Gradual climatic warming and increased humidity gave rise to fundamental changes
in the natural environment. In the European Lowlands this period (known as the
Mesolithic) witnessed the expansion of mixed woodland, rich in numerous varieties
of edible plants and game animals similar to contemporary species. The widespread
availability of food resources ensured the survival of increasingly larger groups
of people, whose main subsistence strategies were foraging, hunting, fowling
and fishing [
01], [
02],
[
03], [
04]. New environmental
conditions dictated changes in the way of life and organisation of human societies.
Instead of seasonal hunts in large groups, which involved travelling over substantial
distances, hunting was now carried out in the local surroundings by smaller groups
or individuals. This led to a more stable and settled existence and meant that
human communities grew used to living in a given territory. Mesolithic populations,
limited numbers of whom reached Greater Poland from the north and west, preferred
to build their settlements in topographically diverse areas with a good network
of watercourses. It is from the Mesolithic period that we have the earliest evidence
in this region for ritual burials, which attest to an elaborate death cult and
belief in the afterlife.
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