Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T05:31:10.103Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Finding the coastal Mesolithic in southwest Britain: AMS dates and stable isotope results on human remains from Caldey Island, south Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Rick J. Schulting
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology & Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, R.Schulting@qub.ac.uk
Michael P. Richards
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, England, M.P.Richards@Bradford.ac.uk

Abstract

The implications of new evidence are presented for the generally high level of marine diet in the coastal Mesolithic populations of Wales. Within these generally high levels, some variations may point to seasonal movement. These data provide a strong contrast with the mainland terrestrial diet of early Neolithic populations in the same area.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldhouse-Green, S. 2000a. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Wales, in Lynch, G., Aldhouse-Green, S. & Davies, J.L. (ed.), Prehistoric Wales: 141. Stroud: Sutton.Google Scholar
Aldhouse-Green, S. (Ed.) 2000b. Paviland Cave and the ‘Bed Lady’: a definitive report. Bristol: Western Academic & Specialist Press.Google Scholar
Aldhouse-Green, S., Pettitt, P. & Stringer, C.. 1996. Holocene humans at Pontnewydd and Cae Gronw Caves, Antiquity 70: 444–7.Google Scholar
Ambrose, S.H. 1993. Isotope analysis of paleodiets: methodological and interpretive considerations, in Sandford, M.K. (ed.), Investigations of ancient human tissue: chemical analyses in anthropology. 59130. Langhorne (PA): Gordon & Breach.Google Scholar
Barton, R.N.E., Berridge, P.J., Walker, M.J.C. & Bevins, R.E.. 1995. Persistent places in the Mesolithic landscape: an example from the Black Mountain uplands of south Wales, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 61: 81116.Google Scholar
Bateman, J.A. 1973. Faunal remains from Ogof-yr-Ychen, Caldey Island, Nature 245: 454–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, D.G., Evans, J.G., & Williams, G.. 1991. Excavations at Stackpole Warren, Dyfed, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 56: 179245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berridge, P. & Roberts, A.. 1986. The Mesolithic period in Cornwall, Cornish Archaeology 25: 734.Google Scholar
Bjerck, H.B. 1995. The North Sea continent and the pioneer settlement of Norway, in Fischer, A. (ed.), Man and sea in the Mesolithic: 131–44. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1984. The social foundations of prehistoric Britain. New York (NY): Longman.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, A.T. 1996. More dating evidence for human remains in British caves, Antiquity 70: 950–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chisholm, B.S., Nelson, D.E. & Schwarz, H.P.. 1982. Stable isotope ratios as a measure of marine versus terrestrial protein in ancient diets, Science 216: 1131–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
David, A. 1990. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic settlement in Wales with special reference to Dyfed. Ph.D thesis, Department of Classics & Archaeology, University of Lancaster.Google Scholar
Davies, M. 1989. Recent advances in cave archaeology in southwest Wales, in Ford, T.D. (ed.), Limestone and caves of Wales: 7991. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Everton, A. & Everton, R.. 1972. Hay Wood cave burials, Mendip Hills, Somerset, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 13: 529.Google Scholar
Fischer, A. 1995. An entrance to the Mesolithic world below the ocean. Status of ten year’s work on the Danish sea floor, in Fischer, A. (ed.), Man and sea in the Mesolithic: 371–84. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Green, H.S., Bull, P.A., Campbell, E., Coles, G. & Currant, A.. 1986. Excavations at Little Hoyle (Longbury Bank), Wales in 1984, in Roe, D.A. (ed.), Studies in the Upper Palaeolithic of Britain and Northwest Europe: 99119. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. International series S296.Google Scholar
Grimes, W.F. 1933. Priory Farm Cave, Monkton, Pembrokeshire, Archaeologia Cambrensis 88: 88–100. 1951. The prehistory of Wales. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales.Google Scholar
Harkness, D.D. 1983. The extent of natural 14C deficiency int the coastal environment of the United Kingdom, PACT 8: 351–64.Google Scholar
Hedges, R.E.M., Housley, R.A., Bronk Ramsey, C. & Van Klinken, G.J.. 1993. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Dateiist 16, Archaeometry 35:147–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedges, R.E.M., Housley, R.A., Bronk Ramsey, C. & Van Klinken, G.J.. 1994. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Dateiist 18, Archaeometry 36: 337–74.Google Scholar
Hedges, R.E.M., Housley, R.A., Law, I.A. & Bronk Ramsey, C.. 1989. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: 4rcnaeomefry Dateiist 9, Archaeometry 31: 207–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedges, R.E.M., Housley, R.A., Pettitt, P.B., Bronk Ramsey, C. & Van Klinken, G.J.. 1996. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Dateiist 21, Archaeometry 38: 181207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedges, R.E.M., Pettitt, P.B., Bronk Ramsey, C. & Van Klinken, G.J.. 1997. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Dateiist 24, Archaeometry 39: 247–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobi, R.M. 1980. The Early Holocene settlement of Wales, in Taylor, J.A. (ed.), Culture and environment in prehistoric Wales: 131206. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 76.Google Scholar
Johnson, N. & David, A.. 1982. A Mesolithic site on Trevose Head and contemporary geography, Cornish Archaeology 21: 67103.Google Scholar
Kldson, C. & Heyworth, A.. 1982. Sea-level changes in south west England and Wales, Proceedings of the Geological Association 93: 91111.Google Scholar
Lacaille, A.D. & Grimes, W.F.. 1955. The prehistory of Caldey, Archaeologia Cambrensis 104: 85165.Google Scholar
Leach, A.L. 1916. Nanna’s Cave, Isle of Caldey, Archaeologia Cambrensis 71: 155–80.Google Scholar
Lewis, M.P. 1992. The prehistory of south west Wales, 75003600 BP: an interdisciplinary palaeoenvironmental and archaeological investigation. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Department of Archaeology, University of Lampeter.Google Scholar
Pedersen, L., Fischer, A. & Aaby, B. (ed.). 1997. The Danish Storebeelt since the Ice Age: man, sea and forest. Copenhagen: A/S Storebaelt Fixed Link/Kalundborg Regional Museum/National Forest and Nature Agency (Ministry of Environment and EnergyJ/National Museum of Denmark.Google Scholar
Pettitt, P. 2000. The Paviland radiocarbon dating programme, in Aldhouse-Green, (ed.): 6371.Google Scholar
Price, T.D. 1985. Affluent foragers of Mesolithic southern Scandinavia, in Price, T.D. & Brown, J.A. (ed.), Prehistoric hunter-gatherers: the emergence of cultural complexity: 341–60. New York (NY): Academic Press.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Mccormac, F.G., Moore, J., Mccormick, F. & Murrray, A.V.. 2002. Marine radiocarbon reservoir corrections for the mid- to late Holocene in the eastern subpolar North Atlantic, The Holocene 12: 129–36.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P. 1998. Palaeodietary studies of European human populations using bone stable isotopes. Unpublished D.Phil thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P. 2000. Human and faunal stable isotope analysis from Goat’s Hole and Foxhole Caves, Gower, in Aldhouse-Green, (ed.): 71–5.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P. & Hedges, R.E.M.. 1999. A Neolithic revolution? New evidence of diet in the British Neolithic, Antiquity 73: 891–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, M.P. & Mellars, P.. 1998. Stable isotopes and the seasonality of the Oronsay middens, Antiquity 72: 178–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, M.P. & Sheridan, J.A.. 2000. New AMS dates on human bone from Mesolithic Oronsay, Antiquity 74: 313–15.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, M. & Moore, K.. 1992. Stable bone isotope studies in archaeology, Journal of World Prehistory 6: 247–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulting, R.J. 1996. Antlers, bone pins and flint blades: the Mesolithic cemeteries of Téviec and Hoëdic, Brittany, Antiquity 70: 335–50.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J. 1998. Slighting the sea: the transition to farming in northwest Europe, Documenta Praehistorica 25: 203–18.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J. & Richards, M.P.. 2000. The use of stable isotopes in studies of subsistence and seasonality in the British Mesolithic, in Young, R. (ed.), Mesolithic lifeways: current research from Britain and Ireland: 5565. Leicester: University of Leicester Press.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J. & Richards, M.P.. 2001. Dating women and becoming farmers: new palaeodietary and AMS data from the Breton Mesolithic cemeteries of Téviec and Hoëdic, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 20: 314–44.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J. & Richards, M.P.. In press. The wet, the wild and the domesticated: the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition on the west coast of Scotland, European Journal of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Smith, CH. 1987. The Lizard project, landscape survey, 1978–1983, Cornish Archaeology 26: 1368.Google Scholar
Stringer, C.B. 1986. Direct dates for the fossil hominid record, in Gowlett, J.A.J. & Hedges, R.E.M. (ed.), Archaeology results from accelerator dating: 4550. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology. Monograph 11.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., Mccormac, G., Van Der Plight, J. & Spurk, M.. 1998a. INTCAL98 Radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000-0 cal bp, Radiocarbon 40: 1041–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J. & Braziunas, T.F.. 1998b. High-precision radiocarbon age calibration for terrestrial and marine samples, Radiocarbon 40: 1127–51.Google Scholar
Tauber, H. 1981. 13C evidence for dietary habits of prehistoric man in Denmark, Nature 292: 332–3.Google Scholar
Tauber, H. 1986. Analysis of stable isotopes in prehistoric populations, Mitteilungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte 7: 31–8.Google Scholar
Van Nedervelde, J. 1975. Caldey Island cave excavations 1975:. Report on file with the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.Google Scholar
Walker, E. & David, A.. In press. Wales during the Mesolithic period: some results from recent research, in Saville, A. (ed.), Mesolithic Scotland: The early Holocene prehistory of Scotland and its European context. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.Google Scholar
Walker, PL. & Deniro, M.J.. 1986. Stable nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios in bone collagen as indices of prehistoric dietary dependence on marine and terrestrial resources in southern California, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 71: 5161.Google Scholar
Whittle, A. & Wysocki, M.. 1998. Pare le Breos Cwm transepted long caim, Gower, West Glamorgan: date, contents and context. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 64:139–82.Google Scholar
Wigforss, J. 1995. West Swedish Mesolithic settlements containing faunal remains – aspects of the topography and economy, in Fischer, A. (ed.), Man and Sea in the Mesolithic: 197206. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar