The genesis of megaliths
Monumentality, ethnicity and social complexity in Neolithic north‐west Europe
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8042702 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Sherratt (Museum of the History of Science, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1990 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 147-167 |
| Publication date | 1990-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | World Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00438243.1990.9980137 |
| OpenAlex | W2022924964 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 83 |
| References cited | 15 |
The most striking feature of the distribution of early Neolithic monuments in northern and western Europe is their occurrence in areas where Mesolithic hunting and fishing populations had already achieved considerable density and formed perhaps the predominant proportion of the first farming groups. A second element is the proximity of these areas to the fertile loess zone of central Europe, whose cultures provided a common background to the diversity of ‘megalithic’ groups which developed on its margins. Both aspects are essential to an understanding of the megalithic phenomenon. The existence of these two common elements helps to explain the remarkable degree of parallelism between local sequences on different parts of the periphery, despite the fact that these took place at significantly different times within a period of 800 years. This throws some light on recent discussions of the ‘meaning’ of megalithic monuments
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Ethnic group · Ethnology · Geography · Megalith · Mesolithic · Middle Paleolithic · Period (music · Prehistory · Western europe · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Population continuity, demic diffusion and Neolithic origins in central-southern Germany
Cairn fields and other megaliths as cultural markers in the southern Levantine deserts
A multimethod approach to the genesis of Menga, a World Heritage megalith
All different, all equal
A Newly Excavated Tumulus in the Refa’im Valley, Jerusalem
Agriculture and ritual landscape
Archaeological Theory and Scientific Practice
The Origins of the Neolithic Along the Atlantic Coast of Continental Europe
Chronological Study of Collective Burials in the Northern Iberian Plateau
Stonehenge
At the Interface of Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics
What Would a Bronze-Age World System Look Like? Relations Between Temperate Europe and the Mediterranean in Later Prehistory
O pochodzeniu pomorskich grobowców bezkomorowych kultury pucharów lejkowatych
Shepherds, cowherds and site function on middle Neolithic sites of the Rhône valley
Hopewell geometric earthworks
Dating Women and Becoming Farmers
The genesis of monuments
Lithic technology and social transformations in the South Indian Neolithic
The construction of monumental landscapes in low-density societies
Same island, different diet
Homo habitus
Testing’ and Altered States of Consciousness in Upper Palaeolithic Art Research
Settlement Planning and Urban Symbology in Syro-Anatolian Cities
A larger-scale study of the visual dominance at the Gor River megalithic landscape (Granada, Spain)
Approach to the visual landscape of the Gor river megalithic necropolises (Granada, Spain)
Defining what we study
Ethnicity, National Integrity and Monument in Argal
How Were Neolithic Ditches Filled In? Deposition Study of Two Enclosures from Bohemia
De-monumentalising perceptions of ancient architectural practices
The transition to farming in Eastern and Northern Europe
Megaliths, Types and Its Living Traditions Among the Jaintias of Meghalaya, India
Los megalitos de término. Crónica del valor territorial de los monumentos megalíticos a partir de las fuentes escritas
Territorial mobility and subsistence strategies during the Ebro Basin Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic
The evolution of talk and the emergence of complex society
Las prácticas funerarias dolménicas a través del testimonio de los monumentos de La Lora (Burgos)
The Influence of Enhanced Post-Glacial Coastal Margin Productivity on the Emergence of Complex Societies
Transformations in East-Central Europe from 6000 to 3000 BC
Monuments and monumentality
Monumental funerary landscapes of Dhar Tagant (south‐eastern Mauritania)
Practical and prestige technologies
Land-Use Conflict and the Rate of the Transition to Agricultural Economy
Fortifications and Enclosures in European Prehistory
Reflexiones acerca del surgimiento del poder y orden tempranos
Building the Lesser Caucasus Monumental Landscape during the Bronze Age
The spatial structure of Galician megalithic landscapes (NW iberia)
Engineered ‘landmarks’ associated with Late Paleolithic engraved shelters
Material Culture and Chronology of the Middle Neolithic of Western France
The Early Neolithic of Western France and Megalithic Origins in Atlantic Europe
Neolithisation and Megalithic Origins in North‐western France
Ancestors for the Tombs
Instruments of Conversion? The Role of Megaliths in the Mesolithic/Neolithic Transition in Northwest Europe 1
The West Pontic ‘Maritime Interaction Sphere’
Four middle Holocene pillar sites in West Turkana, Kenya
El sitio megalítico de La Torre-La Janera (Huelva)
Living artefact, personal ecosystem, biocultural schizophrenia
The Northern Periphery of the TRB
Neolithic Houses and Chambered Tombs of Western France
Very Like a Whale
Demographic differences between funerary caves and megalithic graves of northern S panish L ate N eolithic/Early Chalcolithic
An Archaeology of Landscapes
Mobility and Social Change
Landscape bundling of ceremonial Earthworks
Domesticating Light and Shadows in the Neolithic
Before Babel
Early monumentality in North America
Places, monuments, and landscape
The context of early megalithic architecture in eastern Africa
Residential Burial in Global Perspective
Old bones or early graves? Megalithic burial sequences in southern Sweden based on 14C datings
Mounds, Myths, and Cherokee Townhouses in Southwestern North Carolina
Understanding the Rise of Complexity at Cahokia
The Plateau Interaction Sphere and Late Prehistoric Cultural Complexity
Memory, agency, and labor mobilization in the monumental funerary landscapes of southeastern Mauritania, West Africa
The scale of social labor investments and social practices behind the construction of megalithic stele monuments in south Ethiopia
Early herders and monumental sites in eastern Africa
Situating megalithic burials in the Iron Age-Early Historic landscape of southern India
A sense of place in Irish prehistory
Past records, new views
A pattern of evolution for the Neolithic funerary structures of the west of France
New radiocarbon dates from Bougon and the chronology of French passage-graves
Antlers, bone pins and flint blades
Long Houses, Long Mounds and Neolithic Enclosures
The Archaeology of Symbols
Fin du Rubané, céramique du Limbourg et post-Rubané, Livre i and Livre ii: Le néolithique le plus ancien en Bassin Parisien et en Hainaut
The Symbolic Construction of Community
Ideology, Power and Prehistory
The Symbolic Construction of Community
Where did all the Hunters go
The laziness of the short-distance hunter
Neolithic Explanations Revisited
Earthen Long Barrows and Timber Structures
The Origin of Neolithic Culture in Northern Europe
Die Gräber der Steinzeit im Saalegebiet
New excavations at Gavrinis
Les Fouaillages and megalithic origins
Deaths and Entrances
| Unique citing works | 83 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,48 |
| Citation span | 1970 - 2026 (57) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 77 |