Wild Things_Conference Program

Where The Wild Things Are: Recent Advances in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research

Program and Abstract Book March 24-25, 2012 Durham, UK

Where The Wild Things Are: Recent Advances in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Research March 24-25, 2012 Durham, UK Organizing Committee: Angela Perri Helen Drinkall David Clinnick Emily Blake James Walker Frederick Foulds Rosie Bishop Ophelie Lebrasseur Discussants: Peter Rowley-Conwy Mark White Paul Pettitt Matt Pope

Discussants

Peter Rowley-Conwy (Subsistence & Animals)

Mark White (Tools & Technology)

Peter Rowley-Conwy is a Professor of Archaeology at Durham University. His research has focused on hunter-gatherers and early farmers, in particular the nature of the transition between these cultural episodes. He also has an interest in the history of archaeological approaches to that period. A specialist on faunal remains and their contribution to archaeology, he has published widely on European material, including in Scandinavia and Britain, and analysed the major faunal assemblage from Arene Candide in Italy. Since 2000 he has run the Durham Pig Project, which has examined pig domestication around the world by a variety of means.

Mark White is a Reader in Archaeology at Durham University.

Mark specialises in the Palaeolithic of Britain and his published work includes papers on handaxe morphology, the palaeogeography & settlement history of Palaeolithic Britain, the multiple emergence of Levallois technology, the timing and nature of the British Middle Palaeolithic, and the Clactonian controversy. He is also interested in Neanderthals, Modern Humans, the Mammoth Steppe environment of Britain during the last ice age, and the history of archaeology.

Paul Pettitt (Ritual & Society)

Matt Pope (Landscape & Environments)

Paul Pettitt is a Reader in Palaeolithic Archaeology at University of Sheffield. Following his doctoral research on Neanderthal behaviour at Cambridge he became Ataff Archaeologist (latterly Senior Archaeologist) at the Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford (19952001) and was Douglas Price Junior Research Fellow (19972000) and Research Fellow and Tutor in Archaeology and Anthropology (2000-2003) at Keble College, Oxford. His interests include Palaeolithic mortuary behavior, Upper Palaeolithic art, and lithic technology.

Matt Pope is a Senior Teaching Fellow in Palaeolithic Archaeology at University College London. He is also a Senior Research Fellow on the Boxgrove Project. His research interests include patterning in the use, discard and transportation of artifacts and raw materials by early humans and the Early Upper Palaeolithic colonisation of northern Europe. He is also interested in the geological context of Middle Pleistocene human occupation in Southern Britain and the visualization and simulation of prehistoric landscapes.

Conference Schedule Saturday, March 24

8:30-9:30 9:30-9:40 9:40-11:00 11:00-11:20 11:20-1:00 1:00-1:40 1:40-3:20 3:20-3:40 3:40-5:20 5:20-7:00

General Session Room D110 Registration Opening Remarks General Session Papers Break General Session Papers Lunch General Session Papers Break General Session Papers Wine Reception

Sunday, March 25

9:30-10:30 10:30-10:45 10:45-11:15 11:15-12:15 12:15-12:30 12:30-12:45 12:45-1:45

1:45-2:45 2:45-3:00 3:00-3:30 3:30-4:30 4:30-4:45 4:45-5:00

Morning: Subsistence & Animals Room D110

Morning: Landscape & Environments Room W103

Papers Questions Break Papers Questions Discussant Remarks Lunch Afternoon: Ritual & Society Room D110 Papers Questions Break Papers Questions Discussant Remarks

Papers Questions Break Papers Questions Discussant Remarks Lunch Afternoon: Tools & Technology Room W103 Papers Questions Break Papers Questions Discussant Remarks

DAY ONE

GENERAL SESSION

8:30 – 9:30 9:30 – 9:40 9:40 – 10:00 10:00 – 10:20 10:20 – 10:40

REGISTRATION OPENING REMARKS Patrick Hadley Natasha Reynolds Chris Scarre

10:40 – 11:00

Peter Rowley-Conwy

11:00 – 11:20 11:20 – 11:40

BREAK Nicolas Valdeyron, et al

11:40 – 12:00 12:00 – 12:20 12:20 – 12:40 12:40 – 1:00 1:00 – 1:40 1:40 – 2:00 2:00 – 2:20 2:20 – 2:40

Clive Waddington Paul Pettitt Alan Saville Paul Preston LUNCH Barry Taylor, et al Matt Pope Penny Spikins

2:40 – 3:00

Patricia Diogo Monteiro

3:00 – 3:20

Karen Hardy and Stephen Buckley

3:20 – 3:40 3:40 – 4:00 4:00 – 4:20 4:20 – 4:40 4:40 – 5:00

BREAK Fraser Brown Ciarán Brewster, et al Iza Romanowska Nigel Melton

Saturday, March 24th

National histories of the Mesolithic: Comparing the British Isles and Denmark The Mid Upper Palaeolithic of Russia and Ukraine Wild Things in the West?

Hunter-Gatherers and First Farmers in Atlantic France 5500-4500 cal BC Wild Things in the North?

Hunter-Gatherers and Farmers in Mesolithic/Neolithic Europe 5500-3900 cal BC Le Cuzoul de Gramat: a key to understand the beginning of Holocene in France Sailing to a New World: Secondary colonisation of Britain in the 9th-8th millennia cal BC New ways of understanding Mid Upper Palaeolithic hand stencils in French and Spanish ‘cave art’ Upper Palaeolithic Scotland Blade Runner(s)- The Mesolithic Cut: Lithics, Landscapes, & Mobility Resolving the issue of artefact deposition at Star Carr Wild Rumpus? Technology, anatomy and landscape in Neanderthal hunting Shaping the face of morality: Generosity, moral reputation and selection pressures on handaxes revisited Fire as a component of Mesolithic funerary rituals: the case of a burial in Cabeço da Amoreira (Muge, Portugal) Neanderthal medics?

Evidence for food, cooking and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus Two Recently-excavated Mesolithic Period Sites from the Irish Sea Zone Craniometric variation and population history in the European Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic The First Out of Africa: an Agent Based Model of the earliest hominid dispersal Mesolithic-Neolithic transition middens at West Voe, Shetland Islands

5:00 – 5:20 5:20 – 7:00

Mark White and Paul Pettitt WINE RECEPTION

DAY TWO: Morning

Ancient digs and modern myths: the context and dating of the KC4 maxilla

Sunday, March 25th SUBSISTENCE & ANIMALS SESSION Discussant: Peter Rowley-Conwy

9:30 – 9:45

Emma Humphrey

9:45 – 10:00 10:00 – 10:15

Rosie Bishop Marina Lozano, et al

10:15 – 10:30 10:30 – 10:45 10:45 – 11:15 11:15 – 11:30 11:30 – 11:45 11:45 – 12:00 12:00 – 12:15 12:15 – 12:30 12:30 – 12:45 12:45 – 1:45

George Nash QUESTIONS BREAK Jean-Christophe Castel, et al Andrew Millard Lizzie Wright Aimée Little QUESTIONS DISCUSSANT REMARKS LUNCH

Does small prey really make a difference?: Broad-spectrum prey exploitation in the Kebaran Epipalaeolithic Roots, fruits and nuts: plant use in the Scottish Mesolithic Non-masticatory dental wear in Mesolithic populations as an indicator of economic and cultural behavior Animals as Landscape: Rock-Art within a cave on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales

Animal exploitation strategies in Quercy (France) during the last glacial maximum On isotopes, fish and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition The European aurochs (Bos primigenius) during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Snapshots of tasks unfolding: plants as part of daily life in the Irish Late Mesolithic

LANDSCAPE & ENVIRONMENTS SESSION Discussant: Matt Pope

9:30 – 9:45

Amy Prendergast, et al

Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic climate and seasonality in North Africa from the chemical analysis of marine and terrestrial mollusc shells (Haua Fteah, Libya)

9:45 – 10:00 10:00 – 10:15 10:15 – 10:30

Susan Harris Hannah Cutler Suzanne Pilaar Birch

10:30 – 10:45 10:45 – 11:15 11:15 – 11:30 11:30 – 11:45

QUESTIONS BREAK Paula Gardiner Jean-Luc Locht, et al

11:45 – 12:00

Danae Dodge

12:00 – 12:15

Graeme Warren, et al

12:15 – 12:30 12:30 – 12:45 12:45 – 1:45

QUESTIONS DISCUSSANT REMARKS LUNCH

Problems and potential in the use of archival data and surface assemblages Producing an acceptable dataset for the British late Middle Palaeolithic Changing Landscapes, Changing Mobility and Human Response to Environmental Change in the Early Holocene: The View from Istria

Crossing the Water: hunter-gatherers in a changing world Strategies of occupation and land exploitation between the Eemian interglacial and the end of the Middle Pleistocene Weichselian in northern France Reconstructing Neanderthal demography: An approach to examining Neanderthal extinction Creating space: interactions between settlements and environments during the Irish Mesolithic

DAY TWO: Afternoon

Sunday, March 25th RITUAL & SOCIETY SESSION Discussant: Paul Pettitt

1:45 – 2:00 2:00 – 2:15 2:15 – 2:30 2:30 – 2:45 2:45 – 3:00 3:00 – 3:30 3:30 – 3:45 3:45 – 4:00 4:00 – 4:15 4:15 – 4:30 4:30 – 4:45 4:45 – 5:00

Amy Gray Jones Piotr Jacobsson Rita Peyroteo Stjerna Olívia Figueiredo QUESTIONS BREAK Emily Hellewell Sarah Evans Jessica Cooney and Leslie Van Gelder Liliana Janik QUESTIONS DISCUSSANTS REMARKS

Manipulation of the body in Mesolithic mortuary practice Ideology of the hunt and the end of Epi-Paleolithic in the Near East Death in place: rituals in practice Funerary contexts: the study-case of the Mesolithic shellmiddens of Muge (Portugal)

Placement of human remains in shell middens during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition Geometric Engraving Traditions of Upper Palaeolithic France: A Cognitive Approach The Question of Representation Art of Seeing, the Ritual of Storytelling

TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY SESSION Discussant: Mark White 1:45 – 2:00 2:00 – 2:15 2:15 – 2:30 2:30 – 2:45 2:45 – 3:00 3:00 – 3:30 3:30 – 3:45 3:45 – 4:00

Frederick Foulds Antony Dickson Wei Chu Robert J. Davis QUESTIONS BREAK Dagmar Vokounová Franzeová, et al Seren Griffiths

4:00 – 4:15 4:15 – 4:30 4:30 – 4:45 4:45 – 5:00

Helen Drinkall Ben Elliott QUESTIONS DISCUSSANTS REMARKS

Imperceptible Individuals: issues in the application of social theory to Palaeolithic contexts Stainton West, Carlisle, Cumbria: Lithic Assemblage Rollin’on the river – Experimental approaches to fluvially derived stone tools The Earliest Acheulean of Britain: Evidence from the Solent River

The Phenomenon of Bohemian Paradise Mesolithic Settlement Points in time. Bayesian statistics and late mesolithic microlith technology in England The Right Tools for the Job: an exploration of artefactual signatures with reference to landscape context in the Lower Palaeolithic of Britain Antler craftwork in the British Mesolithic

Conference Abstracts GENERAL SESSION HADLEY, Pat (General Session) University of York National histories of the Mesolithic: Comparing the British Isles and Denmark th

The development of archaeology across Europe during the 19 century gave rise to nationally based archaeological narratives in many countries. Their formation was shaped by both the local archaeology and historic contexts of research and dissemination. For embryonic ideas of the Mesolithic, the local presence of Upper Palaeolithic and Roman archaeological remains were crucial to the levels of academic and public attention to the period. This led to very different trajectories between the nations of the British Isles and Denmark despite similarities in archaeology or historic development. A whistle-stop tour th through these histories from the 19 century onward will illuminate many of the reasons why the Mesolithic has such a different public profile in each of the countries today.

REYNOLDS, Natasha (General Session) University of Oxford The Mid Upper Palaeolithic of Russia and Ukraine The Mid Upper Palaeolithic record of Russia and Ukraine includes huge lithic, osseous and faunal assemblages, elaborate burials and fascinating pieces of art, as found at well-known sites including the Kostenki complex and Sungir. The archaeology of this region and period is often referred to as the “Eastern Gravettian” – a name which does not reflect the great spatial and temporal variation apparent in the record. Despite the inarguable importance of the archaeology and the interest it holds, it has, for the most part, yet to be successfully integrated into 10odeling10i debates on the European Upper Palaeolithic.

Available data on chronology and the palaeoclimatic/environmental framework are problematic, and present serious difficulties both for ordering the record and for placing the archaeology in its European context. This talk, drawing on my current Dphil research, will discuss some key questions about this area which remain to be answered, with reference to recent work elsewhere on the Mid Upper Palaeolithic of Europe.

SCARRE, Chris (General Session) Durham University Wild Things in the West? Hunter-Gatherers and First Farmers in Atlantic France 5500-4500 cal BC The shell midden cemeteries of Téviec and Hoedic have frequently been interpreted as the burial places of complex hunter gatherer communities who resisted the Neolithic advance or whose use of stone slabs and small mounds prefigured the development of Neolithic monumentalism in Atlantic northwest Europe.

The growing evidence for immigration as a significant feature of the Neolithic transition, however, challenges the notion of continuity in traditions and beliefs.

Were Téviec and Hoedic important places in the Late Mesolithic world, or marginal and idiosyncratic outliers? Did the incipient monumentalism that they appear to display have any impact on Neolithic traditions or do the latter represent the negotiation of an entirely new set of social relationships with natural materials in these rock-strewn landscapes? There are implications for the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition in other regions of western Europe.

ROWLEY-CONWY, Peter (Discussant) (General Session) Durham University Wild Things in the North? Hunter-Gatherers and Farmers in Mesolithic/Neolithic Europe 5500-3900 cal BC The northern edge of the Bandkeramik and its successor Neolithic cultures formed a boundary between farmers and hunter-gatherers that remained largely static for some 1500 years. Archaeologists commonly assume that the farmer/forager relationship involved foragers becoming ‘clients’ of the farmers: the foragers exchanged unspecified ‘forest products’ for items of exotic technology such as stone axes, to which they ascribed ‘symbolic value’. This contribution will argue that this conception is misplaced, an outcome of recent encounters between foragers and the outside world, all of which involved asymmetric technologies: the foragers could see and understand the evident superiority of the exotic technology. But in Neolithic Europe, foragers and farmers had more or less symmetric technologies. What did the farmers have that the foragers could produce better examples of themselves? From this perspective a ‘client’ relationship does not seem a likely outcome. Notions of wildness, savages and agrios societies may not be appropriate.

VALDEYRON, N., A. Henry, B. Marquebielle, B. Gassin, S. Philibert, S. Michel et B. Bosc-Zanardo (General Session) University of Toulouse-Le Mirail Le Cuzoul de Gramat: a key to understand the beginning of Holocene in France The site of Cuzoul (Gramat, Lot region, France) was excavated between 1923 and 1933. Its great reputation is due to the wealth of its Mesolithic levels as well as to the discovery, in the « Tardenoisian » levels, of one of the first Mesolithic graves found in Western Europe (Lacam et al., 1944). In 2005, new excavations have begun. They allow to complete the initial sequence published by our predecessors. Moreover the presence of late Mesolithic layers, human occupations st dated to the Epipaleolithic, the 1 Mesolithic and the early Neolithic were also recognized. Thanks to this site, and through the evolution of material remains st nd and natural environment, we can handle about modalities and rhythms of the “mesolithization”, transition between 1 and 2 Mesolithic and process of neolithization around the Mediterranean area. This contribution will discuss these various points.

WADDINGTON, Clive (General Session) Archaeological Research Services Ltd th

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Sailing to a New World: Secondary 11odeling11ion of Britain in the 9 -8 millennia cal BC Since the work of Clark the pattern of human settlement and subsistence for much of the British Mesolithic was conceived of through the lens of a single mode of living. This picture comprised individuals and groups moving considerable distances over the landscape as part of an annual round, usually geared to the movement of animal populations. Typically this included the use of home bases near the coast in winter and upland hunting and specialist camps in the

summer months. This basic model has proved very resilient and has persisted until recently, with many subsequent scholars only making slight modifications.

With the advent of more precise radiocarbon dating, the discovery of several Mesolithic house sites in coastal locations, the application of stable isotope analysis, lithic studies and landscape-scale studies, this new evidence now indicates a much more complex ‘history’ for the British Mesolithic, with considerable temporal and spatial variation evident. This paper will explore the evidence for a secondary 12odeling12ion of Britain by users of a ‘narrow blade’ microlith industry and compare their modes of settlement and subsistence with those of the pre-existing hunter-gatherer population.

PETTITT, Paul (Discussant) (General Session) University of Sheffield New ways of understanding Mid Upper Palaeolithic hand stencils in French and Spanish ‘cave art’ Perhaps the most immediate and intimate contact with our Palaeolithic forebears, hand stencils have received much attention by specialists since the days of Breuil. Despite this we understand very little about them: they appear in the main to be a Mid Upper Palaeolithic (Gravettian) phenomenon; adults, adolescents and occasionally children all appear to have been subjects; the clearer examples may be attributable with a certain degree of confidence to gender, and occasionally fingers appear to have been missing or were deliberately bent back, probably as some kind of deliberate communication. Contextual studies of the location and nature of hand prints have been noticeably lacking. Here, I present some initial observations on the nature of hand stencils, based on work undertaken in the caves of Pech Merle (Lot, France), Tito Bustillo (Asturias, Spain), Ardales (Malaga, Spain), La Garma and El Castillo (Cantabria, Spain).

From this I forward a new way of ‘looking’ at these examples of cave ‘art’.

SAVILLE, Alan (General Session) National Museum of Scotland Upper Palaeolithic Scotland This paper will give an update on the recently recognized evidence for Lateglacial human presence in Scotland prior to the Younger Dryas/Loch Lomond Stadial from the sites at Howburn, South Lanarkshire, and Kilmelfort Cave, Argyll. In both cases the nature of the lithic 12odeling assemblage is more suggestive of techno-cultural links across the North Sea Plain rather than with developments in southern Britain.

PRESTON, Paul R. (General Session) University of Oxford Blade Runner(s)- The Mesolithic Cut: Lithics, Landscapes, & Mobility This paper provides a narrative which intimately links Mesolithic mobility strategies, settlement patterns, lithic raw material consumption, and tool use. It seeks to show that the Central Pennine Mesolithic sites were persistent places. These persistent places are shown to have been repeatedly visited to exploit local plant and animal resources and so often had significant levels of site investment, they are also demonstrated to have been situated on Trans-Pennine pathways (linking the main transit routes e.g. rivers) and were near to culturally significant ‘handrail’ landmarks. The lithics found on these persistent places are shown to have been exclusively imported from a hinterland covering Northern England. This hinterland compares well with population density

reconstructions, and contains similar lithic styles (during the Early and Late Mesolithic). Consequently, this hinterland is suggested to reflect a socioethnic/linguistic territory and/or that it implies that mobility was from throughout Northern England, with the Pennines being a key node or the Nexus of increasingly logistical resource and mobility networks. This therefore challenges traditional east-west mobility models, and the suggestions of smaller separate interior and coastal social territories. The long distance transport of the raw materials in this hinterland is shown to have impacted on the chaîne opératoires and resulted in distinctly different Central Pennine lithic exploitation strategies (compared to those seen in the more traditionally researched lowland assemblages from karstic areas). In the Central Pennines impacts included the virtual lack of on-site knapping, high levels of blade/let or tool importation, and the increased occurrence of flexible strategies (such as risk avoidance, caching, equipotentiality, and retooling) that resulted in positive feedback on the chaîne opératoires. Furthermore, changes in raw material preferences appear to be directly linked to changes in the transit routes used (i.e. as part of changes in the larger mobility cycle over time).

TAYLOR, Barry (1), Nicky Milner (2), Chantal Conneller (1) (General Session) 1 – University of Manchester 2 – University of York Resolving the issue of artefact deposition at Star Carr Since its discovery in 1949 Star Carr has held something of an iconic status in British Mesolithic archaeology. The original excavations at the site, undertaken by Grahame Clark, recorded a large assemblage of bone and antler tools from a sequence of peat deposits at the edge of a palaeo- lake. Over 60 years later this remains the largest assemblage of bone and antler artefacts of its date in the country and has been an invaluable source of information for life in the early Mesolithic. However, the interpretation of this material has been the subject of intense debate, and the assemblage has been variously described as the remains of an in-situ settlement, a refuse dump, and the result of culturally proscribed acts of deposition. In this paper we present the results of recent work that has sought to address this issue through an integrated programme of archaeological and palaeo-environmental research. In particular we will discuss the environmental context in which the artefacts were deposited, the processes through which deposition occurred, and how this relates to activity at other parts of the site. We will also show how the practices undertaken at Star Carr relate to a wider pattern of activity within the surrounding landscape.

POPE, Matt (Discussant) (General Session) University College London Wild Rumpus? Technology, anatomy and landscape in Neanderthal hunting In this paper I review the evidence for Neanderthal hunting from Middle and Late Pleistocene Europe, comparing the evidence for both close intercept/ambush hunting with evidence for more effective, strategic use of landscape. Evidence for composite projectile technology and prime adult hunting contrast with bone injuries data and apparent restricted use of projectiles indicated by anatomical studies. Important variables in hunting strategy (planning depth, composite technology, social co-operation)have underpinned discussions of ‘modernity’ in our own species, Neanderthals therefore offer a useful parallel evolutionary path to put the concept itself under close scrutiny.

SPIKINS, Penny (General Session) University of York Shaping the face of morality: Generosity, moral reputation and selection pressures on handaxes revisited Debate has raged for several years over explanations for elements of handaxe form, dating from around 1.8 million years ago onwards, which appear to go beyond immediate function. Here it is argued that non functional elements of handaxe form are best explained by the emergence of the ‘Bailey Effect’ (Gurven et al 2000). The Bailey Effect (after the character George Bailey in ‘Its A Wonderful Life’) explains how signals of a willingness to help others at ones’ own expense contributes to the building of a moral reputation which guarantees support in times of food scarcity or illness. Attention to a pleasing form of handaxes is not costly and yet confers a lasting record of attention to others, and of an emotional capacity for self control (more prosaically patience) which is a major factor in capacities to collaborate. Such signals of generosity and emotional wellbeing may have been only one element of moral reputation building in the Acheulian which alongside care for the ill and risk taking within hunting functioned as a means of buffering risks through ensuring reciprocal support. The emergence of the Bailey Effect provides an explanation for handaxe form which is situated in biological and social changes occurring at the time, and additionally explains the remarkable conservatism of these industries.

MONTEIRO, Patrícia Diogo, João Cascalheira, João Marreiros, Nuno Bicho (General Session) Universidade do Algarve Fire as a component of Mesolithic funerary rituals: the case of a burial in Cabeço da Amoreira (Muge, Portugal) Cabeço da Amoreira is part of the Mesolithic Muge shellmiddens complex, in Santarém, central Portugal. A burial of a 20-25 year old woman, dated from c.

7800 cal BP, was found in Cabeço da Amoreira, covered with several layers of shells, lithic materials, fauna remains and presence of charcoal that may point to aindicates the presence of a funerary ritual. Charcoal analyses are an important evidence to know the selection of wood species and to assess the importance of fire as a component of funerary rituals. This paper presents the charcoal analysis results from this Mesolithic burial based on more than 700 charcoal fragments recovered from the funerary context. Preliminary results from ongoing research reveal the presence of taxa such as Pinus cf. Pinaster, Pinus sp. And indeterminate angiosperms. These results corroborate previous archaeobotanical studies made in Cabeço da Amoreira for the same chronology. This presentation expects that anthracological data could confirm the ritual origin of the fire associated to the burial.

HARDY, Karen, Stephen Buckley (General Session) ICREA Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus Neanderthals are an extinct species of the genus Homo. The traditional view of Neanderthals as predominantly meat-eaters has recently been questioned by a growing body of evidence that suggests their diet included plants. Here we present new evidence based on the morphological and chemical analyses of compounds extracted from dental calculus to demonstrate that Neanderthal individuals from the north Spanish site of El Sidrón ate a range of different cooked plant foods, inhaled wood smoke, visited a specific location and consumed two plants, neither of which has any nutritional value and both which are used today for their medicinal properties.

BROWN, Fraser (General Session) Oxford Archaeology North Two Recently-excavated Mesolithic Period Sites from the Irish Sea Zone In recent years Oxford Archaeology North has excavated two Mesolithic period sites of major importance, both within the Irish Sea Zone. The first of these was a pit house, with associated finds and features, excavated in advance of airport construction, on the Isle of Man. This structure lies in close proximity to Peter Woodman’s Cass ny Hawin site, and the exciting possibility exists that both houses belong to an extensive settlement. The second was an in situ lithic scatter (302,000 lithics) associated with settlement features, located adjacent to a palaeochannel, discovered during the construction of the Carlisle Northern Development Route (CNDR), near Carlisle, Cumbria. This is one of the most important Late Mesolithic assemblages to have been retrieved to date in the north of England, and opens up the possibility of several new and intriguing research directions. Postexcavation assessment has now started for the first site, whereas analysis is under way for the second. This presentation will describe the methodologies used to excavate the two sites and expound upon the preliminary results.

BREWSTER, Ciarán (1), Ron Pinhasi (1), Chris Mieklejohn (2) (General Session) 1 – University College Cork 2 – University of Winnipeg Craniometric variation and population history in the European Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic It has been proposed that open social networks over large areas of the European continent offered Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers an adaptive strategy that allowed them to maintain contact and biological continuity. Open social networks were further advanced as an explanatory model that accounted for the relative homogeneity of material culture across large geographic regions of the continent during the Early Upper Palaeolithic. It is generally thought that there is a shift to more closed social networks towards the end of the Late Pleistocene as population density increased and human groups became more sedentary.

Digitised cranial landmarks were analysed using geometric morphometric analysis to examine whether there is a shift towards greater regionalisation of cranial traits from the Early Upper Palaeolithic to the Late Mesolithic periods. This was further supplemented by a dataset of traditional cranial measurements, which have been compiled from the literature.

The pattern is not a simple one and it doesn’t conform neatly to the theoretical model of open and closed systems. While the cranial variation of all populations in this study are relatively homogeneous through time and space, there is evidence of closure of long distance social networks during the Mesolithic.

ROMANOWSKA, Iza (General Session) University of Southampton The First Out of Africa: an Agent Based Model of the earliest hominid dispersal The study of early hominid dispersals is a complex academic issue integrating data from several very different disciplines: archaeology, anthropology, paleozoology, palaeoclimate studies and genetics. The aim of this paper is to show the potential of Agent Based Modelling (ABM) to integrate this data into one coherent framework while providing a unique platform for testing large scale hypothesis.

The current methodology for the study of dispersals is largely based on qualitative considerations. I would argue that a more quantitative approach integrating simulation with geographical methods could be more fruitful and bring new answers to old questions.

In order to test these assumptions a simple ABM model of the first Out of Africa has been developed using the popular 16odeling software NetLogo. The availability of different routes into Europe was the sole variable in this model. Yet, it proved useful to answer the following research question: is the lack of Lower Palaeolithic sites in Central and Eastern Europe a reflection of the dispersal routes? As a by-product of the model several unanticipated patterns emerged, showing the potential of ABM for studying early human dispersal.

MELTON, Nigel (General Session) University of Bradford Mesolithic-Neolithic transition middens at West Voe, Shetland Islands Middens dating to ca. 4300-3250 cal BC that were exposed by coastal erosion at West Voe, Sumburgh, represent the first direct evidence of Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in the Shetland archipelago – and the furthest expansion into the North Atlantic by the Mesolithic peoples of north-west Europe.

The middens were investigated in 2004-5 and found to contain a sequence of marine 16odeling, with oysters being initially exploited, then limpets, mussels and, finally, cockles. A small number of mainly quartz lithics were recovered from the middens. The ‘limpet phase’, which was dated to ca. 3730-3620 cal BC, also contained numerous seal and seabird bones. Preliminary analysis of the faunal remains suggest year-round occupation, whilst incremental isotope and growth analyses of the oysters reveal that these were collected during the period from winter to late spring or early summer. This horizon was sealed by an activity surface of trampled mussel shell (dated to 3720-3570 cal BC). A sherd of pottery was concreted in the activity surface and additional ceramics and terrestrial ungulate bones (dated to 3710-3530 cal BC) were found immediately above it.

WHITE, Mark (1), Paul Pettitt (2) (Discussants) (General Session) 1 – Durham University 2 – University of Sheffield Ancient digs and modern myths: the context and dating of the KC4 maxilla Recent anatomical and dating analyses on the human maxilla (KC4) found in 1927 in the Vestibule at Kent’s Cavern, Devon, UK, has confirmed its taxonomic status as Homo sapiens, while Bayesian 17odeling of ‘associated’ fauna has suggested an age for the maxilla of ~44,200 to 41,500 calendar years BP. This would render it the earliest fossil evidence for modern human presence in Northern Europe (Higham et al., 2011). In this talk we critique this dating project, based on: 1) our first-hand knowledge of the stratigraphy of the cave, and 2) our reconstruction of the excavation & context of the maxilla from published works and unpublished archival materials. We urge serious caution over using a small selected sample of fauna from an old and very (stress very) poorly executed excavation in Kent’s Cavern (or any other cave) to provide a radiocarbon stratigraphy based on Bayesian 17odeling for a hominin fossil that cannot be dated directly. We suggest that the age of the maxilla is essentially unknown, but probably dates to no older than 34-36,000 calendar years BP, or even younger!!!

SUBSISTENCE & ANIMALS SESSION HUMPHREY, Emma S. (Animals & Subsistence Session) University of Toronto Does small prey really make a difference?: Broad-spectrum prey exploitation in the Kebaran Epipalaeolithic Broad-spectrum subsistence models have been used to explain changes in Levantine subsistence 17odeling leading up to the development of agriculture. The model is based on the argument that hunter-gatherer groups modified their prey exploitation strategies to incorporate a wider and more work-intensive resource base (Flannery 1969) in order to adapt to changing environments at the end of the Pleistocene. Recent discussions of Epipalaeolithic diet breadth and prey importance have concentrated on small game use in the Natufian (14,600 – 11,600 cal BP) (see Munro 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009; Stiner 2001; Stiner & Munro 2002; Stiner et al. 1999, 2000; Stutz et al. 2009) to suggest a rise in human population density and to explain subsequent changing subsistence patterns (for instance, Pichon 1991; Simmons & Nadel 1998; Stiner et al 1999, 2000; Stiner 2001, 2005; Stiner & Munro 2002; Munro 2001, 2003, 2004). This view is challenged here, suggesting that similar prey exploitation strategies (diet breadth and relative prey importance) were present in Kebaran (23,000-17,500 cal BP) contexts.

BISHOP, Rosie (Animals & Subsistence Session) Durham University Roots, fruits and nuts: plant use in the Scottish Mesolithic Traditionally, British Mesolithic ‘hunter-gatherers’ have been perceived as hunters rather than gatherers and the role of plants within Mesolithic economies has been understated. Though some have argued for the importance of plants within European Mesolithic subsistence strategies and there has been much debate about the potential role of Mesolithic communities in the management of wild plant resources, little detailed and systematic archaeobotanical research has been undertaken to substantiate these suggestions. This paper assesses the archaeobotanical evidence for wild plant use in the Scottish Mesolithic and considers whether it is possible to recognise intensive wild plant exploitation using archaeobotanical evidence.

LOZANO, Marina (1, 2), Jordi Porras (3), Eulàlia Subirà (4, 5), Jordi Ruiz (4, 5) (Animals & Subsistence Session) 1 – IPHES. Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana I Evolució Social c/Escorxador 2 – Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) 3 – Grup de Recerca Aplicada al Patrimoni Cultural (GRAPAC). Facultat de Biociències. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 4 – Unitat d’Antropologia Biològica, Facultrat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 5 – MINOA Arqueologia i Serveis S.L. I+D Non-masticatory dental wear in Mesolithic populations as an indicator of economic and cultural behavior Human remains allow us to know some aspects from behaviour and cultural practices developed by past populations. Dental microwear no-related with diet is especially useful in this question because we can obtain evidences of para-masticatory activities. This type of dental wear has been described in different hominin species since Homo heidelbergensis from Sima de los Huesos site (Spain) to Homo sapiens of several chronologies (Lozano et al, 2008).

Since now, in the Iberian Peninsula there are scarce Mesolithic human remains. One of the most important sites with human fossils is El Collado (Oliva, Valencia, Spain). Some of the individuals buried in this necropolis show heavy macroscopic dental wear that corresponds with microscopic dental wear of cultural aetiology. Bucco-lingually oriented striations and areas with polished enamel on occlusal surfaces of premolars and anterior teeth are indicative of the use of teeth for holding and pulling different materials. Experimental work has shown that this type of wear is related with vegetal fibers (Porras et al., 2011).

Mesolithic individuals would manufacture vegetal fibers using their teeth as a third hand. This evidence allows us to infer economic and cultural behaviour of Mesolithic people from Iberian Peninsula.

NASH, George (Animals & Subsistence Session) University of Bristol Animals as Landscape: Rock-Art within a cave on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales The discovery of an engraved cervid, probably a reindeer, in September 2010 within an inland cave on the Gower Peninsula has reaffirmed the presence of hunter/gatherer communities in this area during the Upper Palaeolithic. The engraving is the first of its kind to be found in Wales and only the second confirmed discovery of Parietal art in the British Isles.

In April 2011, samples were taken from a secondary mineral deposit – a speleotherm (stal) – for Uranium Series dating; a section of this deposit overlay the rock-art. By late August, a date of 12,572 ± 600 BP years had been established for this stal deposit, suggesting a minimum age for the engraving. Since that initial discovery, further engraved rock-art has been discovered within the region. However, how does this activity relate to climate and environment at the southwest extent of Ice Age Britain? More importantly, what is the relationship between artist, cervid and the landscape they shared?

CASTEL, Jean-Christophe (1), François-Xavier Chauvière (2), Myriam Boudadi-Maligne (3), Sylvain Ducasse (4), Delphine Kuntz (4), Jean-Baptiste Mallye (3) (Animals & Subsistence Session) 1 – Département d’archéozoologie, Muséum d’Histoire naturelle de Genève 2 – Laténium, Parc et 19ode d’archéologie, 2068 Hauterive, Switzerland.

3 – Laboratoire PACEA (UMR 5199), Université de Bordeaux 4 – Laboratoire TRACES (UMR 5608), Maison de la 19odeling19, Université de Toulouse 2 Animal exploitation strategies in Quercy (France) during the last glacial maximum Southwest France is well known for its very high density of Upper Palaeolithic sites. The principal concentration extends from the Charente valley to the Vézère valley. Quercy is a marginal zone extending the boundary to the south east.

After the early stages of Aurignacian, this area seems not to have been inhabited. Recolonisation began at the end of the Gravettian. The human settlements in Quercy are mainly concentrated in the valleys, but there are a few sites on the plateaux.

New data from recent excavations of habitation sites and natural traps have revised our understanding of this particular region. The Igue du Gral natural trap shows a biomass rich in large ungulates from 22000 to 13500 BP, and also a wide variety of taxa that are potentially useful for food or other purposes.

This information prompts a re-examination of our assumptions about human occupation. Did humans really only come here during the summer, as cementochronology has suggested? Why have we found almost no evidence of the hunting of large prey (bison, horse) or small prey (leporids, birds), even though they were available? Partial answers may be found in recently excavated archaeological sites.

MILLARD, Andrew (Animals & Subsistence Session) Durham University On isotopes, fish and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition A high profile has been given to claims that isotopic analyses indicate a dichotomy in diet between Mesolithic and Neolithic humans, with the Mesolithic diet including fish (and sometimes heavily reliant on marine resources), but a radically different Neolithic diet abandoning fish. This paper reviews the isotopic evidence for Mesolithic and Neolithic diet across Europe.

Although small proportions (<10%) of fish in the diet cannot be detected reliably, simply taking detected versus non-detected aquatic resource consumption, shows Mesolithic fish consumption in many locations. In contrast, Neolithic consumption ranges from indetectable (e.g. in Great Britain), through small amounts (e.g. coastal Greece), to significant amounts (e.g. in the Netherlands), and may even increase over the Mesolithic (e.g. the Dnieper Rapids). Dietary change in Europe at the Mesolithicâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Neolithic transition is therefore quite varied. In some places there were sharp changes, but more widely aquatic resource consumption declines through the Neolithic.

Consequently, we need to reconceptualise our approach to the study of diet at the transition. Instead of conceiving a uniform European Neolithic which is fundamentally different from the Mesolithic, we must 20odeling20 that the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition was multifaceted and geographically variable, with numerous influences on the rate and extent of dietary change.

WRIGHT, Lizzie (Animals & Subsistence Session) University of Sheffield The European aurochs (Bos primigenius) during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic: a zooarchaeological investigation of its evolution, morphological variability and response to human exploitation-some preliminary results The aurochs (Bos primigenius) is generally accepted to be the extinct ancestor of modern domesticated cattle, and was one of the most widely hunted animals exploited by Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups across Europe. Despite its importance, reconstructions of its morphology have been patchy, with studies rarely dealing with abundant material and often focusing on just one anatomical element or a small geographical range. Extensive morphometric studies looking at other important wild species in European prehistory, such as reindeer and wild boar have produced some important results and it is vital that we also do this work for the aurochs.

This paper will present some preliminary results from my PhD project which is aiming to provide a wider ranging review of aurochs biometry across Europe.

Aurochs ageing and biometrical data has been recorded from archaeological sites spanning a number of different geographical and climatic contexts and is being analysed in order to take into account geographical variation and environmental change over time, as well as human impact, and the initial processes of domestication. Of special interest are hypotheses related to the effect on body size of the climatic fluctuations that occurred at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition.

LITTLE, Aimée (Animals & Subsistence Session) Leiden University Snapshots of tasks unfolding: plants as part of daily life in the Irish Late Mesolithic Traditional narratives of Site 1– an inland wetland site located on Clonava Island in the Northern Midlands of Ireland – have focussed on the advantageous location of the site as evidence for a strong economic reliance on fishing. Indeed, a high concentration of Late Mesolithic sites on inland waterways during the Irish Late Mesolithic, and the dramatic change from micro to macro technology has commonly been interpreted as a greater dependency on inland fish ‘during this period. With all this emphasis on fishing, plants and their role in the Mesolithic diet have been largely overlooked. Significant issues exist with preservation, that is certain, yet – as this research will show – empirical indicators of plant use are present but have not received the attention they deserve.

Consequently, we are only seeing a very partial picture of hunter-gatherer subsistence regimes and have come no closer to understanding key questions about how people interacted and maintained relationships with their environment. This paper will attempt to bridge that gap by reviewing the material remains from Site 1, which despite being excavated in the 1960s, contains a good body of archival information, providing intimate snapshots of day-to-day tasks associated with the gathering, processing, cooking and consumption of plants. Discussion will conclude with an outline of new research being carried out using microwear and residue traces on tools from Site 1 and other Northwest European Mesolithic wetland sites as a means of investigating the importance of plants in both subsistence and craft for hunter-gatherer communities.

LANDSCAPE & ENVIRONMENTS SESSION PRENDERGAST, Amy L. (1), Rhiannon E. Stevens (2), Tamsin C. O’Connell (2), Graeme Barker (2), Christopher Hunt (3) (Landscape & Environments Session) 1 – Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge 2 – McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge 3 – Queens University Belfast, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic climate and seasonality in North Africa from the chemical analysis of marine and terrestrial mollusc shells (Haua Fteah, Libya) The Haua Fteah cave in Libya contains one of the longest and most complete sequences of human occupation in North Africa. This rich archaeological assemblage occurs in tandem with abundant material for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. In this study, stable isotope and element ratio analyses of the archaeological mollusc assemblage from the Haua Fteah have allowed the reconstruction of paired marine and terrestrial climate records that extend from 18 c.22,000 to 5,500 cal BP. In the marine topshell Osilinus turbinatus, δ O and Mg/Ca ratios record fluctuations in sea surface temperature. In the terrestrial 18 mollusc Helix melanostoma, δ O varies according to the water ingested by the animal as the shell grows, which in turn is linked to water and air temperature at 13 the moment of precipitation whilst δ C provides a proxy for palaeovegetation patterns and water stress. Intrashell stable isotope series from these shells record snapshots of sub-seasonal climatic variations covering rapid and profound climatic fluctuations from MIS 2 to MIS 1. This high-resolution climatic framework coupled with the well-dated record of cultural change, allows an examination of human-environment interactions during critical periods of late Pleistocene to Holocene climate change.

HARRIS, Susan (Landscape & Environment Session) Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology Problems and potential in the use of archival data and surface assemblages Surface artifact assemblages resulting from the actions of private collectors or systematic surveys by archaeologists provide unique data necessary to address research questions with a regional focus. Surface collections provide a non-destructive basis to produce a broad dataset for study areas that, when linked with GIS, produce an initial picture of potential site types and their distribution across the landscape. However, such databases also face limitations as the underlying site locations often cannot be absolutely dated, requiring creativity to get useful results from the data. As an initial exploratory methodology, the creation and analysis of such a database can provide the context for subsequent excavations and assist in choosing excavation locations. Two projects that have taken this approach of beginning with an initial systematic database of pre-existing sites serve to illustrate the potential and problems in using surface data. The first is a long-term project on the Federsee Lake in southwest Germany that included several seasons of systematic survey. The second is a recently begun database project in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany that seeks to gather background data from collectors and archaeologists to serve a number of research questions about the later Paleolithic chronology and relationships between culture groups.

CUTLER, Hannah (Landscape & Environments Session) University of Cambridge Producing an acceptable dataset for landscape analysis of the British late Middle Palaeolithic It has been noted (White, 2006; White and Pettitt, 2011) that our understanding of Late Middle Palaeolithic Britain (c. MIS3) is hindered due the limited archaeological evidence when compared to the same period on the Continent. Any attempt to understand wider landscape-use by Neandertals is problematic because the majority of “sites” are little more than the relatively few isolated and undated bout coupé handaxe find-spots. However Britain in this period has the potential to show a “snapshot” of behaviour at this time. This is due to the lack of palimpsests and the possibility that oscillating climatic conditions could mean that the evidence is the result of a small number of brief occupation episodes. Due to its small size (c. 250 potential find-spots), the entire sample of British Late Middle Palaeolithic occupation can be considered for landscape-use analysis; despite few details regarding the discovery of many of the items. This paper details how a find-spot sample has been created by quantifying the uncertainties regarding find-spot location and area, amongst other variables. It also shows how detailed and consistent quantitative comparison of dated and undated handaxe examples can provide, if not a more secure dataset, then one that is as complete as possible and totally explicit about its assumptions.

PILAAR BIRCH, Suzanne (Landscape & Environments Session) University of Cambridge Changing Landscapes, Changing Mobility and Human Response to Environmental Change in the Early Holocene: The View from Istria Climate and sea level directly affect the seasonal density and distribution of animal species by constraining habitat size and access to primary producers (plants) on the landscape. This has implications for human decisions regarding what to eat, where to live, how long to stay there, and when to move. Three upland cave sites located on the Istrian Peninsula and in the Kvarner Gulf of modern day Croatia (Vela Špilja Lošinj, Pupićina, and Nugljanska) are presented as case studies. Drastic changes in the regional landscape and environment occurred during the period spanning the gradual transition from post-glacial foraging lifestyles at the end of the Pleistocene to the introduction of pastoralism in the early Neolithic (c.12,000-7,000 years BP). What effect did these changes have on human diet, mobility, and overall landscape use? Faunal analysis is used to establish the changing role of prey species in the diet over time. Stable isotope analysis of ungulate teeth and marine shells is then used to identify migration patterns and season and duration of site occupation. The combination of multiple techniques and broad time span give the study scope to address the effects of mobility and seasonal availability of animal populations on human mobility and diet within a specific landscape in response to known environment-altering climatic events.

GARDINER, Paula (Landscape & Environments Session) University of Bristol Crossing the Water: hunter-gatherers in a changing world During the Mesolithic, the Severn Estuary was dry land and an open plain, through which a river coursed towards the estuary. This paper will explore the contact that might have existed between hunter-gatherer groups from Hawkcombe Head, Exmoor on the English side, with those at Ogmore-by-Sea, Glamorgan on the Welsh side. The high moorland of Exmoor would have been a focal point that rose dramatically from the estuary plain, enticing huntergatherer groups to cross the wetland environment of the River Severn. Current excavation at Hawkcombe Head, Exmoor has produced evidence of hearths, postholes and temporary shelters, suggesting that it was a frequently used locale within the Exmoor landscape throughout the Mesolithic. However, the changing environment at the end of the Mesolithic meant a loss of hunting territory in the Severn Estuary. This paper explores the social 23odeling23ion and settlement patterns of the Mesolithic groups who had access to the inter-tidal zone and the high moorland on both sides of the Severn Estuary.

LOCHT, Jean-Luc (1), Emilie Goval (1), Pierre Antoine (2) (Landscape & Environments Session) 1 – INRAP Nord Picardie 2 – Laboratoire de Géographie Physique (UMR CNRS 8591) Strategies of occupation and land exploitation between the Eemian interglacial and the end of the Middle Pleistocene Weichselian in northern France La session « Landscapes & Environment » du colloque international de Durham a pour but d’éclairer les propos scientifiques sur la thématique de la variabilité environnementale et des 23odeling23i territoriales. En effet, il est nécessaire de replacer les interactions entre l’homme et son milieu afin d’appréhender la place de l’homme dans son environnement. Au cours du Pléistocène moyen, les nombreux changements environnementaux ont des directes sur les activités quotidiennes des humains : accès à la matière première, renouvellement du cortège faunique, de leur outillage, etc. Ces changements influent sur leur

stratégie de 24odeling24io, leurs 24odeli de planification, la gestion de leur espace et donc a fortiori de leur territoire. Les pluridisciplinaires menées en Préhistoire couplées à une i chronostratigraphique extrêmement fine permettent d’aborder dans le cadre de la France septentrionale l’impact de ces variations climatiques sur les peuplements.

Nous nous proposons dans le cadre de cette communication de mettre en relation huit niveaux d’occupations corrélées à différentes phases chronoclimatiques du weichselien : Caours (iso. 5e), Bettencourt-Saint-Ouen (iso. 5d, 5a), Fresnoy-au-Val (iso. 5c, 5a), Beauvais (iso. 4), et Havrincourt (iso. 3). Les données seront mises en relation selon axes : i environnementaux, activités de, et de production. L’objectif principal est d’éclairer les d’occupation et d’exploitation du territoire entre l’interglaciaire eemien et la fin du Pléistocène moyen du weichselien.

DODGE, Danae (Landscape & Environments Session) Independent Researcher Reconstructing Neanderthal demography: An approach to examining Neanderthal extinction A common approach to examining demography is through the use of Bayesian programmes to model changing population size through time and correlate distinct changes with environmental factors. One such programme is BEAST (Bayesian Evolutionary Analysis by Sampling Trees) which has been applied to several species. However, it is important that there is enough genetic data to input into BEAST. Even with the new sequencing technology, Neanderthal genetic data is still limited.

This study examines the feasibility of reconstructing a Neanderthal demographic model. This is done by first assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the Neanderthal genetic data and secondly, by identifying the appropriate minimal amount of data required by BEAST that retains the population signal.

The results highlight four key themes that should be considered as criteria for the Neanderthal genetic data which would enable successful demographic reconstruction that can then be used to identify the trigger(s) behind their extinction.

WARREN, Graeme, Steve Davis, Meriel McClatchie, Rob Sands (Landscape & Environments Session) University College Dublin Creating space: interactions between settlements and environments during the Irish Mesolithic This paper reviews data for the relationships between Mesolithic settlement in Ireland and the landscapes in which people lived, with a focus on interactions with woodlands. Data from four primary fields will be systematically reviewed: palaeoenvironmental, archaeobotanical, evidence for woodland management from archaeological woods and general archaeological evidence. This data will be placed in its appropriate NW European context and considered in relation to the following questions: to what extent did human settlement create/construct the landscape, and especially the woodlands, of Mesolithic Ireland? Is ‘management’ an appropriate term to use in describing this relationship? How does this change over time within the Mesolithic?

RITUAL & SOCIETY SESSION GRAY JONES, Amy (Ritual & Society Session) University of Chester/University of Manchester Manipulation of the body in Mesolithic mortuary practice This paper will suggest that engagement with, and manipulation of, the body after death was a key element in Mesolithic mortuary practice, and that multistage and multi-focal mortuary practices served to extend Mesolithic persons across time and space.

Across north-west Europe bodies were treated and deposited in a number of different ways; treatment ranged from inhumation and cremation to disarticulation and collective burial, and deposition occurred in a number of different contexts, such as cemeteries, caves, middens and pits. My doctoral research has shown that whilst practices may often have been highly 25odeling25ion25d and regionally specific, they shared common traits that may be characteristic of mortuary practice in the Mesolithic. Firstly, practices were intimately connected to the temporality of the decay of the body. Whether harnessed or hidden, it was always known and understood, and different bodies were engaged with at different stages in the process, and often on multiple occasions. Secondly, mortuary practice was rarely restricted to one site, instead multi-stage and multi-focal practices served to distribute bodies, and people, across the landscape.

Through a focus on practice and the materiality of the dead body this paper will highlight the varied ways that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers engaged with the dead and explore how the body and death were perceived and understood.

JACOBSSON, Piotr (Ritual & Society Session) University of Edinburgh Ideology of the hunt and the end of Epi-Paleolithic in the Near East The work conducted over the past fifteen years at numerous locations throughout the Levant and Eastern Anatolia points to the existence of Epi-Paleolithic precursors of the interaction zones that characterize the Pre-pottery Neolithic (Richter et.al. 2011). At the same time the proliferation of obsidian and other material exchanges in the Neolithic implies that these practices have been somehow altered during the drive to Neolithization. A case can be made that the onset of these transformations took place between 10,500 and 10,000 cal BC, as evidenced by the onset of Hallan Cemi, Mureybet, Qeremez Dere, Abu Salem, Hatoula, Jericho and WF16 radiocarbon sequences. One aspect of these changes is the transformation of the ideologies of the hunt, which in the era of dawning husbandry shifted towards more exuberant forms and covering of greater distance. This ties in with the drive towards standardized projectile point technologies and the onset of sea voyaging to Cyprus, demonstrated by the Akrotiri-Aetokremnos assemblage. The increased voyaging in turn resulted in greater chance of encounters of other human groups, becoming one of the agencies for the need of systematizing world and reality within the Neolithic.

STJERNA, Rita Peyroteo (Ritual & Society Session) Uppsala University Death in place: rituals in practice In the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula, the rise of the sea levels during the Atlantic climatic optimum (c.7500 BP-5500 BP) result on the formation of large inland estuaries. The typical costal sites known for the Pre-boreal and Boreal (c.10000 BP-7500 BP) are now left for relatively more interior regions, by these rich ecosystems.

This new form of settlement seems to be followed by a different attitude towards death. For the first time, human cadavers are disposed in a systematic manner. New born babies, children, young adults, men and women were intentionally buried in these sites known as shell middens â&#x20AC;&#x201C; formed by a variety of shells, animal bones and a wide mixture of debris. Among other possible features and interpretations, these shell middens are mutually a place for the dead.

This presentation is lead by the main questions and problems of my ongoing research on the mortuary 26odeling and ritual practices that took place during the sixth millennium BCE in the Tagus and Sado Valleys.

FIGUEIREDO, OlĂ­via (Ritual & Society Session) Universidade do Algarve Funerary contexts: the study-case of the Mesolithic shellmiddens of Muge (Portugal) Discovered in 1863 by Carlos Ribeiro, the Muge Mesolithic shellmiddens are located in the Tagus Valley, near SantarĂŠm, central Portugal. They are an essential reference for Prehistoric Archaeology since more than 300 skeletons were collected from these sites, which makes this series one of the most numerous and important in the world for the study of Mesolithic society. After more than 150 years of archaeological excavations, it is believed that the burials registered so far are simple and with scarce votive material associated, which makes most researchers consider them as a result of simples funerary practices.

Based on new analyses and a review of the published evidence, including skeleton position, spatial location, and presence/absence of votive materials, it is argued that the burial contexts found in the Muge shellmiddens represent complex hunter-gatherers, with fairly complex and differentiated burial rituals.

HELLEWELL, Emily (Ritual & Society Session) University of York Placement of human remains in shell middens during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition This talk will present PhD research considering whether the placement of human remains into shell middens might be the result of taphonomic processes or deliberate human action. Human remains have been found in shell middens all over the world but there has been a surprising lack of research into the reason for this phenomenon. Traditional studies of middens have often interpreted the human bones as discarded waste, remnants of cannibalistic practices or disturbed burials. A small number of studies have suggested more complex social and ritual reasons for the placement of human remains into shell middens,

notably the study of the Oronsay middens, and recent insights into the dating of human bone in middens in Scotland have further suggested that new study into this area could contribute to the understanding of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition.

Discussion will focus on initial results of the analysis of human remains from shell midden sites on the west coast of Scotland, including An Corran and Carding Mill Bay, to consider how the remains were deposited in the middens and the reasons why this deposition occurred. The results will shed light on the nature of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in this area from a burial perspective.

EVANS, Sarah (Ritual & Society Session) University of Cambridge Geometric Engraving Traditions of Upper Palaeolithic France: A Cognitive Approach The cognitive processes involved in the production of engraved bone artefacts from the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe are increasingly understood through forensic examination of the markings themselves. Geometrically engraved bone artefacts, previously posited as tally marks, lunar calendars or memory systems based on the accumulation of marks over time, largely remain an enigma in terms of their meaning or purpose. A consideration of these artefacts from France as artificial memory systems is investigated here focusing on the spatial patterning and symbolic form of markings. Developments in the cognitive abilities of early modern humans are explored through demonstrating the importance in the relative placement of markings, pattern construction and overall object association. Through this we are able to understand the cognitive processes involved in the production and storage of symbolic meaning and potentially situate the markings within the origins of writing. As a basis for tradition, the communal understanding of such engravings can be considered to have created a nature of social networks and relationships that would have had a profound importance for the success of our species and their response to dramatic climatic changes across Europe throughout the Upper Palaeolithic.

COONEY, Jessica (1), Leslie Van Gelder (2) (Ritual & Society Session) 1 – University of Cambridge 2 – Walden University The Question of Representation Deep within the galleries of Rouffignac Cave, France, is a representation a saiga, a type of antelope common throughout Europe in the Pleistocene. First identified in 1958, the panel is located one kilometre from the entrance of the cave. The saiga was made using a technique known as ‘finger fluting,’ where a person utilized his or her fingers and hand as a tool to create art. A program based at Rouffignac for the past decade has developed a methodology to identify the artists responsible for finger flutings, and has discovered the identity of eight Palaeolithic artists working in the cave. This year we discovered that the lines forming the saiga were actually created by two of individuals know from other areas of the cave, one who was approximately seven years old. This leads us to question the identification of the figure as a saiga, as well as prompts us to rethink the nature of ‘figurative’ art.

JANIK, Liliana (Ritual & Society Session) University of Cambridge Art of Seeing, the Ritual of Storytelling One of the most interesting aspects of rock-art imagery is the intentionality behind its non-verbal communication.

Thousands of years ago, artists/carvers conveyed stories to the members of their community via a visual narrative which was preserved for future generations and which now gives us the unique opportunity to be a part of it.

To ‘see’ and not just ‘look’, I propose to use our own Western visual tradition of ‘seeing’ but also introduce Chinese and ancient Egyptian ways of constructing visual narratives thus giving us further tools to ‘see’. In addition, I will show that it is only now with the use of film that we are able to visually comprehend the prehistoric carvings within our own Western tradition because it is this medium that allows us to translate two dimensions into three dimensions.

Film will enable us to actively present the way the visual story was created and how the artists were given a ‘voice’ in telling their tale. The intention of the artists will be taken as a guide to help us, as viewers, interpret the rock art of prehistoric fisher-gatherer-hunters in northern Russia, with particular focus on a whale-hunting scene from Zalavruga, one of the White Sea rock carvings.

TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY SESSION FOULDS, Frederick (Tools & Technology Session) Durham University Imperceptible Individuals: issues in the application of social theory to Palaeolithic contexts An emphasis on socially orientated approaches to studying the Palaeolithic has become commonplace in current research. As a result, a “bottom up” approach to interpreting the material record appeared, which emphasises the individual as the appropriate analytical unit. However, this approach often reduces discussion to “theoretical storytelling”, with no suitable methodology in place to enable such hypotheses to be tested.

This paper presents results from a three-year project that aims to investigate whether the individual is a viable unit of analysis. Using a series of innovative techniques, the possibilities of tracing individual knappers through lithic reduction and final tool form were explored. The results of this study indicate that a suite of factors mask any traits that could be linked to knapping idiosyncrasies. The implications of this brings into question our ability to produce meaningful dialogues regarding the study of individuals and emphasises that theoretical explanations continue to represent ideas and interpretations limited only by our imaginative potential.

DICKSON, Antony (Tools & Technology Session) Oxford Archaeology North Stainton West, Carlisle, Cumbria: Lithic Assemblage Recent excavations along the route of the Carlisle Northern Development Route (CNDR), Carlisle, Cumbria, recovered an extensive Late Mesolithic lithic assemblage from a site on the southern banks of the River Eden at Stainton West. The lithic assemblage was associated with cut features and located adjacent to a palaeo-channel which produced Early Neolithic artefacts. The presentation will focus on the Mesolithic assemblage. The assemblage comprises over 300,000 struck lithics and represents all stages of reduction including a collection of over 5000 microliths. Presentation themes will include the excavation strategy and an overview of raw materials and technology with reference to preliminary results from spatial analysis. The presentation will also discuss the research strategy which is to include detailed technological analysis, microwear analysis and raw material sourcing. The potential for further research will also be discussed.

CHU, Wei (Tools & Technology Session) University of Reading Rollinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;on the river â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Experimental approaches to fluvially derived stone tools Transported artifacts comprise the majority of Palaeolithic remains and therefore represent an important resource to the archaeological record. Recent work has emphasized the utility of such artifacts to broad scale spatio-temporal models of hominin land use though mechanisms of their depositional history remains poorly understood. Undoubtedly, a better understanding of these processes is important to refining broad scale models of hominin landscape use. This paper explores gross morphometric changes to modified stone artifacts as a result of attrition by high-energy fluvial transport resulting from experimental work with a tumbling mill. Previous attempts have focused primarily on surface modification to stone implements as proxies for fluvial transport distances, though their conclusions remain largely variable. Here, changes to macroscopic artifact morphology are experimentally explored with specific reference to sediment type and transport time. The outcome of this study illustrates the usability of macroscopic stone tool morphology to understanding artifact life histories.

DAVIS, Robert J. (Tools & Technology Session) University of Reading The Earliest Acheulean of Britain: Evidence from the Solent River The Palaeolithic archive recovered from the sands and gravels of the Solent River and its tributaries records a proliferation of handaxes throughout the river system approximately 500 ka. This represents a significant step change from preceding periods, where the evidence for the presence of handaxes is sparse and lacks reliable contextual information, and supports the argument for a shift in the nature of human occupation of north-west Europe at this time. Analysis of the Solentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s early handaxes reveals a relative regional homogeneity in form and technology that contrasts the extensive variability in handaxe technology found in the younger terraces. Explanations for this pattern are explored, including assemblage formation and the effect of fluvial reworking, the timing of hominin occupation with reference to raw material constraints, and the presence of a temporally-constrained technological tradition.

FRANZEOVÀ, Dagmar Vokounová, Peter Šida, Marta Moravcová, Jan Prostředník (Tools & Technology Session) University of West Bohemia The Phenomenon of Bohemian Paradise Mesolithic Settlement This presentation is summarizing knowledge about Mesolithic settlement at the area of Bohemian Paradise (Czech Republic) and presents a phenomenon of Mesolithic settlement in local rock shelters and caves. Further presents a synthesis of data that are based on the archaeological researches and publications made by P. Šída and J. Prostředník and their comparison with data from near Česká Lípa district, which is long-term under review by J. A. Svoboda. The main parts of this synthesis are technological composition and using of stone raw material of chipped industry assemblages. Determination of stone raw material portrays a picture of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers movement. Technological analysis, which divided the chipped industry to the major technological groups as cores, semi-products, tools and production waste, established the character of Mesolithic sites from point of view of relations between production and consumption of chipped industry. Thanks to continuing researches is knowledge about Mesolithic settlement at Bohemian Paradise further increased and still extend new information.

GRIFFITHS, Seren (Tools & Technology Session) Cardiff University Points in time. Bayesian statistics and late 30odeling30i microlith technology in England Radiocarbon results associated with late mesolithic material culture in England can be modelled using Bayesian statistics to provide robust and explicit estimates for the use of different microlith typologies. Evidence presented here suggests that late 30odeling30i microliths were in use across England and st Wales in the 41 century cal BC, after the earliest evidence for people using 30odeling30 material culture and practices in southern Britain. Microlith th technology continued to be used into the 4 millennium cal BC. Evidence from British regions presented here demonstrates that there was probably chronological overlap between people using late 30odeling30i material culture and people using early 30odeling30 material culture and practices. In some th th areas, microlith technology probably continued to be used into the 38 or 39 centuries cal BC; in some areas it is possible that people using late 30odeling30i material culture were present on the same day as people using early 30odeling30 material culture, though perhaps not in the same places.

DRINKALL, Helen (Tools & Technology Session) Durham University The Right Tools for the Job: an exploration of artefactual signatures with reference to landscape context in the Lower Palaeolithic of Britain Traditionally Lower Palaeolithic hominins have been viewed as a species tethered to river valleys, preferentially 30odeling30 these lowland environments within their settlement systems. However, this view may be a product of our focus on the well excavated, fluvial datasets, which only represent a fraction of the wider resource base available. In essence we could be seeing only a part of the settlement system, aimed at specific activities or resource acquisition.

Ephemeral sites, situated away from the main river valleys, such as those in the Chilterns and North Kent Downs are crucial to our understanding of hominin

settlement patterns. Whilst they demonstrate that hominins did range further afield, we still don’t fully understand how and why hominins were 31odeling31 these plateau locations. Do they represent, as Roberts (1999) suggests, camp sites, located away from the lowland hunting grounds, or simply occupation on the interfluves during cooler climates, contrasting with more temperate occupation represented by the lowland fluvial archive (Ashton et al 2006).

Accordingly, the key question remains, do these sites represent differing activities specifically making use of these upland settings or are they adaptations to cope with varied environmental conditions? This paper aims to identify the types of activities undertaken in these plateau environments, primarily through technological and typological analysis based on the Chaîne Opératoire approach. The artefactual signatures will then be compared with selected lowland assemblages to explore these ideas further.

ELLIOTT, Ben (Tools & Technology Session) University of York Antler craftwork in the British Mesolithic Since the excavation of an intact antlerworking industry at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, antler has been recognised as a key material within the Mesolithic toolkit. Yet away from Star Carr, the documented corpus of Mesolithic antler artefacts from Britain (Wymer & Bonsall 1977) has remained largely unstudied. This can be partially attributed to the lack of accompanying contextual data for much of this material, and the subsequent doubt over its Mesolithic 14 affinities. However, AMS C dating of many of these objects (Tolan-Smith & Bonsall 1999) has produced a more nuanced understanding of their chronological distribution. Recent methodological advances in the study of osseous technological choices (David 2007), and theoretical developments in the way we consider animal materials (Conneller 2011) have opened the door for new research on the artefacts from Britain. This paper will present some results from my doctoral research, which is attempting to situate Mesolithic antler technology within the broader context of human and deer interaction. The results of traceological analysis of these antler tools will be presented, illuminating new patterns of continuity and variation in the use of this material, on a national scale.

POSTER SESSION ANGELIN, Alexandre (Poster Session) University of Toulouse-Le Mirail Gerland (1530 m) and La Mare (1610 m), Two Holocene Open-Air Stations in High Altitude in Vercors (Western French Alps).

First Results From the Study of Lithic Technology Situated in the Western French Alps (county of Isère and Drôme), the range of Vercors has an average altitude of 1300 m. a.s.l. Covered by a very complex landscape (grasslands, forests, etc.), the Vercors has been the witness of multiple human occupations since the end of the Late Glacial Period in Europe, in different types of settlements (porch of caves, rock shelters, open-air sites).

In the past three decades, several surveys and excavations made in high altitude (above 1400 m. a.s.l.) had mostly revealed human occupations from Middle and Late Mesolithic (Sauveterrian and Castelnovian cultures) mixed with very few lithic sets, attributed to an Early Neolithic. However, recent surveys in

Gerland (1999) and La Mare (2005) unlighted a large amount of lithic industries from the Early Neolithic. Therefore, the presence of an entire chaîne opératoire attributed to a Middle Mesolithic in Gerland, invites us to a very deep thinking of human frequentation in these open-air sites.

The technological and typological studies of the lithic industries from these two stations can be compared to well known stratigraphic sequences from other sites in the area. These comparisons might allow us to understand more the modalities of human occupations in high altitude during the Mesolithic and the neolithisation, as long as it permits us to replace these two stations in a chronological-cultural frame of prehistory of Vercors.

BELDIMAN, Corneliu (Poster Session) Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University Hunting weapons from animal osseous materials in the Upper Palaeolithic of Romania Systematic excavations from last seven decades at Upper Palaeolithic open-air and cave sites in Romania (approx. 32/30–24 kya BP = Aurignacian; 24–12 kya BP = Gravettian) have considerably enriched data concerning the animal osseous materials industry. An important typological and functional category of the Upper Palaeolithic worked osseous assemblages from Romania and areas immediate adjacent to it consists of 20 spear (projectile) points, worked in reindeer antler, bone and mammoth ivory.

In the light of recent methodological approaches, this paper presents a synthetic view of various aspects of the analysis of these artefacts: context; relative and absolute chronology; raw material; morphometry; typology; technology of manufacture and traces of use. The ultimate goal is to apply an exhaustive and uniform protocol of analysis in order to use all available and quantifiable aspects covered by data and related to the artefacts.

From a technical point of view, these artefacts are the most ancient objects (i.e. hunting weapons) made from osseous materials in Romania. It can mention here two Mladeč type (lozenge-shape) reindeer points discovered at Mitoc – “Yellow Bank” site (Aurignacian level dated to around 32–29 kya). Very recently a five rare mammoth ivory pieces are recovered from the Gravettian site at Piatra Neamţ-Poiana Cireşului.

BLACKFORD, J.J., Ryan, P.A., Carson, J., Hogg, A., Innes, J.B., Kneen, S.E. Lageard, J., and O’Brien, C. (Poster Session) University of Manchester Wild things, climate change, fire history and the first human disturbance of the uplands: testing multiple hypotheses The openness of upland areas of the British Isles, and the dominance of heath vegetation, was originally believed to be due to the poor climate and soils currently found there. Pioneering pollen studies in the 1960s and 1970s overturned this view, and attributed these landscapes to an anthropogenic cause, beginning with fire-related forest disturbances during the Mesolithic period. Aspects of the ‘natural’ paradigm, however, have not been refuted, but have just faded from view. The possible contributions of climatic deterioration, natural fires and wild animals in contributing to woodland disturbance still need to be fully assessed. The aim of this paper is to report the findings of multi-proxy palaeoecological studies from multiple sites in the British uplands, with a focus on the record from West Bilsdale Moor, North Yorkshire. Data from the analysis of preserved wood, tree rings, fungal spores, peat humification and beetles are added to the more commonly-used proxies of pollen and charcoal. The data sets suggest a complex and variable interaction of factors and some disagreement with the established models of forest disturbance with regard to grazing and fires. The paper will focus on evidence for pre-disturbance peaks in animal indicators (dung related fungi and insects) rather than post-fire enhanced grazing, and a link between palaeoecologically-inferred local drier phases and

charcoal peaks, perhaps suggesting that at West Bilsdale Moor fires occurred mostly in climatically-constrained periods. While multiple microlith find sites in the areas around the study sites show human presence, no direct evidence for anthropogenic woodland disturbance has been found. A multiple working hypothesis approach currently fails to eliminate natural processes as factors in pre-agricultural woodland recession.

BLINKHORN, Ed (Poster Session) University of York The Mesolithic and the Planning Process in England It has become more common in recent years for academics to recognise the value of developer-led archaeology. However, acknowledging the existence of a source is no substitute for engaging with the sources themselves. A total of 1280 interventions that encountered Mesolithic archaeology across England from the inception of PPG16 in 1990 to its demise in 2010 were investigated during doctoral research. As a consequence of this, it is possible to identify themes pertinent to Mesolithic archaeology and the heritage community as a whole.

This poster will summarise some of the main outcomes of the PhD and draw on issues identified from the three main aims of the project, to:  assess the relationship between developer-led Mesolithic archaeology and academia and analyse the extent of knowledge transfer between the two  examine the extent to which the discoveries made by developer-led fieldwork can change interpretations of the Mesolithic in academia  assess the influence of field methodologies currently employed in developer-led archaeology on the recovery of Mesolithic archaeology Although no ‘New-Star-Carr’ has been discovered, the additive nature of developerfunded archaeology to new and familiar landscapes broadens the potential scope of Mesolithic syntheses beyond hitherto dominant well known sites.

HARDAKER, Terry (Poster Session) University of Oxford The Edge Test: a new digital program to assess the relative age of surface artefacts Over the last ten years, the author has carried out a study of Palaeolithic surface artefacts over an 8000 sq km area in a semi-arid region at Zebra River in western Namibia. The study begins to address the perceived shortcomings of surface archaeology of Palaeolithic age. One of these problems concerns 33odeling dating. Artefacts at Zebra River lie on surfaces never affected by stream flow and are weathered solely by aeolian processes. A digital program, the Edge Test, has been developed to quantify non-fluvial weathering as a means of dating artefacts relative to one another.

This paper describes the principle behind the program, the way it works, the necessary field preconditions for effective application, and some unexpected results on the temporal overlap of ESA and MSA inhabitants in arid Africa.

It is argued that The Edge Test along with other new techniques will help to encourage others to begin exploration of the countless millions of surface Palaeoliths lying unnoticed in the arid regions of the world. The Test may also have application in certain buried sites.

HAUSMANN, Niklas., E. Erkul, C. Funkenberg, L. Gorski, R. Gryziecki, W. Hoefgen, H. Lubke, W. Rabbel, D. Wilken, T. Wunderlich (Poster Session) University of York Explorative, geophysical surveys at the Mesolithic site Duvensee, Germany: First Results The early 34odeling34i site of Duvensee (northern Germany) is famous for its dwelling places with intense hazelnut-roasting activity. This activity is evidenced by abundant archaeobotanical material. The joint Kiel University â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA) team carried out geophysical surveys in autumn of 2010 in order to put the dwelling places into the topographical context of prehistoric Duvensee-Lake, now infilled with peat deposits. Ground penetrating radar, magnetic conductivity and electrical resistivity surveys show former islands in the lake that can be linked to the already excavated dwelling places as well as magnetic anomalies that may indicate additional places of mesolithic occupation.

HENRY, A., M. Boboeuf (Poster Session) Univ. Nice Sophia-Antipolis Charcoal analysis as a tool for assessing strategies of firewood gathering during the Mesolithic: the example of the Clos de Poujol (Aveyron, France) Charcoal remains, as testimonies of the use of fire by past peoples, provide palaeoethnobotanical information on the composition and the structure of the woody vegetation, as well as on human practices regarding firewood use and management. The understanding of these practices for the Mesolithic period relies on the development of new analytical tools: firewood selection, as a direct response to the groupsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; specific energetic needs, cannot be inferred from the species alone. Other multiple interacting parameters such as calibre, state of the wood or availability, may have as well determined the strategies of wood acquisition and the behaviour of the fire and have therefore to be taken into account.

We present here a new tool that allows identifying the initial sanitary state of wood (rotten vs. Dead vs. Healthy) on charcoal samples. Applied to the charcoal remains of the Montclusian levels of le Clos de Poujol (Aveyron, France), it suggests that the hunter-gatherers who occupied this rockshelter mainly relied on the gathering of dead wood for responding to their energetic needs.

KNEEN, Sarah, Albert, B., Ryan, P. A., Blackford, J.J., and Innes, J.B. (Poster Session) University of Manchester Environmental Changes across the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in north-west Europe: new data from March Hill, northern England The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition is considered one of the most significant time periods in human history. Questions however still remain over the nature of the shift in north-west Europe, especially regarding the timing of first agriculture, the degree of overlap between the two economic systems, and the relative roles played by climatic change, natural events and human action. To better understand the dynamics of this period, a multi-proxy palaeoecological study of three contrasting north-west European sites is underway.

This paper presents initial results from the first of these sites, where a multi-core palaeo-environmental study aims to investigate the changing nature of 14 human impact through the transition (c.6,000-4,000 C BP), and its relationship with climatic and ecological change. March Hill is a highly significant later- and

terminal-Mesolithic archaeological area of central Pennine upland (northern England), and situated in a region with the highest density clustering of such flint 14 find-sites. Previous work from the region identified ‘early’ cereal pollen c.5,800 C BP, suggesting pre-Neolithic agriculture, and substantial evidence for intensive, persistent burning. Initial results from analyses of pollen, charcoal, fungi, peat humification and radiocarbon dating are presented, with data used to test models of purposive landscape modification through fire, and an ‘initial Neolithic’ phase in the pollen record prior to archaeological finds.

MARQUEBIELLE, Benjamin, Gabrielle Bosset (Poster Session) Université de Toulouse 2 – le Mirail Deer antler during the French Mésolithic – Technical exploitation and symbolic use During the Mesolithic, in south-west Europe, red deer was, with wild boar and roe deer, a privileged game. This animal had a great importance in the subsistence economy but he also played a role in technical and symbolic contexts. Beside soft materials (sinews, skin, etc.), several parts of his skeleton were used. Teeth (mainly canines) were shaped into ornaments. Bones and antlers were raw materials for the production of tools and seemed to be part of a symbolic world.

We shall expose, in this poster, uses of antler through to three French examples, one in domestic context and two in mortuary context. The site of Cuzoul de Gramat (Lot), was first time excavated between 1922 and 1933 and new excavations began in 2005. An important osseous material industry allowed to reconstitute the technical transformation scheme of deer antler and some recurrences seemed to appear in this exploitation, mainly dedicated to the production of bevel objects. The sites of Teviec and Hoëdic (Morbihan), excavated also during 1930s, delivered several graves containing a numerous antlers of red deer.

We shall discuss about the use of a same raw material for very different purposes, a situation which even extends the French boarders.

MICHEL, Sylvène (Poster Session) Université de Rennes 1 The Early Mesolithic in western France: some new data to discuss the question of cultural organization in western Europe Owing to new data acquired following recent excavations and renewed analyses of old collections, we are able to improve our understanding of the cultural organization of Early Mesolithic groups in western France. In fact, the archaeological models based on the analysis of arrowheads and used to establish the various western entities attributed to the Early Mesolithic can be now partly supplemented. In this poster, we shall expose the stylistic characteristics of the arrowheads found in four main sites of western France : Les Vingt-Deux Boisselées-1, L’Organais, Fontbelle and l’Abri des Rocs (Loire Atlantique, CharenteMaritime and Vienne regions). Then, we shall confront these facts with the western European results, and initiate a discussion about the cultural dynamics th between these hunter-gatherers of the 9 millennium BC.

ROBSON, Harry (1), Søren H. Andersen (2), Oliver Craig (1), Kenneth Ritchie (3) (Poster Session) 1 – University of York 2 – Moesgård Museum 3 – Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology Eel fishing in the Late Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic: a preliminary report from the stratified kitchen midden at Havnø, Denmark The stratified køkkenmøddinger (kitchen middens or shell middens) that span the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Denmark are world famous. Indeed material recovered from these sites can provide us with a wealth of information concerning the nature of socio-economic change, which can aid in our interpretation, particularly concerning the use of marine resources, at this important juncture in prehistory (Andersen 2000). Presently there are numerous, and well analysed available fish bone assemblages and existing analyses particularly from the Late Mesolithic Ertebølle, and less so from the subsequent Early Neolithic Funnel Beaker culture (Ritchie 2010).

A description is given to the fish bones recovered from the stratified Mesolithic-Neolithic kitchen midden at Havnø, Denmark. The material is quantified and an estimation of the total fish length is provided. Interpretation focuses on taphonomy, the importance of eel (Anguilla 36odeling), the significance of the threespined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), the distribution of the fish bones from a complete column sample through the midden stratigraphy, the salinity of the waters surrounding the kitchen midden, the possible fishing methods employed and the season of capture. At present the early Neolithic material recovered from the kitchen midden at Havnø is one of the largest fish bone assemblages in Denmark dating to this cultural epoch (see Enghoff 2011) and demonstrates that Mesolithic eel fishing (as seen at Bjørnsholm, Ertebølle and Krabbesholm II) continued in an unaltered manner across the MesolithicNeolithic boundary at the kitchen midden.

RUEBENS, Karen (Poster Session) University of Southampton Unravelling the late Middle Palaeolithic bifacial tools from Western Europe: Terminologies, Types and Territorial Trends th

Bifacially flaked tools, and especially handaxes, have formed the focus of many detailed studies from the 19 century onwards. This early focus has led to an abundance of classificatory frameworks, including subjective morphological and more objective metrical classifications. In addition, these frameworks were further adapted to incorporate region-specific archaeological signatures, resulting in a cloud of different terminologies (in a variety of languages) and different typologies which prevent us from focusing on the key archaeological questions.

Unravelling these epistemological/terminological issues is a must to be able to come to a better understanding of the presence of bifacial tools during the recent phase of the Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 5d-3). This poster will propose a new simplified typological framework and present some preliminary results of the application of this simple typology to the actual archaeological record. Are there genuine regional trends 36odeling36ion within late Middle Palaeolithic bifacial tools or are these merely the result of the presence of different academic traditions?

SNAPE-KENNEDY, Lisa (Poster Session) Pre-Construct Archaeology Seasonality, Climate and Fire: Banded sediments bearing Mesolithic human and bird footprints, Goldcliff East, Severn Estuary This research presents the findings arising from a high-resolution multimethod study of Mesolithic human and bird footprints found in the intertidal zone at Goldcliff East, Severn Estuary. Structured banding comprising the Lower Wentlooge formation was used to test whether fire regimes occurred on a seasonal basis in the coastal zone at Goldcliff. Analytical techniques such as particle-size, micromorphology and foraminifera were used to 37odeling37ion the sediments. Results revealed that people occupied a low-saltmarsh environment during a period of frequent storm events. In addition, structured banding occurred on both short and long term scales showing clear seasonal variations (i.e. coarse ‘winter’ subunits and fine ‘summer’ subunits. These variations enabled a high-resolution recovery of charcoal in order to determine whether fire-regimes were seasonal in origin. 24/30 bands revealed marked ‘summer’ signals occurring on both local and regional scales. Part of this record is likely to be anthropogenic in origin considering the density of human footprints in the intertidal zone at Goldcliff.

WICKS, Karen (Poster Session) University of Reading Small-Scale Woodland Disturbance Phases in the Marginal Landscapes of western Scotland during the Mesolithic: chronology and causes This poster presents the results of palaeoenvironmental fieldwork on the Isles of Coll and Mull, Inner Hebrides. This activity was undertaken as PhD research under the auspices of the Inner Hebrides Mesolithic Project based at the University of Reading. Pollen-stratigraphic records compiled from peat profiles provide new and continuous vegetation histories for the Holocene period in western Scotland. Bayesian radiocarbon 37odeling was used to construct preliminary chronological frameworks for the pollen records, while quantification of charcoal was undertaken to facilitate an evaluation of the causal drivers of vegetation change at a local and regional scale.

These new records identify woodland development as a key aspect of vegetation succession in western Scotland during the early Holocene. Of significance to the settlement patterns of the sea-faring Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of the region is the striking chronological alignment of phases of small-scale woodland disturbance recorded in pollen profiles located in close proximity to sites with evidence for contemporary hunter-gatherer activity, notably Creit Dhu, northwest Mull and Fiskary Bay, Coll. Peaks in microscopic charcoal accompany several of the woodland disturbance phases, while others lack evidence for burning.

Causal relationships between vegetation change, episodes of burning, climate and human activity are explored.

The conference sessions will be held at the Science Site (boxed in red) to the south of the Durham City Center (boxed in blue). The General Session on Saturday will be held in the Dawson Building (41) in room D110. The themed sessions on Sunday will be held in room D110 and the Applebey W103 room in the Geography Department (40).

FOOD Sandwiches Subway. 11 Elvet Bridge (1) Tesco / M&S/Boots. Market Place (2) Cafés & Coffee & Tea Shops Caffé Nero. 34 Silver Street (3) The Coffee House Durham. 6 Millenium Place (4) Botanic Gardens. Hollingside Lane (on General Map, p. 5) Vennels. 71 Saddler’s Yard (5) Continental The Almhouses. Palace Green (6) Cathedral’s restaurant (7)

French Café Rouge (9) Indian Shaheen's Indian Bistro. 48 North Bailey (10) Italian Pizza Express. 64 Saddler Street (11) Ristorante di Medici. 21 Elvet Bridge (12) Spanish tapas El Coto. 17 Hallgarth Street (13) La Tasca. 58 Saddler Street (14)

DRINK The Colpitts, Hawthorn Terrace (1) The Court Inn, Court Lane (2) Dun Cow, 37 Old Elvet (not in map) The Half Moon, New Elvet (3) Market Tavern, 27 Market Place (4) New Inn, 29 Church Street (closest to the Science Site!) (5) The Shakespeare Tavern, 63 Saddler St (6) The Swan and Three Cygnets, Elvet Bridge (7) Varsity, 46 Saddler Street (where the Dept of Archaeology used to be!) (8) The Victoria (The Vic), 86 Hallgarth Street (9) Ye Old Elm Tree, 12 Crossgate (10)

Computing facilities Each delegate will be supplied with a username and password to access the internet (see card in conference pack). These usernames can be used on University PCs (there are many in the Calman Learning Centre) or delegates’ personal laptops (for wireless connections).

Instructions to configure laptops for wireless access: 1. Right click on the wireless icon on your task bar (two computer screens, one behind the other) and select Connect to a network.

2. You will now see which networks are within range, select Durham Web Authentication Unsecured Network and click Connect.

3. Your browser will then display a message stating that there is a problem with the website’s security certificate. Click Continue to this website (not recommended).

4. You are now connected to the Durham University Wireless Service; please see the following webpage to ensure your browser is configured correctly. http://www.dur.ac.uk/its/services/web/browsers/cache Please note: This connection is a non-encrypted wireless service; as such data may be exposed to third parties. It is your responsibility to ensure that any sensitive or confidential information is given adequate protection whilst using this wireless service.

Useful phone numbers Taxi: Paddy’s Taxis 0191.386 6662; Pratt’s Taxis 0191 386 0700; Mac’s Taxis 0191 384 1329.

Tourist information: 2 Millennium Place the Gala Theatre (near the Market Square); 0191 384 3720 Conference Sponsors: Department of Archaeology Research Dialogues (Durham University), The Graduate School (Durham University)

Email Addresses

Alexandre Angelin Corneliu Beldiman Rosie Bishop Jeff Blackford Ed Blinkhorn Ciarán Brewster Fraser Brown Jean-Christophe Castel Wei Chu Jessica Cooney Hannah Cutler Robert J. Davis Antony Dickson Danae Dodge Helen Drinkall Ben Elliott Sarah Evans Olívia Figueiredo Frederick Foulds Dagmar Vokounová Franzeová Paula Gardiner Amy Gray Jones Seren Griffiths Pat Hadley Terry Hardaker Karen Hardy Susan Harris Niklas Hausmann Emily Hellewell Aureade Henry Emma Humphrey Piotr Jacobsson Liliana Janik

alexandre.angelin@etu.univ-tlse2.fr belcor@gmail.com r.r.bishop@durham.ac.uk Jeff.Blackford@manchester.ac.uk ehb501@york.ac.uk ciaranbrewster@mac.com fraser.brown@oxfordarch.co.uk jc.castel@wanadoo.fr w.chu@pgr.reading.ac.uk jc2353@gmail.com tec35@cam.ac.uk R.J.Davis@pgr.reading.ac.uk anthony.dickson@oxfordarch.co.uk danae_hazel@yahoo.co.uk h.c.drinkall@durham.ac.uk bje500@york.ac.uk sce25@cam.ac.uk olivia.figueiredo.arq@hotmail.com frederick.foulds@durham.ac.uk franzeov@kar.zcu.cz paula.gardiner@btinternet.com amy.grayjones@manchester.ac.uk GriffithsSG@cardiff.ac.uk ph618@york.ac.uk terryhardaker@hotmail.co.uk karhardy@gmail.com skharris@gmail.com nbmh501@york.ac.uk erh513@york.ac.uk aureade.henry@me.com prehistoryemma@gmail.com my.self.1848@googlemail.com lj102@cam.ac.uk

Sarah Kneen Aimée Little Jean-Luc Locht Marina Lozano Benjamin Marquebielle Nigel Melton Sylvène Michel Andrew Millard Patrícia Diogo Monteiro George Nash Paul Pettitt Suzanne Pilaar Birch Matt Pope Amy Prendergast Paul Preston Natasha Reynolds Harry Robson Iza Romanowska Peter Rowley-Conwy Karen Ruebens Alan Saville Chris Scarre Lisa Snape-Kennedy Penny Spikins Rita Stjerna Barry Taylor Nicolas Valdeyron Clive Waddington Graeme Warren Mark White Karen Wicks Lizzie Wright

sarah.kneen@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk a.p.little@arch.leidenuniv.nl jean-luc.locht@inrap.fr mlozano@iphes.cat benjamin.marquebielle@yahoo.fr n.d.melton1@bradford.ac.uk sylvene.michel@hotmail.fr a.r.millard@durham.ac.uk p.a.d.m@sapo.pt georgenash@btinternet.com p.pettitt@sheffield.ac.uk sepilaar@gmail.com m.pope@ucl.ac.uk alp60@cam.ac.uk paul.preston@arch.ox.ac.uk natasha.reynolds@arch.ox.ac.uk hkrobson@hotmail.co.uk I.Romanowska@soton.ac.uk p.a.rowley-conwy@durham.ac.uk Karen.Ruebens@soton.ac.uk a.saville@nms.ac.uk chris.scarre@durham.ac.uk LSnape@pre-construct.com ps508@york.ac.uk rita.stjerna@arkeologi.uu.se Barry.Taylor1@manchester.ac.uk valdeyro@univ-tlse2.fr Clive@archaeologicalresearchservices.com graeme.warren@ucd.ie mark.white@durham.ac.uk k.wicks@reading.ac.uk lizzie.wright@hotmail.com

Notes

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