Important Neolithic Sites in Europe

Raising crops and tending animals in Europe was a Neolithic practice that was learned by Europeans from the people who originated the ideas, in the Zagros and the Taurus Mountains of the hilly flanks north and west of the Fertile Crescent.

Abbots Way (UK)

The Crazywell cross near Dartmoor, Neolithic site. — Myself – Herby / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0, 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0

Abbot's Way is a Neolithic trackway, first built about B.C. 2000 as a footpath to cross a lowland mire in the Somerset Levels and moors wetland region of Somerset, England.

Bercy (France)

Entrance to Bercy Village in Paris, France on a sunny day. — jean-louis Zimmermann from Moulins, FRANCE / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

The Neolithic site of Bercy is located within the city of Paris on the south bank of the Seine. This site included a handful of dwellings next to an extinct paleochannel, with terrific preservation of botanical and faunal materials. In particular, 10 dugout canoes (pirogues) were discovered, some of the earliest in central Europe. Luckily for us, they were adequately preserved enough to reveal manufacturing details. The Rue des Pirogues de Bercy in Paris is named after this important find.

Brandwijk-Kerkhoff (Netherlands)

Artifacts from the Swifterbant culture. — Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

Brandwijk-Kerkhof is an open-air archaeological site located on a former river dune in the Rhine/Mass river area in the Netherlands, associated with Swifterbant culture. It was occupied periodically between 4600-3630 cal B.C. Swifterbant is the name of the sites of the Swifterbant culture, a Late Mesolithic and Neolithic culture located in the Netherlands. Their region included the wetland regions between Antwerp, Belgium and Hamburg, Germany between B.C. 5000-3400.

Crickley Hill (UK)

Crickley Hill on a sunny day with fields and homes present in background. — Nilfanion / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

Crickley Hill is an important Neolithic and Iron Age site in the Cotswold Hills of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, known to scholars primarily for its evidence of recurring violence. The first structures of the site included an enclosure with a causeway, dated approximately B.C. 3500-2500. It was rebuilt several times but was aggressively attacked and abandoned during the middle Neolithic period.

Dikili Tash (Greece)

Ancient stone at Dikli Tash Neolithic site. — Schuppi / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

Dikili Tash is a massive tell, a mound built of thousands of years of human occupation rising 50 feet into the air. The Neolithic components of this site include evidence of wine and pottery making.

Egolzwil (Switzerland)

Lion monument at Canton Lucerne, Switzerland. — See-ming Lee / Flickr / CC BY 2.0

Egolzwil is an Alpine Neolithic (late 5th millennium B.C.) lake dwelling site in Canton Lucerne, Switzerland on the shores of Lake Wauwil.

Franchthi Cave (Greece)

Standing inside Franchthi Cave in Greece looking toward the cave opening. — Efi tsif / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

First occupied during the Upper Paleolithic sometime between 35,000 and 30,000 years ago, Franchthi Cave was the site of human occupation, pretty much consistently up until about the final Neolithic Period, about B.C. 3000.

Lepenski Vir (Serbia)

Lepenski Vir archaeological site. — Nemezis / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0

While Lepenski Vir is primarily a Mesolithic site, its final occupation is a farming community, completely Neolithic.

Otzi (Italy)

Otzi the Iceman close up. — Thilo Parg / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0

Otzi the Iceman, also called Similaun Man, Hauslabjoch Man, or even Frozen Fritz, was discovered in 1991, eroding out of a glacier in the Italian Alps near the border between Italy and Austria. The human remains are of a Late Neolithic or Chalcolithic man who died in about B.C. 3350-3300.

Standing Stones of Stenness (Orkney Islands)

Standing Stones of Stenness on a sunny day. — Greg Willis from Denver, CO, usa / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

On the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland can be found the Standing Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar, and the Neolithic ruins of the Barnhouse Settlement and Skara Brae. Ths makes the Orkney Heartland our #2 spot for the top five megalithic sites in the world.

Stentinello (Italy)

Fragments of ceramics found at Stentinello. — Davide Mauro / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

Stentinello culture is the name given to a Neolithic site and related sites in the Calabria region of Italy, Sicily, and Malta, dated to the 5th and 4th millennia B.C.

Sweet Track (UK)

Replica of the Sweet Track in England. — Geof Sheppard / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0

Sweet Track is the earliest known trackway (constructed footpath) in northern Europe. It was built, according to tree ring analysis of the wood, in the winter or early spring of B.C. 3807 or 3806. This date supports earlier radiocarbon dates of the early 4th millennium B.C.

Vaihingen (Germany)

Linearbandkeramik model aerial view. — Wolfgang Sauber / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

Vaihingen is an archaeological site located on the Enz river of Germany, associated with the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) period and dated between about 5300 and 5000 cal B.C.

Varna (Bulgaria)

Roman baths at Varna on a sunny day. — Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

The Balkan Copper Age cemetery site of Varna is located near the resort town of the same name, on the Black Sea in coastal Bulgaria. The site includes almost 300 graves, dated to the early fourth millennium B.C.

Verlaine (Belgium)

Linearbandkeramik pottery close up. — Wolfgang Sauber / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0

Verlaine is an archaeological site located within the Geer river valley in the Hesbaye region of central Belgium. The site, also called Le Petit Paradis (Little Paradise), is a Linearbandkeramik settlement. At least six to ten houses set in parallel rows have been found. They've been dated to the latter part of the LBK cultural phase, the second half of the sixth millennium B.C.

Vinca (Serbia)

Clay figurine from the Vinca site. — Michel wal (travail personnel (own work)) / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0

Vinča (also known as Belo Brdo) is the name of a large tell, located on the Danube River in the Balat Plain about 15 kilometers downstream from Belgrade in what is now Serbia. By B.C. 4500, Vinča was a flourishing Neolithic agricultural and pastoral farming community,

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Hirst, K. Kris. "See the Important Neolithic Sites in Europe." ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/neolithic-sites-in-europe-171875. Hirst, K. Kris. (2021, February 16). See the Important Neolithic Sites in Europe. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/neolithic-sites-in-europe-171875 Hirst, K. Kris. "See the Important Neolithic Sites in Europe." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/neolithic-sites-in-europe-171875 (accessed June 1, 2023).