Overview

The social processes involved in acquiring flint and stone in the Neolithic began to be considered over thirty years ago, promoting a more dynamic view of past extraction processes. Whether by quarrying, mining or surface retrieval, the geographic source locations of raw materials and their resultant archaeological sites have been approached from different methodological and theoretical perspectives. In recent years this has included the exploration of previously undiscovered sites, refined radiocarbon dating, comparative ethnographic analysis and novel analytical approaches to stone tool manufacture and provenancing. The aim of this volume in the Neolithic Studies Group Papers is to explore these new findings on extraction sites and their products. How did the acquisition of raw materials fit into other aspects of Neolithic life and social networks? How did these activities merge in creating material items that underpinned cosmology, status and identity? What are the geographic similarities, constraints and variables between the various raw materials, and how does the practise of stone extraction in the UK relate to wider extractive traditions in northwestern Europe? Eight papers address these questions and act as a useful overview of the current state of research on the topic.

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9781789251487

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[...]the volume's geographical and thematic coverage at an insular level is admirable --The Prehistoric Society Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers (this is number 16) are always useful and great value. This is no exception: there isn't really a duff/pedestrian paper among them, and certainly youthful enthusiasm can be heard stridently coming from those liminal hill tops. --Current Archaeology

[...]M. Parker Pearson develops [...] impressive narratives of moving megalithic stones transforming or maintaining identities. * Antiquity *

Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers (this is number 16) are always useful and great value. This is no exception: there isn't really a duff/pedestrian paper among them, and certainly youthful enthusiasm can be heard stridently coming from those liminal hill tops. --Current Archaeology

Author Information

Anne Teather specialises in the European Neolithic. She has worked extensively on prehistoric chalk artefacts and she has pioneered new approaches to material culture studies. She is currently directing a field project at Tenants Hill, Dorset, with her non-profit community archaeology company 'Past Participate'. Pete Topping was head of survey for English Heritage and is an expert in landscape interpretation. Following voluntary early retirement he returned to his main subject of research, undertaking a recently awarded PhD at Newcastle University on flint and stone extraction industries. He is on Oxbow's American Landscapes Editorial Board. Jon Baczkowski is Research Assistant Professor in the Faculty of History, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland and Senior Field/Project Officer at Chris Butler Archaeological Services Ltd., UK. He specialises in prehistoric lithic identification and flint resources and extraction sites.

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