ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a specific aspect of the economy: the cereals grown during the early and middle Neolithic in a very restricted area, that is, the loess area in the southeastern part of the Netherlands. Some researchers consider that Neolithic farmers were continually struggling with nature; impoverished soils, encroaching weeds and worsening climates were their lot. The first farmers belonged to the Linearbandkeramik culture. Farmers moved into the area again around 4650 cal BC and belong to the Rossen culture, a tradition with strong roots in the Linearbandkeramik. The chapter ends with their successors, who were the bearers of the Michelsberg culture, which lasted from 4400-3800 cal BC. It concludes that the farmers of the Rossen culture chose a completely different location in which to live and grow their crops. The cereal crop of the Linearbandkeramik culture, phases I and II consists of a mixture of emmer and einkorn.
