Going Over: The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in North-West Europe

Going Over: The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in North-West Europe PDF Author: Alasdair Whittle
Publisher: British Academy
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 656

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Book Description
"This wide-ranging collection of essays covers the transformation from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers. This comprehensive and authoritative treatment provides the best available overview of this fundamental change in human society."--BOOK JACKET.

Going Over: The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in North-West Europe

Going Over: The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in North-West Europe PDF Author: Alasdair Whittle
Publisher: British Academy
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 656

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Book Description
"This wide-ranging collection of essays covers the transformation from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers. This comprehensive and authoritative treatment provides the best available overview of this fundamental change in human society."--BOOK JACKET.

(Un)settling the Neolithic

(Un)settling the Neolithic PDF Author: Douglass Whitfield Bailey
Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
"(Un)settling the Neolithic is a radical redirection in the study of the central and east European Neolithic (6500-3500 cal BC). Attacking the essentialisms of traditional approaches to the period, the volume pushes forward with new thinking about how best to understand human existence at this time in a critical region. Containing major statements by the key authorities on the topic, (un)settling the Neolithic challenges scholars, students, excavators and teachers to think again about the fundamental conceptions with which the Neolithic has been defined since the origins of its academic study."--BOOK JACKET.

In Dialogue

In Dialogue PDF Author: Jolene Debert
Publisher: British Archaeological Reports Oxford Limited
ISBN: 9781407314785
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 93

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Book Description
This book developed from discussions following the 2012 In Dialogue: Tradition and Interaction in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition conference held in Manchester, UK. This conference provided a forum to compare not only the processes through which material innovations were adopted and elaborated during the Early Neolithic, but also the ways in which these processes have been understood and represented within the respective archaeological research traditions. The book examines the developments that followed the introduction of farming into Britain and Southern Scandinavia (Denmark and Southern Sweden). Contributors to the volume discuss the idiosyncratic social and cultural patterns that emerged at this pivotal period. An overarching narrative is woven by scholars from both regions who seamlessly integrate material culture, dwelling practices, controversial theory and ritual activities into a detailed image of the changing world of the early Neolithic in North-West Europe. Through a theoretically informed approach, the relationship between material culture, subsistence regimes, monumentality, ceremonial activity and social relations is explored. The process in which people became 'Neolithic' is complex and required changes not just in subsistence but in every facet of their lives; this is what this book wishes to investigate. By leaving the traditional colonization and adoption debate for a more nuanced approached, an intricate cultural tapestry can be woven. From their organisation of the landscape to their place in the world, things were fundamentally altered: this is where the authors of this book focus their attention. This is a regionally focused, theoretically and methodologically complementary set of papers by specialists who offer a comprehensive and authoritative overview of different aspects of this fundamental transition. With contributions by Anna-Karin Andersson, Jolene Debert, Irene Garcia-Rovira, Frances Healy, Sven Isaksson, Lutz Klassen, Mats Larsson, Anders Lindahl, Ellen McInnes, Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay, T. Douglas Price, Ole Stilborg and Julian Thomas.

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe PDF Author: Chris Fowler
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191666890
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1303

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Book Description
The Neolithic --a period in which the first sedentary agrarian communities were established across much of Europe--has been a key topic of archaeological research for over a century. However, the variety of evidence across Europe, the range of languages in which research is carried out, and the way research traditions in different countries have developed makes it very difficult for both students and specialists to gain an overview of continent-wide trends. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe provides the first comprehensive, geographically extensive, thematic overview of the European Neolithic --from Iberia to Russia and from Norway to Malta --offering both a general introduction and a clear exploration of key issues and current debates surrounding evidence and interpretation. Chapters written by leading experts in the field examine topics such as the movement of plants, animals, ideas, and people (including recent trends in the application of genetics and isotope analyses); cultural change (from the first appearance of farming to the first metal artefacts); domestic architecture; subsistence; material culture; monuments; and burial and other treatments of the dead. In doing so, the volume also considers the history of research and sets out agendas and themes for future work in the field.

The Neolithic Demographic Transition and its Consequences

The Neolithic Demographic Transition and its Consequences PDF Author: Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402085397
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 540

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Book Description
The transition from hunting and gathering to farming – the Neolithic Revolution – was one of the most signi cant cultural processes in human history that forever changed the face of humanity. Natu an communities (15,100–12,000Cal BP) (all dates in this chapter are calibrated before present) planted the seeds of change, and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) (ca. 12,000–ca. 8,350Cal BP) people, were the rst to establish farming communities. The revolution was not fully realized until quite late in the PPN and later in the Pottery Neolithic (PN) period. We would like to ask some questions and comment on a few aspects emphas- ing the linkage between biological and cultural developments during the Neolithic Revolution. The biological issues addressed in this chapter are as follows: × Is there a demographic change from the Natu an to the Neolithic? × Is there a change in the overall health of the Neolithic populations compared to the Natu an? × Is there a change in the diet and how is it expressed? × Is there a change in the physical burden/stress people had to bear with? × Is there a change in intra- and inter-community rates of violent encounters? From the cultural perspective the leading questions will be: × What was the change in the economy and when was it fully realized? × Is there a change in settlement patterns and site nature and organization from Natu an to Neolithic? × Is there a change in human activities and division of labor?

By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean

By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean PDF Author: Barry W. Cunliffe
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199689172
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 541

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Book Description
The story of the peoples of Eurasia, from the birth of farming to the expansion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century. An immense historical panorama set on a huge continental stage, this is also the story of how humans first started building the global system we know today.

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe PDF Author: Chris Fowler
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191666882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1201

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Book Description
The Neolithic —a period in which the first sedentary agrarian communities were established across much of Europe—has been a key topic of archaeological research for over a century. However, the variety of evidence across Europe, the range of languages in which research is carried out, and the way research traditions in different countries have developed makes it very difficult for both students and specialists to gain an overview of continent-wide trends. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe provides the first comprehensive, geographically extensive, thematic overview of the European Neolithic —from Iberia to Russia and from Norway to Malta —offering both a general introduction and a clear exploration of key issues and current debates surrounding evidence and interpretation. Chapters written by leading experts in the field examine topics such as the movement of plants, animals, ideas, and people (including recent trends in the application of genetics and isotope analyses); cultural change (from the first appearance of farming to the first metal artefacts); domestic architecture; subsistence; material culture; monuments; and burial and other treatments of the dead. In doing so, the volume also considers the history of research and sets out agendas and themes for future work in the field.

Persistent Traditions

Persistent Traditions PDF Author: Luc W.S.W. Amkreutz
Publisher: Sidestone Press
ISBN: 9088902038
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description
The adoption of agriculture is one of the major developments in human history. Archaeological studies have demonstrated that the trajectories of Neolithisation in Northwest Europe were diverse. This book presents a study into the archaeology of the communities involved in the process of Neolithisation in the Lower Rhine Area (5500-2500 cal BC). It elucidates the role played by the indigenous communities in relation to their environmental context and in view of the changes that becoming Neolithic brought about. This work brings together a comprehensive array of excavated archaeological sites in the Lower Rhine Area. Their analysis shows that the succession of Late Mesolithic, Swifterbant culture, Hazendonk group and Vlaardingen culture societies represents a continuous long-term tradition of inhabitation of the wetlands and wetland margins of this area, forming a culturally continuous record of communities in the transition to agriculture. After demonstrating the diversity of the Mesolithic, the subsequent developments regarding Neolithisation are studied from an indigenous perspective. Foregrounding the relationship between local communities and the dynamic wetland landscape, the study shows that the archaeological evidence of regional inhabitation points to long-term flexible behaviour and pragmatic decisions being made concerning livelihood, food economy and mobility. This disposition also influenced how the novel elements of Neolithisation were incorporated. Animal husbandry, crop cultivation and sedentism were an addition to the existing broad spectrum economy but were incorporated within a set of integrative strategies. For the interpretation of Neolithisation this study offers a complementary approach to existing research. Instead of arguing for a short transition based on the economic importance of domesticates and cultigens at sites, this study emphasises the persistent traditions of the communities involved. New elements, instead of bringing about radical changes, are shown to be attuned to existing hunter-gatherer practices. By documenting indications of the mentalité of the inhabitants of the wetlands, it is demonstrated that their mindset remained essentially ‘Mesolithic’ for millennia. This book is accompanied by a separate 422 page volume containing the appendices. These constitute a comprehensive inventory of 159, mostly excavated archaeological sites in the Lower Rhine Area.

The First Farmers of Europe

The First Farmers of Europe PDF Author: Stephen Shennan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108397301
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Knowledge of the origin and spread of farming has been revolutionised in recent years by the application of new scientific techniques, especially the analysis of ancient DNA from human genomes. In this book, Stephen Shennan presents the latest research on the spread of farming by archaeologists, geneticists and other archaeological scientists. He shows that it resulted from a population expansion from present-day Turkey. Using ideas from the disciplines of human behavioural ecology and cultural evolution, he explains how this process took place. The expansion was not the result of 'population pressure' but of the opportunities for increased fertility by colonising new regions that farming offered. The knowledge and resources for the farming 'niche' were passed on from parents to their children. However, Shennan demonstrates that the demographic patterns associated with the spread of farming resulted in population booms and busts, not continuous expansion.

Ritual and Domestic Life in Prehistoric Europe

Ritual and Domestic Life in Prehistoric Europe PDF Author: Richard Bradley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134282567
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
This fascinating study explores how our prehistoric ancestors developed rituals from everyday life and domestic activities. Richard Bradley contends that for much of the prehistoric period, ritual was not a distinct sphere of activity. Rather it was the way in which different features of the domestic world were played out until they took on qualities of theatrical performance. With extensive illustrated case-studies, this book examines farming, craft production and the occupation of houses, all of which were ritualized in prehistoric Europe. Successive chapters discuss the ways in which ritual has been studied, drawing on a series of examples that range from Greece to Norway and from Romania to Portugal. They consider practices that extend from the Mesolithic period to the Early Middle Ages and discuss the ways in which ritual and domestic life were intertwined.