The Neolithisation of Britain and Ireland: the big picture

Abstract

• This contribution offers a model for the Neolithization of Britain and Ireland featuring multiple strands of immigration, from different parts of France to different parts of these islands - at differing scales and for differing reasons - over the course of several centuries from the third quarter of the 5th millennium to the first two centuries of the 4th. A critique of the 'indigenous communities as prime agents of this change' model is offered, and the importance of understanding events in these islands within a broader picture of continental developments is emphasized.