ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates life in the late Neolithic of Britain and Ireland, focusing on material culture, subsistence and settlement. The late Neolithic continues until between 2500 and 2400 bc when new types of material culture begin to appear including Beakers and metalwork. The late Neolithic is characterised by the presence of a distinctive form of pottery known as Grooved Ware. This form of pottery was produced in a fairly restricted range of vessel forms including tubs, buckets and barrel-shaped vessels. The Orcadian villages are not typical of settlement in the late Neolithic, however, but studies beyond Orkney suggest that Grooved Ware vessels might have been linked with specific food stuffs. Prolific quantities of late Neolithic stone tools have been found from a variety of contexts, including occupation sites, pits and monuments. Late Neolithic animal bone assemblages are often dominated by the remains of pig although cattle remains are still found.
