The earliest farming in Britain:

Rowley‐Conwy, Peter; Gron, Kurt J.; Bishop, Rosie R.; Dunne, Julie; Evershed, Richard P.; Longford, Catherine; Treasure, Edward R.

doi:10.2307/j.ctv13gvh1g.23

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…A degree of landscape continuity supports theoretical frameworks surrounding the nature of early farming in Britain. Most notably, the ‘garden cultivation system’ [ 58 ] where it is argued that establishing new, large clearings in deciduous forest was unnecessarily difficult and not supported by the archaeobotanical evidence [ 59 ]. Instead, cattle would have been grazed in a series of long-established smaller clearings, in which natural growth of apple/pear and hazel was also encouraged for exploitation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life before Stonehenge: The hunter-gatherer occupation and environment of Blick Mead revealed by sedaDNA, pollen and spores

et al. 2022

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The Neolithic and Bronze Age construction and habitation of the Stonehenge Landscape has been extensively explored in previous research. However, little is known about the scale of pre-Neolithic activity and the extent to which the later monumental complex occupied an ‘empty’ landscape. There has been a long-running debate as to whether the monumental archaeology of Stonehenge was created in an uninhabited forested landscape or whether it was constructed in an already partly open area of pre-existing significance to late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. This is of significance to a global discussion about the relationship between incoming farmers and indigenous hunter-gatherer societies that is highly relevant to both Old and New World archaeology. Here we present the results of plant sedaDNA, palynological and geoarchaeological analysis at the Late hunter-gatherer site complex of Blick Mead at the junction of the drylands of Salisbury Plain and the floodplain of the River Avon, on the edge of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. The findings are placed within a chronological framework built on OSL, radiocarbon and relative archaeological dating. We show that Blick Mead existed in a clearing in deciduous woodland, exploited by aurochsen, deer and hunter-gatherers for approximately 4000 years. Given its rich archaeology and longevity this strongly supports the arguments of continuity between the Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers activity and Neolithic monument builders, and more specifically that this was a partially open environment important to both groups. This study also demonstrates that sediments from low-energy floodplains can provide suitable samples for successful environmental assaying using sedaDNA, provided they are supported by secure dating and complementary environmental proxies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life before Stonehenge: The hunter-gatherer occupation and environment of Blick Mead revealed by sedaDNA, pollen and spores

et al. 2022

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“…One possible explanation for this neglect is that wild foods, both consciously and unconsciously, have been interpreted as continuity of traditional subsistence practices marking the transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer. This interpretation, and hence the importance of wild foods has as such become intertwined with the mechanisms driving crop dispersal (Rowley-Conwy, 2004Rowley-Conwy et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The logical implication drawn was that hazelnuts were of greater importance to Neolithic farmers than in ensuing periods, although cereals were still seen as an integral part of Neolithic subsistence (Robinson, 2000;Stevens, 2007). However, this began a debate regarding the significance of wild foods to Neolithic subsistence, with some arguing hazelnuts in particular, by virtue of their robust shells, were likely over-represented and hence their importance overstated (Rowley-Conwy, 2000Jones and Legge, 2008;Rowley-Conwy et al, 2020).…”

Section: Evidence For Agriculture and Wild Food Remains From Neolithi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of wild resources as a reflection of the resilience and changing nature of early agricultural systems in East Asia and Europe

2022

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We examine the changing importance of wild starch rich plant staples, predominantly tree nuts, in early agricultural societies in East Asia and Europe, focusing on Korea, Japan, and Britain. A comparative review highlights variations in the importance of wild plant staples compared to domesticated crops. The Korean Middle to Late Chulmun periods (c. 3,500–1,500 BC) was characterized by a high reliance on nuts alongside millet. This declines with the transition to rice agriculture, but remains significant during the Mumun period (c. 1,500–300 BC). In Japan, the arrival of rice and millets in the Yayoi Period (c. 1,000 BC−250 AD) saw continued evidence for high levels of reliance on wild resources, which declines only in the Kofun and early historical periods. In Early Neolithic Britain (c. 4,000–3,300 BC) cereal agriculture is accompanied by high evidence for wild plant foods. But during the Middle to Late Neolithic (3,300–c. 2,400/2,200 BC) cereals were abandoned on the mainland with hazelnuts becoming a prominent plant staple. Agriculture returned in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, followed by a strong decline in wild plant food use during the Middle to Late Bronze Age (1,700–700 BC). Such patterns have previously been attributed to the slow adoption of farming by indigenous peoples, with a continued reliance on wild resources. In light of evidence demonstrating that the dispersal of agriculture was largely driven by a mixture of demic-diffusion and introgression of hunter-gatherers into agricultural groups, a reinterpretation of the role of wild foods is needed. It is argued that the relative importance of wild plant staples provides an indicator of the stability and dependability of agricultural and social systems. A heavy reliance on wild foods in early agricultural societies is tied to the slow adaptation of domesticated crops to new environments, where agricultural and social landscapes are yet to be firmly established, and social systems that could mitigate for poor harvests and storage were often absent. The retained lengthy persistence of wild plant staples in East Asian subsistence systems compared to the British Isles likely reflects differences in the ecological and labor demands for rice compared to Western Asiatic cereals.

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“…Earlier reviews of such limited evidence raised the enduring problem of dating boundaries, plough scrapes and lynchets (Fowler & Evans 1967;Smith & Evans 1968) making 'sealed' ard marks such as those found under aforementioned barrows, but also Amesbury G71, Wiltshire, and Kilham, Yorkshire (Darvill 2010: 92), so valuable. More recently there has been a growing focus on big data and multidisciplinary approaches on the proxies for farming (Jones & Rowley-Conwy 2007;Bishop et al 2009;Treasure et al 2020;Rowley-Conwy et al 2020), with physical traces remaining rare discoveries that await synthesis.…”

Section: The Bigger Picturementioning

confidence: 99%

Possible Neolithic ard marks and field boundaries at Wellhill and Cranberry, Perth and Kinross, and an evaluation of current physical evidence for Neolithic farming in Scotland

Brophy¹,

Wright²

2021

PSAS

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Although the Neolithic period is defined by farming, physical evidence for processes associated with farming are rare, with agricultural practices usually indicated by environmental and biomolecular proxies for domesticates such as pollen evidence, ceramic residues and lipids, animal bones, plant remains and stable isotope studies. This paper will, we hope, invigorate discussion on the recognition, interpretation and significance of physical traces of farming in Scotland. The starting point will be the summary of two excavations, Wellhill and Cranberry, both Perth and Kinross, in 2014 and 2016 respectively, part of the Strathearn Environs and Royal Forteviot (SERF) project. These cropmark sites revealed evidence for possible Neolithic farming in the form of possible ard marks and field ditches. There follows a synthesis of physical evidence for Neolithic farming in Scotland, drawing together evidence for ard marks, field boundaries, cultivation ridges, cultivated middens, and soils. Recommendations are made for recognising and interpreting such features on excavations, and the potential benefits of giving a higher profile to the act of farming in our narratives about Neolithic lifeways in Scotland and beyond are briefly explored.

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The earliest farming in Britain:

Cited by 14 publications

References 59 publications

Life before Stonehenge: The hunter-gatherer occupation and environment of Blick Mead revealed by sedaDNA, pollen and spores

Life before Stonehenge: The hunter-gatherer occupation and environment of Blick Mead revealed by sedaDNA, pollen and spores

The importance of wild resources as a reflection of the resilience and changing nature of early agricultural systems in East Asia and Europe

Possible Neolithic ard marks and field boundaries at Wellhill and Cranberry, Perth and Kinross, and an evaluation of current physical evidence for Neolithic farming in Scotland

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