"Every age has thousands of heroes who aren't mentioned in any history book."
(Otto Weiss)
Neolithicum:
The transfer to farming initiated a new period known as the Neolithicum (New Stone Age), the beginning of the Neolithicum differs in each area depending on the time when the people living there first started using farming as their main source of income.
The invention of farming is believed to have been a slow developement; hunter-gatherers harvested edible vegetation like berries, nuts, carrots, and wild types of grain, in warm areas with a fertile soil it was easy to grow certain types of vegetation so perhaps the people decided to collect the seeds of certain plants and artificially grow them on small fields, they may have also found out that it was more effective to capture animals and keep them inside a fence so they could be bred with, which was much easier than following the ever migrating herds.
It is difficult to say where farming was first invented because it is believed to have been developed in multiple places independantly but China and the Middle East were the first areas were farming saw widespread use.
From the Middle East the use of farming spread to Europe; around 6500BC people in eastern Greece started using farming and around 5500BC farming had spread to the Balkans with Hungary as it's northernmost representative, from there farming quickly expanded further westwards into what is now southern Germany and France, this new farming culture is now called the Bandceramic culture.
The Bandceramic culture also reached Nether-Saxony (Niedersachsen) from where it influenced the Ertebolle culture in northern Europe, in that time the people in northern Europe only used farming as a supplement because in most places hunting, gathering, and fishing yielded enough income to survive, though in certain places the people held some pigs and cattle and in some of the southern areas of the Ertebolle culture the people already used farming on a larger scale.
Around this time the wheel is also believed to have been introduced, the oldest wheel found in northern Europe dates from the Neolithicum and was found near Weerdinge in the Netherlands, it was made of a single piece of wood.
The transition to farming was gradual but when it became more widely used it deeply influenced the traditional way of living; agriculture and cattle-breeding demanded a more permanent settlement and bigger houses could be built because they were used much longer, this resulted in small settlements that consisted of a handfull of farms and a few dozens of inhabitants, a community could also support a larger amount of people because farming yielded much more food, therefor the population number greatly increased.
It has been argued that the introduction of farming was accompanied by a massive immigration of people but recently this views have changed; scientists have performed a DNA study under the modern European population and concluded that most of the peoples of Europe are direct descendants of the native population of their area, so the transfer to farming was probably more an adoption of the technology that people encountered via travels and trading.
The Funnelbeaker culture:
The exact origins of the Funnelbeaker culture are still debated but it came into existence around 4100BC and dominated northern Europe until 2900BC; a culture that lasted for over a thousand years.
The Funnelbeaker culture is believed to originate from Schleswig-Holstein but its center was near the upper Oder river in the area around the modern city of Stettin/Szczecin, the culture is named after the funnel-shaped beakers they produced though historians often use the abbreviation "TRB" for the Funnelbeaker culture, other names are; Trichterbecher kultur (German), Trechterbeker cultuur (Dutch), Tragtbæger kultur (Danish), Trattbägar kultur (Swedish), Kultura nálevkoviitých poháruo (Czech), and Kultura pucharów lejkowatych (Polish).
Economy:
The Funnelbeaker culture introduced the use of farming, the plow, copper, and monumental architecture to northern Europe.
The Funnelbeaker people ate fruit like apples and on their fields they grew emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum), einkorn (Triticum monococcum), barley, flax, peas, lentils, and beans, from some of this ingredients they also made bread and porridge.
Their livestock mainly consisted of cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep while oxen were mainly used to pull plows and wagons, riding on horseback was unknown to the Funnelbeaker people who only hunted them for food, horseriding would be introduced much later during the Indo-European migrations.
The ram was probably seen as a fertility symbol in that time and many depictions have been found on pottery as well as clay figurines, a beautiful example of such a ram figurine was found near Jordansmühl/Jordanów in Poland.
The transfer to farming also required new farmland that was created by burning and chopping down forests, the farmers also needed good axes so in many places a flint industry emerged and flint mines were built in modern day Denmark, Poland, and Czechia, apart from polished flint axes the Funnelbeaker people also used stone axes, circular mace heads, and bone tools.
Settlements and housing:
Funnelbeaker villages were small and only existed for about 40 to 50 years, after that period the farmland was exhausted and the village was abandoned.
In most places the earth's soil contains minerals that are used by vegetation to feed on and grow, in a normal situation such minerals are constantly replenished but when the soil is intensively used for farming too much minerals are drawn from the earth which will exhaust it in the long run and make it unsuitable for farming, in later periods this problem was solved by letting parts of the farmland lay fallow so it could replenish minerals but in the Neolithicum farming technologies were still developing so the people did not know this and eventually had to move somewhere else when their farmland was exhausted.
A typical Funnelbeaker village consisted of only a few families and less than 10 houses, between the Dutch cities Eext and Anloo in the province of Drenthe a Funnelbeaker settlement was found that consisted of 4 houses and was inhabited by around 20 to 30 people.
Originally short houses were used but those were soon replaced by longhouses that had much in common with the later Germanic houses, in most cases they were rectangular though some round houses have been found too, the average Funnelbeaker house was 10 to 15 meters long and 4 to 5 meters wide (33 to 49 feet long and 13 to 16 feet wide), the Funnelbeaker houses also became larger as time progressed, perhaps to house bigger families or more livestock since most people lived under one roof with their animals.
Some people even lived under one roof with their deceased ancestors; in Flögeln (Germany) a Funnelbeaker farm was found that had a back room with a grave in it while the middle room was used as a living room.
Funeral customs:
The Funnelbeaker culture used a wide variety of grave types; simple graves, small underground chambers made of stone or wood, gravehills, longmounds, and megalithic tombs like the hunebeds.
Individual graves or tombs were sometimes covered with a conical mound, in certain cases such a mound was joined with other mounds adjacent to it to form a single big mound that was often rectangular in shape, perhaps the people in such combined mounds were family members.
A mound was sometimes lined with wooden poles, though in the northern areas of the Funnelbeaker culture this wooden poles were often replaced with stones, in later periods the people in this areas also started constructing megalithic tombs, especially in Scandinavia and the northern parts of the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland.
The most spectacular examples of such megalithic tombs are the so called "hunebeds", which can be found in the Netherlands (mainly in the province of Drenthe) and in Germany (mainly in the bundesland of Niedersachsen), the Dutch word for this graves is "hunebedden" (giant beds) and the German word is "hünengräber" (giant graves), both words were invented in a later period by people who believed that the large megalithic tombs were built by giants who used them as beds or graves, though the Germanic culture believed that the hunebeds were inhabited by the spirits of their ancestors, something that can be found back in the local legends and folklore.
The Hunebeds were built in a relatively short period between 3400BC and 3200BC but they have been used for a long time thereafter, the hunebeds may have been tombs for the social elite but most archeologists agree that they were mass graves for multiple people, perhaps belonging to the same village, clan, or family, apart from that they probably also had a religious meaning.
The hunebeds were made from large boulders that were left behind by the retreating glaciers after the last Ice Age, first some of those boulders were placed upright in a rectangular shape that outlined the future size of the burial chamber, this stones are called "draagstenen" (carrying-stones) by Dutch archeologists, the biggest boulders were placed on top of those carrying-stones and functioned as the "roof" of the tomb, this stones are called "dekstenen" (covering-stones).
The gaps between the stones were then filled up with smaller stones, debris, and clay, after that the structure was covered with sand so that it became a large gravehill with a stone skeleton inside that housed a small room where the dead were placed in, the outline of the hill was marked with smaller stones.
How the Funnelbeaker people transported those enormous stones and built hunebeds of them is still a mystery, some of the stones weigh up to 15.000 kilos (33.000 lbs) and even today attempts to reconstruct the hunebeds with large cranes and other modern equipment are very difficult, there are many theories about how they were built but the most credible one involves earth ramps to pull the covering-stones on top of the carrying-stones, oxen to pull the stones, and wooden logs to get the stones rolling, but archeologists are still debating about the exact methods.
The entrance to a hunebed was always on the ground floor and lead right into the inner chamber, though a hunebed in Eext (Drenthe, the Netherlands) could be entered by going down via a small stairs, the entrances of most hunebeds were closed with a stone plate or a wooden door and were always positioned on the southern side of the hunebed, perhaps to face the sun at its highest point, some hunebeds also have circular hollows on their stones, they are believed to be man-made but their purpose is unknown.
Fortresses:
The Funnelbeaker culture also built enclosures with palisades and ditches, in some places a ditch was crossed by an earthen causeway that probably served as an entry bridge.
Most of those enclosures were built on hilltops or other easily defendable areas, for instance in Germany such an enclosure was built in a loop of a river while the parts that were accessible over land were sealed off with ditches.
Most enclosures were found in the southern areas of the Funnelbeaker culture like central Germany and Czechia, though they were also found in the northern parts like Büdelsdorf (northern Germany) and Sarup (on the island of Fyn in Denmark), the enclosures were almost certainly used as fortresses though some of them were quite large (10 hectare in Sarup) and had complicated patterns of ditches and palisades within the enclosure itself, it may be possible that this type of enclosures also had a religious or ritual function or that they were some kind of fortified holy places.
Another possibility is that they were fortresses of nobles or warlords just like some of the later Celtic and Germanic hillfortresses, or perhaps they were used as a refuge by people from the local villages during times of war.
Religion:
Very little is known about the religion of the Funnelbeaker culture but archeological findings and common sense may give us some clues; historians believe that the transfer to farming also had its influence on religion and that farming rituals and fertility gods (rain, harvest, sun, etc.) became more important during that period, spring festivals were probably also held to ensure a warm summer with a good harvest; the later Germanic spring celebration (Ostara) may also originate from this time but of course this can not be said with certainty.
It is also unknown which gods were worshipped by the Funnelbeaker people but many of them may have found their way into later northern European religions, especially Germanic fertility gods and goddesses like Ingwaz (Frey) and Erþo (Erda/Holda/Frigg) may have their roots in this time (or perhaps even older), but of course we can only speculate about that.
It is unknown whether the Funnelbeaker people built temples for their gods but they did have their holy places, most of those were probably trees, stones, bogs, swamps, or other places in nature that were perhaps believed to be inhabited by gods or spirits but a more concrete example are the Externsteine in northwestern Germany, which is a large rock with man-made stairs and cavities from where the sun could be observed, the exact origins of the Externsteine are debated but it was already used as a holy place during the late Stone Age.
The Funnelbeaker culture also conducted much trade and constructed their own (primitive) roads for that purpose, most of their roads connected villages though there were also roads that connected grave-monuments, perhaps this roads were used for religious processions in which the graves and mounds of ancestors or other important persons were visited, just like the Germanic culture later did.
There were also roads leading through swamps and bogs that probably served as a safe passage through the dangerous and swampy soil from one village to the other, the oldest road even dates from before the Funnelbeaker culture (4600BC) and was found in Germany north of Osnabrück (Niedersachsen), there were also roads and bridges that led from a village into the nearby bog and stopped halfway without serving any practical purpose, this roads were used for religious purposes and many bog offerings have been found around them, perhaps the people used this roads to reach a secluded place deep inside the bog to be closer to the gods or spirits who inhabited the bog, in later times the Germanic culture did something similar and some Germanic bog-roads even had wooden idols placed next to them, it is unknown which god or goddess the Germans worshipped in the bog but Nerthus and Erda make a good chance because they both have a strong connection to swamps and bogs, the bog-roads (from both the Funnelbeaker period and the Germanic period) were constructed by connecting wooden beams, sometimes with diagonal beams over them for a stronger construction.
The objects that were offered in the bog vary but were mainly pottery, food, tools, and weapons, I shall give some examples so you can get an idea of the quantity, quality, and nature of the objects that were offered:
Near Gingst on Rügen island 50 to 60 pots (contents unknown) were offered by multiple generations of Funnelbeaker farmers and in a bog in the Dutch province of Drenthe an offering pot was found that contained the remains of eggs, beaver meat, a duck, 2 pikes (large predator fish, Latin name: Esox lucius), and a tench (carp-like fish, Latin name: Tinca tinca), other offerings in the bog were cattle, sheep, birds, and used axes, bones and antlers were also offered, perhaps for a successful hunt.
Near Weerdinge in Drenthe (the Netherlands) a funnelbeaker was found with the remains of a pike and a red deer, amber beads were also found and were perhaps placed in the bog as a necklace, flint axes are also frequently found and seem to have been a popular offering, many of this axes were bigger than the normal axes and may have been used for battle or ceremonial purposes, an interesting thing to mention is that the axe was an early symbol of the Germanic god Þunaraz/Donar/Thor, whose main symbol later became the hammer.
Another symbol that was used by the Funnelbeaker culture is the Sunwheel, also known as Suncross or "Celtic" cross, this symbol is closely related to the swastika (which is often named "Sunwheel" too) and looks like a circle with a cross through it, examples of this symbol were found on a rock near Blengow in Germany.
The most sinister bog findings are the mummified bodies of humans, who mainly date from the Funnelbeaker culture and the Germanic culture, most of this bodies were strangled, stabbed to death, decapitated, cut to pieces, or even multiple things together, which points to a ritual killing.
Some of the bog bodies may have been criminals who were dumped in the bog as part of their punishment but most of them may have been volunteers, after all your own life is one of the most valuable things you can offer, this may sound weird from our modern perspective but in that time it may have even been an honour to be offered to the gods, perhaps this people took a "single ticket" to the afterlife to bring a message from their tribe to the gods.
That the Funnelbeaker people believed in an afterlife is not as speculative as you may think because most people in that time were buried with gravegifts, including weapons and food, some graves even contained beautifully decorated funnelbeakers, buckets, bottles, cups, bowls with a hollow handle, dishes, stone axes, bows and arrows, and necklaces with beads made of jet (black stone) and amber (red, sometimes transparant stone).
Further developements:
After the decline of the Funnelbeaker culture new cultures came into existence in northern Europe, some of them were heavily influenced from abroad and it is believed that somewhere during this period the Indo-European culture and language were introduced to northern Europe, though some people believe that the Funnelbeaker people already spoke an Indo-European language, but unfortunately we will never know for sure because of the lack of written data from that period.
We may never know for sure what the Funnelbeaker people believed, felt, dreamed, fought, loved, or even what language they spoke, but the impressive megaliths they have built withstood the test of time, as did their blood that still flows through their modern descendants, perhaps their legacy is still alive somewhere... have you been using farm products lately?
The transfer to farming initiated a new period known as the Neolithicum (New Stone Age), the beginning of the Neolithicum differs in each area depending on the time when the people living there first started using farming as their main source of income.
The Funnelbeaker culture introduced the use of farming, the plow, copper, and monumental architecture to northern Europe.
Funnelbeaker villages were small and only existed for about 40 to 50 years, after that period the farmland was exhausted and the village was abandoned.
The Funnelbeaker culture used a wide variety of grave types; simple graves, small underground chambers made of stone or wood, gravehills, longmounds, and megalithic tombs like the hunebeds.
The objects that were offered in the bog vary but were mainly pottery, food, tools, and weapons, I shall give some examples so you can get an idea of the quantity, quality, and nature of the objects that were offered: