A woman buried in France in the Late Neolithic era

The Late Neolithic Ferrières culture, particularly as seen at the Mas Rouge site in France, represents an intriguing phase of the Western European Neolithic period, roughly dated between 3500 BCE and 2500 BCE. This culture is part of a broader tradition known as the Chassey-Lagozza-Cortaillod culture, which spanned a large geographical area and exhibited a wide variety of local adaptations and developments.

Geographical Setting:

Mas Rouge, located in southern France, is a notable site for understanding the Ferrières culture. Situated in a region characterized by its varied landscape of rolling hills, fertile plains, and river valleys, this area offered abundant resources and strategic advantages for Neolithic communities. The proximity to the Mediterranean would have provided access to marine resources and facilitated trade with other coastal and inland groups.

Settlement Patterns and Architecture:

Settlements during the Ferrières phase were typically small and dispersed, reflecting a semi-sedentary lifestyle. Archaeological evidence suggests that these communities favored locations that were defensible and provided easy access to fertile land for agriculture and forests for hunting and gathering.

Houses were primarily built using locally available materials such as wood, clay, and thatch. The architecture was simple, usually consisting of one or two-room rectangular structures. The construction techniques varied but often included wattle and daub walls supported by timber frames.

Economy and Subsistence:

The economy of the Ferrières culture was predominantly agro-pastoral. Agriculture played a central role, with communities cultivating cereal crops such as wheat and barley and legumes like peas and lentils. The introduction of new plant species and agricultural tools during this time led to increased productivity and allowed communities to support larger populations.

Animal husbandry complemented crop farming, with sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs being the primary domesticated species. The exploitation of domesticated animals provided meat, milk, wool, and hides. Additionally, hunting and fishing supplemented the diet, indicating a diverse and balanced subsistence strategy.

Crafts and Material Culture:

The Ferrières culture is distinguished by its pottery, which features distinctive stylistic elements such as decorative motifs and specific manufacturing techniques. Pottery was primarily handmade and often decorated with incised or impressed patterns, reflecting both functional and aesthetic purposes.

Other crafts included stone tool production, with a focus on flint and obsidian tools such as arrowheads, scrapers, and axes. The use of polished stone axes was prevalent, serving both practical and symbolic roles in society.

Evidence of textile production is also apparent, as spindle whorls and loom weights have been found at several sites, suggesting that weaving was an important activity.

Social Organization and Beliefs:

Social organization during the Ferrières period likely revolved around extended family units or small kin groups. There is limited evidence for pronounced social stratification, but the presence of communal construction projects like storage facilities and defensive structures implies some level of coordinated communal efforts and possibly hierarchical leadership.

Ritual and beliefs during this era are partially understood through burial practices and megalithic structures. Burial sites reveal a variety of practices, from individual inhumations to collective burials in megalithic tombs, suggesting complex ritualistic beliefs about death and the afterlife. Items found in graves, such as pottery, tools, and ornaments, also provide insight into their spiritual world.

Trade and Interaction:

The location of Mas Rouge near the Mediterranean facilitated trade and interaction with other Neolithic cultures across Europe. Trade networks extended across the continent, bringing in raw materials such as amber from the Baltic and obsidian from the Mediterranean islands. These exchanges not only involved material goods but also the transmission of technological innovations and cultural ideas.

In conclusion, the Late Neolithic Ferrières culture, exemplified by the site at Mas Rouge, was a dynamic society characterized by significant advancements in agriculture, craftsmanship, and social organization. This culture's contributions to the Neolithic tapestry of Europe highlight the complex interactions between communities and their environments, paving the way for subsequent developments in prehistoric French history.

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Ancient genetic admixture analysis compares the DNA profile of this individual (MAS15) with present-day reference populations. These results show what percentage of the individual's genetic makeup resembles ancient populations from different geographic regions.

Modern genetic admixture analysis compares the DNA profile of this individual (MAS15) with present-day reference populations. These results show what percentage of the individual's genetic makeup resembles modern populations from different geographic regions.

These results complement the ancient ancestry components shown in the previous section, offering a different perspective on the individual's genetic profile by comparing it with modern reference populations rather than prehistoric ancestral groups.

The G25 coordinates for the sample MAS15 are as follows. You can analyze its admixture using G25 Studio.

Heterogeneous Hunter-Gatherer and Steppe-Related Ancestries in Late Neolithic and Bell Beaker Genomes from Present-Day France