raw materials, provided itself in flint and obsidian from nearby sar-
dinia, with which it exchanged serpentinite bracelets. symmetrically, rare artefacts 
from highly valued continental raw materials started to reach the islands: alpine 
jades (jadeitite, omphacite and eclogite) arrived in southern italy as pebbles and 
polished blades, and from there in sicily and even malta. 
land and sea routes expanded again during the fifth millennium, which wit-
nessed an important development of specialised productions and long-distance trade. 
the obsidians from lipari and from sardinia were distributed from the Adriatic to 
Provence, and a blade from monte Arci in sardinia was found in burials from the 
gava mine in Catalogna. Contrary to what we observed in the Aegean, obsidian 
does not seem to have been distributed by itinerant specialists. instead, regional 
groups controlled the sources and distributed in quantity blocks of obsidian to “cen-
tral places”, which then redistributed it. the same holds true in southern italy and 
sardinia for the miniature blades in alpine jadeitite, mostly deposited in ritual caves 
and exceptional burials, sometimes covered with ochre. trade to the islands was 
equally intense: the community that had by then settled on lipari received miniature 
polished alpine blades, high-quality painted pottery and copper ore that was locally 
smelted. far from their sources, the obsidian blades and bladelets had acquired 
some symbolic value and were often found in burials. 
the fourth millennium witnessed shifts and probable competition in interaction 
networks. the sardinian sources, controlled by the ozieri groups, exported painted 
pottery to the continent and took over the exclusive long-distance trade in obsidian 
to Provence, while the lipari network markedly extended north to the Po valley and 
liguria. during the same period, Pantelleria continued to provide obsidian to the 
north African Coast, to malta and at least in one occasion to southern france. many 
continental resources were also traded: malta, devoid of mineral resources, also 
obtained flint, basalt axes and ochre from sicily, obsidian from lipari, nephrite and 
quartzite axes from Calabria, nephrite and serpentinites from lucania and miniature 
celts in alpine jadeitite. 
no similar competition
 
can be perceived in the Aegean, where there is no evi-
dence that the mineral sources were controlled. the fifth millennium witnessed an 
intensification and diversification of regional trade once the smaller islands were 
colonised. the colonisation of the Cycladic islands offered the possibility of direct 
procurement at the source and subsequent redistribution by nearby islanders, sub-
stantially increasing the quantity of obsidian in circulation in a wide “direct pro-
curement zone”. itinerant specialists continued to provision more distant regions, in 
lesser quantity. despite its poorer quality, the obsidian from giali, in the dodecanese, 
1
Papyrus reed boat of a type used 
by Neolithic seafarers across the 
Mediterranean

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was modestly exploited in the surrounding islands, and a few flakes were found in 
Western Anatolian, the Cyclades and Crete. emeri, polished metabauxite and jadeitite 
celts from naxos and syros circulated in nearby Cycladic islands, and also reached 
Keos, euboeia and lesbos. Handsome conical marble beakers were found on Keos, 
samos, naxos and as far north as Varna in Bulgaria. the raw materials have not 
been analysed and their source(s) is unknown, but their similarity with the beakers 
produced at Kulakzızlar in Aegean turkey (where later Kilia marble figurines would 
be produced) minimally demonstrates contacts, if not exchange. schematic marble 
figurines and marble figurine heads also became abundant. unfortunately, their 
origin is unknown.
it is also possible that the Cycladic copper, silver and lead ores were locally worked 
and traded in the late fifth and fourth millennium. smelting copper is attested in the 
fourth millennium on the small island of giali in the dodecanese, and the copper 
and silver ores from lavrion were smelted, possibly earlier at Kephala on Keos and 
Kitsos in Attica. However, the golden strip found at the Zas cave on naxos must be 
an import from the Balkans. 
during the fourth millennium, Western Anatolia, so far actively involved in Aege-
an trade, seems to have favoured inland contacts with the east. further south, the 
northern levant was also looking east, towards mesopotamia, while the southern 
levant maintained contacts with egypt. nevertheless, many goods must have trav-
elled by coastal routes between the southern coast of Anatolia, the levant and egypt 
(in particular metal ores and Anatolian obsidian). However, since none of these re-
sources are insular, inland trade routes cannot be ruled out. indeed, during all these 
millennia, Cyprus, despite being the first island colonised by farmers from the levant, 
remained “reticent”, as termed by Cyprian Broodbank, to external contacts and trade. 
Cyprus’s isolation would come to an end later in the Bronze Age and the picture 
of seafaring, long-range interaction and trade in the eastern mediterranean would 
become profoundly altered. the contrast between the neolithic and Bronze Age in 
fact holds true for the whole mediterranean basin. After the seventh and early sixth 
millennium, when seafaring colonists scouted the mediterranean from east to West 
and linked its two extremities, the mediterranean sea as such no longer existed in 
the neolithic. multiple invisible but impassable frontiers were created that segmented 
the mediterranean into multiple smaller basins. the eastern and Western mediter-
ranean became isolated from one another and there was little contact between the 
tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, or the Aegean and the levant. the reopening of these 
frontiers would be achieved in the Bronze Age, probably helped by important inno-
vations in boat craftsmanship.