Map of Neolithic European ditched enclosures

The geographical distribution of Neolithic ditched enclosures in Europe.

The issue of Neolithic ditched enclosures goes well beyond the boundaries of the traditional archaeological regions of Europe. They appear to be widely distributed, in diverse forms, across Central and Western Europe, and from the Mediterranean area to Scandinavia. Having said that, however, they did not appear at the same time in all areas, and the phenomenon did not last the same amount of time everywhere. Quite the contrary, important chronological and geographical divergences have been recognised by archaeologists. The characteristics of the sites themselves across space and time are not exactly the same either. This is easy to see when one compares, for instance, Scandinavian and Iberian enclosures, or sites from the Early Neolithic (sixth millenniun BCE) to enclosures from the Copper Age (in the third millennium BCE). Direct conections between phenomena developed at different times or in different regions are not always easy to establish. It is therefore important to keep the research focus balanced between the large, the medium and the small scales of analysis.

Map of Neolithic European ditched enclosures.

In this section, you can see an interactive map of Neolithic European ditched enclosures. More precisely, it is a ‘Prezi‘ presentation where their geographical dimension can be observed in a dynamic medium. To begin the presentation, click on ‘Start Prezi’. Please, feel free to explore and discover for yourself by using the  and  buttons or the arrow keys on your keyboard. For a better viewing experience, click  to enter full-screen mode.