- Title Pages
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction: transitions and transformations
- From Mesolithic to Neolithic modes of thought
- From Mesolithic to Early Neolithic in the western Mediterranean
- Neighbours but diverse: social change in north-west Iberia during the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic (5500—4000 cal BC)
- Beyond the models: ‘Neolithisation’ in Central Europe
- Beyond ‘migration’ versus ‘acculturation’: new models for the spread of agriculture
- Mobility, specialisation and community diversity in the Linearbandkeramik: isotopic evidence from the skeletons
- Exploiting molecular and isotopic signals at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition
- Neolithic cattle domestication as seen from ancient DNA
- Substitution of species, techniques and symbols at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Western Europe
- The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Paris Basin: a review
- Neolithic fragrances: Mesolithic-Neolithic interactions in western France
- Changing places: monuments and the Neolithic transition in western France
- The neolithisation of the Scheldt basin in western Belgium
- The gradual transition to farming in the Lower Rhine Basin
- Mesolithic myths
- The Neolithic sensory revolution: monumentality and the experience of landscape
- Houses, bodies and tombs
- Neolithic farming in Britain and central Europe: contrast or continuity?
- The temporality of transformation: dating the early development of the southern British Neolithic
- The Thames Valley in the late fifth and early fourth millennium cal BC: the appearance of domestication and the evidence for change
- Mesolithic-Neolithic transitions in Britain: from essence to inhabitation
- From Picardie to Pickering and Pencraig Hill? New information on the ‘Carinated Bowl Neolithic’ in northern Britain
- From midden to megalith? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in western Britain
- The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in western Scotland: a review and new evidence from Tiree
- Parallel worlds or multi-stranded identities? Considering the process of ‘going over’ in Ireland and the Irish Sea zone
- From fish and seal to sheep and cattle: new research into the process of neolithisation in northern Germany
- Mistrust traditions, consider innovations? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in southern Scandinavia
- Going over: people and their times
- Index
Mistrust traditions, consider innovations? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in southern Scandinavia
Mistrust traditions, consider innovations? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in southern Scandinavia
- Chapter:
- (p.595) Mistrust traditions, consider innovations? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in southern Scandinavia
- Source:
- Going Over: The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in North-West Europe
- Author(s):
Lars Larsson
- Publisher:
- British Academy
For the individuals participating in the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition, one question must have recurrently emerged as a prime concern: ‘Should I mistrust traditions and consider innovations’? This concern encompassed the introduction of new material culture and new techniques of obtaining food. It also involved new ways of conceiving the world and people's place in it. And it was affected by important – sometimes catastrophic – changes in the physical environment. It must be emphasized that the question of whether to mistrust traditions and consider innovations is not only a matter of concern for prehistoric actors. It is also important for those who are making prehistory today. As is presented in this chapter, the facts presented for south Scandinavia have been variously interpreted as indicating the rapid introduction of a ‘Neolithic’ package with new ways of thinking and acting, as well as reflecting a mixture of traditions and gradually incorporated innovations. Future research into the transition should focus on combining new problem-oriented excavation with fresh ideas about how the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic occurred.
Keywords: neolithization, Neolithic, Mesolithic, tradition
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- Title Pages
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction: transitions and transformations
- From Mesolithic to Neolithic modes of thought
- From Mesolithic to Early Neolithic in the western Mediterranean
- Neighbours but diverse: social change in north-west Iberia during the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic (5500—4000 cal BC)
- Beyond the models: ‘Neolithisation’ in Central Europe
- Beyond ‘migration’ versus ‘acculturation’: new models for the spread of agriculture
- Mobility, specialisation and community diversity in the Linearbandkeramik: isotopic evidence from the skeletons
- Exploiting molecular and isotopic signals at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition
- Neolithic cattle domestication as seen from ancient DNA
- Substitution of species, techniques and symbols at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Western Europe
- The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Paris Basin: a review
- Neolithic fragrances: Mesolithic-Neolithic interactions in western France
- Changing places: monuments and the Neolithic transition in western France
- The neolithisation of the Scheldt basin in western Belgium
- The gradual transition to farming in the Lower Rhine Basin
- Mesolithic myths
- The Neolithic sensory revolution: monumentality and the experience of landscape
- Houses, bodies and tombs
- Neolithic farming in Britain and central Europe: contrast or continuity?
- The temporality of transformation: dating the early development of the southern British Neolithic
- The Thames Valley in the late fifth and early fourth millennium cal BC: the appearance of domestication and the evidence for change
- Mesolithic-Neolithic transitions in Britain: from essence to inhabitation
- From Picardie to Pickering and Pencraig Hill? New information on the ‘Carinated Bowl Neolithic’ in northern Britain
- From midden to megalith? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in western Britain
- The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in western Scotland: a review and new evidence from Tiree
- Parallel worlds or multi-stranded identities? Considering the process of ‘going over’ in Ireland and the Irish Sea zone
- From fish and seal to sheep and cattle: new research into the process of neolithisation in northern Germany
- Mistrust traditions, consider innovations? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in southern Scandinavia
- Going over: people and their times
- Index
