Abstract
The Mesolithic communities of northwest Europe have generally been considered inherently mobile, and all the material evidence associated with them has been interpreted accordingly. This has resulted in entrenched, theoretically polemical and largely hypothetical mobility models, focusing on seasonal rounds and extraction activities. However, recent reanalyses of the ethnographic sources, and discoveries of both substantial and ephemeral Mesolithic structures, as well as new data from recent innovative lithic and scientific analyses (including DNA, isotope research on human remains, and geochemical analyses of lithic artefacts), have forced us to rethink the rather static models of Mesolithic mobility strategies. This paper, examining Mesolithic hunter-gatherer mobility and settlement models from Britain and Ireland, is part of that reassessment. In particular, it assesses the impact of the multiple lines of consilience on our understanding of Mesolithic habitation of landscapes. These include the archaeological evidence and the efficacy of recent theoretical and methodological approaches that have been employed to interpret it.
Highlights
In writing on Mesolithic settlement and mobility (SM), we cannot ignore the contemporary geopolitical context, with vast migrations of people into Europe and concomitant discussions on social impacts, resources, territoriality and identity
In both Wickham-Jones (2005) and McFadyen’s (2006) reviews there was a notable absence of evaluation of the SM models used at that time, which may stem from the fact that most SM models were largely processual in outlook
In contrast to the post-processual outlook of a decade ago, this paper evaluates the predominant emphasis of approaches based on scientific data, and how they relate to the SM models deployed in British Mesolithic research today
Summary
In writing on Mesolithic settlement and mobility (SM), we cannot ignore the contemporary geopolitical context, with vast migrations of people into Europe and concomitant discussions on social impacts, resources, territoriality and identity. This paper, examining Mesolithic hunter-gatherer mobility and settlement models from Britain and Ireland, is part of that reassessment.
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