Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:51:47.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Substantial settlement in the European Early Mesolithic: new research at Star Carr

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Chantal Conneller ,
Nicky Milner ,
Barry Taylor  and
Maisie Taylor
Chantal Conneller*
Affiliation:
Archaeology (SAHC), University of Manchester, Mansfield Cooper Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Nicky Milner
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP, UK (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Barry Taylor
Affiliation:
Archaeology (SAHC), University of Manchester, Mansfield Cooper Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Maisie Taylor
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP, UK (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
*
*Author for correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The authors rewrite the character of Early Mesolithic settlement in Europe with their new research at one of its most famous sites. The picture of small mobile pioneering groups colonising new land is thrown into contention: far from being a small hunter-gatherer camp, Star Carr in 9000 cal BC extended for nearly 2ha and involved the construction of an estimated 30m of lakeside waterfront and at least one post-built house. With some justice, they suspect that the ‘small groups’ of Early Mesolithic Europe may have their rationale in the small excavations of archaeologists.

Keywords

EuropeStar CarrEarly Mesolithicsettlementhutplatformwetlandworked timber
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 334 , December 2012 , pp. 1004 - 1020
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2012

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, M.J. & Gardiner, J.. 2002. A sense of time: cultural markers in the Mesolithic of southern England, in David, B. & Wilson, M. (ed.) Inscribed landscapes: making and marking place: 139-53. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Andersen, S. & Møbjerg, T.. In press. Early Mesolithic settlements at Lake Bølling, central Jutland, Denmark, in Arias, P. (ed.) MESO 2010. The Eighth International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe (Santander 13th-17th September, 2010). Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Andersson, M., Karsten, P., Knarrström, B. & Svensson, M.. 2004. Stone Age Scania: significant places dug and read by contract archaeology. Lund: National Heritage Board.Google Scholar
Bjerk, H. 2009. Colonising seascapes: comparative perspectives on the development of maritime relations in the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in north-west Europe, in McCartan, S., Schulting, R., Warren, G. & Woodman, P. (ed.) Mesolithic horizons: papers presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005: 16–23. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Blankholm, H-P. 2008. Southern Scandinavia, in Bailey, G. & Spikins, P. (ed.) Mesolithic Europe: 107-31. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Blockley, S. 2009. Prehistory as a continuum in the discussion of continuity and change in Britain, 16, 000-6000 cal BP, in McCartan, S., Schulting, R., Warren, G. & Woodman, P. (ed.) Mesolithic horizons: papers presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005: 627-31. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Brinch Petersen, E. & Meiklejohn, C.. 2007. Historical context of the term ‘complexity’ in the southern Scandinavian Mesolithic. Acta Archaeologica 78(2): 181-92.Google Scholar
Brunning, R. & Watson, J.. 2010. Waterlogged wood: guidelines on the recording, sampling, conservation and curation of waterlogged wood. Swindon: English Heritage.Google Scholar
Chatterton, R. 2003. Star Carr reanalysed, in Bevan, L. & Moore, J. (ed.) Peopling the Mesolithic in a northern environment (British Archaeological Reports International Series 1157): 69–80. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D.G. 1954. Excavations at Star Carr. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Coles, B. 2006. Beavers in Britain's past. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Conneller, C. 2004. Becoming deer: corporeal transformations at Star Carr. Archaeological Dialogues 11: 37–56.Google Scholar
Conneller, C. 2007. Inhabiting new landscapes: settlement and mobility after the last glacial maximum. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26: 215-37.Google Scholar
Conneller, C. & Schadla-Hall, T. 2003. Beyond Star Carr: the Vale of Pickering in the 10th millennium BP. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 69: 85–106.Google Scholar
Cooper, L. 2006. Launde: a Terminal Palaeolithic camp-site in the English Midlands and its north European context. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 72: 53–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crombé, P., Sergant, J., Robinson, E. & Reu, J. De. 2011. Hunter-gatherer responses to environmental change during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the southern North Sea basin: Final Palaeolithic-Final Mesolithic land use in northwest Belgium. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 30: 454-71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dark, P., Higham, T., Jacobi, R. & Lord, T.. 2006. New radiocarbon accelerator dates on artefacts from the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, North Yorkshire. Archaeometry 48: 185–200.Google Scholar
Ellis, C., Allen, M., Gardiner, J., Harding, P., Ingrem, C., Powell, A. & Scaife, R.. 2003. An Early Mesolithic seasonal hunting site in the Kennet valley, southern England. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 69: 107-35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagnart, P., Coudret, P. & Souffi, B.. 2008. Les occupations mésolithiques du gisement de Saleux (Somme), in Fagnart, J-P., Thévenin, A., Ducrocq, T., Souffi, B. & Coudret, P. (ed.) Le début du Mésolithique en Europe du Nord-Ouest: 107-34. Amiens: Société Préhistorique Française.Google Scholar
Fischer, L. 2006. Blades and microliths: changing contexts of tool production from Magdalenian to Early Mesolithic in southern Germany. Journal of Archaeological Science 25: 226-38.Google Scholar
Fredengren, C. 2009. Lake platforms at Lough Kinale - memory, reach and place, in McCartan, S., Schulting, R., Warren, G. & Woodman, P. (ed.) Mesolithic horizons: papers presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005: 882-86. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Gramsch, B. 2004. From the Late Palaeolithic to the Early Mesolithic in northeastern Germany, in Terberger, T. & Eriksen, B. (ed.) Hunters in a changing world: environment and archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (ca. 11000- 9000 BC) in northern central Europe: 183–201. Leidorf: Rahden.Google Scholar
Grøn, O. 2003. The Maglemose culture (British Archaeological Reports International Series 616). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Housley, R., Gamble, C., Street, M. & Pettitt, P.. 1997. Radiocarbon evidence for the late glacial human recolonisation of northern Europe. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 63: 25–54.Google Scholar
Jochim, M.A. 1998. A hunter-gatherer landscape: southwest Germany in the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jochim, M.A. 2006. Regional perspectives on Early Mesolithic land use in southwestern Germany. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 25: 204-12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malmer, M.P. 2002. The Neolithic of southern Sweden. Stockholm: Royal Academy of Letters.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. & Dark, P.. 1998. Star Carr in context: new archaeological and palaeoecological investigations at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, North Yorkshire. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.Google Scholar
Milner, N., Conneller, C., Elliott, B., Koon, H., Pantor, I., Penkman, K., Taylor, B. & Taylor, M.. 2011. From riches to rags: organic deterioration at Star Carr. Journal of Archaeological Science 38: 2818-32.Google Scholar
Moore, J. 1950. Mesolithic sites in the neighbourhood of Flixton, north-east Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 16: 101–108.Google Scholar
Price, T.D. & Brown, J.A.. 1985. Prehistoric hunter-gatherers. The emergence of cultural complexity. San Diego (CA): Academic Press.Google Scholar
Reynier, M. 2003. Early Mesolithic Britain (British Archaeological Reports British Series 393). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Rowley-Conwy, P. 1983. Sedentary hunters: the Ertebølle example, in Bailey, G.N. (ed.) Hunter-gatherer economy in prehistory: 111-26. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rowley-Conwy, P. 2001. Time, change and the archaeology of hunter-gatherers: how original is the ‘Original Affluent Society?’ in Panter-Brick, C., Layton, R. & Rowley-Conwy, P. (ed.) Hunter-gatherers: an interdisciplinary perspective: 39–72. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Séara, F. 2008. Les occupations du Mésolithique ancient et moyen du site des Basses Veuves à Pont-sur-Yonne (Yonne), in Fagnart, J-P., Thévenin, A., Ducrocq, T., Souffi, B. & Coudret, P. (eds.) Le début du Mésolithique en Europe du Nord-Ouest: 169-82. Amiens: Société Préhistorique Française.Google Scholar
Skar, B. & Coulson, C.. 1985. The Early Mesolithic site Rørmyr II: a re-examination of one of the Hognipen sites, SE Norway. Acta Archaeologica 56: 167-83.Google Scholar
Souffi, B. 2008. Le Mésolithique de Haute Normandie: taphonomie et interprétation chronoculturelle, in Fagnart, J-P., Thevenin, A., Ducrocq, T., Souffi, B. & Coudret, P. (ed.) Le début du Mésolithique en Europe du Nord-Ouest: 135-52. Amiens: Société Préhistorique Française.Google Scholar
Spikins, P. 2008. Mesolithic Europe: glimpses of another world, in Bailey, G.N. & Spikins, P. (ed.) Mesolithic Europe: 1–17. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. 1998. Identification of the wood and evidence for human working, in Mellars, P. & Dark, P. (ed.) Star Carr in context: new archaeological and palaeoecological investigations at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, North Yorkshire: 52–63. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.Google Scholar
Terberger, T. 2004. The Younger Dryas-Preboreal transition in northern Germany - facts and concepts in discussion, in Terberger, T. & Eriksen, B. (ed.) Hunters in a changing world: environment and archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition (ca. 11000-9000 BC) in northern central Europe: 203-22. Rahden: Leidorf.Google Scholar
Tolksdorf, J., Kaiser, K., Veil, S., Klasen, N. & Brükner, H.. 2009. The Early Mesolithic Haverbeck site, northwest Germany: evidence for Preboreal settlement in the western and central European plain. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 1466-76.Google Scholar
Usinger, H. 2004. Vegetation and climate of the lowlands of northern central Europe and adjacent areas around the Younger Dryas-Preboreal transition - with special emphasis on the Preboreal oscillation, in Terberger, T. & Eriksen, B. (ed.) Hunters in a changing world. Environment and archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (ca. 11000-9000 BC) in northern central Europe: 1–26. Rahden: Leidorf.Google Scholar
Wheeler, M. 1954. Archaeology from the earth. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Wikell, R., Molin, F. & Pettersson, M.. 2009. The archipelago of eastern Middle Sweden - Mesolithic settlement in comparison with C14 and shoreline dating, in Crombé, P., van Strydonck, M., Sergant, J., Boudin, M. & Bats, M. (ed.) Chronology and evolution within the Mesolithic of north-west Europe: proceedings of an international meeting, Brussels, May 30th -June 1st 2007: 417-34. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, M. 2008. Innovating hunter-gatherers: the Mesolithic in the Baltic, in Bailey, G. and Spikins, P. (ed.) Mesolithic Europe: 18–59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar