Ancient Europe, Prehistory, Neolithic Period (4000-2100 BC)

The scattered nature of their food supply meant that hunter-gatherer groups tended to be small, whereas the more reliable food supply that came with the introduction of farming encouraged the construction of larger, more permanent settlements. The farmers used their polished axes to clear the forests and cooked grain in pottery vessels.

● Late (Copper) Neolithic (5500-2100 BC)

This, the second half of the Neolithic saw the spread of the copper metallurgy across Europe.

● Megalithic Monuments (4500-1500 BC)

There are several types of megalithic structures: causewayed enclosures (sub-circular area encircled by one or more concentric ditches with banks on their inner sides); portal tombs/dolmens (burial chamber); passage tombs (burial chamber with narrow passage leading to the exterior); gallery tombs (long chamber divided into compartments); stone circles; menhirs/orthostats (a single upright stone, or group of similar stones); alignments (standing stones placed in a row) and cists (small stone-built box to hold the bodies of the dead).