The British Late Middle Palaeolithic: An Interpretative Synthesis of Neanderthal Occupation at the Northwestern Edge of the Pleistocene World |
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Authors: | Mark J White Paul B Pettitt |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK;(2) Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 4ET, UK |
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Abstract: | The British Middle Palaeolithic is divided into two discrete periods of occupation: the Early Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 9–7,
~330–180 ka BP) and the Late Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 3, ~59–36 ka BP), separated by a long hiatus. Owing to the relative
poverty of the record and historical difficulties in dating and correlating archaeological sites, the British Late Middle
Palaeolithic has, until recently, received scant attention, and has largely been regarded as the poor man of Europe, especially
by British archaeologists. Indeed, there has been more discussion of the absence of humans from Britain than of what they
did when they were present. We aim here to redress that situation. Following from recent considerations of the Early Middle
Palaeolithic (White et al. in J. Quat. Sci. 21:525–542, 2006; Scott, Becoming Neanderthal, Oxbow, Oxford, 2010), we offer an interpretative synthesis of the British Late Middle Palaeolithic, situating ‘British’ Neanderthals in their
chronological, environmental and landscape contexts. We discuss the character of the British record, and offer an account
of Neanderthal behaviour, settlement systems and technological practices at the northwestern edge of their known Upper Pleistocene
range. We also examine the relationship of the enigmatic Early Upper Palaeolithic leafpoint assemblages to Neanderthals. |
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