Peau noire, masques blancs: self-image in the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Scotland

Abstract

Models attributing the origins of the British Neolithic to developing Mesolithic complexity founder on the paucity of evidence for activity during the 5th millennium cal BC. The Scottish transition is examined and its is argued that the onset of the Neolithic was primarily a cognitive and cultural event rather than an economic transformation. It is suggested that knowledge of the existence of complex neolithic societies in northern Europe may have inhibited Late Mesolithic self-confidence, resulting in suppression of identity, thus creating the impression of hiatus that precedes Neolithicization.