The Mesolithic in Britain: Landscape and Society in Times of Change

Description

The Mesolithic in Britain proposes a new division of the Mesolithic period into four parts, each with its distinct character. The Mesolithic has previously been seen as timeless, where little changed over thousands of years. This new synthesis draws on advances in scientific dating to understand the Mesolithic inhabitation of Britain as a historical process. The period was, in fact, a time of profound change: houses, monuments, middens, long-term use of sites and regions, manipulation of the environment and the symbolic deposition of human and animal remains all emerged as significant practices in Britain for the first time. The book describes the lives of the first pioneers in the Early Mesolithic; the emergence of new modes of inhabitation in the Middle Mesolithic; the regionally diverse settlement of the Late Mesolithic; and the radical changes of the final millennium of the period. The first synthesis of Mesolithic Britain since 1932, it takes both a chronological and a regional approach. This book will serve as an essential text for anyone studying the period: undergraduate and graduate students, specialists in the field and community archaeology groups. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Figures Tables Acknowledgements 1. Hunting and gathering time: Chronological frameworks and key themes Typological chronologies Understanding variability: The Early Mesolithic Understanding variability: The Late Mesolithic But what about Scotland? Environmental frameworks Radiometric chronologies for the Mesolithic Towards a new synthesis Conclusions: Mesolithic histories 2. Pioneers in the north: Preboreal and Early Boreal settlement, 9500-8200 BC Pioneers in a new land 9300 BC: Colonisation of the north Sar Carr and the Vale of Pickering Star Carr: A history Star Carr in context Seamer K Seamer C Lake Flixton: Smaller sites Star Carr and the Vale of Pickering Beyond Star Carr: Pioneers in Northern Britain Star Carr in Scotland? Holderness The North York Moors The Pennines Star Carr settlement in Northern England 8500 BC: Deepcar groups in the north Little Holtby and the occupation of the Vale of Mowbray From the Wolds... ...to the Pennines Northwest England North Wales 3. The Early Mesolithic colonisation of the South: Deepcar and the Early Boreal Mesolithic 9300-8200 BC East Anglia Riverlands: The Thames and its tributaries The Lea The Broxbourne complex Above the rivers: A Mesolithic site at West Heath Hampstead The Colne Valley Three Ways Wharf Settlement on the Lea and Colne The Kennet Valley Thatcham Reedbeds Newbury Sewage Works Thatcham I-V Thatcham IV and V Thatcham II East of Thatcham West of Thatcham Greenham Dairy Farm/Faraday Rd Victoria Park The Upper Kennet Marsh Benham Mesolithic settlement in the Kennet Valley South of the Thames The early occupation of the Greensand Southwestern Britain The Palaeo-Solent and its tributaries Southwest England The Bay of the Dead Aveline's Hole, Burrington Combe Gough's Cave, Cheddar Badger Hole, Wookey No.1 Sand Quarry Greylake, Middlezoy Worm's Head Cave, Gower Early Mesolithic settlement in Southern Wales Nab Head I Daylight Rock Life and death in Southwestern Britain 4. A new way of living: Pits, hazelnuts, places and the ancestors in the Middle Mesolithic, 8200-7000 BC Landscape and environment: Life in the woods From the Tees to the Tay: The coast of Northeast England and Southeast Scotland Northeast Scotland: The pits of the Dee Southeast Scotland Northumberland and County Durham Early settlers of Western Scotland The Pennines North Wales Defining a Middle Mesolithic in Southern Britain: Basally modified point assemblages The midlands and Honey Hill points Southern England: Defining Horsham assemblages Settlment in Southeastern England A tale of two sites: Longmoor I and Kettlebury 103 The Middle Mesolithic in the southwest Narrow geometric microliths in the south and west Broom Hill, Braishfield, Hampshire Dealing with the dead in the Middle Mesolithic The dead of Caldey 5. The forgotten people: The Late Mesolithic, 7000-5000 BC Vegetation and climate Northeast Britain Along the rivers Into the uplands And down to the sea: Coasts and estuaries Western Scotland The people at the end of the world Settlement on Skye, Raasay and the Inner Sound The west coast and the western Isles Jura Islay On Colonsay Coll, Mull and Arran The Western borders: Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway and Cumbria Northern England and the Midlands The Mesolithic of the Pennines Lowland Northern England North Wales The Thames and its tributaries The Lea The Colne The Kennet South of the rivers Wealden Rockshelters Drowned valleys, lost landscapes The Southwest: Middens and springs Blick Mead Southwest Shell-middens Uplands, coasts and estuaries in the southwest South Wales Mortuary practises in Southwestern Britain 6. The last hunters: The Final Mesolithic, 5000-4000 BC Sea-level rise and vegetation change in the fifth millennium Northeast Britain Eastern middens The whale hunters Western Scotland On Oronsay Colonsay and Islay Southwest Scotland/Northwest England The end of the Mesolithic in the uplands of Northern England: The Pennines and North York Moors The last hunters in the uplands North Wales The Midlands The Thames and its tributaries South of the rivers The Southwest South Wales Neolithic epilogue References Index