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87-468: The prehistory of Southeast Europe , defined roughly as the territory of the wider Southeast Europe (including the territories of the modern countries of Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Croatia , Cyprus , Greece , Kosovo , Moldova , Montenegro , North Macedonia , Romania , Serbia , Slovenia , and European Turkey ) covers the period from the Upper Paleolithic , beginning with
174-585: A change from low-amplitude glacial cycles with a dominant periodicity of 41,000 years to asymmetric high-amplitude cycles dominated by a periodicity of 100,000 years. However, a 2020 study concluded that ice age terminations might have been influenced by obliquity since the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, which caused stronger summers in the Northern Hemisphere . Glaciation in the Pleistocene
261-574: A deviation from today's annual mean temperature, taken as zero. This sort of graph is based on another isotope ratio versus time. Ratios are converted to a percentage difference from the ratio found in standard mean ocean water (SMOW). The graph in either form appears as a waveform with overtones . One half of a period is a Marine isotopic stage (MIS). It indicates a glacial (below zero) or an interglacial (above zero). Overtones are stadials or interstadials. According to this evidence, Earth experienced 102 MIS stages beginning at about 2.588 Ma BP in
348-421: A few regions had been studied and the names were relatively few. Today the geologists of different nations are taking more of an interest in Pleistocene glaciology. As a consequence, the number of names is expanding rapidly and will continue to expand. Many of the advances and stadials remain unnamed. Also, the terrestrial evidence for some of them has been erased or obscured by larger ones, but evidence remains from
435-752: A skull dated ~36,000, nicknamed "Vasile"). Two human fossil remains found in the Muierii ( Peştera Muierilor ) and the Cioclovina caves in Romania have been radiocarbon dated using the technique of the accelerator mass spectrometry to the age of ~ 30,000 years BP (see Human fossil bones from the Muierii Cave and the Cioclovina Cave, Romania ). The first skull, scapula and tibia remains were found in 1952 in Baia de Fier , in
522-568: A team of Russian scientists in collaboration with Princeton University announced that they had brought two female nematodes frozen in permafrost , from around 42,000 years ago, back to life. The two nematodes, at the time, were the oldest confirmed living animals on the planet. The evolution of anatomically modern humans took place during the Pleistocene. At the beginning of the Pleistocene Paranthropus species were still present, as well as early human ancestors, but during
609-585: Is applicable to Southeastern Europe. It ended with the Mesolithic (duration is two to four millennia) or, where an early Neolithisation was peculiar to, with the Epipalaeolithic . In regions with limited glacial impact (e.g. Southeastern Europe), the term Epipalaeolithic is preferable. Regions that experienced less environmental impact during the last ice age have a much less apparent and straightforward change, and occasionally are marked by an absence of sites from
696-917: Is classified outside of main Europe. In the CIA World Factbook , the description of each country includes information about "Location" under the heading "Geography", where the country is classified into a region. The following countries are included in their classification "Southeast Europe": In this classification, Moldova is included in Eastern Europe and Greece is included in Southern Europe . Hungary and Slovenia are included in Central Europe . Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( / ˈ p l aɪ s t ə ˌ s iː n , - s t oʊ -/ PLY -stə-seen, -stoh- ; referred to colloquially as
783-435: Is conventionally divided into smaller periods, such as Upper Paleolithic, Holocene Mesolithic / Epipaleolithic , Neolithic Revolution , expansion of Proto-Indo-Europeans , and Protohistory . The changes between these are gradual. For example, depending on interpretation, protohistory might or might not include Bronze Age Greece (3000–1200 BC), Minoan, Mycenaean , Thracian and Venetic cultures. By one interpretation of
870-631: Is descended from the older Linear A, an undeciphered earlier script used for writing the Minoan language , as is the later Cypriot syllabary, which also recorded Greek. Linear B, found mainly in the palace archives at Knossos , Kydonia , Pylos , Thebes and Mycenae , but disappeared with the fall of the Mycenean civilisation during the Late Bronze Age collapse . Human prehistory in Southeast Europe
957-511: Is equally important to recognize that the Balkan upper Palaeolithic was a long period containing little significant internal change. The Mesolithic may not have existed in the Balkans for the same reasons that cave art and mobiliary art never appeared: the changes in climate and flora and fauna were gradual and not drastic. (…) Furthermore, one of the reasons that we do not distinguish separate industries in
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#17328455830091044-765: Is estimated that, at maximum glacial extent, 30% of the Earth's surface was covered by ice. In addition, a zone of permafrost stretched southward from the edge of the glacial sheet, a few hundred kilometres in North America , and several hundred in Eurasia . The mean annual temperature at the edge of the ice was −6 °C (21 °F); at the edge of the permafrost, 0 °C (32 °F). Each glacial advance tied up huge volumes of water in continental ice sheets 1,500 to 3,000 metres (4,900–9,800 ft) thick, resulting in temporary sea-level drops of 100 metres (300 ft) or more over
1131-454: Is no systematic correspondence between pluvials to glacials, however. Moreover, regional pluvials do not correspond to each other globally. For example, some have used the term "Riss pluvial" in Egyptian contexts. Any coincidence is an accident of regional factors. Only a few of the names for pluvials in restricted regions have been stratigraphically defined. The sum of transient factors acting at
1218-572: Is sometimes called the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution . In the late Pleistocene , various components of the transition–material culture and environmental features (climate, flora, and fauna) indicate continual change, differing from contemporary points in other parts of Europe. The aforementioned aspects leave some doubt that the term Upper Palaeolithic Revolution is appropriate to the Balkans . In general, continual evolutionary changes are
1305-578: The Ice Age ) is the geological epoch that lasted from c. 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations . Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences , the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of
1392-477: The 1990s onwards, in part due to the negative historical and political connotations of the term Balkans , especially since the military conflicts of the 1990s in Yugoslavia in the western half of the region, the term Southeast Europe is becoming increasingly popular. The German Ständige Ausschuss für geographische Namen (Standing Committee on Geographical Names), which develops and recommends rules for
1479-638: The Alpine ice sheet on the Alps . Scattered domes stretched across Siberia and the Arctic shelf. The northern seas were ice-covered. South of the ice sheets large lakes accumulated because outlets were blocked and the cooler air slowed evaporation. When the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated, north-central North America was completely covered by Lake Agassiz . Over a hundred basins, now dry or nearly so, were overflowing in
1566-521: The ICS timescale, the Pleistocene is divided into four stages or ages , the Gelasian , Calabrian , Chibanian (previously the unofficial "Middle Pleistocene"), and Upper Pleistocene (unofficially the "Tarantian"). In addition to these international subdivisions, various regional subdivisions are often used. In 2009 the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) confirmed a change in time period for
1653-631: The Isthmus of Panama , causing a faunal interchange between the two regions and changing ocean circulation patterns, with the onset of glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere occurring around 2.7 million years ago. During the Early Pleistocene (2.58–0.8 Ma), archaic humans of the genus Homo originated in Africa and spread throughout Afro-Eurasia . The end of the Early Pleistocene is marked by
1740-660: The Laurentide Ice Sheet . Charles Lyell introduced the term "Pleistocene" in 1839 to describe strata in Sicily that had at least 70% of their molluscan fauna still living today. This distinguished it from the older Pliocene Epoch , which Lyell had originally thought to be the youngest fossil rock layer. He constructed the name "Pleistocene" ('most new' or 'newest') from the Greek πλεῖστος ( pleīstos ) 'most' and καινός ( kainós ( Latinized as cænus ) 'new'). This contrasts with
1827-593: The Mid-Pleistocene Transition , with the cyclicity of glacial cycles changing from 41,000-year cycles to asymmetric 100,000-year cycles, making the climate variation more extreme. The Late Pleistocene witnessed the spread of modern humans outside of Africa as well as the extinction of all other human species. Humans also spread to the Australian continent and the Americas for the first time, co-incident with
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#17328455830091914-573: The Republic of North Macedonia , although traces of it can be found all around the Southeastern Europe, parts of Central Europe and in Asia Minor . The Varna Necropolis , Bulgaria, is a burial site in the western industrial zone of Varna (approximately 4 km from the city centre), internationally considered one of the key archaeological sites in world prehistory. The oldest gold treasure in
2001-635: The Ruwenzori Range in east and central Africa were larger. Glaciers existed in the mountains of Ethiopia and to the west in the Atlas Mountains . In the northern hemisphere, many glaciers fused into one. The Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered the North American northwest; the east was covered by the Laurentide . The Fenno-Scandian ice sheet rested on northern Europe , including much of Great Britain;
2088-735: The Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology in Bucharest , and Agata Olariu , physicist at the Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering-Horia Hulubei , Bucharest, where samples were taken. One sample of bone was taken from the skull from Cioclovina; samples were also taken from the scapula and tibia remains from Muierii Cave . The work continued at the University of Lund , AMS group, by Göran Skog, Kristina Stenström and Ragnar Hellborg. The samples of bones were dated by radiocarbon method applied at
2175-477: The last glacial period ended about 10,000 years ago. Over 11 major glacial events have been identified, as well as many minor glacial events. A major glacial event is a general glacial excursion, termed a "glacial." Glacials are separated by "interglacials". During a glacial, the glacier experiences minor advances and retreats. The minor excursion is a "stadial"; times between stadials are "interstadials". These events are defined differently in different regions of
2262-588: The woolly rhinoceros , various giraffids , such as the Sivatherium ; ground sloths , Irish elk , cave lions , cave bears , Gomphotheres , American lions , dire wolves , and short-faced bears , began late in the Pleistocene and continued into the Holocene. Neanderthals also became extinct during this period. At the end of the last ice age, cold-blooded animals, smaller mammals like wood mice , migratory birds, and swifter animals like whitetail deer had replaced
2349-461: The "Cave With Bones" ( Peștera cu Oase ), near Anina , Romania . Nicknamed " John of Anina " ( Ion din Anina ), the remains (the lower jaw) are approximately 37,800 years old. These are some of Europe's oldest remains of Homo sapiens , so they are likely to represent the first such people to have entered the continent. According to some researchers, the particular interest of the discovery resides in
2436-555: The 13th century BCE. The "East Balkan Complex" (Karanovo VII, Ezero culture ) covers all of Thrace (modern Bulgaria). The Bronze Age cultures of the central and western Southeastern Europe are less clearly delineated and stretch to Pannonia , the Carpathians and into Hungary . The Minoan civilization based on the Greek island of Crete becomes Europe's first actual civilization. The culture of Mycenaean Greece (1600-1100 BC) offers
2523-612: The AMS system of the Lund University. The human fossil remains from Muierii Cave, Baia de Fier, have been dated to 30,150 ± 800 years BP, and the skull from the Cioclovina Cave has been dated to 29,000 ± 700 years BP. The Mesolithic period began at the end of the Pleistocene epoch ( 10th millennium BC ) and ended with the Neolithic introduction of farming , the date of which varied in each geographical region. According to Douglass W. Bailey: It
2610-554: The Balkans as Mesolithic is because the lithic industries of the early Holocene were very firmly of a gradually developing late Palaeolithic tradition The Mesolithic is the transitional period between the Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gathering existence and the development of farming and pottery production during the Postglacial Neolithic. The duration of the classical Palaeolithic, which lasted until about 10,000 years ago,
2697-558: The Early Pleistocene Gelasian . Early Pleistocene stages were shallow and frequent. The latest were the most intense and most widely spaced. By convention, stages are numbered from the Holocene, which is MIS1. Glacials receive an even number and interglacials receive an odd number. The first major glacial was MIS2-4 at about 85–11 ka BP. The largest glacials were 2, 6, 12, and 16. The warmest interglacials were 1, 5, 9 and 11. For matching of MIS numbers to named stages, see under
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2784-409: The Earth's surface is cyclical: climate, ocean currents and other movements, wind currents, temperature, etc. The waveform response comes from the underlying cyclical motions of the planet, which eventually drag all the transients into harmony with them. The repeated glaciations of the Pleistocene were caused by the same factors. The Mid-Pleistocene Transition , approximately one million years ago, saw
2871-531: The Mesolithic era in Bulgaria is Pobíti Kámǎni. There has been no other lithic evidence of this period found in Bulgaria. There is a 4,000-year gap between the latest Upper Palaeolithic material (13,600 BP at Témnata Dupka) and the earliest Neolithic evidence presented at Gǎlǎbnik (the beginning of the 7th millennium BC). At Odmut in Montenegro there is evidence of human activity in the Mesolithic period. The research on
2958-694: The Mesolithic era. There is lithic evidence of the Iron Gates mesolithic culture, which is notable for its early urbanization, at Lepenski Vir . Iron Gates mesolithic sites are found in modern Serbia , south-west Romania and Montenegro . At Ostrovul Banului , the Cuina Turcului rock shelter in the Danube gorges and in the nearby caves of Climente, there are finds that people of that time made relatively advanced bone and lithic tools (i.e. end-scrapers, blade lets, and flakes). The single site with materials related to
3045-675: The Muierii Cave, Gorj County in the Oltenia province, by Constantin Nicolaescu-Plopşor . In 1941 another skull was found at the Cioclovina Cave near Commune Bosorod , Hunedoara County , in Transylvania. The anthropologist, Francisc Rainer , and the geologist, Ion Th. Simionescu , published a study of this skull. The physical analysis of these fossils was begun in the summer of the year 2000 by Emilian Alexandrescu , archaeologist at
3132-479: The North American west. Lake Bonneville , for example, stood where Great Salt Lake now does. In Eurasia, large lakes developed as a result of the runoff from the glaciers. Rivers were larger, had a more copious flow, and were braided . African lakes were fuller, apparently from decreased evaporation. Deserts, on the other hand, were drier and more extensive. Rainfall was lower because of the decreases in oceanic and other evaporation. It has been estimated that during
3219-537: The Palaeolithic (and then by implication the Mesolithic ) should not be considered correct in all cases. In this regard, the absence of Upper Palaeolithic cave art in the region does not seem to be surprising. Civilisations develop new and distinctive characteristics as they respond to new challenges in their environment. In 2002, some of the oldest modern human ( Homo sapiens sapiens ) remains in Europe were discovered in
3306-434: The Pleistocene to 2.58 Ma, results in the inclusion of all the recent repeated glaciations within the Pleistocene. Radiocarbon dating is considered to be inaccurate beyond around 50,000 years ago. Marine isotope stages (MIS) derived from Oxygen isotopes are often used for giving approximate dates. Pleistocene non-marine sediments are found primarily in fluvial deposits , lakebeds, slope and loess deposits as well as in
3393-490: The Pleistocene's overall climate could be characterised as a continuous El Niño with trade winds in the south Pacific weakening or heading east, warm air rising near Peru , warm water spreading from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific, and other El Niño markers. Pleistocene climate was marked by repeated glacial cycles in which continental glaciers pushed to the 40th parallel in some places. It
3480-494: The Pleistocene, changing the start date from 1.806 to 2.588 million years BP, and accepted the base of the Gelasian as the base of the Pleistocene, namely the base of the Monte San Nicola GSSP . The start date has now been rounded down to 2.580 million years BP. The IUGS has yet to approve a type section , Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), for the upper Pleistocene/Holocene boundary ( i.e.
3567-733: The Pleistocene, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet thinned by at least 500 meters, and that thinning since the Last Glacial Maximum is less than 50 meters and probably started after ca 14 ka. During the 2.5 million years of the Pleistocene, numerous cold phases called glacials ( 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 interglacials which lasted about 10,000–15,000 years. The last cold episode of
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3654-411: The Pleistocene, the plates upon which they sit probably having moved no more than 100 km (62 mi) relative to each other since the beginning of the period. In glacial periods, the sea level would drop by up to 120 m (390 ft) lower than today during peak glaciation, exposing large areas of the present continental shelf as dry land. According to Mark Lynas (through collected data),
3741-739: The Southeastern Europe from the Lower Paleolithic onwards, but the number of sites is limited. According to Douglass W. Bailey : it is important to recognize that the Southeastern Europe Upper Palaeolithic was a long period containing little significant internal change. Thus, regional transition was not as dramatic as in other European regions. Crucial changes that define the earliest emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens are presented at Bacho Kiro at 44,000 BC. The Bulgarian key Palaeolithic caves named Bacho Kiro and Temnata Dupka with early Upper Palaeolithic material correlate that
3828-687: The appearance of Homo sapiens about 300,000 years ago. Artifacts associated with modern human behavior are unambiguously attested starting 40,000–50,000 years ago. According to mitochondrial timing techniques, modern humans migrated from Africa after the Riss glaciation in the Middle Palaeolithic during the Eemian Stage , spreading all over the ice-free world during the late Pleistocene. A 2005 study posits that humans in this migration interbred with archaic human forms already outside of Africa by
3915-610: The area corresponding to today's Montenegro and Albania. The name Illyrii was originally used to refer to a people occupying an area centered on Lake Skadar, situated between Albania and Montenegro (see List of ancient tribes in Illyria ). The term Illyria was subsequently used by the Greeks and Romans as a generic name to refer to different peoples within a well defined but much greater area. Other tribal unions existed in Dacia at least as early as
4002-515: The articles for those names. Both marine and continental faunas were essentially modern but with many more large land mammals such as Mammoths , Mastodons , Diprotodons , Smilodons , tigers , lions , Aurochs , short-faced bears , giant sloths , species within Gigantopithecus and others. Isolated landmasses such as Australia , Madagascar , New Zealand and islands in the Pacific saw
4089-609: The beginning of the 2nd century BC under King Oroles . In the beginning of 1st century BC under Burebista 's rule, Dacia expanded its territory from Central Europe to the Southern Europe . Hellenistic culture spread throughout the Macedonian Empire created by Alexander the Great from the later 4th century BC. By the end of the 4th century BC Greek language and culture were dominant not only in Southeastern Europe but also around
4176-621: The east of Southeastern Europe in the 5th century BC. By the 6th century BC the first written sources dealing with the territory north of the Danube appear in Greek sources. By this time the Getae (and later the Daci ) had branched out from the Thracian-speaking populations. The Illyrian kingdom in the west of Southeastern Europe from the early 4th century was organised by the Illyrian tribes situated in
4263-501: The entire surface of the Earth. During interglacial times, such as at present, drowned coastlines were common, mitigated by isostatic or other emergent motion of some regions. The effects of glaciation were global. Antarctica was ice-bound throughout the Pleistocene as well as the preceding Pliocene. The Andes were covered in the south by the Patagonian ice cap. There were glaciers in New Zealand and Tasmania . The current decaying glaciers of Mount Kenya , Mount Kilimanjaro , and
4350-672: The evolution of large birds and even reptiles such as the Elephant bird , moa , Haast's eagle , Quinkana , Megalania and Meiolania . The severe climatic changes during the Ice Age had major impacts on the fauna and flora. With each advance of the ice, large areas of the continents became depopulated, and plants and animals retreating southwards in front of the advancing glacier faced tremendous stress. The most severe stress resulted from drastic climatic changes, reduced living space, and curtailed food supply. A major extinction event of large mammals ( megafauna ), which included mammoths , mastodons , saber-toothed cats , glyptodons ,
4437-414: The expressions of identity and more flexible combinations of materials, which began to be used in the late Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic.” The aforementioned allows us to speculate whether or not there was a period which could be described as Mesolithic in Southeastern Europe, rather than an extended Upper Palaeolithic. On the other hand, lack of research in a number of regions, and the fact that many of
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#17328455830094524-444: The extinction of most large-bodied animals in these regions. The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was strongly variable depending on the glacial cycle, with the sea levels being up to 120 metres (390 ft) lower than present at peak glaciation, allowing the connection of Asia and North America via Beringia and the covering of most of northern North America by
4611-506: The fact that it presents a mixture of archaic, early modern human and Neanderthal morphological features, indicating considerable Neanderthal/modern human admixture, which in turn suggests that, upon their arrival in Europe, modern humans met and interbred with Neanderthals. Recent reanalysis of some of these fossils has challenged the view that these remains represent evidence of interbreeding. A second expedition by Erik Trinkaus and Ricardo Rodrigo , discovered further fragments (for example,
4698-446: The first crucial characteristic of the transition to the Upper Palaeolithic in the region. The notion of the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution that has been developed for core European regions is not applicable to the region. What is the reason? This particularly significant moment and its origins are defined and enlightened by other characteristics of the transition to upper Old Stone Age. The environment, climate, flora and fauna corroborate
4785-403: The first to establish a system of trade routes in Southeastern Europe and, in order to facilitate trade with the natives between 700 BC and 300 BC, they founded several colonies on the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) coast, Asia Minor, Dalmatia etc. Other notable groups of peoples and tribes of Southeast Europe organised themselves in large tribal unions such as the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in
4872-404: The first written evidence of the Greek language . Several Mycenaean attributes and achievements were borrowed or held in high regard in later periods. while their religion already included several deities that can also be found in the Olympic Pantheon . Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of palace states. It was followed by the Greek Dark Ages and
4959-414: The glacial range, which have their own glacial history depending on latitude, terrain and climate. There is a general correspondence between glacials in different regions. Investigators often interchange the names if the glacial geology of a region is in the process of being defined. However, it is generally incorrect to apply the name of a glacial in one region to another. For most of the 20th century, only
5046-450: The historical terminology was established. Corresponding to the terms glacial and interglacial, the terms pluvial and interpluvial are in use (Latin: pluvia , rain). A pluvial is a warmer period of increased rainfall; an interpluvial is of decreased rainfall. Formerly a pluvial was thought to correspond to a glacial in regions not iced, and in some cases it does. Rainfall is cyclical also. Pluvials and interpluvials are widespread. There
5133-413: The historiography criterion, Southeast Europe enters protohistory only with Homer ( See also Historicity of the Iliad , and Geography of the Odyssey ). At any rate, the period ends before Herodotus in the 5th century BC. The earliest evidence of human occupation discovered in the region, in Kozarnika cave (Bulgaria), date from at least 1.5 million years ago. There is evidence of human presence in
5220-445: The immediately preceding Pliocene ("newer", from πλείων ( pleíōn , "more") and kainós ) and the immediately subsequent Holocene ("wholly new" or "entirely new", from ὅλος ( hólos , "whole") and kainós ) epoch , which extends to the present time. The Pleistocene has been dated from 2.580 million (±0.005) to 11,700 years BP with the end date expressed in radiocarbon years as 10,000 carbon-14 years BP. It covers most of
5307-658: The implications. During the last interglacial period and the most recent glaciation of the Pleistocene (from 131,000 till 12,000 BP), Europe was very different from the regional glaciation. The glaciations did not affect southeastern Europe to the extent that they did in the northern and central regions. The evidence of forest and steppe indicate the influence was not so drastic; some species of flora and fauna survived only in this part of Europe. The region today still abounds in species endemic only to this part of Europe. The notion of gradual transition (or evolution) best defines southeastern Europe from about 50,000 BP. In this sense,
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#17328455830095394-414: The introduction of iron. After the period that followed the arrival of the Dorians , known as the Greek Dark Ages or Submycenaean Period, the classical Greek culture began to develop in Southeastern Europe, the Aegean islands and the western Asia Minor Greek colonies starting around the 9–8th century (the Geometric Period ) and peaking with the 5th century BC Athens democracy. The Greeks were
5481-552: The large amounts of material moved about by glaciers. Less common are cave deposits, travertines and volcanic deposits (lavas, ashes). Pleistocene marine deposits are found primarily in shallow marine basins mostly (but with important exceptions) in areas within a few tens of kilometres of the modern shoreline. In a few geologically active areas such as the Southern California coast, Pleistocene marine deposits may be found at elevations of several hundred metres. The modern continents were essentially at their present positions during
5568-429: The late Mesolithic period exist all over the Aegean sea. Some major settlements of Neolithic Greece are Sesklo, Dimini , Early Knossos and Nea Nikomedeia close to Krya Vrysi . The Bronze Age in Southeastern Europe is divided as follows (Boardman p. 166): The Bronze Age in the central and eastern part of Southeastern Europe begins late, around 1800 BCE. The transition to the Iron Age gradually sets in over
5655-415: The latest period of repeated glaciation , up to and including the Younger Dryas cold spell. The end of the Younger Dryas has been dated to about 9700 BCE (11,700 calendar years BP). The end of the Younger Dryas is the official start of the current Holocene Epoch . Although it is considered an epoch, the Holocene is not significantly different from previous interglacial intervals within the Pleistocene. In
5742-420: The lower Palaeolithic they disappeared, and the only hominin species found in fossilic records is Homo erectus for much of the Pleistocene. Acheulean lithics appear along with Homo erectus , some 1.8 million years ago, replacing the more primitive Oldowan industry used by A. garhi and by the earliest species of Homo . The Middle Paleolithic saw more varied speciation within Homo , including
5829-494: The material culture and natural environment of the region of the late Pleistocene and the early Holocene were distinct from other parts of Europe. Douglass W. Bailey writes in Balkan Prehistory: Exclusion, Incorporation and Identity : “Less dramatic changes to climate, flora and fauna resulted in less dramatic adaptive, or reactive, developments in material culture.” Thus, in speaking about southeastern Europe, many classic conceptions and systematizations of human development during
5916-478: The megafauna and migrated north. Late Pleistocene bighorn sheep were more slender and had longer legs than their descendants today. Scientists believe that the change in predator fauna after the late Pleistocene extinctions resulted in a change of body shape as the species adapted for increased power rather than speed. The extinctions hardly affected Africa but were especially severe in North America where native horses and camels were wiped out. In July 2018,
6003-715: The period has been supplemented with Greek Mesolithic finds, well represented by sites such as Frachthi Cave. Other sites are Theopetra Cave and Sesklo in Thessaly that represent the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic as well as the early Neolithic period. Yet southern and coastal sites in Greece , which contained materials from the Mesolithic, are less known. Activities began to be concentrated around individual sites where people displayed personal and group identities using various decorations: wearing ornaments and painting their bodies with ochre and hematite. As regards personal identity D. Bailey writes, “Flint-cutting tools as well as time and effort needed to produce such tools testify to
6090-419: The period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology . The name is a combination of Ancient Greek πλεῖστος ( pleîstos ) 'most' and καινός ( kainós ; Latinized as cænus ) 'new'. At the end of the preceding Pliocene, the previously isolated North and South American continents were joined by
6177-453: The presence of Homo sapiens in the area some 44,000 years ago, until the appearance of the first written records in Classical Antiquity , in Greece . First Greek language is Linear A and follows Linear B , which is a syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It
6264-417: The ratio of O to O (two isotopes of oxygen ) by mass (measured by a mass spectrometer ) present in the calcite of oceanic core samples is used as a diagnostic of ancient ocean temperature change and therefore of climate change. Cold oceans are richer in O , which is included in the tests of the microorganisms ( foraminifera ) contributing the calcite. A more recent version of
6351-455: The recent period of repeated glaciations. The name Plio-Pleistocene has, in the past, been used to mean the last ice age. Formerly, the boundary between the two epochs was drawn at the time when the foraminiferal species Hyalinea baltica first appeared in the marine section at La Castella, Calabria, Italy. However, the revised definition of the Quaternary , by pushing back the start date of
6438-529: The region are Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Croatia (alternatively placed in Central Europe ), Greece (alternatively placed in the broader region of Southern Europe ), Kosovo , Montenegro , North Macedonia , Romania (alternatively placed in Eastern Europe ), Serbia , and the European part of Turkey (alternatively placed in the broader region of Southern Europe, also in Western Asia with
6525-593: The rest of the country). Sometimes, Cyprus (most often placed in West Asia ), Hungary (most often placed in Central Europe), Moldova (most often placed in Eastern Europe) and Slovenia (most often placed in Central Europe) are also included due to cultural or historical factors and affiliation. The largest cities of the region are Istanbul , Athens , Bucharest , Sofia , and Belgrade . The first known use of
6612-407: The sampling process makes use of modern glacial ice cores. Although less rich in O than seawater, the snow that fell on the glacier year by year nevertheless contained O and O in a ratio that depended on the mean annual temperature. Temperature and climate change are cyclical when plotted on a graph of temperature versus time. Temperature coordinates are given in the form of
6699-770: The sites were close to seashores (It is evident that the current sea level is 100 m higher, and a number of sites were covered by water.) means that the Mesolithic Southeastern Europe could be referred to as the Epipalaeolithic Southeastern Europe, which might describe better its gradual changes and poorly defined development. The relative climatic stability in Southeastern Europe, compared to northern and western Europe, enabled continuous settlement in Southeastern Europe. Southeastern Europe therefore may have effectively functioned as an ice-age refuge from which much of Europe, especially eastern Europe,
6786-632: The sole factor responsible for the variations in climate since they explain neither the long-term cooling trend over the Plio-Pleistocene nor the millennial variations in the Greenland Ice Cores known as Dansgaard-Oeschger events and Heinrich events. Milankovitch pacing seems to best explain glaciation events with periodicity of 100,000, 40,000, and 20,000 years. Such a pattern seems to fit the information on climate change found in oxygen isotope cores. In oxygen isotope ratio analysis, variations in
6873-421: The study of cyclical climate changes. The glacials in the following tables show historical usages, are a simplification of a much more complex cycle of variation in climate and terrain, and are generally no longer used. These names have been abandoned in favour of numeric data because many of the correlations were found to be either inexact or incorrect and more than four major glacials have been recognised since
6960-477: The term "Southeast Europe" was by Austrian researcher Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1869) as a broader term than the traditional Balkans , a concept based on the boundaries of the Balkan Peninsula. Countries described in 2004 by Istituto Geografico De Agostini as being entirely within the Balkan region, are: Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Montenegro , and North Macedonia . However from
7047-456: The transition was gradual. The Palaeolithic period, literally the “ Old Stone Age ”, is an ancient cultural level of human development characterized by the use of unpolished chipped stone tools. The transition from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic is directly related to the development of behavioural modernity by hominids around 40,000 years BP. To denote the great significance and degree of change, this dramatic shift from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic
7134-413: The uniform use of geographical names, proposes two sets of boundaries. The first follows international borders of current countries. The second subdivides and includes some countries based on cultural criteria. The following countries are included in their classification "Southeastern Europe": In this classification, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia are included in Central Europe , while Turkey (East Thrace)
7221-622: The upper boundary). The proposed section is the North Greenland Ice Core Project ice core 75° 06' N 42° 18' W. The lower boundary of the Pleistocene Series is formally defined magnetostratigraphically as the base of the Matuyama (C2r) chronozone , isotopic stage 103. Above this point there are notable extinctions of the calcareous nannofossils : Discoaster pentaradiatus and Discoaster surculus . The Pleistocene covers
7308-470: The whole Eastern Mediterranean. Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe ( SEE ) is a geographical sub-region of Europe , consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans , as well as adjacent regions and archipelagos . There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of the region, due to political, economic, historical, cultural, and geographical considerations. Sovereign states and territories that may be included in
7395-646: The world, dating from 4,600 BC to 4,200 BC, was discovered at the site. The gold piece dating from 4,500 BC, recently founded in Durankulak , near Varna is another important example. " Kurganization " of the eastern Southeastern Europe (and the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture adjacent to the north) during the Eneolithic is associated with an early expansion of Indo-Europeans . Neolithic settlements are also spotted in modern day Greece, trading routes that are based in
7482-543: Was a series of glacials and interglacials, stadials and interstadials, mirroring periodic climate changes. The main factor at work in climate cycling is now believed to be Milankovitch cycles . These are periodic variations in regional and planetary solar radiation reaching the Earth caused by several repeating changes in the Earth's motion. The effects of Milankovitch cycles were enhanced by various positive feedbacks related to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and Earth's albedo. Milankovitch cycles cannot be
7569-515: Was re-populated. Southeastern Europe was the site of major Neolithic cultures, including Butmir , Vinča , Varna , Karanovo , Hamangia and Sesklo. The Vinča culture was an early culture of Southeastern Europe (between the 6th and the 3rd millennium BC), stretching around the course of the Danube in Serbia, Croatia , northern parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria , and
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