Being Ritual in Mesolithic Britain and Ireland: Identifying Ritual Behaviour Within an Ephemeral Material Record

Abstract

Acceptance of ritual as a valid interpretation of Mesolithic behaviour has slowly emerged over the past decade; the 'silly season' heralded by Mellars (Antiquity 83:502-517, 2009) has not materialised, though in Ireland and Britain difficulties persist in defining what might constitute 'ritual' away from the graveside. New discoveries from both the development-led and academic sectors enable Mesolithic archaeologists to better establish which elements of the archaeological record can be interpreted as ritual. This paper seeks to identify further strands of ritual behaviour, incorporating evidence from sites without organic remains. We consider the evidence for ritual at the site and feature scales, and in the special treatment of objects-an often overlooked body of data in understanding ritual. Thus the material signature of ritual will be questioned, and ways in which Mesolithic ritual can be rehabilitated and expanded will be explored.

Ritualized Mesolithic hoarding in Southern Scandinavia: An Under-Recognised Phenomenon

“…These 'ritual' aspects fit how a number of Mesolithic archaeologists have interpreted other forms of depositional practices as part of some sort of tripartite Mesolithic cosmology -especially focussing on the wetland and liminal nature of the depositional contexts and a particular importance of axes (e.g. Bergsvik 2009;Glørstad 2010:229-247;Blinkhorn & Little 2018). However, the aforementioned seemingly 'mundane' characteristics of many of the Mesolithic hoards do not fit neatly into common conceptions of Mesolithic cosmologies.…”

Analysis of a brown earth palaeosol and derived sediments associated with a Mesolithic pit, a Late Neolithic – Early Bronze Age burnt mound and an Early Bronze Age burnt mound on Exmoor, UK

“…comm). Blinkhorn and Little (2018) 22 highlight the number of recorded Mesolithic pits within Britain, which have substantially increased over the last two decades primarily due to developer funded archaeology. They suggest pits may mark places as special and/or provide a means for the 'correct' deposition of materials, e.g.…”

Multidisciplinary Investigation of the Pit Circuit at Durrington Walls, UK

“…Their interpretation as large pits, provides additional data on this significant research issue within British later prehistory (e.g. Anderson-Whymark & Thomas, 2011;Bailey, 2018;Blinkhorn & Little, 2018;Garrow, 2006Garrow, , 2007Roberts & Marshall, 2020). The literature indicates that 'pits' have a plethora of uses in prehistory including settlement, mining, through to proxies for the arcane; pits within British prehistory are, as Garrow concluded for the British and Irish Neolithic, 'a diverse phenomenon' (Garrow, 2011, 219).…”