The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

The Neolithic period
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SOME KEY CONTEXTS AND SITES
The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition
Disappointingly, there are so far no sites that give a clear picture of the Mesolithic–Neolithic
transition: no stratigraphic sequences that cover the period in question, no reused features. This
could change by lucky chance, but meanwhile the evidence available has to be taken at face value.
Some population overspill from Neolithic communities in adjacent parts of Europe in the mid or
later fifth millennium BC remains envisageable, but the evidence for their source is ambiguous,
since Early Neolithic assemblages on this side of the Channel and North Sea bear only general
resemblances to their contemporaries on the other. The consensus is now that the indigenous
Mesolithic population became Neolithic by adopting new material culture, incorporating new
subsistence staples, and developing a new world view. One favoured model proposes that the
motivation was economic, demographic or both, leading to a recasting of lifestyle to alleviate pressure
on resources. Another model focuses on social competition as the spur to changes in lifestyle.
For this, the Late Mesolithic Ertebølle culture in southern Scandinavia stands as a point of
comparison. Unfortunately, relevant data are not plentiful in Britain, to which the loss of some
of the contemporary coastline may have contributed (see Chapter 3). The impression is not,
however, of packed Late Mesolithic coastal communities, as in parts of the Baltic. Large areas of
inland Britain, such as the chalklands, may have been little frequented on a regular basis;
demonstrating this by lithics is difficult, and microliths possibly did not continue in use until the
end of the Mesolithic sequence. The transition may therefore be from a mobile Mesolithic to a
still mobile Neolithic.
Some direct continuities may be suggested. Possible early experimentation with cereal cultivation
has been noted (Chapter 3), conceivably as part of a wide spectrum of Mesolithic plant use,
including tending and even cultivation (Zvelebil 1994). There is evidence for Mesolithic woodland
clearance; some clearings may have persisted until, or been reused in, the Neolithic. A few Neolithic
monuments overlie Mesolithic occupation, as at Hazleton on the Cotswolds (Saville 1990), which
could imply a closer connection. That may have consisted not of direct residential continuity, but
of the maintenance of landscapes with named places, crossed by paths and framed by significant
points; in south-west Wales, Neolithic monuments pick out parts of the coastal landscape already
containing Mesolithic camps (Tilley 1994).
Occupations: settlement, residences and structures
Various built structures are known from the Neolithic as a whole, generally consisting of rectangular
settings of pestholes, rarely longer than 10 m (Darvill and Thomas 1996). In the far north, stone
footings, occasionally walling, define a range of structures, from rectangular and squarish to oval
and near-circular. It is a curious record. Absent are the great timber longhouses of the first
Neolithic of central and western Europe, the Linearbandkeramik (‘LBK’) culture tradition of the
mid-sixth millennium BC onward. Such British (and Irish) structures as have been found often
occur singly; there is little to indicate that they become more frequent in later phases. They are
generally interpreted as houses, and many may indeed have been residences, but they are not
normally associated with large accumulations of rubbish or with ancillary structures. At best,
these would have been used for short periods of time, or at irregular intervals. Recent evidence
from Loch Olabhat, North Uist, illustrates the ambiguities (Armit in Sharples and Sheridan 1992)
(Figure 4.1). A succession of rectangular stone footings and middens defines the repeated but
probably episodic reuse of a chosen locale. The structures may have been covered by light wooden
frames or perhaps only by skin tents. Their use, in a waterside location prone to flooding, may
have been seasonal.