Lecture by Marc Vander Linden, UCL Institute of Archaeology

The existence of two streams structuring the spread of early farming across Europe has long been suspected on basis of ceramic typological data. In the western Balkans, an area placed at the gateway to Europe and where both streams are in close geographical proximity, these correspond to the Star?evo-Körös-Cri? complex in the Danube catchment area and to the Impresso complex in the Adriatic basin. Yet, beyond the evident ease of this distinction, one can wonder whether or not such two-streams hypothesis helps us to understand better the overall process of neolithisation. For instance, is there any heuristic advantage in using this distinction and, if yes, how does one implement it in methodological terms? This talk, based on an ongoing ERC project called EUROFARM, will explore these questions.