Lithics, landscape and people : life beyond the monuments in prehistoric Guernsey
Although prehistoric megalithic monuments dominate the landscape of Guernsey, these have yielded little information concerning the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age communities who inhabited the island in a broader landscape and maritime context. For this thesis it was therefore considered timely to explore the alternative material culture resource of worked flint and stone archived in the Guernsey museum. Largely ignored in previous archaeological narratives on the island or considered as unreliable data, the argument made in this thesis is for lithics being an ideal resource that, when correctly interrogated, can inform us of past peopleâs actions in the landscape. In order to maximise the amount of obtainable data, the lithics were subjected to a wide ranging multi-method approach encompassing all stages of the chĂąine opĂ©ratoire from material acquisition to discard, along with a consideration of the landscape context from which the material was recovered. The methodology also incorporated the extensive corpus of lithic knowledge that has been built up on the adjacent French mainland, a resource largely passed over in previous Channel Island research. By employing this approach, previously unknown
Hawley, Donovan William
Lithics, landscape and people : life beyond the monuments in prehistoric Guernsey. Although prehistoric megalithic monuments dominate the landscape of Guernsey, these have yielded little information concerning the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age communities who inhabited the island in a broader landscape and maritime context. For this thesis it was therefore considered timely to explore the alternative material culture resource of worked flint and stone archived in the Guernsey museum. Largely ignored in previous archaeological narratives on the island or considered as unreliable data, the argument made in this thesis is for lithics being an ideal resource that, when correctly interrogated, can inform us of past peopleâs actions in the landscape. In order to maximise the amount of obtainable data, the lithics were subjected to a wide ranging multi-method approach encompassing all stages of the chĂąine opĂ©ratoire from material acquisition to discard, along with a consideration of the landscape context from which the material was recovered. The methodology also incorporated the extensive corpus of lithic knowledge that has been built up on the adjacent French mainland, a resource largely passed over in previous Channel Island research. By employing this approach, previously unknown
lithics landscape people life_beyond monument prehistoric although prehistoric megalithic_monument dominate landscape yield little_information concern mesolithic neolithic_early_bronze_age community_inhabit island broader landscape maritime context therefore_consider timely explore_alternative material_culture resource work flint stone archive museum largely_ignore previous archaeological narrative island consider unreliable data argument_make lithics ideal resource correctly interrogate inform past_people action landscape order maximise amount data lithics subject wide_range multi_method encompassing stage ratoire material acquisition discard along consideration landscape_context material recover also_incorporate extensive_corpus lithic knowledge build adjacent french mainland resource largely pass previous channel island research employing previously_unknown