Wetland landscapes

Abstract

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.