Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T06:02:23.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Dating the introduction of food production into Britain and Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Elizabeth Williams*
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Abstract

Opinion as to the nature of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the British Isles has varied with changing ideas about the overall pattern in northern Europe, and with interpretations of the securely dated evidence—which continues, sadly, to be both slight and ambiguous. Here a new assessment is made, by a researcher who comes to the question from an antipodean perspective.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, F.J. 1977. The hunting Neolithic: adaptations to the food quest in prehistoric Papua New Guinea, in Megaw, J.V.S. (ed.), Hunters, gatherers and first farmers beyond Europe: 16788. Leicester: Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Allen, H. 1974. The Bagundji of the Darling Basin: cereal gatherers in an uncertain environment, World Archaeology 5: 30922.Google Scholar
ApSimon, A. 1976. Ballynagilly and the beginning and end of the Irish Neolithic, in de Laet, 0S.J. (ed.), Acculturation and continuity in Atlantic Europe: 1530. Brugge: De Tempel.Google Scholar
Bogucki, P. 1987. The establishment of agrarian communities on the North European Plain, Current Anthropology 28: 124.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C, Sutherland, >D., Tipping, R. & Cherry, J.. 1986. The Eskmeals Project 1981-1985: an interim report, Northern Archaeology 7: 330.D.,+Tipping,+R.+&+Cherry,+J..+1986.+The+Eskmeals+Project+1981-1985:+an+interim+report,+Northern+Archaeology+7:+3–30.>Google Scholar
Campbell, A.H. 1965. Elementary food production by the Australian Aborigines, Mankind 6: 20611.Google Scholar
Care, V. 1979. The production and distribution of Mesolithic axes in southern England1, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 45: 93102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, A.H. 1982. The collection and distribution of lithic materials during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in southern England, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 1: 26985.Google Scholar
Case, H.J. 1969. Neolithic explanations, Antiquity 43: 17686.Google Scholar
Case, H.J. & Whittle, A.W.R. (ed.). 1982. Settlement patterns in the Oxford region; excavations at the Abingdon causewayed enclosure and other sites. London: Council for British Archaeology and Department of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum. Research report 44.Google Scholar
Caulfield, S. 1983. The Neolithic settlement of north Connaught, in Reeves-Smyth & Hammond (1983): 195215.Google Scholar
Clark, J.G.D. & Godwin, H.. 1962. The Neolithic in the Cambridgeshire Fens, Antiquity 36: 1023.Google Scholar
Clarke, D. 1978. Mesolithic Europe: the economic basis. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Denbow, J.R. 1984. Prehistoric herders and foragers of the Kalahari: the evidence for 1500 years of interaction, in Schrire (1984): 17593.Google Scholar
Dennell, R. 1983. European economic prehistory: a new approach. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dennell, R. 1985. The hunter-gatherer/agricultural frontier in prehistoric temperate Europe, in Green, S.W. & Perlman, S.M. (ed.), The archaeology of frontiers and boundaries: 11339. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dimbleby, G.W. 1960. Fossil pollen and charcoal, in Rankine, W.F., Rankine, W.M. & Dimbleby, G.W., Further excavations at a Mesolithic sites at Oak-hanger, Selborne, Hants., Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 26: 24662.Google Scholar
Dolukhanov, P.M. 1986. The late Mesolithic and the transition to food production in Eastern Europe, in Zvelebil (1986b): 10920.Google Scholar
Dredge, J. 1839-1843. Journal. Unpublished manuscript in the La Trobe Library, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Drewett, P.L. & Bedwin, O.R. 1981. Note on radiocarbon dates from Neolithic enclosures in Sussex, in Bedwin, O.: Excavations at the Neolithic enclosure on Bury Hill, Houghton, Sussex, W., 1979, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 6986.Google Scholar
Edwards, K.J. & Hirons, K.R.. 1984. Cereal pollen grains in pre-elm decline deposits: implications for the earliest agriculture in Britain and Ireland,Journal of Archaeological Science 11: 7180.Google Scholar
Forde, D. 1934. Habitat, economy and society. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Fox, A. 1963. Neolithic charcoal from Hembury, Antiquity 37: 2289.Google Scholar
Girling, M.A. & Greig, J.. 1985. A first fossil record for Scolytus scolytus (F.) (Elm Bark Beetle): its occurrence in elm decline deposits from London and the implications for Neolithic elm disease, Journal of Archaeological Science 12: 34751.Google Scholar
Griffin, P.B. 1984. Forager resource and land use in the humid tropics: the Agta of northeastern Luzon, the Philippines, in Schrire (1984): 95121.Google Scholar
Groenman-Van Waateringe, W. 1983. The early agricultural utilization of the Irish landscape: the last word on the elm decline?, in Reeves-Smyth & Hammond (1983): 21732.Google Scholar
Harris, D.R. 1977. Subsistence strategies across Torres Strait, in Allen, J., Golson, J. & Jones, R. (ed.), Sunda and Sahul: prehistoric studies in southeast Asia: 42164. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hillman, G. 1981. Crop husbandry: evidence from macroscopic remains, in Simmons & Tooley (1981): 18391.Google Scholar
Houlder, C.H. 1963. A Neolithic settlement on Hazard Hill, Totnes, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Exploration Society 21: 231.Google Scholar
Houlder, C.H. 1976. Stone axes and henge monuments, in Boon, G.C. & Lewis, J.M. (ed.),Welsh antiquity: 5562. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales.Google Scholar
Jacobi, R.M. 1982. Later hunters in Kent: Tasmania and the earliest Neolithic, in Leach, P.E. (ed.), Archaeology in Kent to 1500 AD: 1224. London: Council for British Archaeology. Research report 48.Google Scholar
Kimber, R. 1984. Resource use and management in central Australia, Australian Aboriginal Studies 2: 1223.Google Scholar
Lourandos, H. 1980. Change or stability?: hydraulics, hunter gatherers and population in temperate Australia, World Archaeology 11: 24564.Google Scholar
Lynch, A. 1981. Man and environment in south west Ireland. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 85.Google Scholar
McBryde, I. 1984. Exchange in south eastern Australia: an ethnohistorical perspective, Aboriginal History 8: 13253.Google Scholar
Magkie, E.W. 1964. Two radiocarbon dates from a Clyde-Solway chambered cairn, Antiquity 38: 524.Google Scholar
Manby, T.G. 1967. Radiocarbon dates for the Wil-lerby Wold long barrow, Antiquity 41: 3067.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. 1978a. Excavation and economic analysis of Mesolithic shell middens on the island of Oronsay (inner Hebrides), in Mellars (ed.): 37196.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. 1978b. (ed.) The early postglacial settlement of northern Europe. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Mercer, R. 1981. Excavations at Cam Brea, Illogan, Cornwall, 1970-1973, Cornish Archaeology 2.Google Scholar
O’Sullivan, P.E. 1976. Pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating of a core from Loch Pityoulish, eastern highlands of Scotland, Journal of Biogeography 3: 293302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, G.W. 1987. How to cope with calibration, Antiquity 61: 98103.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1954. The Neolithic cultures of the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1974. Excavation of the Dalladies long barrow, Fettercairn, Kincardineshire, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 104: 2348.Google Scholar
Pryor, F. 1976. A Neolithic multiple burial from Fengate, Peterborough, Antiquity 50: 2323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Presland, G. (ed.). 1977. Journals of George Augustus Robinson. March-May 1841, Records of the Victorian Archaeological Survey 6.Google Scholar
Radley, J, Tallis, J.H. & Switsur, V.R.. 1974. The excavation of three ‘narrow blade’ Mesolithic sites in the southern Pennines, England, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 40: 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ralston, I.B.M. 1982. A timber hall at Balbridie farm, Aberdeen University Review 168: 23849.Google Scholar
Reeves-Smyth, T. & Hammond, F. (ed.). 1983. Landscape archaeology in Ireland: Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 116.Google Scholar
Reynolds, H. 1982. The other side of the frontier. Ringwood: Penguin Books Australia.Google Scholar
Schrirk, C. (ed.). 1984. Past and present in hunter gatherer studies. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Simmons, I.G. & Innes, J.B.. 1987. Mid-Holocene adaptations and later Mesolithic forest disturbance in northern England, Journal of Archaeological Science 14: 385403.Google Scholar
Simmons, I.G. & Tooley, M.J. (ed.). 1981. The environment in British prehistory. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Smith, A.G. 1981. Land use, in Simmons & Tooley (1981): 15283.Google Scholar
Smith, R.W. 1984. The ecology of Neolithic farming systems as exemplified by the Avebury region of Wiltshire, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 50: 99120.Google Scholar
Stephens, N. & Collins, A.E.P.. 1960. The Quaternary deposits at Ringneill Quay and Ardmillan, Co. Down, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (Series C) 61: 4177.Google Scholar
Switsur, V.R. & Jacobi, R.M.. 1975. Radiocarbon dates for the Pennine Mesolithic, Nature 256: 324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Switsur, V.R. & Mellars, P.A.. 1987. Radiocarbon dating of the shell-midden sites, in Mellars, P. (ed.), Excavations on Oronsay: 13949. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Wainwright, G.J. 1972. The excavation of a Neolithic settlement on Broome Heath, Ditchingham, Norfolk, England, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 38: 197.Google Scholar
Wainwright, G.J. 1973. The excavation of prehistoric and Romano-British settlements at Eaton Heath, Norwich, The Archaeological Journal 130: 143.Google Scholar
Ward, G.K. & Wilson, S.R.. 1978. Procedures for comparing and combining radiocarbon age determinations: a critique, Archaeometry, 20: 1931.Google Scholar
Waterbolk, H.T. 1968. Food production in prehistoric Europe, Science 162: 10931102.Google Scholar
White, J.P. & O’Connell., J.F. 1982. A prehistory of Australia, New Guinea and Sahul. Sydney: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Whittle, A.W.R. 1977. The earlier Neolithic of southern England and its continental background. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. International series 35.Google Scholar
Williams, C.T. 1985. Mesolithic exploitation patterns in the central Pennines. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 139.Google Scholar
Williams, E. 1988. Complex hunter-gatherers: a late Holocene example from temperate Australia. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. International series 423.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1977. Recent excavations at New-ferry, Co. Antrim, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 43: 15599.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1978a. The chronology and economy of the Irish Mesolithic: some working hypotheses, in Mellars (1978b): 33369.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1978b. The Mesolithic in Ireland. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 58.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1981. Problems of the Mesolithic survival in Ireland, in Gramsch, B. (ed.), Mesolithikum in Europa: 20110. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag. Verof-fentuchungen des Museums fur Urund Frühgeschichte Potsdam 14/15.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1986. Problems in the colonization of Ireland, Ulster Journal of Archaeology 49: 717.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1987. The impact of resource availability on lithic industrial traditions in prehistoric Ireland, in Rowley-Conwy, P., Zvelebil, M. & Blankholm, H.P. (ed.), Mesolithic Northwest Europe: recent trends: 13846. Sheffield: University of Sheffield.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C., Duggan, M.A. & McCarthy, A.. 1984. Excavations at Ferriters Cove, Journal of Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society 17: 59.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, M. 1986a. Mesolithic societies and the transition to farming: problems of time, scale and organisation, in Zvelebil (1986b): 16788.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, M. 1986b (ed.). Hunters in transition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, M. & Rowley-Conwy, P.. 1984. Transition to farming in northern Europe: a hunter-gatherer perspective, Norwegian Archaeological Review 17: 10428.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, M. 1986. Foragers and farmers in Atlantic Europe, in Zvelebil (1986b): 6793.Google Scholar