THE COLLECTION and DISTRIBUTION of LITHIC MATERIALS DURING the MESOLITHIC and NEOLITHIC PERIODS IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND

Summary: This paper explores the changing use of lithic raw materials between the late Mesolithic and the late Neolithic periods in three areas of England: the Weald, the south western peninsula and southern Wessex. In the Weald changes in Mesolithic technology may be related to contemporary changes in the settlement-pattern brought about by ecological factors. In the south-west and in Wessex there is some continuity in the use of particular stone sources in the Mesolithic and Neolithic, but in the latter period there may be evidence for greater social control over the use of certain quarry sites and their products. One reason for the growth of regional exchange was the difficulty of long distance movement in a sedentary agricultural economy.