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#0324
Luc Amkreutz
323
of the fifth millennium calBC (Qakirlar et al. 2020;
Kamjan et al. 2020). In a way this perhaps already
demonstrates that the area of the Low Countries was
home to different processes and that it is not pos-
sible to capture just one sequence of events. There-
fore, looking at the communities and their practices
as a whole, there is a strong element of continuity
that stretches across millennia and that points out
that new knowledge, products and practices did not
lead to any sudden or swift changes. The exciting
aspect of this rather is the way different resources
and strategies were used in and between regions,
than the composition of the food economy at cer-
tain sites (Amkreutz 2013a, 535). By reasoning from
the human / non-human relationships in a certain
environment, an idea of a community mindset or
meritalite may be identified (e. g. Descola / Palsson
1996; Whittle 2003) for these wetland inhabitants.
They should be studied as ‘total phenomena’: specific
types of socio-cultural systems that historically have
interacted in finite and comprehensible ways with
parts of the biosphere (Balee 1998, 24).
Reasoning from this perspective it is arguable
that this system which roots in the Mesolithic pre-
vails until well into the Late Neolithic in the LRA
wetlands. From this point of view a (very) long tran-
sition would be the most plausible characterisation.
This also allows us to reconsider the much used
and criticised availability system. At the base of this
should be the human-environment relationships
and the general idea that among hunter-gatherers
there is a sense of ‘a giving environment’ (cf. Bird-
David 1992a; b), where there exist equal relation-
ships between people and their environment and
where there is no particular distinction between
nature and culture. As such new elements that oc-
cur with the advent of the Neolithic may be seen
as new actors in this giving environment. Actor
Network Theory (ANT; e. g. Callon 1986; Latour
2004) offers a means to study this as new actors
in a network, which in this case could be anything
from polished axes to cows, and from migrating farm-
ers to knowledge of cultivation practices. They are
accepted in a number of stages that allow a new
actor to settle in existing structures without seri-
ously disrupting them. Drawing inspiration from
this theory the model of availability, substitution and
consolidation (cf. Zvelebil 1986) maybe replaced by
one of ‘acquaintance’, ‘attunement’ and ‘integration’
(Amkreutz 2013a, 449-450; see Fig. 8). The phase
of acquaintance would involve the existing actors
to become aware of a new element in the network,
and certain elements may be in favour or against it.
The phase of attunement would see the temporary
acceptance of a new actor in the network whereby
implementation depends on the degree to which the
new elements are disruptive. Group consensus and
the way in which the ‘identity ‘of the new actor may
be transformed are crucial here. And a final phase
would be integration in which the new actor is ac-
cepted. This phase would be characterised by the
acculturated local implementation of the new actor
and the degree of continuity in the existing socio-
cultural moral network (Amkreutz 2013a, 449-450).
As argued earlier (Amkreutz 2013a, 451) this
‘new’ model is mainly a semantic rephrasing of the
availability model, but it places a different emphasis
by not foregrounding economic aspects, but a much
wider body of novelties and elements, and by accen-
tuating not quantitative contribution, but the way
new elements are integrated in communities while
at the same time preserving their existing structures
and mentalite.
As such the model does not support the idea that
the first use of domesticates and cultigens involved
a new conception of the relationship between hu-
man beings, their environment and time (Bradley
2004, 112), and it questions the degree to which do-
mesticates and cultigens should take centre stage in
studies on neolithisation (Amkreutz 2013a, 451). It
may be much more realistic, reasoning from a hunter-
gatherer perspective, that they were less alien and
disruptive than we expect.
Conclusion
The foregoing remarks have been an exercise in view-
points. Taking inspiration from Doggerland and the
dynamic implications for its inhabitants, the aim was
to offer a new perspective on the process of neolithisa-
tion in the wetland area of the LRA. While the discus-
sion on the economic composition of sites over time
and their position in the transition to agriculture is
of distinct importance, it is argued here that it may
be more useful, or at least insightful, to adopt a dif-
ferent perspective as well. This perspective should be
grounded in the notion that there exists a long-term
and meaningful relationship between communities
and their landscape and environment. In the case of
the LRA wetlands this relationship is characterised
by environmental dynamics and by a resulting com-
munity mindset or mentalite that benefits from a flex-
ible attitude towards change and from integrating a
variety of strategies. As such it argues there is more to
be learned from studying these communities against
323
of the fifth millennium calBC (Qakirlar et al. 2020;
Kamjan et al. 2020). In a way this perhaps already
demonstrates that the area of the Low Countries was
home to different processes and that it is not pos-
sible to capture just one sequence of events. There-
fore, looking at the communities and their practices
as a whole, there is a strong element of continuity
that stretches across millennia and that points out
that new knowledge, products and practices did not
lead to any sudden or swift changes. The exciting
aspect of this rather is the way different resources
and strategies were used in and between regions,
than the composition of the food economy at cer-
tain sites (Amkreutz 2013a, 535). By reasoning from
the human / non-human relationships in a certain
environment, an idea of a community mindset or
meritalite may be identified (e. g. Descola / Palsson
1996; Whittle 2003) for these wetland inhabitants.
They should be studied as ‘total phenomena’: specific
types of socio-cultural systems that historically have
interacted in finite and comprehensible ways with
parts of the biosphere (Balee 1998, 24).
Reasoning from this perspective it is arguable
that this system which roots in the Mesolithic pre-
vails until well into the Late Neolithic in the LRA
wetlands. From this point of view a (very) long tran-
sition would be the most plausible characterisation.
This also allows us to reconsider the much used
and criticised availability system. At the base of this
should be the human-environment relationships
and the general idea that among hunter-gatherers
there is a sense of ‘a giving environment’ (cf. Bird-
David 1992a; b), where there exist equal relation-
ships between people and their environment and
where there is no particular distinction between
nature and culture. As such new elements that oc-
cur with the advent of the Neolithic may be seen
as new actors in this giving environment. Actor
Network Theory (ANT; e. g. Callon 1986; Latour
2004) offers a means to study this as new actors
in a network, which in this case could be anything
from polished axes to cows, and from migrating farm-
ers to knowledge of cultivation practices. They are
accepted in a number of stages that allow a new
actor to settle in existing structures without seri-
ously disrupting them. Drawing inspiration from
this theory the model of availability, substitution and
consolidation (cf. Zvelebil 1986) maybe replaced by
one of ‘acquaintance’, ‘attunement’ and ‘integration’
(Amkreutz 2013a, 449-450; see Fig. 8). The phase
of acquaintance would involve the existing actors
to become aware of a new element in the network,
and certain elements may be in favour or against it.
The phase of attunement would see the temporary
acceptance of a new actor in the network whereby
implementation depends on the degree to which the
new elements are disruptive. Group consensus and
the way in which the ‘identity ‘of the new actor may
be transformed are crucial here. And a final phase
would be integration in which the new actor is ac-
cepted. This phase would be characterised by the
acculturated local implementation of the new actor
and the degree of continuity in the existing socio-
cultural moral network (Amkreutz 2013a, 449-450).
As argued earlier (Amkreutz 2013a, 451) this
‘new’ model is mainly a semantic rephrasing of the
availability model, but it places a different emphasis
by not foregrounding economic aspects, but a much
wider body of novelties and elements, and by accen-
tuating not quantitative contribution, but the way
new elements are integrated in communities while
at the same time preserving their existing structures
and mentalite.
As such the model does not support the idea that
the first use of domesticates and cultigens involved
a new conception of the relationship between hu-
man beings, their environment and time (Bradley
2004, 112), and it questions the degree to which do-
mesticates and cultigens should take centre stage in
studies on neolithisation (Amkreutz 2013a, 451). It
may be much more realistic, reasoning from a hunter-
gatherer perspective, that they were less alien and
disruptive than we expect.
Conclusion
The foregoing remarks have been an exercise in view-
points. Taking inspiration from Doggerland and the
dynamic implications for its inhabitants, the aim was
to offer a new perspective on the process of neolithisa-
tion in the wetland area of the LRA. While the discus-
sion on the economic composition of sites over time
and their position in the transition to agriculture is
of distinct importance, it is argued here that it may
be more useful, or at least insightful, to adopt a dif-
ferent perspective as well. This perspective should be
grounded in the notion that there exists a long-term
and meaningful relationship between communities
and their landscape and environment. In the case of
the LRA wetlands this relationship is characterised
by environmental dynamics and by a resulting com-
munity mindset or mentalite that benefits from a flex-
ible attitude towards change and from integrating a
variety of strategies. As such it argues there is more to
be learned from studying these communities against