Essay on the evaluation of evidence of life in the period c.4000 - 1400BC.
The period c.4000 1400BC in Britain includes the phases known as Neolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age (EBA & MBA; Parker Pearson 2005, 13). The Neolithic (c.4000 2300BC) and Bronze Age (c.2300 800BC) are usually further subdivided into early, middle and late but there are differences in opinion as to how this should be done, as is perhaps inevitable (compare Parker Pearson 2005 13 and Pryor 2003; xxx). Pryor usefully thinks in terms of a transitional Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age or Metal using Neolithic around 2500 2150/2000BC (Pryor 2003, xxx, 264). Since dates are intended to help draw a picture of the past that is easier to comprehend, it is probably best to consider them as approximate pointers to shifting trends with overlaps and regional differences to some extent obscured. In this essay, the focus will be on the evidence rather than chronology.
Dating aside, the Neolithic is marked by the establishment of farming communities in Britain and the use of pottery, new flint technology and monumental architecture and landscaping (Parker Pearson 2005, 19-22). Towards the end of the Neolithic, around 2500BC metals began to be used copper and bronze, appearing alongside a new kind of pottery the beaker (Pryor 2003, 264-66). There were also changes in the use of land seeing an end to certain kinds of Neolithic monumental constructions, such as causewayed enclosures and long barrows began to go out of use while henge monuments and stone circles become more popular (Dyer 1990, 63, 76).
This essay will seek to evaluate the evidence for our understanding of life and continuity and change between c. 4000 1400BC. We will begin by examining the environmental evidence from the early Neolithic and discuss the changes in behaviour from the Mesolithic and the development of farming. Then we will briefly relate the evidence for…
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Tags: 1400BC, burials, change, communal, life and continuity, Neolithic, Parker Pearson
