Neolithic Period
In the Neolithic, which in Northern Europe lasted about 3 thousand years (about 4500 – 1700 B.C.) and was characterized by the rooting of agriculture (the so-called Neolithic revolution ), the development of ceramics and more complex and large settlements, Europe is penetrated by groups of peoples from the Balkans ( culture of linear-tape ceramics ) and from the Middle East ( culture of cardial ceramics ). This penetration of new cultures into the territory of Europe, from the Aegean to the British Isles, spanned a period of about 2500 years (6500 – 4000 B.C.). According to archaeologists like C. Renfrew, this expansion, which led to the decline of Mesolithic cultures, coincided with the appearance of Indo-European languages in Europe, while according to M. Gimbutas, Indo-European languages penetrated into Europe much later, during the Bronze Age, while the neolithic population of Europe is considered pre-Indo-European and is referred to as “old Europe”.
Many European Neolithic groups have a number of common characteristics, including living in small family-type communities, and cultivation of plants and cattle breeding, yet they still continued to gather wild plants and hunt game animals, as well as making pottery without using a potter’s wheel. In the archaeological monuments of the Neolithic era in France, artifacts of such cultures as the culture of linear-tape ceramics (ca. 5500–4500 B.C.), the Rössen culture (ca. 4500–4000 B.C.) and Shastai culture were found. (4500 – 2500 B.C.)
The Neolithic inhabitants of Armorica (Brittany) and northern France were carriers of either the culture of linear-tape ceramics or “Limburg ceramics” belonging to the culture of La Ogett.
Apparently, numerous megaliths of France — dolmens, menhirs, cromlechs, and cairns — belong to the Neolithic era. The greatest concentration of megaliths is observed in areas such as Brittany and Auvergne. The most famous megaliths of France are the Karnak stones and stones at Saint-Sulpice-de-Féleyrand.
Aeneolithic (copper age)
In the epoch of the Aeneolithic (“Copper Age”), transitional from Neolithic to Bronze Age, in France, the Seine-Oise-Marne culture and the supercultural tradition of bell-shaped cups played a major role. A number of Western European authors do not single out the Eneolithic as a separate stage, but view it as the final Neolithic. It is for the Aeneolithic that widespread megaliths are characteristic.
The culture of the Seine-Oise-Marne or the SUM (circa 3100 – 2400 B.C.) existed in the north of France in the vicinity of the Oise and Marne rivers. The most remarkable feature of this culture is the gallery-type megalithic tombs, equipped with a plate with a hole separating the entrance from the main burial chamber (a similar feature as a completely independent phenomenon characteristic of the dolmens of the North Caucasus). A similar structure had tombs, carved into the limestone cliffs of the Marne Valley.
Around 2600 B.C. the Artenacian culture emerged on the territory of the Dordogne, which was part of the European tradition of building megaliths. The Artenaks, armed with arrows typical of this culture, captured the Atlantic coast of France and Belgium around 2400 B.C..
The tradition of bell-shaped cups (about 2800-1900 B.C.) was a phenomenon that spread far beyond France, but did not lead to significant changes in the cultures in the territory of its distribution.
Bronze Age
Among the cultures of the early Bronze Age in France stand out the transitional tradition of bell-shaped cups (about 2800–1900 B.C.), kurgan culture (about 1600–1200 B.C.), and the culture of burial urn fields (about 1300— 800 B.C.) It is believed that the culture (cultures) of the Bronze Age monuments in Brittany evolved from the bearers of the tradition of bell-shaped cups, with some influence from the Wessex and Uniâtica cultures. According to a number of researchers, the culture of the fields of the burial urns is protokelta. This culture prevailed in central Europe in the Late Bronze Age, when a sharp increase in population was observed in this region, possibly due to innovations in technology and agricultural practice.
Some archaeologists refer to the same period the arrival of a number of non-Indo-European peoples – including the Iberians in southern France and southeastern Spain, the Ligurians on the Mediterranean coast between France and Italy, and the Vascons (ancestors of the Basques) in south-western France and north-western Spain. According to other researchers, these peoples developed from the earlier local Neolithic cultures.
Iron Age
The distribution of iron products coincided with the development of Hallstatt culture (about 700–500 B.C.), the supposed descendant of the culture of burial urns and the ancestor of modern Celtic peoples.
A descendant of Hallstatt culture without a noticeable cultural break, in turn, was the Latent culture, which arose as a result of significant influence from the Mediterranean — first from the Greeks, then Etruscans. La Tène originated and existed at the end of the Iron Age (from 450 B.C. and before the Roman conquest in the 1st century B.C.) in Eastern Europe, Switzerland, Austria, in south-west Germany, in the Czech Republic and of Hungary. To the north of it were Proto-German cultures.
In addition, during this period (about 600 B.C.), the Greeks and Phoenicians founded their colonies in France, for example, in the place of the current Marseille.
The Celtic part of France became known among the Romans under the name of Gaul, and the population north of the Gauls was known as Belgi (this tribe could have a mixed Celto-Germanic origin). Aquitaine, the ancestors of the modern Basques, inhabited the southwest of France.