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This chapter focuses on the neolithization process in two different landscape zones of the Scheldt basin extending over western Belgium: first, the northern coversand lowland bordering the Atlantic coast; and second, the southern loess area of Middle Belgium. Although the neolithization of both areas seems to have had a different course, there is evidence of continuous and increasing contact and interaction between population groups occupying each region. In the loess hill land, neolithization can be distinguished in two phases, separated by an archaeological hiatus of several centuries. The first phase is related to the arrival of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) and the Groupe de Blicquy (BQY), while the second is connected with the Michelsberg culture (MK) occupation of the area. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine the place of local hunter-gatherers in this process. In the sandy lowland, on the other hand, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers culturally belonging to the Swifterbant culture seem to have survived much longer, probably until the end of the fifth millennium cal bc.

Truly deviant grave features exist with the known Linearbandkeramik (LBK) mass graves from Germany, which share the absence of grave goods, erratic commingling of bodies, a location within a settlement context and suppressed individuality of the dead. They differ markedly from LBK multiple burials found in cemeteries and seem to have been deposited as a consequence of mass fatality events, whether violence was involved or not. Once thought to be unique, the authors suggest that mass graves should be regarded as a standard way of disposing of a large number of dead occurring within a short period of time. The known LBK mass grave sites from Germany are summarised here and a working typology of mass graves and related features within the LBK cultural context is presented. Osteological and bioarchaeometric analyses, currently in progress, will enable more detailed comparisons between these sites and others already known or to be discovered.

The Neolithic period worldwide can readily be identified as one of the great transformations in human history—in Europe, there were no farmers at c.7000 cal BC, but very few hunter-gatherers after c.4000 cal BC—with long-term consequences still felt today. However, it remains difficult to capture both the detail of everyday lives during the Neolithic, and the flow of long-term transformations. This introduction asks how we are to combine all our expanding data, and at what scales we should interpret them. The challenges facing integrated and multi-scalar approaches are illustrated by a recent project on Linearbandkeramik (LBK) lifeways in central Europe, which united isotopic, osteological and archaeological analyses in an investigation of cultural diversity. The other chapters that follow are introduced. The chapter ends by looking to how we better integrate archaeological science, through a shared focus on debating what questions we should ask.

A modelling approach is presented in which archaeological data on the first farmers in central and western Europe, called the Linearbandkeramik (LBK; 5600–4900 cal BC), are cross-analysed with the corresponding environmental data. The purpose of this approach is to reconstruct the geographical expansion and subsequent dissolution of the LBK culture, and to gain insights into the reactiveness and resilience of this sociocultural system to climatic impacts. The socio-natural data are cross-analysed at multiple scales (from micro-regional to continental), via multi-agent modelling of the LBK farming system, based on ethno-archaeological inferences and integrating palaeoenvironmental and bioarchaeological disciplines, cultural archaeology, palaeodemography and economics.

Two sixth millennium cal BC cultural formations from the Carpathian Basin are discussed: the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) in Transdanubia, and the Szakálhát culture from the Great Hungarian Plain. Our aim was to address genetic connections between these cultural units and how they were related to the populations of the central European Neolithic. Mitochondrial data from 33 specimens from the Szakálhát culture were compared with 39 samples from the LBK and analysed in the light of previously published ancient DNA studies. The maternal gene pool of the LBK in Transdanubia and the Szakálhát culture are highly similar to each other. Furthermore, both groups show a remarkable affinity to the LBK and the subsequent fifth–fourth millennia cal BC cultures in central Europe. On the other hand, these Neolithic cultural formations can be clearly distinguished from Mesolithic pan-European hunter-gatherer data as well as from published Iberian Neolithic and central European Late Neolithic cultures.

The Linearbandkeramik (LBK) settlement of Karsdorf (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) revealed twenty-four longhouses and thirty-four associated burials. They were investigated in an interdisciplinary study focusing primarily on biological relationships and mobility within the community. Males, females, and subadults were buried individually or in groups in pits accompanying longhouses suggesting family relationships. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), however, revealed only few biological relations among them. The rare potential relatives were found in different houses, indicating very low continuity of maternal lineages. Strontium isotope ratios of human tooth enamel point to differentiated land-use patterns or interaction of the Karsdorf community in the Unstrut river valley with people from settlements in typical loess locations. Representatives of both isotope ranges distinguished occur among all burial groups. The integrated interpretation of all data suggests exchange of people within consolidated networks of LBK neighbouring communities.

A combined analysis of faunal remains and macrolithic tools, reflecting meat and plant food consumption, was conducted on six multi-phase settlements in the Aisne valley (Picardy, France), dating to the late Linearbandkeramik (LBK). A new socio-economic model is proposed. A study of the house plans, phase and position in the settlements leads to distinctions between houses according to subsistence, with links made between the economic and symbolic importance of agricultural and hunting activities. Although all households were autonomous in their daily consumption, some surplus was produced. Long houses carried out more animal husbandry and cereal processing, while small houses are more linked to hunting and secondary animal exploitation. These differences between households can be interpreted in terms of sociology, identity and economy, which allows the examination of different facets of the same society, based on comparisons of the respective value of ‘farming’ and ‘hunting’ in LBK society.