Region

Europe

Neolithic Britain: How Farming Arrived Around 4000 BC

Farming communities from continental Europe largely replaced Britain's Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and introduced crops, livestock, pottery and monuments.

c. 4000 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Secondary Products Revolution: Milk, Wool and the Plough

Sherratt's model remains influential, but scientific evidence shows that milking began thousands of years earlier, while traction and wool spread mainly in the fourth millennium BC.

c. 4000-3000 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Hal Saflieni Hypogeum: Malta's Underground Neolithic Necropolis

The Hypogeum became the only known prehistoric underground temple-like burial complex of its kind and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.

c. 4000–2500 BC · 8 min read

Prehistory

Sweet Track: Britain's Neolithic Timber Walkway of 3807 BC

One of the oldest dated timber trackways in the world, preserved in peat and studied by the Somerset Levels Project.

3807 BC · 5 min read

Prehistory

Poulnabrone Dolmen: Neolithic Portal Tomb of the Burren

Excavation revealed the remains of more than 30 Neolithic people, making Poulnabrone one of the best-studied portal tombs in Ireland.

c. 3800–3200 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Dolmen of Menga: Antequera's Giant Megalithic Tomb in Spain

Menga became one of the largest and most sophisticated megalithic monuments in Europe and the centrepiece of the Antequera Dolmens World Heritage Site.

c. 3750–3650 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Céide Fields: The Oldest Known Field Systems in Ireland

A large Neolithic landscape of stone-walled fields, preserved beneath blanket bog and opened to visitors in 1993.

c. 3700–3200 BC · 4 min read

Prehistory

Maykop Culture: Bronze Age Chieftains of the Caucasus

An early Bronze Age society of the North Caucasus whose rich burials reveal advanced metallurgy and contacts with the Near East and the steppe.

c. 3700–3000 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Carrowmore: Ireland's Great Neolithic Megalithic Cemetery

A cemetery of some 30 surviving passage tombs and stone circles that ranks among the earliest megalithic complexes in Ireland.

c. 3700 BC · 5 min read

Prehistory

West Kennet Long Barrow: Neolithic Tomb near Avebury

One of the largest and most impressive chambered tombs in Britain, now part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site.

c. 3650 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Mnajdra: Malta's Solstice-Aligned Megalithic Temples

A well-preserved group of three temples, listed by UNESCO in 1992 as part of the Megalithic Temples of Malta.

c. 3600 BC · 5 min read

Prehistory

Ħaġar Qim: Malta's Hilltop Megalithic Temple Complex

One of the best-preserved prehistoric temples of Malta, listed by UNESCO in 1992 as part of the Megalithic Temples of Malta.

c. 3600 BC · 6 min read