From ancestry to farming practice: understanding the Neolithic as a process in Europe
Amy Bogaard School of Archaeology, University of Oxford
Genomic studies of ancient human (and animal) populations have begun to answer the long-standing ‘whodunnit’ question relating to the Neolithisation in Europe. But the question of ‘who’ is different to that of ‘how’ (or ‘why’). In order to un-derstand how Neolithisation proceeded as a phenomenon, farming practice is central. In this talk I consider how the emerging perspective of ‘process archaeology’ – distinct from processual or post-processual archaeology – offers a useful framework for investigating Neolithisation. I frame recent case studies in the reconstruction of Neolithic farming practice in Europe to illustrate the potential of this approach.
FROM ANCESTRY TO FARMING PRACTICE: UNDERSTANDING THE NEOLITHIC AS A PROCESS IN EUROPE. pdf