(Un)settling the Neolithic

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Douglass Whitfield Bailey, A. W. R. Whittle, Vicki Cummings
Oxbow, 2005 - Social Science - 149 pages
This book takes a fresh look at the European Neolithic and asks pertinent questions about the way in which we study it. By unsettling accepted notions regarding sedentism and the onset of farming, the contributors are able to sow that many ideas which are taken as read may need re-evaluating in the light of new modes of thinking. Sedentism and mobility form the bulk of this volume's focus, and a number of papers look at these concepts through examining/re-examining certain sites or collections of sites. Paul Halstead makes the case that sedentism does not preclude a large degree of mobility. Bailey asks us to completely re-think our attitude to the built environment of the Neolithic, arguing that we are trapped by details as to the purpose of structures, rather than on what effect their presence had on the people who used them. Taken together, these fourteen papers encourage us to move beyond the search for sedentism or mobility as a characteristic of society.

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Contents

unsettling frontiers of the MesolithicNeolithic Balkans
16
Can seasonality studies be used to identify sedentism in the past?
32
animals environment and culture in the Neolithic of the Carpathian Basin and adjacent
51
Copyright

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About the author (2005)

Alasdair Whittle is an emeritus research professor in archaeology at Cardiff University. He has worked extensively across Britain and Europe, specialising in the study of the Neolithic.

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