Abstract: Genetic diversity in Europe has been interpreted as a reflection of phenomena occurring during the Paleolithic (∼45,000 years before the present [BP]), Mesolithic (∼18,000 years BP), and Neolithic (∼10,000 years BP) periods. A crucial role of the Neolithic demographic transition is supported by the analysis of most nuclear loci, but the interpretation of mtDNA evidence is controversial. More than 2,600 sequences of the first hypervariable mitochondrial control region were analyzed for geographic patterns in samples from Europe, the Near East, and the Caucasus. Two autocorrelation statistics were used, one based on allele-frequency differences between samples and the other based on both sequence and frequency differences between alleles. In the global analysis, limited geographic patterning was observed, which could largely be attributed to a marked difference between the Saami and all other populations. The distribution of the zones of highest mitochondrial variation (genetic boundaries) confirmed that the Saami are sharply differentiated from an otherwise rather homogeneous set of European samples. However, an area of significant clinal variation was identified around the Mediterranean Sea (and not in the north), even though the differences between northern and southern populations were insignificant. Both a Paleolithic expansion and the Neolithic demic diffusion of farmers could have determined a longitudinal cline of mtDNA diversity. However, additional phenomena must be considered in both models, to account both for the north-south differences and for the greater geographic scope of clinal patterns at nuclear loci. Conversely, two predicted consequences of models of Mesolithic reexpansion from glacial refugia were not observed in the present study.

Abstract: OPSOMMING The Late Pleistocene, Middle Stone Age artefact sequence at the Klasies River main site, was studied to establish what information this held for inferences on the emergence of symbolic thought and communication. The approach adopted was to complement traditional typological analysis by a technological study of artefact production within the framework of the chafne opératoire. The results show that technology was aimed at producing preformed blanks. In the choice of materials, the technique and method of blank production and the retouch of blanks, arbitrary or stylistic choices were made. Changes in stylistic conventions can be documented through the sequence. Changing conventions in artefact production show that the lives of the people who made the artefacts were structured in a symbolic web. These results together with evidence from evolutionary biology, show that by at least 115 000 years ago, people were able to think and speak symbolically. This African archaeological evidence for the emergence of symbolism, a defining attribute of modem peoples, is much older than previously considered.

Abstract: The transition from a nomadic, hunting existence to one of farming, with the domestication of plants and animals, is generally taken as defining the beginning of settled lifestyles that culminated in complex civilisations. Such a period, before the use of metal, is known as the Neolithic period and in China it began about 7000BC. In northwest China the principal crop was millet and in the southeast and south it was rice. The pig was the main domestic animal, taking the place of the goat or sheep of the Middle East.

Abstract: The spread of agriculture that started in the Near East about 10 000 years ago caused a dramatic change in the European archaeological record. It is still unclear if that change was caused mostly by movement of people or by cultural transformations. In particular, there is disagreement on what proportion of the current European gene pool is derived either from the pre-agricultural, paleolithic and mesolithic people, or from neolithic farmers immigrating from the south-east. To begin to characterise the mtDNA gene pool of prehistoric Europe we examined five human remains from the Eastern Italian Alps, dated between 14 000 and 3000 years ago. Three of them yielded sufficient amount of mtDNA for analysis. DNA extracts were prepared in two independent laboratories, and PCR products from the first hypervariable segment of the mtDNA control region were cloned and sequenced. Together with the 5200 year old ‘ice man’, these DNA sequences show that European mtDNA diversity was already high at the beginning of the neolithic period. All the neolithic sequences have been observed in contemporary Europeans, suggesting genealogical continuity between the neolithic and present-day European mtDNA gene pool. The mtDNA sequence from a 14 000 year-old specimen was not observed in any contemporary Europeans, raising the possibility of a lack of continuity between the mesolithic and present-day European gene pools.

Abstract: The results of stable carbon and nitrogen-isotope analyses of human bone collagen from the Iron Gates sites of Lepenski Vir, Vlasac and Schela Cladovei are reconsidered in the light of recent developments in stable isotope palaeodietary research and new information on chronology. The revised data have implications for the interpretation of Lepenski Vir and Vlasac, and the timing of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Iron Gates.

Abstract: Thirteen papers providing a comprehensive review of Jordanian prehistory, from the Lower Paleolithic to the Late Neolithic. Many come from recently completed research projects, prior to their final publication: The Lower Paleolithic ( Corraine Copeland ); The Middle Paleolithic ( Donald O. Henry ); The Early and Middle Epipaleolithic ( Brian F. Byrd ); The Natfian ( Jonathan R. Sellars ); The Aceramic Neolithic ( Gary O. Rollefson ); The Late Neolithic ( Zeidan Kafafi ); The Azraq Basin 24,000-7,000BP ( Andrew N. Garrard ); Northeastern Badia ( Alison V. G. Betts ); A view from the west ( Ofer Bar-Yosef ); The Arabian Peninsula ( Juris Zarius ); The Paleolithic and Neolithic of Syria ( Yoshihiro Nishiaki ).

Abstract: Archaeobotanical analyses carried out in Mesolithic and Neolithic contexts from Basque caves show that hazelnuts, acorns and Pomoideae fruits are the wild plant foods more frequently preserved. The visibi- lity of these products is related to the physical properties of the tissues they are formed with and also to the prac- tices related to their consumption, processing and discarding. Archaeological and environmental information shows that during the Mesolithic and the Neolithic wild plant foods might have been intensively gathered. Howe- ver, the data are still very limited in order to assess adequately their real importance in human diet.

Abstract: .- Archaeobotanical analyses carried out in Mesolithic and Neolithic contexts from Basque caves show that hazelnuts, acorns and Pomoideae fruits are the wild plant foods more frequently preserved. The visibi lity of these products is related to the physical properties of the tissues they are formed with and also to the prac tices related to their consumption, processing and discarding. Archaeological and environmental information shows that during the Mesolithic and the Neolithic wild plant foods might have been intensively gathered. Howe ver, the data are still very limited in order to assess adequately their real importance in human diet.

Abstract: Focusing on evidence from northern England, this book addresses the idea of gradual population increase and related concepts of Mesolithic settlements. Critically assessed are both the nature of the archaeological and environmental evidence for Mesolithic adaptations. A possible different approach is suggested, which acknowledges the importance of ecological changes in a large scale model of changing vegetation, but attempting to avoid static and deterministic interpretations.

Abstract: A submerged landscape containing worked flint tools has been found at − 11 m OD in the western Solent. This paper reviews coastal sites in northern Europe and suggests that many similar sites should exist around the coast of southern England; as a result of isostatic shifts and eustatic fluctuations many coastal sites of the Mesolithic will now be submerged. A need has been identified to locate, protect and record submerged sites before they are lost to erosion or development, for which outline proposals are suggested.

Abstract: This paper deals first with calibration of the radiocarbon time-scale, climate, sea-level rising, palaeogeography, bio-, litho- and chronostratigraphy during the Neolithic in the Netherlands. The differences between chronology based on calibrated radiocarbon ages and dendrochronology are also dealt with. Calibration of radiocarbon dates results in a too high chronology compared with dendrodates, unless selection on samples with negligibie own age (like grain or animal bone) has taken place. This is demonstrated for the Michelsberg Culture. The conclusion is that archaeologists should either work with conventional radiocarbon dates in a chronological framework purely based on uncalibrated results with chronological periods that tend to overlap, or with dendrodates and calibrated radiocarbon ages based on carefully selected shortlived samples. Statistical procedures for processing radiocarbon dates are not recommended, because they omit to take the problems of 'own age' of radiocarbon samples in account. Next, the developments during the Neolithic in the Netherlands and adjacent areas are described. Where possible, arguments for an absolute chronology are given. Finally, the radiocarbon dates for the Neolithic are listed.

Abstract: The research presented here aims at discerning possible interactions between Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of the iron Gates Gorge (Serbia-Romania) and the surrounding Neolithic farmers during the 7th and the 6th milleniums BC In order to examine the interaction of communities with different modes of subsistence (foraging and farming respectively), the nonmetric anatomical variants of the skull and postcranial skeletons were examined on the sites with the largest number of individuals buried Another set of analyses, aimed at discerning environmental (occupation/nutrition) changes that could have affected the population in transition was performed on metric variables of postcranial skeleton The combination of these two sets of analyses argues for local continuity within the region, with high degree of initial heterogeneity, and temporal ordering as the most likely explanation for the pattern of change

Abstract: The paper presents the results of the archaeological investigation in the Mesolithic layers at Riparo Gaban, in the Conca of Trento, northem Italy. Riparo Gaban is a small rock-shelter multilayer site, presenting part of a local cultural sequence: Sauveterrian-Castelnovian-Early Neolithic. Similar sites are known from Romagnano III and Pradestel. PAROLE CRIAVE: Mesolitico, Industrie litiche, Faune, Livelli, Riparo Gaban

Abstract: Continuing our focus on the Hebridean Mesolithic, this paper describes new dating on the human bone from Oronsay, showing that late Mesolithic occupation may coincide with the coming of the Neolithic.

Abstract: This article suggests that the rare motif on Breton menhirs often interpreted as an axe (of ‘Mane Rutual’ type) or an axe-plough, could be the representation of a whale, and that if so, this might be a mythic creature. The character of myth and narrative is considered. It is mooted that Late Mesolithic people or their immediate descendants could have been responsible for the erection of such menhirs. The juxtaposition of the suggested whale motif with versions of animals with curved horns on the broken menhir of La Table des Marchand and Gavrinis raises the possibility of alternative or competing myths and creation stories. Other representations of natural creatures in the Mesolithic and Neolithic in Europe are briefly noted, and the possible importance of myth in the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition of northwest Europe is discussed.

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the strategies used by early Mesolithic people as they moved into the karstic uplands of north-eastern Istria, Croatia. These strategies are inferred from detailed analyses of the lithic and faunal assemblages from Sebrn, a small upland rock-shelter occupied for a relatively short period of time in the early Holocene. We conclude that Sebrn's lithic assemblages are in technology and typology relatively homogeneous and can be treated as a single unit (related to the Sauveterrian and Epigravettian, sensu lato). The faunal remains, in contrast, reveal a dynamic situation of temporal changes in the scope and focus of activities on site. Drawing on several lines of evidence from the lithic and faunal assemblages, we suggest that the initial use of the site was intermittent and people who pursued a generalized subsistence strategy visited it. With the passage of time and as people learned about upland environments, they turned to a specialized procurement of red deer. Sebrn bec...

Abstract: The Milfield Basin Archaeological Landscape Project was initiated in 1993 and became the major focus of Clive Waddington's PhD research. This volume publishes that thesis, discussing the interaction of human populations and their sites with the landscape as a whole. The project design and research objectives are outlined and succeded by a short history of work in the area of the Milfield Basin, the methodologies of the project's research, and the results of their studies on a local and more general basis.

Abstract: The study of the structural organisation of sites, and socio-economic inferences that can be made from it, has been popular in Palaeolithic archaeology. Naeroy outlines a methodological framework to analyse the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Norway which has often been considered as having yielded only a poor collection of materials during this time period despite obvious changes occuring as a consequence of a more settled life-style.

Abstract: The Lough Swilly Archaeological Survey Project took place in 1995 in the far north-west corner of Northern Ireland. Its principal aim was to test for cultural continuity across the transition from foraging to farming, i.e. from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic. Michael Kimball explains the background, methodology and aims of the project, the survey's finds and what they infer about the nature of human behaviour, settlement, the use and procurement of raw materials and the economy as a whole during this transition. The results of the LSAS Project highlight clear discontinuities in the study region, a finding that conflicts with research carried out in other areas of Ireland.

Abstract: Recent revision of the radiocarbon calibration curve for the early Holocene has implications for the ‘absolute’ date of Mesolithic sites such as Star Carr, and for their relationship to the timescale of early Holocene environmental change.