Kador Thomas - Moving on in Neolithic studies: understanding mobile lives

Published in the United Kingdom in 2016 by
OXBOW BOOKS
10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW

and in the United States by
OXBOW BOOKS
1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083

Oxbow Books and the individual contributors 2016

Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-176-4
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-177-1(epub)
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-178-8(kindle)
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-179-5(pdf)

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Leary, Jim, editor. | Kador, Thomas.

Title: Moving on in Neolithic studies : understanding mobile lives / edited by Jim Leary and Thomas Kador.

Description: Oxford; Philadelphia : Oxbow Books, 2016. | Series: Neolithic studies group seminar papers; 14 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015051023| ISBN 9781785701764 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781785701771 (digital edition)

Subjects: LCSH: Neolithic period. | Nomadic peoples. | Migration, Internal. | Human beings--Migrations.

Classification: LCC GN775 .M68 2016 | DDC 930.1/4--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015051023

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing.

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Front cover image by Jim Leary

Foreword

This book presents the proceedings of a seminar held under the aegis of the Neolithic Studies Group (NSG), one of an ongoing series of NSG Seminar Papers. The NSG is an informal organization comprising archaeologists with an interest in Neolithic archaeology. It was established in 1984 and has a large membership based mainly in the UK and Ireland, but including workers from the nations of the European Atlantic seaboard. The annual programme typically includes a seminar in London during the autumn and, in spring-time, a field meeting in an area of northwest Europe known to be rich in Neolithic remains.

Membership is open to anyone with an active involvement in the Neolithic of Europe. The present membership includes academic staff and students, museum staff, archaeologists from government institutions, units, trusts, and those with an amateur or avocational interest. There are no membership procedure or application forms, and members are those on the current mailing list. Anyone can be added to the list at any time, the only membership rule being that the names of those who do not attend four consecutive meetings are removed from the list (in the absence of apologies for absence or a request to remain on the list).

The Group relies on the enthusiasm of its members to organize its annual meetings; the two coordinators maintain the mailing lists and finances. Financial support for the Group is drawn from a small fee payable for attendance of each meeting.

Anyone wishing to contact the Group and obtain information about forthcoming meetings should contact the coordinators or visit the NSG website at: http://www.neolithic.org.uk/

Timothy Darvill and Kenneth Brophy
NSG Coordinators

Contents

Preface and acknowledgements

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 volume 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.

This volume originated from, and represents the proceedings of, the Neolithic Studies Group conference in 2012, organized by Jim Leary and entitled Movement and mobility in the Neolithic. Jim Leary would like to thank Tim Darvill and Kenny Brophy, the NSG Coordinators, as well as the British Museum, in particular Gill Varndell from the Department of Prehistoric and Roman Antiquities, for allowing and facilitating the smooth running of the conference. The editors would like to thank Julie Gardiner at Oxbow for help and assistance in getting this volume into print.

Jim Leary and Thomas Kador
February 2015

List of Contributors

UMBERTO ALBARELLA

Department of Archaeology

University of Sheffield

Northgate House

West Street

Sheffield

S1 4ET

England

United Kingdom

PENNY BICKLE

Department of Archaeology

University of York

The Kings Manor

YORK

Y01 7EP

England

United Kingdom

CLIVE JONATHON BOND

Department of Archaeology

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

The University of Winchester

Winchester

SO22 4NR

England

United Kingdom

BENJAMIN CHAN

Department of Archaeology

University of Leiden

Van Steenis Building

Einsteinweg 2

2333 CC Leiden

The Netherlands

ANGELA GANNON

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS)

John Sinclair House

16 Bernard Terrace

Edinburgh

EH8 9NX

Scotland

United Kingdom

FIONA HAUGHEY

Director Archaeology on the Thames Project

27 Spring Grove

Strand-on-the-Grove

London

W4 3NH

England

United Kingdom

ROB IXER

Institute of Archaeology

University College London

3134 Gordon Square

London

WC1H 0PY

England

United Kingdom

THOMAS KADOR

Public & Cultural Engagement (PACE)

University College London

Gower Street