Pottery styles reveal contrasting paths to social complexity in Neolithic Europe

Societal changes do not follow a linear path—this also holds true for Neolithic Europe, approximately 8,000 to 4,000 years ago. Two researchers from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) in Germany have looked at factors driving these dynamics. Using a mathematical model, they analyzed the interplay between population size, production capacity and information exchange.

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