Sowing the seed? The neolithisation process in the Netherlands from an archaeobotanical perspective

The arrival of the Linearbandkeramik culture in North-Western Europe, reaching also the southernmost tip of the Netherlands, resulted in a long-lasting open frontier between Mesolithic and Neolithic societies. In the remaining parts of the Netherlands, neolithisation was a gradual process, and food production was adopted only piecemeal by local societies. During the last 40 years, excavation took place of many Dutch wetland sites with good preservation conditions. For the fi rst time, both published and unpublished data on pollen, seeds, wood and charcoal from c. sites (5500-3400 cal BC) have been reinterpreted and compared. This provides a comprehensive overview of human impact and plant subsistence during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in he Low Countries.