New discoveries made in early Neolithic Vashtemi farming site

TIRANA, May 8 – New important archeological excavations have shed more light on the early Neolithic site Vasht쮩, located in the district of Korca, southeastern Albania, and considered one of Europe’s earliest farming sites. A joint Albanian-United States expedition has recently discovered stone-made tools and ceramic pots unveiling more about the life of the community there 8,500 year ago, local media report.
The findings show that Vasht쮩, located in Korca, southeastern Albania, was occupied around 6,500 BC, making it one of the earliest farming sites in Europe. The location of early sites such as Vasht쮩 near wetland edges suggests that the earliest farmers in Europe preferentially selected such resource-rich settings to establish pioneer farming villages.
During this earliest phase of farming in Europe, farming was on a small scale and employed plant and animal domesticates from the Near East. At Vasht쮩, the researchers have found cereal-based agriculture including emmer, einkorn and barley; animals such as pigs, cattle and sheep or goats (the two are hard to tell apart for many bones of the skeleton); and deer, wild pig, rabbit, turtle, several species of fish and eels. What seems evident is that the earliest farmers in the region cast a wide net for food resources, rather than relying primarily on crops and domesticated animals, as is widely assumed. The discovery of one of the oldest farming communities in Europe that used domesticated animals was reported by Susan Allen, a professor in the University of Cincinnati (UC) Department of Anthropology and Ilirjan Gjipali of the Albanian Institute of Archaeology at the UC web site in April, 2012.
Framing was in its infancy at the time and was not considered a primary factor in the choice of the site as a home by Early Neolithic Albanians but the wetland nature of the area actually improved the capabilities of these first European farmers.