DOI chapter:
Changing Worlds – The Spread of the Neolithic Way of Life in the North
DOI chapter:Amkreutz, Luc: A view from Doggerland – interpreting the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the wetlands of the Rhine-Meuse delta (5,500 – 2,500 calBC)
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0314
Luc Amkreutz
313
within the economic realm which historically has re-
ceived most attention (Amkreutz 2013a, 54). Whenever
domesticates and cultigens would take up more than
50 %, the transition to agriculture has arrived in the
consolidation phase, following availability and substitu-
tion, effectively ending this process. Although clearly
meant as a model it has two important fallacies. The
first one is the primacy of (domesticated) subsistence,
which is hampered by taphonomically induced vari-
ability (e. g. Raemaekers 1999, 13), but also offers a
mono-thetic view on the past. It argues that culturally
defined groups are economically, socially and ideo-
logically coherent, that their level of transition can
be quantified and extrapolated. The second fallacy in
relation to this is the direction of the model and the
lack of historicity and a contextual approach. Czer-
niak (1998, 30-31) already referred to the pitfalls of
universalism, rationality and progress. We are dealing
with a true mosaic of transitions (Tringham 2000,53;
Grabber/ Wengrow 2021), and our insight only grows
when we try to understand that from meaningful and
useful perspectives. In any case this would advocate us-
ing alternative theoretical perepectives that function in
a complementary manner to the economic approach.
The transition to agriculture in the
Lowlands: a complex affair
Here we focus largely on the process of neolithisation
of the indigenous communities in the Lower Rhine
Area (LRA) wetlands and their margins (Fig. 1). While
agrarian societies
semi-agrarian societies
ceramic hunter-gatherers
hunter-gatherers
Fig. 2 Spatiotemporal perspective of the Mesolithic and subsequent Neolithic cultures in the Lower Rhine Area (based on and adapted
from Louwe Kooijmans 2007; Amkreutz 2013a).
313
within the economic realm which historically has re-
ceived most attention (Amkreutz 2013a, 54). Whenever
domesticates and cultigens would take up more than
50 %, the transition to agriculture has arrived in the
consolidation phase, following availability and substitu-
tion, effectively ending this process. Although clearly
meant as a model it has two important fallacies. The
first one is the primacy of (domesticated) subsistence,
which is hampered by taphonomically induced vari-
ability (e. g. Raemaekers 1999, 13), but also offers a
mono-thetic view on the past. It argues that culturally
defined groups are economically, socially and ideo-
logically coherent, that their level of transition can
be quantified and extrapolated. The second fallacy in
relation to this is the direction of the model and the
lack of historicity and a contextual approach. Czer-
niak (1998, 30-31) already referred to the pitfalls of
universalism, rationality and progress. We are dealing
with a true mosaic of transitions (Tringham 2000,53;
Grabber/ Wengrow 2021), and our insight only grows
when we try to understand that from meaningful and
useful perspectives. In any case this would advocate us-
ing alternative theoretical perepectives that function in
a complementary manner to the economic approach.
The transition to agriculture in the
Lowlands: a complex affair
Here we focus largely on the process of neolithisation
of the indigenous communities in the Lower Rhine
Area (LRA) wetlands and their margins (Fig. 1). While
agrarian societies
semi-agrarian societies
ceramic hunter-gatherers
hunter-gatherers
Fig. 2 Spatiotemporal perspective of the Mesolithic and subsequent Neolithic cultures in the Lower Rhine Area (based on and adapted
from Louwe Kooijmans 2007; Amkreutz 2013a).