Abstract
The introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry constitutes a major breakthrough in human history: people settled in permanent settlements, populations grew, farmers increasingly managed to control plants and animals, employed a greater range of crafts, and developed notions of property and social inequality. The first agricultural settlements are found in the Near East and date to the Neolithic period (before c. 8000 BC). From here the so-called "Neolithic way of life" spread to Anatolia and Europe. Understanding this process of "Neolithization" has been a key issue in archaeological research for several decades. Even though more sites and regions are being investigated, the social mechanisms through which agriculture spread are still poorly understood. There are roughly two ways of approaching Neolithization: one is to map the origin and expanding distributions of Neolithic material characteristics such as pottery or domesticated plants and animals. Criticizing this for ignoring the human aspect of these transformations, a contrasting approach has embraced social theory, and has stressed the importance of understanding the development of Neolithic life styles in a local context. These social approaches to Neolithic communities have so far failed to change the way in which the grand narrative of Neolithization is to be understood as a chapter in human history. This study will for the first time integrate local histories of four regions in Anatolia and Southeast Europe, by analyzing published evidence from excavated sites. The different ways in which early farmers "settled down" in these regions will be studied from the bottom up by analyzing houses and house life cycles in their settlement context. Starting point is the notion that small-scale material and social realities lie at the basis of social change. By comparing small-scale realities in multiple regions, we can begin to understand the variety of mechanisms through which new ways of life spread, and present a new interpretation of Neolithization across space and time. The time is right to combine the increased knowledge on Neolithic habitation in Anatolia and Southeast Europe with sophisticated theoretical frameworks challenging both micro perspectives and grand narratives.