Neolithisation
The Neolithic transition to agriculture and livestock farming was the most significant development in human history.
Known as neolithisation, this process began in the Middle East and the Indus Valley, where favourable environmental conditions prevailed and the native flora and fauna included wild grains, sheep and goats.
The farmers reached Central Europe via Southeast Europe and bred with the hunters and gatherers.
Linear Pottery culture
The first farming culture to become established in Central and Western Europe was Linear Pottery culture, which reached the Saar-Moselle region around 5500 BC.
The farmers cleared forests to make space for crops and settlements, tamed wild animals such as pigs and cows, and cultivated wild plants like emmer wheat and barley.
The need to store supplies gave rise to the first pottery, and the new practices of agriculture and housekeeping called for suitable tools and implements.
Adzes, pickaxes and sickles were employed in fieldwork, and grindstones and hammerstones were used to grind grains, which were then baked in ovens to make bread.
Spindle whorls provide evidence of the working of fibres and cloth.
The dead were cremated or buried in a crouching position.
Jewellery, food and personal items were interred with the deceased to accompany them on their journey into the afterlife.
Early farmers in the Saarland
There is only a small presence of Linear Pottery culture in the Saarland, however.
Finds from other cultures that existed during the same period are also rare.
However, shards and a settlement from the later Rössen culture have been found near the Sehndorf section of Perl.