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#0323
322
A view from Doggerland - interpreting the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the wetlands of the Rhine-Meuse delta
flexibility of the communities inhabiting it. A good
example of this is the fact that some sites such as
Hazendonk were used over long periods of many
centuries. Rather than abandoning these places they
assumed new roles and became persistent places
within continuing settlement systems (Amkreutz
2013b; 2013c).
Taking this into account it is perhaps good to
review the introduction of new resources within the
process of neolithisation. It appears that people were
not dominated by environmental change (Van de
Noort / O’Sullivan 2006, 25), but rather adjusted
aspects of their way-of-life without fundamental
change (Amkreutz 2013a, 429). This attunement to
a changing environment in space and time sits well
with the development of an extended broad spectrum
base as proposed by Louwe Kooijmans (1998). The
incorporation of new resources, agricultural products
and eventually practices alongside existing ones may
have offered many benefits for dealing with or buff-
ering against shortages. At the same time it appears
that these new resources at no point were really seen
as something extraordinary, and while over time
an increasing investment in crop cultivation and
husbandry will have changed the existing rhythms,
these new practices very much also became part of
a very flexible habitus. It is therefore wise to move
from the economic perspective of the extended broad
spectrum economy to a perspective that actually
investigates its operationalisation over time. This
means moving from economy to strategies including
mobility, symbiosis, interdependence, group interac-
tion and exchange within resource networks. Un-
derstanding wetland communities by studying these
integrative strategies (Amkreutz 2013a, 430) - which
cannot be detached from the wetland environment -
is more beneficial for understanding their position in
the process of neolithisation than merely focusing on
subsistence and economics (often through the lens
of faunal remains’ composition).
A long transition and a model of
attunement
It is clear that the choice between a short or long
transition towards agriculture for the LRA wetland
communities is strongly dependent upon the accents
one places with food procurement, the settlement
system and the presence or absence of indicators. It
is telling that different research groups focusing on
the same area and process argue partly in favour of
a long transition (Crombe et al. 2020, 11; Dussel-
dorp / Amkreutz 2020) and a long substitution
phase, while others placing different accents argue
for a more rapid introduction and turnover at the end
- Probing of new 'actors'
-Try-out phase (observation/
participation)
- Limited impact on existing
soc. structures
- Temporary accceptance
- Partial transformation identity new
actor
- 'Attunement' to existing cultural
rhythms
- Habitus change/alteration in affected
fields
- Potentially disruptive
- Final transformation actor
- Accepted position in network
- Formation new relations
- New equilibrium
Fig. 8 A ‘new’ availably model, focusing on ‘attunement’ and abandoning Neolithic directionality (after Amkreutz 2013a, fig. 10.2).
A view from Doggerland - interpreting the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the wetlands of the Rhine-Meuse delta
flexibility of the communities inhabiting it. A good
example of this is the fact that some sites such as
Hazendonk were used over long periods of many
centuries. Rather than abandoning these places they
assumed new roles and became persistent places
within continuing settlement systems (Amkreutz
2013b; 2013c).
Taking this into account it is perhaps good to
review the introduction of new resources within the
process of neolithisation. It appears that people were
not dominated by environmental change (Van de
Noort / O’Sullivan 2006, 25), but rather adjusted
aspects of their way-of-life without fundamental
change (Amkreutz 2013a, 429). This attunement to
a changing environment in space and time sits well
with the development of an extended broad spectrum
base as proposed by Louwe Kooijmans (1998). The
incorporation of new resources, agricultural products
and eventually practices alongside existing ones may
have offered many benefits for dealing with or buff-
ering against shortages. At the same time it appears
that these new resources at no point were really seen
as something extraordinary, and while over time
an increasing investment in crop cultivation and
husbandry will have changed the existing rhythms,
these new practices very much also became part of
a very flexible habitus. It is therefore wise to move
from the economic perspective of the extended broad
spectrum economy to a perspective that actually
investigates its operationalisation over time. This
means moving from economy to strategies including
mobility, symbiosis, interdependence, group interac-
tion and exchange within resource networks. Un-
derstanding wetland communities by studying these
integrative strategies (Amkreutz 2013a, 430) - which
cannot be detached from the wetland environment -
is more beneficial for understanding their position in
the process of neolithisation than merely focusing on
subsistence and economics (often through the lens
of faunal remains’ composition).
A long transition and a model of
attunement
It is clear that the choice between a short or long
transition towards agriculture for the LRA wetland
communities is strongly dependent upon the accents
one places with food procurement, the settlement
system and the presence or absence of indicators. It
is telling that different research groups focusing on
the same area and process argue partly in favour of
a long transition (Crombe et al. 2020, 11; Dussel-
dorp / Amkreutz 2020) and a long substitution
phase, while others placing different accents argue
for a more rapid introduction and turnover at the end
- Probing of new 'actors'
-Try-out phase (observation/
participation)
- Limited impact on existing
soc. structures
- Temporary accceptance
- Partial transformation identity new
actor
- 'Attunement' to existing cultural
rhythms
- Habitus change/alteration in affected
fields
- Potentially disruptive
- Final transformation actor
- Accepted position in network
- Formation new relations
- New equilibrium
Fig. 8 A ‘new’ availably model, focusing on ‘attunement’ and abandoning Neolithic directionality (after Amkreutz 2013a, fig. 10.2).