Neolithic of Britain and Ireland

Vicki Cummings is a Reader in Archaeology at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, where she has worked since 2004. She specialises in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Britain and Ireland, with a particular focus on the transition period, monuments and landscape. She has a broader interest in hunting and gathering populations and stone tools. She has excavated a series of Neolithic monuments including Clyde cairns, Bargrennan monuments and dolmens.

• AcknowledgementsList of figuresChapter one: Introducing the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland Chapter two: Island life: Britain and Ireland in the late MesolithicChapter three: All change? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain and Ireland and its north-west European background Chapter four: A brave new world: life in the early Neolithic of Britain and IrelandChapter five: Of earth, bone, timber and stone: mortuary practice and monumentality in the early Neolithic of Britain and IrelandChapter six: Circles and lines: the middle Neolithic of Britain and IrelandChapter seven: Lines and landscapes of descent: life in the late Neolithic of Britain and IrelandChapter eight: Constructing theatres in the round: mortuary practice and monumentality in late Neolithic of Britain and IrelandChapter nine: Beakers, copper and bronze: life and death at the end of the Neolithic and into the early Bronze AgeChapter ten: The Neolithic of Britain and Ireland: a summary and future directionsIndex

Vicki Cummings here offers us a clearly structured narrative of the British and Irish Mesolithic and Neolithic that will be invaluable for the student, the general reader, or indeed the specialist seeking to keep up with the latest developments in this rapidly moving field. The well-known sites and monuments of Wessex and Orkney are amply described, but that is balanced by attention to other regions that have sometimes been neglected when considering British prehistory in its fullest geographical extent.- Professor Chris Scarre, Durham University, UKCummings’ take on the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic presents a clear introduction to the non-specialist and expert reader alike, providing a concise summary and overview of key places and excavation results, whilst touching on the major questions that permeate the on-going and dynamic nature of research. Evidence is presented, arguments drawn and conclusions authoritatively structured. Cummings’ book will, I have no doubt, become an invaluable textbook for the expert, teacher, researcher, student and general interest reader.-Miles Russell, Bournemouth University, UK