Editing History of Europe (section)

==Prehistory of Europe==
{{Main|Prehistoric Europe}}

=== Paleolithic ===
[[File:Ice_age_fauna_of_northern_Spain_-_Mauricio_Antón.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Late Pleistocene]] saw [[Quaternary extinction event|extinction]]s of numerous predominantly [[megafauna]]l species, coinciding in time with the [[early human migrations]] across continents.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Felisa A.|display-authors=etal.|date=20 April 2018|title=Body size downgrading of mammals over the late Quaternary|journal=Science|volume=360|issue=6386|pages=310–313|doi=10.1126/science.aao5987|pmid=29674591|bibcode=2018Sci...360..310S|doi-access=free}}</ref>]]

''[[Homo erectus]]'' migrated from Africa to Europe before the emergence of modern humans. ''[[Homo erectus georgicus]]'', which lived roughly 1.8&nbsp;million years ago in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], is the earliest [[hominid]] to be discovered in Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=A. Vekua|author2=D. Lordkipanidze|author3=G.P. Rightmire|author4=J. Agusti|author5=R. Ferring|author6=G. [[Maisuradze]]|year=2002|title=A new skull of early ''Homo'' from Dmanisi, Georgia|journal=Science|volume=297|pages=85–89|doi=10.1126/science.1072953|pmid=12098694|issue=5578|display-authors=etal|bibcode=2002Sci...297...85V|s2cid=32726786}}</ref> The earliest appearance of [[anatomically modern humans|anatomically modern people]] in Europe has been dated to 45,000 BC, referred to as the [[Early European modern humans]]. Some locally developed transitional cultures ([[Uluzzian]] in Italy and Greece, Altmühlian in Germany, [[Szeletian]] in Central Europe and [[Châtelperronian]] in the southwest) use clearly [[Upper Paleolithic]] technologies at very early dates.

[[File:18 PanneauDesLions(PartieDroite)BisonsPoursuivisParDesLions.jpg|thumb|[[Chauvet Cave]] painting, [[Aurignacian culture]], France, c. 30,000 BC]]

Nevertheless, the definitive advance of these technologies is made by the [[Aurignacian]] culture, originating in the [[Levant]] (Ahmarian) and Hungary (first full Aurignacian). By 35,000 BC, the Aurignacian culture and its technology had extended through most of Europe. The last [[Neanderthals]] seem to have been forced to retreat to the southern half of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. Around 29,000 BC a new technology/culture appeared in the western region of Europe: the [[Gravettian]]. This technology/culture has been theorised to have come with migrations of people from the [[Balkans]] (see [[Kozarnika]]).

Around 16,000 BC, Europe witnessed the appearance of a new culture, known as [[Magdalenian]], possibly rooted in the old Gravettian. This culture soon superseded the [[Solutrean]] area and the Gravettian of mainly France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Ukraine. The [[Hamburg culture]] prevailed in Northern Europe in the 14th and the 13th millennium BC as the [[Creswellian]] (also termed the British Late Magdalenian) did shortly after in the [[British Isles]].
Around 12,500 BC, the [[Würm glaciation]] ended. Magdalenian culture persisted until {{Circa}} 10,000 BC, when it quickly evolved into two ''[[microlith]]ist'' cultures: [[Azilian]] ([[Federmesser]]), in Spain and [[southern France]], and then [[Sauveterrian]], in southern France and [[Tardenoisian]] in Central Europe, while in Northern Europe the [[Lyngby culture|Lyngby complex]] succeeded the Hamburg culture with the influence of the [[Federmesser]] group as well.

=== Neolithic and Copper Age===
{{See also|Old Europe (archaeology) |Neolithic Europe |Chalcolithic Europe}}
[[File:Smac Neolithikum 122.jpg|thumb|[[Linear Pottery culture]] settlement, Germany, c. 4700 BC|193x193px]]

Evidence of permanent settlement dates from the 8th millennium BC in the Balkans. The [[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic]] reached [[Central Europe]] in the 6th millennium BC and parts of [[Northern Europe]] in the 5th and 4th millenniums BC. The modern indigenous populations of Europe are largely descended from three distinct lineages: Mesolithic [[Western Hunter-Gatherers|hunter-gatherer]]s, a derivative of the [[Cro-Magnon]] population, [[Early European Farmers]] who migrated from Anatolia during the [[Neolithic Revolution]], and [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] [[Western Steppe Herders|pastoralists]] who expanded into Europe in the context of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European expansion]].<ref>{{cite news|title=When the First Farmers Arrived in Europe, Inequality Evolved|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-first-farmers-arrived-in-europe-inequality-evolved/|work=Scientific American|date=1 July 2020|access-date=17 September 2022|archive-date=25 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525055649/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-first-farmers-arrived-in-europe-inequality-evolved/|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Indo-European migrations]] started in [[Southeast Europe]] at around c. 4200 BC. through the areas around the [[Black sea]] and the [[Balkan peninsula]]. In the next 3000 years the [[Indo-European languages]] expanded through Europe.

[[File:Grave offerings.jpg|thumb|Artefacts from the [[Varna culture|Varna necropolis]], Bulgaria, c. 4500 BC|194x194px]]

Around this time, in the 5th millennium BC the [[Varna culture]] evolved. In 4700 – 4200 BC, the [[Solnitsata]] town, believed to be the oldest prehistoric town in Europe, flourished.<ref>{{cite news|title=Archaeologists find Europe's most prehistoric town|first=Nick|last=Squires|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/9646541/Bulgaria-archaeologists-find-Europes-most-prehistoric-town-Provadia-Solnitsata.html|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/9646541/Bulgaria-archaeologists-find-Europes-most-prehistoric-town-Provadia-Solnitsata.html|archive-date=12 January 2022|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=31 October 2012|access-date=1 November 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=Maugh>{{cite news|title=Bulgarians find oldest European town, a salt production center|first=Thomas H. II|last=Maugh|url=https://www.latimes.com/science/la-xpm-2012-nov-01-la-sci-sn-oldest-european-town-20121101-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=1 November 2012|access-date=1 November 2012|archive-date=4 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504234136/https://www.latimes.com/science/la-xpm-2012-nov-01-la-sci-sn-oldest-european-town-20121101-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

<gallery widths="160" heights="120">
File:Expansion of farming in western Eurasia, 9600–4000 BCE.png|Neolithic expansion in Europe, 7000-4000 BC
European-late-neolithic-english.svg|Late Neolithic Europe, c. 5000-3500 BC
</gallery>