About this book
Research into the Mesolithic has recently undergone important transformations, making it one of the most dynamic fields of archaeological research today. These changes are the result of a combination of factors: new and exciting discoveries, the impact of innovative scientific methods, and the introduction of fresh interpretative approaches. Situated within a long period defined by significant environmental, demographic, and social change, the European Mesolithic period provides key insights to answer the "big questions" in archaeology, including the deep history of migration, diversity, and adaptation. It also provides resources for elucidating answers to complex questions about human relationships, diet, economy, and identity. New theoretical approaches to the Mesolithic in Europe have expanded research into new areas such as lived experience, ritual, cosmology, art, identity, the body, and human-animal relationships. These new research questions have added important nuance and provided a more complete understanding of the period.
With contributions from leading scholars in the field and from across the continent, The Oxford Handbook of Mesolithic Europe provides the first comprehensive overview of the rich archaeology of Mesolithic Europe. Chapters on different European regions, as well as neighbouring areas in North Africa and the Middle East, provide a synoptic view, with thematic chapters examining the lived experience of different kinds of landscapes and adaptations, different forms of technology, and aspects of Mesolithic life, death, ritual, cosmology, and art. The volume highlights both the significance of interdisciplinary research for the field and the importance of combining perspectives and approaches when studying the deep past.
Contents
Part I: MESOLITHIC EUROPE
1. Introduction: The Archaeology of Mesolithic Europe / Liv Nilsson Stutz, Rita Peyrotero Stjerna, and Mari Tõrv
2. The Mesolithic: What is it and Why Should We Care? / Graeme Warren
3. Early and Middle Holocene Climate and Environmental Change / Philippe Crombé
4. Time Matters: Chronology in the European Mesolithic / Rick J. Schulting and Christopher Meiklejohn
5. Mesolithic Landscapes and Niche Construction: A Great Capability for Misunderstanding / Peter Rowley-Conwy
Part II: MESOLITHIC GEOGRAPHIES
6. Eastern Europe / Ekaterina Dolbunova and Andrey Mazurkevich
7. The Baltic Basin: Northern Germany to the Baltic States / Daniel Groß and Tomas Rimkus
8. Northern Scandinavia / Kjel Knutsson
9. Southern Scandinavia / T. Douglas Price
10. Doggerland / James Walker, Vince Gaffney, Simon Fitch, and Andy Fraser
11. Britain and Ireland / Catriona Pickard and Clive Bonsall
12. Continental European Plain / Witold Grużdź, Daniel Groß, Katarzyna Pyżewicz, and Aliaksandr Vashanau
13. The Black Sea Area / Paolo Biagi
14. The Atlantic Coast (Western France, Northern Spain and Portugal) / Ana Cristina Araújo and Grégor Marchand†
15. Continental France and the Benelux / Hans Vandendriessche, Colas Guéret, Benjamin Marquebielle, and Philippe Crombé
16. Alpine Region (Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and Northern Italy) / Federica Fontana
17. The Western Mediterranean Coast and Islands (Spain, Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, France, Italy, Sicily, and North Africa) / Thomas Perrin
18. The Eastern Mediterranean / Nena Galanidou, Nikola Vukosavljević, and Catherine Perlès
19. Southeast Europe (The Balkans and the Danube) / Clive Bonsall, Adina Boroneanț, and Monica Mărgărit
20. The Natufian Archaeological Culture in Southwestern Asian Epipalaeolithic Context / Aaron Jonas Stutz
Part III: HUNTER-GATHERER LANDSCAPES
21. Sea / Hein B. Bjerck
22. Rivers / Ivana Živaljević
23. The Pioneer Experience: A Perspective from the Early Mesolithic Site Complex at Pauler, Eastern Norway / Ingrid Fuglestvedt
24. Mountains and High Altitudes / Davide Visentin
25. Shell Middens and Shells / Catherine Dupont and Igor Gutiérrez-Zugasti
26. Wetland Landscapes / Barry Taylor
27. Inland/Forest / Alexander Verpoorte and Fulco Scherjon
Part IV: MESOLITHIC LIFE
28. Who Were the Mesolithic People: The Archaeogenomic Perspective / Luciana G. Simões and Torsten Günther
29. Hunter-Gatherer Mobility and Sedentism / Daniela Holst
30. Identity, Gender, and Power: Life Histories of Personal Ornaments, Stone Tools, and Other Artefacts / Solange Rigaud and Aimée Little
31. Demography, Life Histories, and Population Dynamics / Aaron Jonas Stutz
32. Violence / Jörg Orschiedt
33. Sensory Experiences / Ben Elliot
34. Food and Diet: A Châine Opératoire Perspective on Hunter-Gatherer Food Practice / Gunilla Eriksson and Kerstin Lidén
35. Coexistence with Neolithic Neighbours / Mariana Diniz
36. Relationships with the Environment: Plants and Animals / Barry Taylor and Nick J. Overton
Part V. MEANINGFUL TECHNOLOGY
37. Shelter and Dwellings / Ole Grøn
38. Hunting / Nick J. Overton
39. Fishing / Harry K. Robson, Adam Boethius, and Kenneth Ritchie
40. The Plant Food Diet of Mesolithic Northwestern Europe / Lucy Kubiak-Martens
41. Art and Symbolism: The Forms and Meanings of the Portable Art of the East European Plain Hunter-Gatherer-Fishers / Ekaterina Kashina
42. Pottery Production among European Foragers / Miriam Cubas and Harry K. Robson
43. Lithic Technology / Mikkel Sørensen
44. Bone Tool Technology / Eva David
45. Quarrying and Lithic Procurement / Astrid J. Nyland
46. Animal Domestication in the Mesolithic / Kurt J. Gron
47. Flint Exchange / Kristiina Johanson, Dagmara H. Werra, Aivar Kriiska, and Javier Mangado Llach
48. Exchange of Amber / Aija Macane and Kerkko Nordqvist
49. Birch, Pine, and Other Adhesive Technologies / Andrew Langley and Aimée Little
Part VI: DEATH AND THE DEAD
50. Human Remains in Non-Burial Contexts / Amy Gray Jones
51. From the Treatment of the Body to the Places of the Dead / Mari Tõrv and Rita Peyroteo Stjerna
52. Rock Images of the Dead: Glimpses of Past Mortuary Processes or Pictures of a Plaguea
53. The Handling of the Dead Body: Transformations from Life to Death / Liv Nilsson Stutz
Part VII: COSMOLOGIES, RITUAL, AND SYMBOLISM
54. Forager Cosmologies in Northernmost Europe / Charlotte Damm
55. Human-Animal Relationships / Kristiina Mannermaa
56. Metamorphosis / Chantal Conneller and Ben Elliott
57. Sculpture and Art (Portable and Non-Portable) / Tomasz Płonka
58. Rock Art / Antti Lahelma and Jan Magne Gjerde
59. Hoarding / Mathias Bjørnevad-Ahlqvist
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Biography
Liv Nilsson Stutz is a Professor of Archaeology at Linnaeus University and has a background in archaeology and biological anthropology. She is a specialist in burial archaeology with a particular focus on archaeothanatology, ritual practice, ritual theory, and body theory, which she has applied in a reinterpretation of Mesolithic mortuary practices with case studies in Scandinavia, the Eastern Baltic, and Portugal. Her work also engages concepts of hunter-gatherer cosmology and ontology. She has published broadly on the archaeology of death, archaeological method and theory, ritual theory, and on issues of research ethics.
Rita Peyroteo Stjerna is a Researcher at the Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University. She is a bioarchaeologist specialising in mortuary archaeology. She is trained in archaeothanatology, ancient DNA, radiocarbon, and stable isotopes. She thrives in interdisciplinary environments and has been working with archaeological human remains in museums in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. She holds a PhD in archaeology from Uppsala University, focusing on the role of mortuary ritual practice in Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, and she has published on Holocene hunter-gatherers in Western Europe, integrating multiple disciplines. Her main interests are mortuary archaeology, archaeological science, and ethical issues concerning the biomolecular research of ancient human remains.
Mari Tõrv is Associate Professor in Archaeology at the Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu. She is an archaeologist with a multi-disciplinary background in archaeology, human osteology, archaeothanatology, stable isotope studies, and ritual studies. Her research interests are wide, extending from hunter-gatherer mortuary practices and identities to the genetic history of Nordic and Eastern European populations, together with life and death ways of early farmers and first Christians. Currently, her work bridges archaeology and chemistry to reconstruct past foodways and explore the research potential of archaeological human remains in general. Her work involves the application of state-of-the-art methods in stable isotope studies and their combination with other biomolecular analyses to form narratives about past lifestyles.
