Austria and Germany. The Neolithic villages of Kilianstadten, Talheim, Schletz, and Herxheim are founded. This is the “Linear Pottery” culture. These were the first European farmers. But after an initial period, a turbulent period followed, after which they ceased to exist. Mass graves are discovered, testifying to the annihilation, or attempted annihilation, of an entire community. The bones found in the mass graves reveal torture, violent deaths, mutilations, scalps, and cannibalism. In Kilianstadten, all the young women are missing, meaning they were likely taken captive. Grain cultivation will only re-establish itself in Europe after a thousand-year hiatus. This, too, demonstrates that the path to agriculture is by no means straightforward, linear, and monotonous, but rather hesitant and fraught with obstacles and perhaps social inconveniences.
