Neolithic Stepping Stones: Excavation and survey within the western seaways of Britain, 2008-2014
Neolithic Stepping Stones: Excavation and survey within the western seaways of Britain, 2008-2014
The ‘western seaways’ are an arc of sea extending from the Channel Islands in the south, through the Isles of Scilly around to Orkney in the north. This maritime zone has long been seen as a crucial corridor of interaction during later prehistory. Connections across it potentially led, for example, to the eventual arrival of the Neolithic in Britain, almost 1000 years after it arrived on the near continent.
This book’s primary focus is Early Neolithic settlement on islands within the ‘western seaways’ – sites that offer significant insight into the character of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in this particular maritime zone. It also explores a series of directly related, wider themes: the nature and effects of ‘island-ness’ in later prehistory; the visibility of material connections across the sea; the extent of Neolithic settlement variability across Britain; and the consequences of geographical biases in research for our understanding of the prehistoric past. At the heart of the book lie the results of three substantial excavations at L’Erée, Guernsey; Old Quay, St Martin’s (Isles of Scilly); and An Doirlinn, South Uist.
Key findings include: the first major Mesolithic flint assemblage recovered from Scilly; one of the most extensively excavated and long-lasting Neolithic/Bronze Age occupation sites in the Channel Islands; the first substantial Neolithic settlement on Scilly; and the longest sequence of Neolithic/Early Bronze Age occupation on a single site from the Outer Hebrides. In order to contextualise the significance of these findings, we also present an extended discussion and broad synthesis of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology on each island group.
Neolithic, Maritime, Islands, Sea-Level, Mesolithic
Garrow, Duncan
516e3fea-51bf-4452-85f3-cd1bc0da68c6
Sturt, Fraser
442e14e1-136f-4159-bd8e-b002bf6b95f6
28 July 2017
Garrow, Duncan
516e3fea-51bf-4452-85f3-cd1bc0da68c6
Sturt, Fraser
442e14e1-136f-4159-bd8e-b002bf6b95f6
Garrow, Duncan and Sturt, Fraser
(2017)
Neolithic Stepping Stones: Excavation and survey within the western seaways of Britain, 2008-2014
,
Oxford.
Oxbow Books, 192pp.
Abstract
The ‘western seaways’ are an arc of sea extending from the Channel Islands in the south, through the Isles of Scilly around to Orkney in the north. This maritime zone has long been seen as a crucial corridor of interaction during later prehistory. Connections across it potentially led, for example, to the eventual arrival of the Neolithic in Britain, almost 1000 years after it arrived on the near continent.
This book’s primary focus is Early Neolithic settlement on islands within the ‘western seaways’ – sites that offer significant insight into the character of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in this particular maritime zone. It also explores a series of directly related, wider themes: the nature and effects of ‘island-ness’ in later prehistory; the visibility of material connections across the sea; the extent of Neolithic settlement variability across Britain; and the consequences of geographical biases in research for our understanding of the prehistoric past. At the heart of the book lie the results of three substantial excavations at L’Erée, Guernsey; Old Quay, St Martin’s (Isles of Scilly); and An Doirlinn, South Uist.
Key findings include: the first major Mesolithic flint assemblage recovered from Scilly; one of the most extensively excavated and long-lasting Neolithic/Bronze Age occupation sites in the Channel Islands; the first substantial Neolithic settlement on Scilly; and the longest sequence of Neolithic/Early Bronze Age occupation on a single site from the Outer Hebrides. In order to contextualise the significance of these findings, we also present an extended discussion and broad synthesis of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology on each island group.
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More information
Published date: 28 July 2017
Additional Information:
Related publications:
Anderson-Whymark, H., Garrow, D., & Sturt, F. (2015). Microliths and maritime mobility: a continental European-style Late Mesolithic flint assemblage from the Isles of Scilly. Antiquity, 89(346), 954-971. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2015.77
Garrow, D., Griffiths, S., Anderson-Whymark, H., & Sturt, F. (2016). Stepping stones to the Neolithic? Radiocarbon dating the Early Neolithic on islands within the ‘western seaways’ of Britain. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 83, 1-45.
Sturt, F. (2015). From sea to land and back again: understanding the shifting character of Europe's landscapes and seascapes over the last million years. In H. Anderson-Whymark, D. Garrow, & F. Sturt (Eds.), Continental Connections: Exploring Cross-Channel Relationships from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. (pp. 7-27). Oxford, GB: Oxbow.
Garrow, D., & Sturt, F. (2015). Introduction. In H. Anderson-Whymark, D. Garrow, & F. Sturt (Eds.), Continental Connections: Exploring Cross-Channel Relationships from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. (pp. 1-6). Oxford, GB: Oxbow.
Garrow, D., & Sturt, F. (2017). The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Channel Islands: maritime and terrestrial perspectives. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 36, 1-23.
Sturt, F., & Garrow, D. (2015). Continental connections: concluding discussion. In H. Anderson-Whymark, D. Garrow, & F. Sturt (Eds.), Continental Connections: Exploring Cross-Channel Relationships from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. (pp. 166-172). Oxford, GB: Oxbow.
Sturt, F., Garrow, D., & Bradley, S. (2013). New models of North West European Holocene palaeogeography and inundation. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40(11), 3963-3976. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.05.023
Anderson-Whymark, H., Garrow, D., & Sturt, F. (Eds.) (2015). Continental connections: exploring cross-Channel relationships from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. Oxford, GB: Oxbow books.
Keywords:
Neolithic, Maritime, Islands, Sea-Level, Mesolithic
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Local EPrints ID: 413049
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/413049
PURE UUID: 171e4cc9-b259-409f-9992-d81f8078df16
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Date deposited: 14 Aug 2017 16:30
Last modified: 01 Feb 2024 02:39
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Author:
Duncan Garrow
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