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Department of Archaeology
HomeDepartment of ArchaeologyResearchHuman Evolution & PrehistoryMesolithic and Neolithic
English Heritage/Andre Pattenden

Mesolithic and Neolithic

At York we have one of the largest concentrations of Mesolithic and Neolithic expertise in the world with particular strengths in the European continent.

Our research encompasses material culture, dating and chronology, excavation of sites, adaptation to environment and resilience, diet, art and personal ornamentation, and death. 

Our group works on a number of major research projects, asking questions such as why were stone tools (artefacts often associated with utilitarian activities) so often placed with the dead in Mesolithic Europe? How did hunter-gatherers live through climate and environmental change at the start of the Holocene? How did biodiversity and ecosystems change with significant changes in lifeways, such as the transition to agriculture? Did social inequalities develop with the transition to agriculture? How did people move around their landscapes and how has this relationship with the landscape changed through time?

Research impact

Public engagement:

Educational resources:

  • Star Carr - to encourage children to develop and express their own ideas about the Mesolithic period.
  • Feeding Stonehenge - to teach primary level science whilst learning about the Stone Age.
Mesolithic House in York Museum Gardens. Photo credit: Gareth Buddo Furmoto Photography

A Mesolithic house built in York Museum Gardens in August 2024 as part of a project between the Department of Archaeology and York Museums Trust. Photo credit: Gareth Buddo Furmoto Photography

Research in practice

Our research has an impact through public and school engagement:

  • Star Carr life after the ice - exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum
  • Educational resources:
    • Star Carr - to encourage children to develop and express their own ideas about the Mesolithic period.
    • Feeding Stonehenge - to teach primary level science whilst learning about the Stone Age.
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