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OUP_Meso Europe_Taylor Wetlands ...
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2225-02-20
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Authors
Taylor, BarryEditors
Nilsson Stutz, LivPeyroteo Stjerna, Rita
Tõrv, Mari
Affiliation
University of ChesterPublication Date
2025-02-20
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This chapter explores the economic and cultural significance of wetlands to the hunter-gatherer communities of Mesolithic Europe. It draws together the archaeological evidence for the economic activities that people undertook in these landscapes, the different forms of settlement and architecture, and the practices of ritual deposition that took place. In doing so, this chapter argues that wetlands were not just economically important environments, but were places that shaped very particular communities during the Mesolithic. Inhabiting wetlands required particular forms of technology, technical skill and knowledge that would have been learnt from childhood, honed through subsequent experience, and passed on to subsequent generations. These related not only to the variety of economic activities that people undertook, but also the ability to navigate the complex geographies of wetlands, and the ontological associations that deemed certain places appropriate for acts of deposition. These forms of skill and knowledge would have been particular to the human communities who inhabited wetlands, forming an integral part of their identity, and making them distinct from groups inhabiting other environments.Citation
Taylor, B. (2025). Wetland landscapes. In L. Nilsson Stutz, R. Peyroteo Stjerna & M. Torv (Eds.) The Oxford handbook of Mesolithic Europe (pp. 500-512). Oxford University Press.Publisher
Oxford University PressAdditional Links
https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/59635/chapter-abstract/505051332?redirectedFrom=fulltextType
Book chapterISBN
9780198853657ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198853657.013.26
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