Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-2pp2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T13:35:07.883Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Microlith to macrolith: the reasons behind the transformation of production in the Irish Mesolithic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Laurent J. Costa ,
Farina Sternke  and
Peter C. Woodman
Laurent J. Costa
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Préhistoire et Technologie (UMR 7055), M.A.E., 21 allée de l’Université, 92028 Nanterre cedex, France
Farina Sternke
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University College of Cork, Ireland
Peter C. Woodman
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University College of Cork, Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In a new study the authors explore the reasons behind the remarkable change in the procurement and choice of stone tools that occurred half way through the Irish Mesolithic. The abandonment of microliths and the adoption of a broad blade technology around 7000 BC is here attributed to a need for multi-purpose tools made from a variety of materials, serving smaller and more mobile communities.

Keywords

MesolithicIrelandlithicssocial organisation

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 79 , Issue 303 , March 2005 , pp. 19 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anderson, E. 1994. Flint Technology in the Irish Later Mesolithic. Unpublished MA Thesis, University College of Cork.Google Scholar
Anderson, E. & Johnson, G.. 1993. A refitting and use-wear analysis of a later Mesolithic flint assemblage from Bay Farm, Country Antrim. Archeomaterials 7(1): 83–100.Google Scholar
Bleed, P. 1986. The optimal design of hunting weapons: maintainability or reliability. American Antiquity 51 (4): 737–47.Google Scholar
Coles, B.J. 1998. Doggerland: a speculative survey. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 64: 45–81.Google Scholar
Collins, T. & Coyne, F.. 2003. Fire and water: early Mesolithic cremations at Castleconnell, Co. Limerick. Archaeology Ireland 17 (2): 24–7.Google Scholar
Costa, L.J. 2001. Espaces et productions lithiques en Corse (9éme-2éme millénaire cal BC). Unpublished PhD Thesis, University Paris X.Google Scholar
Costa, L.J., Sternke, F. & Woodman, P.C.. 2001. An analysis of the lithic assemblage from Greencastle, Eleven Ballyboes Td, Co Donegal: a contribution to the study of early Mesolithic stone tool production in Ireland. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 60: 1–8.Google Scholar
Costa, L.J., Vigne, J.-D. Bocherens, H. Desse-Berset, N. Heinz, C. (De) Lanfranchi, F. Magdeleine, J. Ruas, M.-P. Thiébault, S. & Tozzi, C.. 2003. Early settlement on Tyrrhenian islands (8th millennium cal. BC): Mesolithic adaptation to local resources in Corsica and Northern Sardinia, in Krindgen, H. Knutsson, K. Larsson, L. Loeffler, D. & Akerlund, A. (ed.). Mesolithic on the move, papers presented at the sixth international conference on the Mesolithic in Europe Stockholm 2000: 3–10. Oxford: Oxbow Monographs.Google Scholar
David, A. 1989. Some aspects of the human presence in south-west Wales during the Mesolithic, in Bonsall, C. (ed.). The Mesolithic in Europe: 241–53. Edinburgh: John Donald.Google Scholar
Dumont, J.V. 1985. A preliminary report on the Mount Sandel microwear study, in Woodman, P.C. (ed.). Excavations at Mount Sandel 1973–77. Northern Ireland Archaeological Monographs No. 2: 61–70. Belfast: HMSO.Google Scholar
Inizan, M.L., Rudoran-Ballenger, M. Roche, H. & Tixier, J.. 1999. Technology and terminology of knapped stone no. 5. Nanterre: CREP.Google Scholar
Jacobi, R.M. 1973. Aspects of the Mesolithic Age in Britain, in Kozlowski, S. (ed.), The Mesolithic in Europe: 237–65. Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. 1988. A Later Mesolithic Assemblage from Bay Farm, Co. Antrim. Unpublished MA Thesis, University College of Cork.Google Scholar
Kelly, R.L. 1983. Hunter-Gatherer mobility strategies. Journal of Anthropological Research 39 (3): 277–306.Google Scholar
Leroi-Gourhan, A. 1964. Le geste et la parole (Technique et language). Paris: Albin Michel.Google Scholar
Leroi-Gourhan, A. 1971. L’homme et la matiére. Paris: Albin Michel.Google Scholar
Mallory, J.P. & Hartwell, B.N.. 1997. Down in prehistory, in Proudfoot, L. (ed.). Down: history and society: 1–32. Dublin: Geography Publications.Google Scholar
Marchand, G. 2000. La Neolithisation de l’Ouest de la France. Oxford: BAR International Series 748.Google Scholar
Mccartan, S.B. 2003. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in the Isle of Man: adaptations to an island environment? in Krindgen, H. Knutsson, K. Larsson, L. Loeffler, D. & Akerlund, A. (ed.). Mesolithic on the move, papers presented at the sixth international conference on the Mesolithic in Europe Stockholm 2000: 331–9. Oxford: Oxbow Monographs.Google Scholar
Mitchell, G.F. 1955. The Mesolithic Site at Toome Bay, Co. Derry. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 18: 1–16.Google Scholar
Mitchell, G.F. 1976. The Irish landscape. London: Collins.Google Scholar
Movius, H.L. 1940. An early postglacial archaeological site at Cushendun, Co. Antrim. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 46C: 1–48.Google Scholar
Perlés, C. 1991. Les industries lithiques taillées de Franchthi (Argolide, Gréce). Tome 2: les industries du M ésolithique et du Néolithique initial. Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Fasc. 5. Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Peterson, J.D. 1990. From foraging to food production in South West Ireland: some lithic evidence. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 56: 89–99.Google Scholar
Petersen Vang, P. 1993. Flint Fra Danmarks Oldtid. København: Høst and Søn.Google Scholar
Torrence, R. 1983. Time budgeting and hunter-gatherer technology, in Bailey, G. (ed.). Hunter-gatherer economy in prehistory: a European perspective: 11–22. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Van Wijngaarden-Bakker, L. 1989. Faunal remains and the Irish Mesolithic, in Bonsall, C. (ed.). The Mesolithic in Europe: 125–33. Edinburgh: John Donald.Google Scholar
Warren, G. 2003. Life in the trees. Archaeology Ireland 17 (3): 20–3.Google Scholar
Wickham-Jones, C.R. & Woodman, P.C.. 1998. Studies on the early settlement of Scotland and Ireland. Quarternary International 49/50: 13–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winterhalder, B.P. & Smith, E.A. (ed.). 1981. Hunter-gatherer foraging strategies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1974. Settlement patterns of the Irish Mesolithic. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 36–37: 1–16.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1977. Recent excavations at Newferry, Co. Antrim. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 43: 155–200.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1978. The Mesolithic in Ireland: hunter-gatherers in an insular environment. Oxford: BAR British Series 58.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1981. The post-Glacial colonisation of Ireland: the human factors, in Corráin, D.O. (ed.). Irish Antiquity: 93–110. Dublin: Four Courts Press.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1985. Excavations at Mount Sandel: 1973–77 County Londonderry. Belfast: HMSO.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1986. The colonisation of Ireland. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 49: 7–17.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1987. The impact of resource availability on lithic industrial traditions in prehistoric Ireland, in Rowley-Conwy, P. Zvelebil, M. & Blankholm, H.P. (eds.). Mesolithic Northwest Europe: recent trends: 138–46. Sheffield: Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 1998. George Morant and the Mesolithic of Ballyhoe Lough, in Ryan, M. (ed.). Irish Antiquity: essays in memory of Joseph Raftery: 1–16. Bray: Wordwell.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. 2000. Getting back to basics: transitions to farming in Ireland and Britain, in Douglasd Price, T. (ed.). Europe’s First Farmers: 152–61. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. & Anderson, E.. 1990. The Irish later Mesolithic: a partial picture, in Vermeersch, P.M. & Van Peer, P. (ed.). Contributions to the Mesolithic in Europe: 377–89. Leuven: Leuven University Press.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. & Johnson, G.. 1996. Excavations at Bayfarm I, Carnlough, Co. Antrim, and the study of the ‘Larnian’ technology. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 96C (6): 137–235.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C., Monaghan, N. & Mccarthy, M.. 1997. The Irish Quaternary Fauna Project. Quaternary Science Review 16: 129–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodman, P.C., Anderson, E. & Finlay, N.. 1999. Excavations at Ferriter’s Cove 1983–95. Last foragers, first farmers in the Dingle Peninsula. Bray: Wordwell.Google Scholar
Woodman, P.C. & O’Shaughnessy, J.. Forthcoming. Excavations at Killuragh Cave Co Limerick, in Cleary, R. & Donnell, M. O (ed.). Unpublished Excavations, Heritage Council.Google Scholar