While awe-inspiring cave paintings were a hallmark of the Upper Paleolithic Era in Europe, they became uncommon in the Mesolithic Period that followed. Scholars believe that this, along with a number of other changes observed in the transition to the Mesolithic Period, was a reaction to a changing environment, caused by the melting of glaciers at the end of the last glacial period. This title paints a vivid picture of a key period of human history. Descriptions of specific discoveries and sites—such as England’s Starr Carr and India’s Bagor—help readers understand how archaeologists learn about life in the Mesolithic Period.

The Mesolithic in Britain proposes a new division of the Mesolithic period into four parts, each with its distinct character. The Mesolithic has previously been seen as timeless, where little changed over thousands of years. This new synthesis draws on advances in scientific dating to understand the Mesolithic inhabitation of Britain as a historical process. The period was, in fact, a time of profound change: houses, monuments, middens, long-term use of sites and regions, manipulation of the environment and the symbolic deposition of human and animal remains all emerged as significant practices in Britain for the first time. The book describes the lives of the first pioneers in the Early Mesolithic; the emergence of new modes of inhabitation in the Middle Mesolithic; the regionally diverse settlement of the Late Mesolithic; and the radical changes of the final millennium of the period. The first synthesis of Mesolithic Britain since 1932, it takes both a chronological and a regional approach. This book will serve as an essential text for anyone studying the period: undergraduate and graduate students, specialists in the field and community archaeology groups.

A pan-European overview of the archaeology of hunter-gatherer societies, written by experts in each region.

What do we know about the Mesolithic? What distinguishes the Mesolithic from earlier and later periods of human history? What do the Mesolithic cultures of Europe have in common, and what differentiates them from one another? This comprehensive volume contains 89 papers which attempt to answer the questions of the Mesolithic; the papers were presented at the Sixth International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe held in Stockholm, 2000.

"This book is the first major review of the Mesolithic age of Greece," writes Colin Renfrew "If the (Franchthi Cave publications) represent a first milestone in mesolithic studies in the Aegean, this volume certainly constitutes a second. It establishes a perspective going beyond that of the single key site, allowing earlier finds such as those from Sidari on Corfu to be re-assessed, and including more recent discoveries at the Theopetra Cave, at the Cave of Cyclope on Youra, and from the Klisoura Gorge. The book moreover develops a number of methodological advances, along with a careful review of the chronology. It embarks also upon detailed investigations of the fauna and microfauna."

In the Middle Stone Age, change happened everywhere, but at different times in different places. Chapters cover how Mesolithic people shaped flints into scrapers and sharp tips for arrows and spears, how they began domesticating animals, how they started building more permanent settlements, and how they drew other humans, maybe as an early way of writing. Each chapter includes attention-grabbing photos and fascinating facts. Sidebars go deeper, and prompts invite readers to think for themselves. A Timeline of the Mesolithic Era gives a big-picture view.

Coastal Landscapes of the Mesolithic: Human Engagement with the Coast from the Atlantic to the Baltic Sea explores the character and significance of coastal landscapes in the Mesolithic – on different scales and with various theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches. Mesolithic people were strongly connected to the sea, with coastal areas vital for subsistence and communication across the water. This anthology includes case studies from Scandinavia, western Europe and the Baltic area, presented by key international researchers. Topics addressed include large-scale analyses of the archaeological and geological development of coastal areas, the exploration of coastal environments with interdisciplinary methods, the discussion of the character of coastal settlements and of their possible networks, social and economic practices along the coast, as well as perceptions and cosmological aspects of coastal areas. Together, these topics and approaches contribute in an innovative way to the understanding of the complexity of topographically changing coastal areas as both border zones between land and sea and as connecting landscapes. Providing novel insights into the study of the Mesolithic as well as coastal areas and landscapes in general, the book is an important resource for researchers of the Mesolithic and coastal archaeology.

Muge 150th: The 150th Anniversary of the Discovery of Mesolithic Shellmiddens is organised into two volumes. While the first volume focused on Mesolithic finds in both the Muge and Sado valleys, this book, with a total of twenty-two chapters, brings together a series of papers on the Mesolithic period and its transition to the Neolithic all over Europe, including Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Servia, Sweden and the UK, as well as a series of general papers discussing methodological or theoretical aspects of the Mesolithic. In addition, the closing chapters of this volume venture outside the realm of the European Mesolithic-Neolithic world, presenting case studies on shell middens from both the Patagonia and the Red Sea.