“When the last fires were put out” : ethnographic analogy and the symbolic use of fire in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic (original) (raw)
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Journal of World Prehistory, 2018
The Mesolithic communities of northwest Europe have generally been considered inherently mobile, and all the material evidence associated with them has been interpreted accordingly. This has resulted in entrenched, theoretically polemical and largely hypothetical mobility models, focusing on seasonal rounds and extraction activities. However, recent reanalyses of the ethnographic sources, and discoveries of both substantial and ephemeral Mesolithic structures, as well as new data from recent innovative lithic and scientific analyses (including DNA, isotope research on human remains, and geochemical analyses of lithic artefacts), have forced us to rethink the rather static models of Mesolithic mobility strategies. This paper, examining Mesolithic hunter-gatherer mobility and settlement models from Britain and Ireland, is part of that reassessment. In particular, it assesses the impact of the multiple lines of consilience on our understanding of Mesolithic habitation of landscapes. These include the archaeological evidence and the efficacy of recent theoretical and methodological approaches that have been employed to interpret it.
Early Mesolithic mobility and settlement in the Thames Basin 23.01.17.pdf
We examine the lithic assemblage at West Heath, London, which is dated to the early mesolithic period between 11,000 and 9,750 years before present. We used information from nearby mesolithic sites (e.g. Three Ways Wharf) and further afield in Britain (e.g. Star Carr and Howick) to better understand the West Heath finds and postholes. The faunal remains at Three Ways Wharf were used to help understand niche construction, material engagement and entanglement by beaver, trees, red deer and humans during the mesolithic period, in combination with information on beavers and archaeological sites from across Europe. We combine understanding of soil and human processes by examining lithic material in plan and depth to gain a better understanding of time and distinguish human patterns from post depositional change. Through ethnographic examples of how technology is used we develop how life may of changed over time at West Heath. The presence of dog and ochre in mesolithic burials across Europe combined with ethnographic data and lithic and ochre finds at West Heath allows us to identify a pioneer stage and final choice to abandon the site, in between we identify logistically use of resources, the site as a gathering and dwelling place. It’s the combination of close examination of site-specific data, more wider understanding of material across the landscape and better understanding of animal behaviour, niche construction with ethnographic analogy that allows us to describe life at West Heath during the mesolithic period.
The Boastful and the Bashful: Prehistoric Leaders and Social Change in the Mesolithic
Journal of World Prehistory, 2008
The creation and maintenance of influential leaders and authorities is one of the key themes of archaeological and historical enquiry. However, the social dynamics of authorities and leaders in the Mesolithic remains a largely unexplored area of study. The role and influence of authorities can vary remarkably in different situations, yet they exist in all societies and in almost all social contexts from playgrounds to parliaments. Here we explore the literature on the dynamics of authority creation, maintenance and contestation in egalitarian societies, and discuss the implications for our interpretation and understanding of the formation of authorities and leaders and changing social relationships in the Mesolithic.
Mobility, Transition and Change in Prehistory and Classical Antiquity , 2013
This peer reviewed paper evaluates current approaches and offers a critique of the models employed to explain Mesolithic mobility patterns. In particular, it highlights the over-reliance on ethnographic analogies and biological data at the expense of lithic evidence. This paper therefore attempts to redress this by providing a narrative which intimately links Mesolithic mobility and the lithic chaînes opératoires based on new evidence from sites in the Central Pennines of Northern England. Specifically it shows that the lithics raw found on these sites have been exclusively procured and imported from a hinterland covering Northern England. This hinterland compares well with population density reconstructions, and contains similar microlithic styles throughout the area for both the Early and Late Mesolithic. Consequently, this hinterland is suggested to reflect a socio-ethnic/linguistic territory and/or that it implies that mobility was throughout Northern England, with the Pennines being a key node of an increasingly logistical resource and mobility networks. This therefore challenges traditional East-West mobility models as well as the suggestions of smaller separate interior and coastal social territories that have been based on ethnographic analogies and biological data.
Mesolithic Shelters and Dwellings - Practical and Symbolic Organisation
2020
While early Stone Age archaeologists were mainly interested in dating and determining the geographical extent of the various typological cultures, several discoveries during the first half of the 20th century led to an increased focus on the Mesolithic and the dwellings of ‘Neolithic hunter-gatherers’ and thereby on daily life in the final phase of the European Stone Age. Based on the repetitive spatial organisation of the Skara Brae dwellings, Childe suggested that these represent a cultural tradition still observable in the spatial organisation of the Scottish ‘black houses’, in use up to the mid-19th century. The archaeological activity of recent years has significantly increased observations of structural elements associated with Mesolithic dwellings. Improved excavation methods and an increased awareness of the phenomenon have supported this development, and several instances of preserved stakes and posts, as well as remains of organic floors, have provided tangible verification of the sometimes difficult and disputed interpretations of the faint preserved traces). Ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological data have facilitated a better understanding of the basic principles underlying the spatial organisation of hunter-gatherer dwellings and, in cases where evidence of such patterned behaviour is preserved, can provide insights into the social organisation of prehistoric households.
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