CENTRAL EUROPEAN CRISIS, CULTURE HETEROGENIZATION AND MIGRATIONS FROM THE STEPPES IN NEOLITHIC
Aim. To show the symptoms of the socio-economic crisis in Central Europe (2nd part of the 4th millennium BC) and the accompanying cultural mechanisms. Methodology. The author uses the tools of the globalization theory (network connectivity etc.) and the theory of culture (hetreogenization, hybridization etc.) to analyze the effects of a long-term crisis. Results. Attention was drawn to the probable correlation of the crisis and the accompanying cultural changes with the increasing migrations from the steppes and their positive impact on deep cultural changes, i. e. the formation of the Corded Ware Culture. Research implications. The described situation finds structural analogies in late antiquity (the fall of Rome in the conditions of the growing strength of early Christian network communities) and today according to Oswald Spengler’s idea of the fall of the West (Untergand des Abendlandes).