Early Neolithic Landscape and Society in Southwest Scania – New Results and Perspectives

Abstract

The last two decades of excavations in southwest Scania, Sweden, have given substantial new results regarding Early Neolithic society (4000–3300 cal. BC). The overall aim here is to discuss and synthesize these results, and a number of important excavations are also presented in detail. The results are both on a macro scale concerning overall settlement pattern, landscape use and the scale of monumental landscapes, and on a micro scale concerning, for example, houses and huts, monumental sites and their complexity, and pits and depositional practices on different types of sites. Also, the economy of the region as well as the socio-political organization are discussed based on interpretations of the material presented.