The Neolithics of Wales and the mid-west of England: a systemic analysis of social change through the application of action theory (2 Vols)

Abstract

This thesis presents the results of a study of social change in Wales and the mid-west of England during the period 4500 - 2000 BC. Emphasis is given to understanding the entire extinct social system, as far as archaeological data permits, and for analytical purposes neolithic society is conceived of as a set of six interpenetrating action based subsystems. Social change is taken to mean alterations in the pattern of co-existant actions. Principles developed in the field of General Systems Theory to cope with open-organic systems are adapted to model the operation and integration of the subsystems. A review of available chronological evidence allows four phases to be identified within the neolithic period. Examination of evidence pertaining to activities within each subsystem reveals a complexity of putatively interrelated changes through time. Regional variation is also evident, and the overall trajectory of change is shown to be neither straight nor unilinear. During the first half of the period, changes appear to be cumulative and progressive. In areas east of the River Severn a disjunction is identified in the period shortly after 2500 bc, when the effects of pressure on land were putatively instrumental in a breakdown of projective and political control. Subsistence, economy, exchange and settlement all show dislocation which is rapidly overcome by colonisation of new areas, changes in the exploitation pattern of animal resources and a shift in th axis of exchange. Projective activities, which prior to c.2500 be were probably based. on a cult of the ancestors, never regained their former character, and new practices became established. Political activities became severed from projective activities and some evidence exists for the emergence of an elite who controlled trade and presumably people also. Changes west of the Severn are shown to be less dramatic, possibly because continuous colonisation of the uplands and exploitation of coastal and marine resources diminished competition for land. The wealth of natural resources available in north Wales promoted changes towards the end of the neolithic, and the area became assimilated into patterns of society prevailing in Ireland and east of the Severn. It is concluded that changes in the first half of the period relate specifically to adaptations to uncertainties in the flow of matter and energy within the social system, but that the observable patterns of change in the second half of the period are responses to uncertainties in the flow of information. A gazetteer of recorded neolithic sites, monuments and find spots within the study area is provided as an appendix; other appendices detail ceramic assemblages analysed, radiocarbon dates, evidence used in the analysis of individual subsystems and studies of human physiology.

More information

Identifiers

Catalogue record

Export record

ASCII CitationAtomBibTeXData Cite XMLDublin CoreDublin CoreEP3 XMLEndNoteHTML CitationHTML CitationHTML ListJSONMETSMODSMPEG-21 DIDLOpenURL ContextObjectOpenURL ContextObject in SpanRDF+N-TriplesRDF+N3RDF+XMLRIOXX2 XMLReferReference ManagerSimple Metadata