Beyond symbols of power: An integrated multi-scalar study of the life histories of Middle Neolithic elaborate objects

Abstract

The British Middle Neolithic (c.3500-2900 BC) is now recognised as a time of significant social and cultural change. In lowland Britain at least, the period sees striking changes in subsistence (likely a move from mixed agriculture to pastoralism), the cessation of activity at flint mines and axe quarries (c. 3500 BC), alongside the appearance of new mortuary practices, and new monument forms. Coincident is the appearance of a range of novel artefact forms. Of these, the ceramics – Peterborough and Impressed Wares – are relatively well-studied. However, that is not the case with a number of elaborate artefact forms without indigenous precedent such as jet sliders, antler and stone maceheads, boar’s tusk implements, transverse arrowheads, lozenge arrowheads, waisted adzeheads and axeheads, fully-ground rectangular knives, edge-ground blade knives and lozenge points, many of which are marked out by their highly skilled and/or time-consuming manufacture. These objects occur in a restricted range of contexts, most notably as personal grave goods within burials, which raise critical questions about their role. This research presents the first integrated, multi-scalar study of the life histories of a number of these elaborate objects which appear in Britain during the Middle Neolithic. It explores their creation, distribution and life-histories through studies of their context, materiality, technologies of production and use-wear analysis, alongside experimental replication, to generate detailed understandings of the varied roles these objects played in life and death in Middle Neolithic Britain.

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ORCID for Josh Pollard: orcid.org/0000-0002-8429-2009

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