Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and early Bronze in West Mediterranean Europe

Ten years ago, several publications sketched the culture-historical frameworks, summarized research results, and provided bibliographic coverage for the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age in various regions of Mediterranean Europe (Courtin 1974a; Guilaine 1967, 1972, 1976a, 1976b; Peroni 1971; Phillips 1975; Roudil 1972). The past decade has witnessed an acceleration of excavation, a diversification of research objectives, and a reevaluation of several long-established interpretations of the spread of agriculture, the expansion of early farming communities, the origins of metallurgy, and the development of complex society. With no pretense at being exhaustive, this review seeks to highlight some research developments of the past decade, and to complement reviews by Evans and Rasson (1984) on the Balkans and Southeast Europe, Price (1983) on the Mesolithic, and Chapman's (1985a) much longer survey of the later prehistory of the western Mediterranean area. A number of publications supplement those of a decade ago, and provide a culture-historical framework, bibliographic background, and details about excavations (Barker 1981, 1985; Coles and Harding 1979; Dennell 1983; Guilaine 1984; Guilaine et al. 1986; Harrison 1977, 1980; Scarre 1984; Waldren et al. 1984; Whittle 1985).