Magnus Andersson. Making Place in the Landscape: Early and Middle Neolithic Societies in Two West Scanian Valleys.

Magnus Andersson. Making Place in the Landscape: Early and Middle Neolithic Societies in Two West Scanian Valleys. MAGNUS ANDERSSON For the handball player with the same name, see Magnus Andersson (handball). For the football player, see Magnus Andersson (footballer). For the politician, see Magnus Andersson (politician). . Making place in the landscape: early and middleNeolithic societies in two west Scanian valleys. 270 pages, 107 b&w& colour figures, 3 tables, 1 colour plate. 2004. Lund:Riksantikvarieambetet (National Heritage Board); 91-7209-328-5 hardbackKr320. As with previous publications by the Southern ExcavationsDepartment of the Swedish National Heritage Board(Riksantikvarieambetet), including the excellent Stone Age Scan&(co-authored by Andersson), this volume demonstrates the ability ofcontract archaeology to achieve a regional prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to . In addition, theRiksantikvarieambetet's recent publications are presented inEnglish to reach an international audience. The book is based around the Neolithic discoveries from a series ofexcavations in advance of the construction of the West Coast Railwayline in Scania to the south of Malmo. However, in keeping with theresearch ethos of the Riksantikvarieambetet publications, Anderssontakes a broad landscape approach, examining the development of two rivervalleys from the end of the Mesolithic to the end of the MiddleNeolithic (c. 4000-2350 cal. BC). A wide variety of types of site wereinvestigated within the study area, including hamlets and single farmswith houses, knapping sites, wetland and dryland votive offering an offering in fulfillment of a religious vow, as of one's person or property.See also: Votive places(including human skeletal material), a long barrow A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the early Neolithic period. They are rectangular or trapezoidal earth mounds traditionally interpreted as collective tombs. , settlement burials,cemeteries (including one just for children), 'cult houses'and a palisade enclosure. Short accounts and helpful plans and photographs of these sites areincluded, but in addition there are summaries of previously excavatedsites within the study area. This is particularly useful in documentingdifferences between newly excavated sites and existing patterns ofknowledge; this is the case for the Early-Middle Neolithic votiveoffering site at the Saxtorp spring, which produced a wide range ofmaterial including animal and human bone, pottery and flintwork--a verydifferent assemblage from earlier discoveries consisting solely of flintaxes. There were also categories of site not investigated in the railwaywork, but previously excavated, such as megalithic meg��a��lith?n.A very large stone used in various prehistoric architectures or monumental styles, notably in western Europe during the second millennium b.c. tombs, still visiblein the landscape and thus avoided by the route of the railway. The second half of the volume pulls together the evidence into fourperiods, producing a theoretically well informed synthesis. A conclusionsets this within the wider Scandinavian picture. On the basis of theoverall distribution of sites, the number of sites with plausibleevidence for Mesolithic-Neolithic continuity, and the slight evidencefor agricultural activity in the Early Neolithic, Andersson concludesthat the introduction of the Neolithic was, in many ways, not a dramaticchange. In the Early Neolithic it is clear that there is substantialvariety in the size of settlements, with some large, permanentlyoccupied sites on the coast or major rivers, and short-stay specialpurpose sites elsewhere; this is a view which can be substantiatedbecause of the large scale of many of the excavations. The larger sitesalso produced burialsand votive vo��tive?adj.1. Given or dedicated in fulfillment of a vow or pledge: a votive offering.2. offerings (deposits of pottery in pits), marking them outas special places in the landscape. In the Early to Middle Neolithic period Neolithic periodor New Stone Age.The term neolithic is used, especially in archaeology and anthropology, to designate a stage of cultural evolution or technological development characterized by the use of stone tools, the existence of , settlements and votivesites increase greatly in number during a move inland. Tombs of variousforms appear along with palisade enclosures, much more obvious in thelandscape. Settlement burials cease, their place on some sites taken by'cult houses' which show evidence for the ritual destructionof pottery. Something of a return to previous patterns takes placeduring the Middle Neolithic, with a move back to the coast and a declinein votive offerings, although deposits at megalithic tombs and palisadeenclosures intensify. Finally, in the Battle Axe “Battleaxe” redirects here. For other uses, see Battleaxe (disambiguation).A battle axe (also battle-axe or battle-ax) is an axe specifically designed as a weapon. Battle axes were specialized versions of utility axes. period, economic shiftsresult in more ephemeral settlements, their central place in thelandscape being taken by the development of cemeteries. These conclusions are based on solid excavation results, old andnew; they provide a convincing narrative of this significant Neolithiclandscape, the scale of investigations providing a stronger backbone ofevidence for this account than a university-based research project couldhope to achieve. As with other Riksantikvarieambetet publications thisvolume is beautifully produced and reasonably priced and represents amodel for other national heritage organisations to follow. NICK THORPE University College Winchester, UK