Sarah Kneen

BSc Geography – University of Liverpool – First Class Honours.
MSc Environment and Climate Change – University of Liverpool – Distinction.

The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition of north-west Europe: climatic change, human impact and the adoption of agriculture.

Supervisors: Jeff Blackford and Pete Ryan.

Palaeoecology of upland and lake environments; Palynology as a palaeoenvironmental proxy; Quaternary environmental change; Human-environment interactions.

The transition from Mesolithic hunter-gathering to Neolithic farming is considered one of the most significant time periods in human history.  Questions however still remain over the nature of the shift in north-west Europe, especially regarding the timing of first agriculture, the degree of overlap between the two economic systems, and the relative roles played by climatic change, natural events and human action.

To better understand the dynamics of this period, a multi-proxy palaeoecological study of three contrasting north-west European sites is underway.  The project aims to elucidate the changing nature of human impact through the later Mesolithic and earliest Neolithic (c. 6000-4000 14C BP), and investigate its relationship with climatic and ecological change. 

Palynological techniques such as pollen, charcoal and fungi analyses will be used to elucidate the degree of landscape change, ecological disturbance and anthropogenic impact through the period.  Peat humification, fungi analysis and n-alkane biomarkers will be used as proxy climate indicators at peatland sites, with chironomids and lake level indicators acting as climate indicators from lake environments.

Acquired palaeoecological data will be used to test current ideas and hypotheses regarding the changing human-environment relationship of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. These include Late Mesolithic purposive landscape modification through fire, pre-Neolithic agriculture evidenced through finds of early cereal pollen grains in Mesolithic contexts, and the idea of a long period of acculturation between Mesolithic and Neolithic societies.

Overall, the project will contribute to the wider debates of the relative roles played by prehistoric human impact and climatic change on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, and whether or not Neolithic traits were introduced as a discrete package by immigrating farming groups.