All for one and one for all - assembling communities and group identity in Early Neolithic barrow building (original) (raw)

Abstract

Paper given at the 'Postgraduate Forum Conference' at Newcastle University, 20th May 2016 The construction of long and also round barrows during the Early Neolithic period in the British Isles has long been argued as to relate to equality in social organisation of early farming communities. The role of the community is one of the most important aspects in recent investigations on social organisation, however, the concept of community (or communities) is a modern and quite popular invention and a clear definition is difficult to determine. Although archaeologists adopt the term quite frequently they often fail to define the exact meaning of ‘their community’ in their specific contexts. This paper will propose a definition of a ‘barrow building community’ during the Early Neolithic using the concept of assemblage theory, which helps explaining uniformity as well as differences in different barrow traditions. Specific structural elements of long barrow displayed by ‘bay architecture’ and ‘occupational layers’ will be reviewed to identify group related activities as part of an otherwise communal building act.

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