ABSTRACT
Geographically, Britain and Ireland lie on the northwestern fringes of Europe (figure 16.1). The beginning of the Neolithic here, at ca. 4000 cal BC, is marked by the appearance of a suite of domestic plants and animals (wheats and barleys for the former; and cattle, sheep, goat and pig for the latter), novel material culture (pottery, different ways of working stone, new forms of domestic and ritual architecture), and new ways of treating the dead. While there are some issues to be resolved concerning the precise timing of the appearance of these elements, most do seem to have appeared within a century or two at most, though the means by which this ‘package’ arrived in Britain and Ireland remains a key focus of debate (Collard et al. 2009; RowleyConwy 2004; Sheridan 2010; Thomas 2003, 2008). The two opposing extremes are complete indigenous adoption, on the one hand, and large-scale movement of farmers from the adjacent Continent, on the other. Most would accept that the true situation probably lies between these two positions, with the debates focussing on which should receive more emphasis and, of course, on the explanation for the transition from food gathering to food production. However, the main aim of this contribution is not to
address the question of indigenous adoption versus migration. It is rather to present something of the ‘state of play’ regarding the evidence for the earlier Neolithic (ca. 4000-3200 cal BC) subsistence economy in Britain and Ireland, based on the zooarchaeological and stable isotope data, and to examine the evidence for regionality.
