Lithic raw material sourcing and the assessment of Mesolithic landscape organization and mobility strategies in northern England

Abstract

Analysis of the early evolution of cultural landscapes, particularly the regional organization of space by mobile hunter-gatherers, is often hampered by a lack of overt landscape marking and modification and/or a lack of sufficient biological material with which to assess regional affinity. This situation places a premium on the accurate sourcing of durable materials, such as stone for tool manufacture (commonly employed as proxy measures of space utilization), and including resource procurement, control, and movement. In an effort to understand the Mesolithic (10 000—5500 BP) organization of space in northern England, we undertake studies on black cherts, employing LA-ICP-MS, an efficient and minimally destructive geochemical technique. Comparisons between primary sources of black cherts, and archaeologically derived chert artefacts, from the site of Lismore Fields in Derbyshire, reveals that systematic application of this approach allows both the chemical differentiation of sources and an understanding of the chemical relationship between archaeological samples and specific analysed sources. These results are consistent with results of earlier studies employing different analytic methods and allow the partial testing of two alternative models of Mesolithic landscape organization in the region. We conclude that the use of LA-ICP-MS is a useful method to employ for chemical characterization of sources and results reinforce an interpretation of regional Mesolithic landscape organization being framed around east—west trending, upland-coastal transects consistent with natural drainage features.