Mesolithic

Mesolithic societies in Europe: a social history of the Mesolithic

Prof. Marek Zvelebil and Jenny Moore

Kierikki Stone Age village in Finland. The village has been constructed close to a Mesolithic site and gives people the opportunity to understand the sophistication of Mesolithic life in this area

This research initiative will result in two linked outcomes. The first will be a comprehensive study of postglacial hunter-gatherers in Europe, the culmination of 30+ years of research, and will be presented in a synthetic volume supporting a comprehensive database on the settlement, landscape and material culture of the Mesolithic across Europe. The book will provide a URL linking it to the database, thereby providing a link between electronic and written media. The database will be constructed and managed so that it becomes an innovative teaching tool.

The work on this project is supported by Jenny Moore as my research associate and who will be constructing the database.

Two views of the Mesolithic

Objects from the Mesolithic sites in the Baltic, hinting at the rich economic, cultural and symbolic life of Mesolithic people

• 2000 Les Dernieres Chasseur-Collecteurs d’Europe Temperee (The last hunter-gatherers of temperate Europe). In Cupillard and Richard, A. (eds): Les Derniere Chasseurs-cueilleurs d’Europe occidentale. Franche-Comte, Besancon, 360–406
• 2001 (with K Fewster) Ethnographic analogy, ethnoarchaeology and prehistoric hunter-gatherers. In Fewster, K. and Zvelebil, M. (eds): Ethnoarchaeology of hunter-gatherers. B.A.R. Oxford, 143–157
• 2003 Enculturation of Mesolithic landscapes. In Larsson, L., Kindgren, H., Knutsson, K., Leoffler, D. and Åkerlund, A. (eds) Mesolithic on the Moved: papers presented at the sixth international conference on the Mesolithic in Europe. Oxford, Oxbow Books, 65–73
• 2003 Oleni Ostrov cemetery. In Bogucki, P., Crabtree, P.J. (eds): Ancient Europe 8000 BC–AD 1000: Encyclopaedia of the Barbarian World, Charles Scribner and sons, Farminton Hills, MI, USA
• 2003 The Mesolithic in Eastern Europe, In Bogucki, P., Crabtree, P.J. (eds): Ancient Europe 8000 BC–AD 1000: Encyclopaedia of the Barbarian World, Charles Scribner and sons, Farminton Hills, MI, USA
• 2003 People behind the lithics: on social structure and ideology of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Europe. In Bevan, L. and Moore, J. (eds): Peopling the Mesolithic in a Northern Environment., B.A.R. International Series 1157, Oxford,1–26
• 2004 Social structure and Ideology of the Late Mesolithic Communities in north Temperate Europe. In G.A. Clark and M. Gonzales-Morales (eds), The Mesolithic of the Atlantic Façade, 23-37. Arizona state University Anthropological Research Papers 35
• In press Innovating Hunter-Gatherers. The Mesolithic in the Baltic. In G. Bailey and P Spikins (eds) Mesolithic Europe
• In press (with Jenny Moore) Assessment and representation: the information value of Mesolithic landscapes. In Rensink, E. and Peeters, H. (eds) Preserving the Early Past, Nederlandse Archaeolosche Rapporten, ROB Amersfoort
• In press Mobility, contact and exchange in the Baltic Sea Basin 6000 – 2000 B.C. In: Lovis, W., Donahue, R. and Whallon, R. (eds) Mobility, contact and Exchange in Mesolithic Europe. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Special Issue.