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Grey waters bright with Neolithic argonauts? Maritime connections and the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition within the ‘western seaways’ of Britain, c. 5000–3500 BC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Duncan Garrow  and
Fraser Sturt
Duncan Garrow
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, Classics & Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Hartley Building, Brownlow Street, Liverpool L69 3GS, UK
Fraser Sturt
Affiliation:
Archaeology, University of Southampton, Avenue Campus, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BF, UK
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Extract

Careful examination of the probable natural conditions for travel in the North Sea and Irish Sea during the late Mesolithic are here combined with the latest radiocarbon dates to present a new picture of the transition to the Neolithic in the British Isles. The islands of the west were already connected by Mesolithic traffic and did not all go Neolithic at the same time. The introduction of the Neolithic package neither depended on seaborne incomers nor on proximity to the continent. More interesting forces were probably operating on an already busy seaway.

Keywords

BritainIrelandIrish SeaNorth SeaMesolithicNeolithic
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 85 , Issue 327 , March 2011 , pp. 59 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2011

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