Recently, Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology has been breaking boundaries worldwide. Finds such as the Mesolithic house at Howick, the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome, and the recently discovered footprints at Happisburgh all serve to indicate how archaeologists in these fields are truly at the cutting edge of understanding humanity’s past. This volume celebrates this trend by focusing on recent advances in the study of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. With contributors from a diverse range of backgrounds, it allows for a greater degree of interdisciplinary discourse than is often the case, as the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic are generally split apart. Wild Things brings together contributions from major researchers and early career specialists, detailing research taking place across the British Isles, France, Portugal, Russia, the Levant and Europe as a whole, providing a cross-section of the exciting range of research being conducted. By combining papers from both these periods, it is hoped that dialogue between practitioners of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology can be further encouraged. Topics include: the chronology of the Mid-Upper Palaeolithic of European Russia; territorial use of Alpine high altitude areas by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer; discussing the feasibility of reconstructing Neanderthal demography to examine their extinction; the funerary contexts from the Mesolithic burials at Muge; the discovery of further British Upper Palaeolithic parietal art at Cathole Cave; exploitation of both lithics and fauna in Palaeolithic France; and an analysis of Mesolithic/Neolithic trade in Europe.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• List of Contributors
• Chapter 1: Chronology of the Mid Upper Palaeolithic of European Russia: Problems and prospects
• Chapter 2: Invisible Individuals, Visible Groups: On the evidence for individuals and groups at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Caddington, Bedfordshire, UK
• Chapter 3: Alpine ‘Hunters’ from the Middle Mesolithic to Early Neolithic: A contribution to the study of lithic industries from two high altitude loci (Gerland and La Mare) in Vercors, Northern French Alps
• Chapter 4: The Phenomenon of Mesolithic Settlement within the Bohemian Paradise Area, Czech Republic
• Chapter 5: Palaeoenvironments and Prehistoric Interactions in Northern France from the Eemian Interglacial to the End of the Weichselian Middle Pleniglacial
• Chapter 6: The Feasibility of Reconstructing Neanderthal Demography as an Approach to Examining Extinction
• Chapter 7: Le Cuzoul De Gramat (Lot, France): A key sequence for the early Holocene in southwest France
• Chapter 8: Human Craniometric Variation Supports Discontinuity at the Late Glacial Maximum in Europe
• Chapter 9: Funerary Contexts: The case study of the Mesolithic shellmiddens of Muge (Portugal)
• Chapter 10: Fire as a Component of Mesolithic Funerary Rituals: Charcoal analyses from a burial in Cabeço da Amoreira (Muge, Portugal)
• Chapter 11: Animal Magic: The discovery of Upper Palaeolithic Parietal art in Cathole Cave, Gower Peninsula, South Wales
• Chapter 12: Ideology of the Hunt and the End of the Epi-Palaeolithic
• Chapter 13: Animal Exploitation Strategies in Eastern Aquitaine (France) during the Last Glacial Maximum
• Chapter 14: Locating Potential Mesolithic Fish Sites in Britain using Predictive Modelling: Applying the ‘fishing site model’ to British conditions
• Chapter 15: Foragers and Farmers in Mesolithic/Neolithic Europe, 5500–3900 cal. BC: Beyond the anthropological comfort zone