The past few years have seen an upsurge in the numbers of known Neolithic settlements in Ireland. Many of these sites have been excavated by archaeologists based in field units, but few are well-known to the wider archaeological community. The papers in this volume which were presented at a conference held at Queen's University, Belfast in 2001, provided a forum for a discussion of the new Neolithic material from Ireland in its wider geographical context. Although the bulk of the emerging Irish settlement evidence relates to substantial houses, many of these papers consider wider themes, including issues of contact and communication along the sea routes and coastal margins of north-west Europe, questions of diversity and regional patterns of sedentism and mobility, and variations in regional food production strategies. The volume includes twenty-six papers representing a series of studies ranging geographically from Orkney to the French Atlantic facade. Contents: Introduction ( Ian Armit, Eileen Murphy, Eiméar Nelis and Derek Simpson ); French Connections I: Spreading the marmites thinly ( Alison Sheridan ); French Connections II: Of cows and men ( Anne Tresset ); Contemplating some awful(ly interesting) vistas: Importing cattle and red deer into prehistoric Ireland ( Peter Woodman and Margaret McCarthy ); Terminology, time and space: Labels, radiocarbon chronologies and a 'Neolithic' of small worlds ( Patrick Ashmore ); Rooted or routed? Landscapes of Neolithic settlement in Ireland ( Gabriel Cooney ); The early farming settlement of south western England in the Neolithic ( Roger Mercer ); Neolithic settlement in the lowlands of Scotland: A preliminary survey ( Gordon Barclay ); Once upon a time Skara Brae was unique ( David Clarke ); The Drowners: Permanence and transience in the Hebridean Neolithic ( Ian Armit ); Neolithic Northton: A review of the evidence ( Eileen Murphy and Derek Simpson ); Billown and the Neolithic of the Isle of Man ( Timothy Darvill ); The Early Neolithic and the Manx environment ( Peter J Davey and Jim B Innes ); Rheast Buigh, Patrick: Middle Neolithic exploitation of the Manx uplands? ( Peter J Davey and Jenny Woodcock ); What do we mean by Neolithic settlement? Some approaches, 10 years on ( Alex Gibson ). The Irish 'house boom'. Irish Neolithic houses ( Ian Armit, Eileen Murphy, Eiméar Nelis and Derek Simpson ); Excavations at Thornhill, Co. Londonderry ( Paul Logue ); Neolithic houses in Ballyharry townland, Islandmagee, Co. Antrim ( Dermot G Moore ); Neolithic structure at Drummenny Lower, Co. Donegal: An environmental perspective ( Cathy Dunne ); The excavation of a Neolithic house at Enagh townland, Co. Derry ( Cormac McSparran ); Archaeological excavations of a Neolithic settlement at Coolfore, Co. Louth ( Cóilín O Drisceoil ); A Neolithic house in Cloghers, Co. Kerry ( Jacinta Kiely ); Neolithic beginnings on Roughan Hill and the Burren ( Carleton Jones ). Irish Neolithic settlement architecture: A reappraisal ( Sarah Cross ); Donegore and Lyles Hill, Neolithic enclosed sites in Co. Antrim: The lithic assemblages ( Eiméar Nelis ); Neolithic expectations ( Richard Bradley ).

The past few years have seen an upsurge in the numbers of known Neolithic settlements in Ireland. Many of these sites have been excavated by archaeologists based in field units, but few are well-known to the wider archaeological community. The papers in this volume, which were presented at a conference held at Queen's University Belfast in 2001, provided a forum for a discussion of the new Neolithic material from Ireland in its wider geographical context. Although the bulk of the emerging Irish settlement evidence relates to substantial houses, many of these papers consider wider themes, including issues of contact and communication along the sea routes and coastal margins of northwest Europe, questions of diversity and regional patterns of sedentism and mobility, and variations in regional food production strategies. The volume includes twenty-six papers representing a series of studies ranging geographically from Orkney to the French Atlantic facade. Contents: Introduction ( Ian Armit, Eileen Murphy, Eiméar Nelis and Derek Simpson ); French Connections I: Spreading the marmites thinly ( Alison Sheridan ); French Connections II: Of cows and men ( Anne Tresset ); Contemplating some awful(ly interesting) vistas: Importing cattle and red deer into prehistoric Ireland ( Peter Woodman and Margaret McCarthy ); Terminology, time and space: Labels, radiocarbon chronologies and a 'Neolithic' of small worlds ( Patrick Ashmore ); Rooted or routed? Landscapes of Neolithic settlement in Ireland ( Gabriel Cooney ); The early farming settlement of south western England in the Neolithic ( Roger Mercer ); Neolithic settlement in the lowlands of Scotland: A preliminary survey ( Gordon Barclay ); Once upon a time Skara Brae was unique ( David Clarke ); The Drowners: Permanence and transience in the Hebridean Neolithic ( Ian Armit ); Neolithic Northton: A review of the evidence ( Eileen Murphy and Derek Simpson ); Billown and the Neolithic of the Isle of Man ( Timothy Darvill ); The Early Neolithic and the Manx environment ( Peter J Davey and Jim B Innes ); Rheast Buigh, Patrick: Middle Neolithic exploitation of the Manx uplands? ( Peter J Davey and Jenny Woodcock ); What do we mean by Neolithic settlement? Some approaches, 10 years on ( Alex Gibson ). The Irish 'house boom'. Irish Neolithic houses ( Ian Armit, Eileen Murphy, Eiméar Nelis and Derek Simpson ); Excavations at Thornhill, Co. Londonderry ( Paul Logue ); Neolithic houses in Ballyharry townland, Islandmagee, Co. Antrim ( Dermot G Moore ); Neolithic structure at Drummenny Lower, Co. Donegal: An environmental perspective ( Cathy Dunne ); The excavation of a Neolithic house at Enagh townland, Co. Derry ( Cormac McSparran ); Archaeological excavations of a Neolithic settlement at Coolfore, Co. Louth ( Cóilín O Drisceoil ); A Neolithic house in Cloghers, Co. Kerry ( Jacinta Kiely ); Neolithic beginnings on Roughan Hill and the Burren ( Carleton Jones ). Irish Neolithic settlement architecture: A reappraisal ( Sarah Cross ); Donegore and Lyles Hill, Neolithic enclosed sites in Co. Antrim: The lithic assemblages ( Eiméar Nelis ); Neolithic expectations ( Richard Bradley ).

Highlights the achievements of prehistoric people in Britain and Ireland over a 5,000 year period.

The Irish Neolithic has been dominated by the study of megalithic tombs, but the defining element of Irish settlement evidence is the rectangular timber Early Neolithic house, the numbers of which have more than quadrupled in the last ten years. The substantial Early Neolithic timber house was a short-lived architectural phenomenon of as little as 90 years, perhaps like short-lived Early Neolithic long barrows and causewayed enclosures. This book explores the wealth of evidence for settlement and houses throughout the Irish Neolithic, in relation to Britain and continental Europe. More importantly it incorporates the wealth of new, and often unpublished, evidence from developer-led archaeological excavations and large grey-literature resources. The settlement evidence scattered across the landscape, and found as a result of developer-funded work, provides the social context for the more famous stone monuments that have traditionally shaped our views of the Neolithic in Ireland. It provides the first comprehensive review of the Neolithic settlement of Ireland, which enables a more holistic and meaningful understanding of the Irish Neolithic.

The Neolithic of Britain and Ireland provides a synthesis of this dynamic period of prehistory from the end of the Mesolithic through to the early Beaker period. Drawing on new excavations and the application of new scientific approaches to data from this period, this book considers both life and death in the Neolithic. It offers a clear and concise introduction to this period but with an emphasis on the wider and on-going research questions. It is an important text for students new to the study of this period of prehistory as well as acting as a reference for students and scholars already researching this area. The book begins by considering the Mesolithic prelude, specifically the millennium prior to the start of the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland. It then goes on to consider what life was like for people at the time, alongside the monumental record and how people treated the dead. This is presented chronologically, with separate chapters on the early Neolithic, middle Neolithic, late Neolithic and early Beaker periods. Finally it considers future research priorities for the study of the Neolithic.

The Neolithic --a period in which the first sedentary agrarian communities were established across much of Europe--has been a key topic of archaeological research for over a century. However, the variety of evidence across Europe, the range of languages in which research is carried out, and the way research traditions in different countries have developed makes it very difficult for both students and specialists to gain an overview of continent-wide trends. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe provides the first comprehensive, geographically extensive, thematic overview of the European Neolithic --from Iberia to Russia and from Norway to Malta --offering both a general introduction and a clear exploration of key issues and current debates surrounding evidence and interpretation. Chapters written by leading experts in the field examine topics such as the movement of plants, animals, ideas, and people (including recent trends in the application of genetics and isotope analyses); cultural change (from the first appearance of farming to the first metal artefacts); domestic architecture; subsistence; material culture; monuments; and burial and other treatments of the dead. In doing so, the volume also considers the history of research and sets out agendas and themes for future work in the field.

Mobility is a fundamental facet of being human and should be central to archaeology. Yet mobility itself and the role it plays in the production of social life, is rarely considered as a subject in its own right. This is particularly so with discussions of the Neolithic people where mobility is often framed as being somewhere between a sedentary existence and nomadic movements. This latest collection of papers from the Neolithic Studies Group seminars examines the importance and complexities of movement and mobility, whether on land or water, in the Neolithic period. It uses movement in its widest sense, ranging from everyday mobilities – the routines and rhythms of daily life – to proscribed mobility, such as movement in and around monuments, and occasional and large-scale movements and migrations around the continent and across seas. Papers are roughly grouped and focus on ‘mobility and the landscape’, ‘monuments and mobility’, ‘travelling by water’, and ‘materials and mobility’. Through these themes the volume considers the movement of people, ideas, animals, objects, and information, and uses a wide range of archaeological evidence from isotope analysis; artefact studies; lithic scatters and assemblage diversity.