Download or read book Mesolithic Studies at the Beginning of the 21st Century written by Nicky Milner and published by Oxbow Books Limited. This book was released on 2005 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term 'Mesolithic' was born in the nineteenth century from the need to label a 'hiatus' period and was not generally accepted as a useful term by many scholars until around fifty years later. It has been championed by some, but still concerns others because of the difficulty of defining what it represents. This volume highlights the enthusiasm for Mesolithic studies in the 21st century and the feeling that there is a need to explore the many facets of Mesolithic lifeways. Approaches are now moving away from the traditional Mesolithic canon that seems to have been based on a particular set of biological and/or ecological perspectives and are now looking for new directions and new theoretical arenas which can only help stimulate Mesolithic debate. The papers in this volume take a range of approaches to a period that has largely been devoid of explicit theoretical discussion. They deconstruct and explore a broad variety of subjects, including mobility, complexity, seasonality, death & burial, gender & sexuality, social relations, music, human agency, ethnoarchaeology and emotion.
Download or read book Chronology and Evolution within the Mesolithic of North West Europe written by Philippe Crombé and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-12 with total page 847 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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).
Download or read book Mapping Doggerland The Mesolithic Landscapes of the Southern North Sea written by Vincent Gaffney and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2007-12-12 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mapping Doggerland documents the methodology and results of an innovative project to investigate a large area of the Southern North Sea, submerged during the last Glacial Maximum between 10,000 and 7500 bp.
Download or read book Coastal Landscapes of the Mesolithic written by Almut Schülke and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-06 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coastal Landscapes of the Mesolithic: Human Engagement with the Coast from the Atlantic to the Baltic Sea explores the character and significance of coastal landscapes in the Mesolithic – on different scales and with various theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches. Mesolithic people were strongly connected to the sea, with coastal areas vital for subsistence and communication across the water. This anthology includes case studies from Scandinavia, western Europe and the Baltic area, presented by key international researchers. Topics addressed include large-scale analyses of the archaeological and geological development of coastal areas, the exploration of coastal environments with interdisciplinary methods, the discussion of the character of coastal settlements and of their possible networks, social and economic practices along the coast, as well as perceptions and cosmological aspects of coastal areas. Together, these topics and approaches contribute in an innovative way to the understanding of the complexity of topographically changing coastal areas as both border zones between land and sea and as connecting landscapes. Providing novel insights into the study of the Mesolithic as well as coastal areas and landscapes in general, the book is an important resource for researchers of the Mesolithic and coastal archaeology.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter gatherers written by Vicki Cummings and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 1361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive review of hunter-gatherer studies, undertaking detailed regional and thematic case-studies that span the archaeology, history and anthropology of hunter gatherers, concluding with an in-depth review of the main opportunities, research questions, and moral obligations that lie ahead.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Sensory Archaeology written by Robin Skeates and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-10-28 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edited by two pioneers in the field of sensory archaeology, this Handbook comprises a key point of reference for the ever-expanding field of sensory archaeology: one that surpasses previous books in this field, both in scope and critical intent. This Handbook provides an extensive set of specially commissioned chapters, each of which summarizes and critically reflects on progress made in this dynamic field during the early years of the twenty-first century. The authors identify and discuss the key current concepts and debates of sensory archaeology, providing overviews and commentaries on its methods and its place in interdisciplinary sensual culture studies. Through a set of thematic studies, they explore diverse sensorial practices, contexts and materials, and offer a selection of archaeological case-studies from different parts of the world. In the light of this, the research methods now being brought into the service of sensory archaeology are re-examined. Of interest to scholars, students and others with an interest in archaeology around the world, this book will be invaluable to archaeologists and is also of relevance to scholars working in disciplines contributing to sensory studies: aesthetics, anthropology, architecture, art history, communication studies, history (including history of science), geography, literary and cultural studies, material culture studies, museology, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.
Download or read book The Anthropology of Hunter Gatherers written by Vicki Cummings and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-13 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a basic introduction to key debates in the study of hunter-gatherers, specifically from an anthropological perspective, but designed for an archaeological audience. Hunter-gatherers have been the focus of intense anthropological research and discussion over the last hundred years, and as such there is an enormous literature on communities all over the world. Yet, among the diverse range of peoples studied, there are a number of recurrent themes, including not only the way in which people make a living (hunting, gathering and fishing) but also striking similarities in other areas of life such as belief systems and social organisation. These themes are described and then explored through archaeological case-studies. The overarching theme throughout the volume is the use of ethnographic analogy, and how archaeologists should be critical in its use.
Download or read book The early prehistory in the west of Ireland Investigations into the social archaeology of the Mesolithic west of the Shannon Ireland written by and published by Killian Driscoll. This book was released on with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book From Bann Flakes to Bushmills written by Nyree Finlay and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2009-06-01 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of papers is dedicated to Peter Woodman in celebration of his contribution to archaeology, providing a glimpse of the many ways in which he has touched the lives of so many. The twenty-one contributions cover many aspects of predominantly Mesolithic archaeology in Ireland, mainland Britain and North-west Europe, reflecting the range and breadth of Peters own interests and the international esteem in which his work is held. His particular interest in antiquarians and the material they collected began early in his career and Part 1 presents papers which deal with artefacts and finds by antiquarians. Part 2 is concerned with papers on fieldwork projects, both new sites and sites which have been re-investigated, predominantly focusing on the Mesolithic period. Part 3 presents papers on the theme of people and animals, particularly the topic of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition from different angles.
Download or read book Life and Death in the Mesolithic of Sweden written by Mats Larsson and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last 20 years a vast number of new and important Swedish Mesolithic sites have been excavated and published in different ways as articles, books and site reports. As yet there has been no study that tries to bring the loose ends together and so the main task of this important new work by one of Sweden’s leading prehistorians is to provide an extensive overview of some of the main sites and results. The time span is long: c. 10 000-4000 BC and the amount and choice of data very large so rather than attempt to describe everything in detail Mats Larsson focuses on a series of fundamental research perspectives concerning Mesolithic lifeways and settlement patterns and chooses key sites to illustrate them. The emphasis is on southern and middle Sweden, though the country’s northern regions are in no way forgotten. This companion piece to the author’s recent successful volume Paths Towards a New World: Neolithic in Sweden, written for a general audience is also a must for all those archaeologists interested in the Mesolithic of Northern Europe and would be students of prehistory
Download or read book The Remembered Land written by Jim Leary and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-22 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did small-scale societies in the past experience and respond to sea-level rise? What happened when their dwellings, hunting grounds and ancestral lands were lost under an advancing tide? This book asks these questions in relation to the hunter-gatherer inhabitants of a lost prehistoric land; a land that became entirely inundated and now lies beneath the North Sea. It seeks to understand how these people viewed and responded to their changing environment, suggesting that people were not struggling against nature, but simply getting on with life – with all its trials and hardships, satisfactions and pleasures, and with a multitude of choices available. At the same time, this loss of land – the loss of places and familiar locales where myths were created and identities formed – would have profoundly affected people's sense of being. This book moves beyond the static approach normally applied to environmental change in the past to capture its nuances. Through this, a richer and more complex story of past sea-level rise develops; a story that may just have resonance for us today.
Download or read book Britain Begins written by Barry Cunliffe and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the origins of the British and the Irish peoples, from the end of the last Ice Age around 10,000BC to the eve of the Norman Conquest - who they were, where they came from, and how they related to one another.
Download or read book Becoming Human written by Colin Renfrew and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-23 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume, fifteen internationally renowned scholars contribute essays that explore the relationship between symbolism, spirituality, and humanity in the prehistoric societies of Europe and traditional societies elsewhere.
Download or read book El Mesol tico en Cantabria centro oriental written by Mercedes Pérez Bartolomé and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2019-06-27 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the Mesolithic period in the central-eastern area of Cantabria (Spain) as a manifestation of sociocultural evolution and change of the societies that lived in the area between the ninth and sixth millennia cal BC, until the introduction of farming.
Download or read book Structured Worlds written by Aubrey Cannon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hunter-gatherer societies are constrained by their environment and the technologies available to them. However, until now the role of culture in foraging communities has not been widely considered. 'Structured Worlds' examines the role of cosmology, values, and perceptions in the archaeological histories of hunter-fisher-gatherers. The essays examine a range of cultures - Mesolithic Europe, Siberia, Jomon Japan, the Northwest Coast, the northern Plains, and High Arctic of North America - to show the role of conceptual frameworks in subsistence and settlement, technology, mobility, migration, demography, and social organization. Spanning from the early Holocene period to the present day, 'Structured Worlds' draws on archaeology and ethnography to explore the role of beliefs, ritual, and social values in the interaction between foragers and their physical and social landscape. Material culture, animal bones and settlement patterns show that the behaviours of hunter-gatherers were shaped as much by cultural concepts as by material need.
Download or read book The Archaeology of Caves in Ireland written by Marion Dowd and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2015-01-31 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Archaeology of Caves in Ireland is a ground-breaking and unique study of the enigmatic, unseen and dark silent world of caves. People have engaged with caves for the duration of human occupation of the island, spanning 10,000 years. In prehistory, subterranean landscapes were associated with the dead and the spirit world, with evidence for burials, funerary rituals and votive deposition. The advent of Christianity saw the adaptation of caves as homes and places of storage, yet they also continued to feature in religious practice. Medieval mythology and modern folklore indicate that caves were considered places of the supernatural, being particularly associated with otherworldly women. Through a combination of archaeology, mythology and popular religion, this book takes the reader on a fascinating journey that sheds new light on a hitherto neglected area of research. It encourages us to consider what underground activities might reveal about the lives lived aboveground, and leaves us in no doubt as to the cultural significance of caves in the past.
Download or read book Moving on in Neolithic Studies written by Jim Leary and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2016-02-29 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mobility is a fundamental facet of being human and should be central to archaeology. Yet mobility itself and the role it plays in the production of social life, is rarely considered as a subject in its own right. This is particularly so with discussions of the Neolithic people where mobility is often framed as being somewhere between a sedentary existence and nomadic movements. This latest collection of papers from the Neolithic Studies Group seminars examines the importance and complexities of movement and mobility, whether on land or water, in the Neolithic period. It uses movement in its widest sense, ranging from everyday mobilities – the routines and rhythms of daily life – to proscribed mobility, such as movement in and around monuments, and occasional and large-scale movements and migrations around the continent and across seas. Papers are roughly grouped and focus on ‘mobility and the landscape’, ‘monuments and mobility’, ‘travelling by water’, and ‘materials and mobility’. Through these themes the volume considers the movement of people, ideas, animals, objects, and information, and uses a wide range of archaeological evidence from isotope analysis; artefact studies; lithic scatters and assemblage diversity.
