This volume summarises 30 years of fieldwork in Denmark, some of the evidence for the spread of agriculture and the Neolithic into Scandinavia and some opinions about the origins of agriculture. It is intended to be both academic and personal and to describe the actual process of research, because most projects involve elements of both. There is an introduction to each chapter that relates some of the more personal aspects of the research and the bulk of each chapter will be a more technical scientific report on our investigations. Each chapter will deal with one of the components of the project — survey, testing and excavations. We excavated eight sites from the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic that are discussed in this volume. The concluding chapter summarises our research in the area and proffers opinions on a variety of archaeological subjects, with visits to climate change, seasonality and sedentism, hunter-gatherer complexity, aDNA, inequality and the origins and spread of agriculture.

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Foreword, by Lisbeth Pedersen
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Setting the table – an introduction
  • The Danish past
  • History of archaeological research
  • Monumental tombs
  • An introduction to the region
  • Organization of this book
• 2. Archaeological survey
  • Survey of the Saltbæk Vig Drainage, Western Sjælland
  • The research area
  • The archaeological survey
  • The results of the survey
  • Analysis of data and maps
  • Conclusions
• 3. Site testing
  • 1. TMMbdr (aka Lindebjerg)
  • 2. TMMbfb (aka Kåstrup Holme)
  • 3. TMMbfe
  • 4. TMMbdv (aka Saltmade, Viggo’s site)
  • 5. TMMbfh (aka Mollie’s Site)
  • 6. TMMbfs
  • 7. BREbbd: Engelsborg (aka the Midwife Site)
  • 8. RAKbdl (aka Birkhøj)
  • 9. RAKbay
  • 10. RAKbbn
  • 11. RAKbdg (aka Vildsvinepladsen)
  • 12. RAKbba (aka Illerup Sand)
  • 13. VISbao (aka Smakkerup Huse)
  • Summary
• 4. Smakkerup Huse
  • Introduction
  • Excavations at Smakkerup Huse
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
• 5. Excavations at Trustrup
  • Introduction
  • Testing at Gravhøjsmarken
  • Excavations at Trustrup
  • Conclusions
• 6. Dragsholm and Bøgebjerg
  • Introduction
  • Excavations at Dragsholm
  • Excavations at Bøgebjerg
• 7. Fårevejle Kro
  • Introduction
  • Excavations at Fårevejle Kro
  • Results of excavations
  • Radiocarbon dating
  • Conclusions
• 8. Asnæs Havnemark
  • Introduction
  • Excavations at Asnæs Havnemark
  • Interpretation
  • Conclusions
• 9. Conclusions
  • Góbekli Tepe
  • Climate change
  • A map of cropland
  • Origins of Agriculture Conference
  • Isotopes and teeth
  • Seasonality and sedentism
  • Ancient DNA
  • Some answers
  • The end
• Bibliography