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Since its development in 1949, radiocarbon dating has increasingly been used in prehistoric research in order to get a better grip on the chronology of sites, cultures and environmental changes. Refinement of the dating, sampling and calibration methods has continuously created new and challenging perspectives for absolute dating. In these proceedings the focus lies on the contribution of carbon-14 dates in current Mesolithic research in North-West Europe. Altogether 40 papers dealing with radiocarbon dates from 15 different countries are presented. Major themes are the typo-technological evolution of lithic and bone industries, changes in settlement patterns, burial practices, demography and subsistence, human impact on the Mesolithic environment and the neolithisation process. Some papers also deal with more methodological aspects of carbon-14 dating (e.g. calculation of various reservoir effects, the use of cumulative calibrated probability distributions), and related techniques (e.g. stable isotope analysis for palaeodiet reconstruction).
The prehistories of Britain and Ireland are inescapably entwined with continental European narratives. The central aim here is to explore Ôcross-channelÕ relationships throughout later prehistory, investigating the archaeological links (material, social, cultural) between the areas we now call Britain and Ireland, and continental Europe, from the Mesolithic through to the end of the Iron Age. Since the separation from the European mainland of Ireland (c. 16,000 BC) and Britain (c. 6000 BC), their island nature has been seen as central to many aspects of life within them, helping to define their senses of identity, and forming a crucial part of their neighbourly relationship with continental Europe and with each other. However, it is important to remember that the surrounding seaways have often served to connect as well as to separate these islands from the continent. In approaching the subject of Ôcontinental connectionsÕ in the long-term, and by bringing a variety of different archaeological perspectives (associated with different periods) to bear on it, this volume provides a new a new synthesis of the ebbs and flows of the cross-channel relationship over the course of 15,000 years of later prehistory, enabling fresh understandings and new insights to emerge about the intimately linked trajectories of change in both regions.
The Later Prehistory of North-West Europe provides a unique, up-to-date, and easily accessible synthesis of the later prehistoric archaeology of north-west Europe, transcending political and language barriers that can hinder understanding. By surveying changes in social forms, landscape organization, monument types, and ritual practices over six millennia, the volume reassesses the prehistory of north-west Europe from the late Mesolithic to the end of the pre-Roman Iron Age. It explores how far common patterns of social development are apparent across north-west Europe, and whether there were periods when local differences were emphasized instead. In relation to this, it also examines changes through time in the main axes of contact between the various regions of continental Europe, Britain, and Ireland. Key to the volume's broad scope is its focus on the vast mass of new evidence provided by recent development-led excavations. The authors collate data that has been gathered on thousands of sites across Britain, Ireland, northern France, the Low Countries, western Germany, and Denmark, using sources including unpublished 'grey literature' reports. The results challenge many aspects of previous narratives of later prehistory, allowing the volume to present a distinctively fresh perspective.
Dedicated to Martin Bell (University of Reading), this book outlines how wetland and inland environments can be related and investigated using multi-method approaches. Papers fall under three themes: coastal and intertidal archaeology; mobility and human-environment relationships; heritage resource management, nature conservation and rewilding.
This first volume of Star Carr provides an interpretation of the Star Carr site, one of the most important Mesolithic sites in Europe. Discovered in the late 1940s by John Moore and then excavated by Grahame Clark from 1949-1951, the site is famous in the archaeological world for its wealth of rare organic remains, including significant wooden artefacts. However, since the original excavations there has been much debate about how the site was used: was it a residential base camp, a hunting camp or even a ritual site? The 2003-2015 excavations directed by Conneller, Milner and Taylor aimed to answer these questions. In use for around 800 years, the Star Carr site is much larger and more complex than ever imagined. The excavations show that Mesolithic groups were highly invested in this place and continued to occupy the site despite changes in climate. The findings include the oldest evidence for ‘houses’ in Britain, large wooden platforms along the edge of the lake, antler headdresses and a unique, engraved shale pendant which represents the earliest form of Mesolithic art in Britain. There is evidence for activity areas, such as crafts and tool repair associated with structures, an axe factory, as well as a number of caches. New finds of antler frontlets have increased our understanding of the diversity of human interactions with animals. “If these do not get a gong, something will have to be done about archaeology book awards.” Mike Pitts, British Archaeology Despite the degradation, these excavations have provided a new understanding of life in the Early Mesolithic, particularly enhancing our understanding of how important wood (a material rarely recovered) was for Mesolithic people. The findings challenge many of the preconceived views of this period in terms of the character and scale of activity and the degree of investment in a particular place in the landscape.
Europe’s Lost Frontiers was the largest directed archaeological research project in Europe, investigating the inundated landscapes of the Early Holocene North Sea – often referred to as ‘Doggerland’. The first in a series of monographs presenting the results of the project, this book provides the context of the study and method statements.
Rock Art and the Wild Mind presents a study of Mesolithic rock art on the Scandinavian peninsula, including the large rock art sites in Alta, Nämforsen and Vingen. Hunters’ rock art of this area, despite local styles, bears a strong commonality in what it depicts, most often terrestrial big game in diverse confrontations with the human realm. The various types of compositions are defined as visual thematizations of the enigmatic relationship between humans and big game animals. These thematizations, here defined as motemes, are explained as being products of the Mesolithic mind ‘in action’, observed through repetitions, variations and transformations of a number of defined motemes. Through a transformational logic, the transition from ‘animic’ to ‘totemic’ rock art is observed. Totemic rock art reaches a peak during the final stages of the Late Mesolithic, and it is suggested that this can be interpreted as representing an increasing focus on human society towards the end of this era. The move from animism to totemism is explained as being part of the overall social development on the Scandinavian peninsula. This book will be of interest to students of rock art generally and scholars working on the historical developments of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in northern Europe. It will also appeal to students and academics in the fields of art history and aesthetics and to those interested in the work of Lévi-Strauss.
Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review remains one of the most cited sources in marine science and oceanography. The ever-increasing interest in work in oceanography and marine biology and its relevance to global environmental issues, especially global climate change and its impacts, creates a demand for authoritative refereed reviews summarizing and synthesizing the results of both historical and recent research. This Volume celebrates 60 years of OMBAR, over which time it has been an essential reference for research workers and students in all fields of marine science. The peer-reviewed contributions in Volume 60 are available to read Open Access via this webpage and on OAPEN. If you are interested in submitting a review for consideration for publication in OMBAR, please email the Editor-in-Chief, Stephen Hawkins ([email protected]) for Volume 61. For Volume 62 onwards, please email the new co-Editors in Chief, Dr Peter Todd ([email protected]) and Dr Bayden Russell ([email protected]). Volume 60 features an editorial on the UN Decade of Ocean Science and goes on to consider such diverse topics as Cenozoic tropical marine biodiversity, blue carbon ecosystems in Sri Lanka, marine litter and microplastics in the Western Indian Ocean, and the ecology and conservation status of the family Syngnathidae in southern and western Africa. This volume also contains a retrospective Prologue on the evolution of OMBAR and pays tribute to one of its early Editors in Chief, Margaret Barnes, by providing an update on her review in OMBAR of the stalked barnacle Pollicipes. Supplementary online videos as well as additional Tables and Appendices are available on the Support Tab of the book's Routledge webpage. An international Editorial Board ensures global relevance and expert peer review, with editors from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore and the UK. The series volumes find a place in the libraries of not only marine laboratories and oceanographic institutes, but also universities worldwide.
In this research the stone and flint artefacts of the site Swifterbant are analysed. Attention is focussed on the Neolithic occupation phase of the prehistoric creek system (c. 4300 - 4000 cal BC) where archaeological traces were found on several levee and river dune sites. This study shows that there is a larger variability in site types than originally presumed. It is established that these sites are all part of one settlement system in which they all had a different function. This thesis comprises a monograph on the research history of the site and the different aspects of the lithic research such as typological analysis, technological attribute analysis, raw material analysis and use-wear analysis, in combination with a detailed inventory (catalogue). All this leads to new insights into the use of lithic artefacts. The importance of stone tool morphology, the selective gathering of stone tool blanks or the use of two different fl­int production sequences are but a few of these interesting aspects. Other topics concern tool function, mobility, raw material access and use, cultural markers and social identity. In combining the results from this research with that of other Swifterbant sites a better understanding of the different aspects of prehistoric stone and fl­int industries is gained.
Ireland’s First Settlers tells the story of the archaeology and history of the first continuous phase of Ireland’s human settlement. It combines centuries of search and speculation about human antiquity in Ireland with a review of what is known today about the Irish Mesolithic. This is, in part, provided in the context of the author’s 50 years of personal experience searching to make sense of what initially appeared to be little more than a collection of beach rolled and battered flint tools. The story is embedded in how the island of Ireland, its position, distinct landscape and ecology impacted on when and how Ireland was colonized. It also explores how these first settlers evolved their technologies and lifeways to suit the narrow range of abundant resources that were available. The volume concludes with discussions on how the landscape should be searched for the often ephemeral traces of these early settlers and how sites should be excavated. It asks what we really know about the thoughts and life of the people themselves and what happened to them as farming began to be introduced.