Alasdair Whittle and Vicki Cummings (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264140
- eISBN:
- 9780191734489
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264140.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
The processes involved in the transformation of society from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers were complex. They involved changes not only in subsistence but also in how people ...
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The processes involved in the transformation of society from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers were complex. They involved changes not only in subsistence but also in how people thought about themselves and their worlds, from their pasts to their animals. Two sets of protagonists have often been lined up in the long-running debates about these processes: on the one hand incoming farmers and on the other indigenous hunter-gatherers. Both have found advocates as the dominant force in the transitions to a new way of life. North-west Europe presents a very rich data set for this fundamental change, and research has both extended and deepened our knowledge of regional sequences, from the sixth to the fourth millennia bc. One of the most striking results is the evident diversity from northern Spain to southern Scandinavia. No one region is quite like another; hunter-gatherers and early farmers alike were also varied and the old labels of Mesolithic and Neolithic are increasingly inadequate to capture the diversity of human agency and belief. Surveys of the most recent evidence presented here also strongly suggest a diversity of transformations. Some cases of colonization on the one hand and indigenous adoption on the other can still be argued, but many situations now seem to involve complex fusions and mixtures. This wide-ranging set of papers offers an overview of this fundamental transition.Less
The processes involved in the transformation of society from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers were complex. They involved changes not only in subsistence but also in how people thought about themselves and their worlds, from their pasts to their animals. Two sets of protagonists have often been lined up in the long-running debates about these processes: on the one hand incoming farmers and on the other indigenous hunter-gatherers. Both have found advocates as the dominant force in the transitions to a new way of life. North-west Europe presents a very rich data set for this fundamental change, and research has both extended and deepened our knowledge of regional sequences, from the sixth to the fourth millennia bc. One of the most striking results is the evident diversity from northern Spain to southern Scandinavia. No one region is quite like another; hunter-gatherers and early farmers alike were also varied and the old labels of Mesolithic and Neolithic are increasingly inadequate to capture the diversity of human agency and belief. Surveys of the most recent evidence presented here also strongly suggest a diversity of transformations. Some cases of colonization on the one hand and indigenous adoption on the other can still be argued, but many situations now seem to involve complex fusions and mixtures. This wide-ranging set of papers offers an overview of this fundamental transition.
Rick J. Schulting and Linda Fibiger
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265758
- eISBN:
- 9780191771965
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265758.003.0015
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
This chapter presents the (re-)analysis of Neolithic cranial remains from southern Scandinavia and Britain and Ireland, offering a large, population-based inter-regional study of violence and ...
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This chapter presents the (re-)analysis of Neolithic cranial remains from southern Scandinavia and Britain and Ireland, offering a large, population-based inter-regional study of violence and challenging the perception that this was a ‘peaceful’ period. The authors discuss the state and location of injuries, as well as the demography of those affected, taking into consideration the probability of the accidental or non-accidental injuries and addressing the confounding factors of differential preservation. Their results show some general similarities in the prevalence and types of injuries between the two study regions. The majority of injuries recorded are minor and healed, in contrast to the well known mass-fatality sites of the Early Neolithic. While numerous examples of unhealed injuries are observed in the study area, they generally lack the focal context that would indicate massacre sites. Both types of injury have important implications for our understanding of violent interaction and conflict in Neolithic society.Less
This chapter presents the (re-)analysis of Neolithic cranial remains from southern Scandinavia and Britain and Ireland, offering a large, population-based inter-regional study of violence and challenging the perception that this was a ‘peaceful’ period. The authors discuss the state and location of injuries, as well as the demography of those affected, taking into consideration the probability of the accidental or non-accidental injuries and addressing the confounding factors of differential preservation. Their results show some general similarities in the prevalence and types of injuries between the two study regions. The majority of injuries recorded are minor and healed, in contrast to the well known mass-fatality sites of the Early Neolithic. While numerous examples of unhealed injuries are observed in the study area, they generally lack the focal context that would indicate massacre sites. Both types of injury have important implications for our understanding of violent interaction and conflict in Neolithic society.
