Time matters: chronology in the European Mesolithic

Book section : Chapter

A robust chronology is essential for providing a framework within which various technological and social aspects of Mesolithic societies can be investigated. It is also crucial in the search for potential consequences of environmental change on human societies over the millennia that constitute the European Mesolithic. This chapter reviews developments in radiocarbon dating and their impact on our ability to construct increasingly high-resolution chronologies. Some challenges are also highlighted, most notably the imprecision created by marine and freshwater reservoir effects. A series of kernel density estimation (KDE) plots on dated human remains from various western European countries are presented and discussed. While the search for finer-scale chronologies is important, it is argued that this needs to be complemented by a consideration of long-term processes acting well beyond the range of individual human lifetimes. Time operates on different scales that are relevant for different kinds of questions.

Authors: Schulting, RJ

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Host title: The Oxford Handbook of Mesolithic Europe
• Pages: 51-66
• Chapter number: 4
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Place of publication: Oxford / New York
• Publication date: 2025-02-20
• Edition: 1
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198853657.013.3
• EISBN: 9780191903878
• ISBN: 9780198853657
• Language: English
• Keywords: radiocarbon dating; Bayesian modelling; Kernel Density Estimate; reservoir effects; Mesolithic human remains
• Subtype: Chapter