ABSTRACT
The establishment of the Neolithic economy based on agriculture and animal husbandry in the sixth millennium bc is one of the most profound changes in subsistence strategies of European prehistory. Cereal cultivation and domestic animal husbandry was first introduced in certain parts of Caucasia and the north Pontic region in the sixth and fifth millennia bc. The scientific investigation follows an integrated interdisciplinary research agenda including archaeological fieldwork, geoinformatic modelling and the application of geo- and bioarchaeological methods. Due to the mountainous environment, in which all economies including the intensive farming system of the EIA operated, a certain degree of vertical mobility both of animals and humans can be expected. Mountain economies have to react to seasonal changes in the resources and in general shift animals between summer and winter pastures (mountain nomadism) or stable them indoors in winter.
