Around 7000 BC farmers from Anatolia, where farming had been practised for many centuries, colonised south-eastern Europe.As farming communities spread throughout the Balkans they modified the style of their houses and artefacts.
Cold winters and heavy rainfall did not deter the pioneer farming settlers on Central Europe's fertile loess soils.
Native north and western European hunter gatherers adopted domesticated plants and animals, from their farming neighbours, as a part of their varied economy. Similar developments occurred on Europe's eastern fringes.
Animal traction and transport and the use of the plough revolutionised the efficiency of farming communities by 3000 BC. Milk provided an additional source of food.Sheep began to be bred for wool.
During the Bronze Age new farms appeared on marginal soils and, in the Aegean, new crops - olives and grapes - were cultivated, providing oil and wine.
