The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

The Neolithic period
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Track was preceded by another version, the Post Track, and may have been in use for a relatively
short time before being covered by peat growth. It was not directly replaced, though several
other hurdle trackways succeed it after a while in the vicinity. This pattern seems to mirror the
settlement record as a whole: particular structures and features each of short duration, related to
occupation, set within an enduring framework of monuments and other places.
There are interesting changes in the character of lithic scatters during the period. Earlier flint
knapping involved careful, planned use of raw material, a trait that later working, when a wider
range of materials was employed, generally lacks (Edmonds 1995). In some areas, as around
Stonehenge and Avebury (Richards 1990; Thomas 1991), the density and size of Later Neolithic
scatters increased compared with earlier examples. This may represent more people staying in
these locales for longer periods, but whether as part of a general trend towards increasing sedentism
or in connection with the demands of the ritual cycle is hard to say.
Later Neolithic Orkney is the major exception to the general trend. Several sites, including
Skara Brae, Rinyo, Links of Noltland and Barnhouse, have stone-walled structures, nucleated to
varying degrees, and preserved to impressive height at Skara Brae. The most important recent
discovery has been of Barnhouse in the middle of Mainland, not least because it is near the
elaborate chambered tomb of Maes Howe and the henges with stone settings at Stenness and
Ring of Brogar (Parker Pearson and Richards 1994). Smaller, squarish houses are succeeded by a
more varied range, some with carefully arranged doorways, central hearths and wall recesses that
echo the layouts of chambered tombs. The Barnhouse houses may have been permanent residences,
part of a strategy for taking in the interior of the islands by larger social groups. Their architecture
may still reflect structured patterns of movement and behaviour, and also enshrine a cosmology
that united people in their daily lives with nature, through a sense of orientation and elements
like fire, and with the past, through reference to ancestral tombs and shrines (Parker Pearson and
Richards 1994; Richards 1996). The largest structure at Barnhouse, no. 8, was set within an outer
wall, and may represent some kind of communal building.
Axe production sites
Stone and flint axeheads figure prominently in the Neolithic record. Some, perhaps many, were
mounted in wooden hafts. The oak planks of the Sweet Track bear their marks. These may have
been the all-purpose heavy-duty tool of the Neolithic, but it is clear that the axehead itself carried
special significance. One was deposited beside the Sweet Track, and others occur in the ditches
of causewayed enclosures, as well as in a range of other contexts (Edmonds 1995). Many axeheads
are found far from their place of origin, and must have circulated by various means, including
direct acquisition, direct and indirect exchange and perhaps directed trade. Many are isolated
discoveries and appear to have been deliberately deposited in the ground. The axe may have
stood for several ideas important in the Neolithic world view: independence or prowess in the
realm of subsistence; personal (perhaps gender-related) or group identity; the ability to participate
in gift exchange and other social interaction; a willingness to give away to other people and to
nature rather than to accumulate; and borrowing of the very material of the earth.
Sources of good stone and flint were comparatively limited, with the best stone occurring in
the older geologies of the west and north and the best flint from southern English chalk deposits
(Edmonds 1995). Numbers of stone and flint sources are known. Some of the former can be
traced to actual extraction areas, and in some cases shafts were dug through chalk to exploit good
seams of flint. Such ‘quarries’ and ‘mines’ were often in places remote from usual settlement
zones, even in a mobile system. Group VI axes were made from a volcanic tuff quarried from
outcrops high in the Langdale hills of the Cumbrian Lake District. Flint mines in Sussex and in
the East Anglian breckland at Grime’s Graves may also have been comparatively distant from