“Imagine you go to Dartmoor and want to find a picnic spot. The chances are you will be choosing a spot that is very similar in nature to the spots in the landscape our hunter-gatherer communities chose."

#mesolithic #Dartmoor

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/aug/30/stone-age-dartmoor-viewpoint-uncovered-by-archaeologists

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Pickard, C., & Bonsall, C. (2022). Reassessing Neolithic Diets in Western Scotland. Humans, 2(4), 226–250. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/humans2040015 #OpenAccess #OA #Article #Scotland #Europe #Neolithic #Mesolithic #Diet #Archaeology #History #Histodon #Histodons @archaeodons @histodon @histodons

MITHEN, S. (2022). How Long was the Mesolithic–Neolithic Overlap in Western Scotland? Evidence from the 4th Millennium bc on the Isle of Islay and the Evaluation of Three Scenarios for Mesolithic–Neolithic Interaction. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 88, 53-77. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2022.3 #OpenAccess #OA #Journal #Article #Mesolithic #Neolithic #Neomesolithic #Scotland #DNA #Archaeology #Science #Academia #Academic #Academics #Archaeodons #History #Europe @archaeodons @science

Found three treasures while litterpicking, including another Mesolithic worked flint - 7 from the same area so far (2 x blades and 2 x points/barbs were notably close finds). This one is the same grey flint, and it's been worked as a core, but only about a third remains because it broke from intense heating. Archaeologists sometimes record these heated flints as "potboilers" but I'm not convinced that applies to this artifact. It seems to be part of a core with usable flint that was put beyond use either intentionally or in a natural wildfire. I was already beginning to wonder if a tool - spear/harpoon - was mislaid and I've been finding some of the pieces. Now I'm wondering if a campsite was lost or even a human life: landslip, wildfire, hunting accident? Impossible to know but I can't help speculating.

#archaeology #Mesolithic #lithics #larking #litterpicking

Two tiny worked Mesolithic flints, probably used as barbs on spears. The smallest, which I found yesterday while litterpicking, is 11x6mm. Apart from me, you're the first people to see the one on the left for over 8,000 years.

#lithics #Mesolithic #archaeology #larking #litterpicking

Guess who just found the teeniest Mesolithic microlith while litterpicking on a sunset walk? Me! Strange to be the first person for over 8,000 years to see this human manufactured tool.

#larking #lithics #Mesolithic #litterpicking

300 ish words on "a moment in time" for a writing prompt. Also, an attempt at laying it out on a postcard! #writing #mesolithic #fantasy

Did you ever wonder how #stoneage people handled a diet suddenly consisting of largely #grain?

The #mesolithic people were surrounded by large forested areas, so their diet featured a lot of #meat.
The later #neolithic people were focusing on #grains.
How did they physiologically handle the change?

The answer was (likely) hazelnuts!

Large amounts of shells have been found around sites in Duvensee, #Germany & #Scotland.
They were processed extensively by roasting.

#prehistory #nutella

More arrows made for my experimental research. This time Late Mesolithic style! #archaeology #history #experimental #ExperimentalArchaeology #prehistory #mesolithic #scotland #ancientcraft #flintknapping

Soil block grave from oldest burial ground in Germany excavated – The History Blog
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/66267

"Radiocarbon analysis of the remains dates the burial ground to approximately 8,000 years ago in the #Mesolithic era, just on the cusp of the Neolithic Revolution that saw the arrival of the first farmers in Brandenburg."

#History #Archeology #Germany

This is fascinating.

In particular the discovery that our ancient hunter-gathering ancestors had ritual practices we cannot comprehend:

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/stone-age-hunter-gatherers-in-britain/

#Archaeology #Mesolithic #HunterGatherers #Yorkshire

Featured in "Digging for Britain, Series 10: 5. Roman Mosaics and Ancient Weapons": www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0dm80y4 via @bbciplayer

So my current read is the absolutely fascinating “The Gathering Night” by Margaret Elphinstone. Set in #Mesolithic Scotland. Story is told by multiple narrators, as if everyone is seated around a campfire taking turns.
#AmReading #Bookstodon

A couple of things I’ve been working on as part of a commission for a friend! Including:

2x small leather coin pouches (one with wooden beads, one with bone beads)

1x roe deer hide pouch/satchel for a glasses case

1x Mesolithic style amber pendant

#ancientcraft #leatherwork #craft #archaeology #history #medieval #mesolithic #prehistory #art #leathercraft #nature #deer #huntergatherers

A #Mesolithic #replica #variety pack.

Alongside working on & supervising the #excavation of Mesolithic sites, replicating some of the #artefact types of the period can be a great way to further engage with the #archaeology.

#Replicas can fill in some of the gaps left by patchy preservation and the loss of perishable materials, and can provide a tactile, tangible component of everything from archaeological experimentation through to #outreach and #publicengagement.

How Nazis 'whitewashed' a shaman's prehistoric remains

https://www.dw.com/en/how-nazis-whitewashed-a-shaman-s-prehistoric-remains/a-64196637?maca=en-dipa_news_mstdn-34613-xml-mrss

#KaiMichel #HaraldMeller #ShamanofBadDürrenberg #shaman #femaleshaman #shamanism #mesolithic #hunter-gatherers #Faith #prehistory #humanhistory

The finale of the latest season of #DiggingforBritain features an incredible Hebridean early #Holocene site I've been lucky enough to work on & co-supervise for the University of Reading.

The preservation is incredible, with stratified #Mesolithic occupation deposits, thousands of chipped stone artefacts lying where they were dropped just after the #iceage enigmatic stone-lined pits, hearths and even delicate charred hazelnut shells.

If that sounds like your jam, check it out on #BBC #iPlayer

Pecked and ground siltstone axe. Collected from the surface of a late Mesolithic site on the bank of the R. Barrow, Co. Laois, Ireland, 1991, along with numerous chipped stone tools. Estimated ca 6000 years old.

#Ireland #archaeology #Mesolithic #Laois #RiverBarrow

The #shaman of #BadDürrenberg

#mesolithic #burial of a female, probably #shaman like person in #germany #SachsenAnhalt #BadDürrenberg dating est. 11500 BCE

#pagan #history #histodon

https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/en/permanent-exhibition/human-succession/the-shaman-from-bad-duerrenberg.html

RT @jens2go@twitter.com

#FindsFriday: Hollow crane bone from the #Mesolithic burial (c. 9,000 years ago) of the so-called #Shamaness from #BadDürrenberg - a container for #microliths (tiny precise stone blades), put in & taken out through a small opening.

Yes, that’s your prehistoric @xacto@twitter.com knife. 😉

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/jens2go/status/1593590497972453379

This is really interesting. Would love to go see the exhibition.

https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/en/permanent-exhibition/human-succession/the-shaman-from-bad-duerrenberg.html

#mesolithic #archaeology