Inherited places: a Mesolithic-Neolithic taskscape in the Colne Valley
Brummage, Samantha Alice (2023) Inherited places: a Mesolithic-Neolithic taskscape in the Colne Valley. PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.
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Abstract
This thesis uses behavioural foundations, with a task-based methodology, to examine the nature of places in a prehistoric river valley, using assemblage size, type and distribution of artefacts. The aim is to analyse concepts of settlement sites, and to question the categorisations, scale and direction of interpretations and archaeological narratives. For example, at a recent meeting to discuss the relationship between human behaviour and Mesolithic sites, it was pointed out that the concept of ‘off-site’ archaeology was a complete oxymoron (Wickham-Jones; 2021a). How could there have been activity ‘off’ the site when the site is purely our own construct? Although this contradiction is often acknowledged, in practice it has been more difficult to integrate the scale of site-based investigation with the archaeological record of a wider contemporary landscape. This means that specific site-based narratives persist and often give a generalised perspective on prehistoric chronologies. A focus on sites with ‘absolute’ dates, for example, makes it hard to see scales in practice, or relationships between sites (and spaces in between), or between separate groups of people, including Mesolithic and Neolithic ‘cultures’. Despite these tensions, however, dominant and homogenous accounts of chronologies have been, and can be challenged (e.g. see Conneller and Overton; 2018, for Early Mesolithic, Griffiths; 2014, for Late Mesolithic Early Neolithic), as have conflated narratives of subsistence (e.g. Milner; 2006), and gender-situated tasks (e.g. Finlay; 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006). The results of this thesis suggest further challenges may come from integration of diverse data sources
Metadata
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Date of award confirmed as 2023 by registry. |
| Copyright Holders: | The copyright of this thesis rests with the author, who asserts his/her right to be known as such according to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. No dealing with the thesis contrary to the copyright or moral rights of the author is permitted. |
| Depositing User: | Acquisitions And Metadata |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Apr 2023 11:09 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2023 16:07 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/51023 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.18743/PUB.00051023 |
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