In recent years research in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic has been breaking boundaries worldwide, including pushing back the earliest dates for the human occupation of Britain, the identification of a new species of hominin, cracking the Neanderthal genome and discovering the UK’s earliest Mesolithic house. This volume, the culmination of a highly successful conference, aims to celebrate this trend with papers presenting a plethora of new research from a variety of geographical and methodological perspectives.
In March 2012, Durham University played host to the first Where the Wild Things Are conference, a symposium designed to provide an international forum that allowed the latest in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic research to be presented and discussed. It attracted over 120 delegates from some eighteen countries and allowed a wide range of researchers within the fields of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology to present over fifty papers, demonstrating the breadth of new and innovative advances in the analysis and understanding of these periods. The mixture of contributors from a diverse range of backgrounds allowed for a greater degree of interdisciplinary discourse that is not often seen at similar conferences, where the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic are generally split apart.
The papers within this volume bring the ideas and interpretations set forth at the Wild Things conference to the wider archaeological audience. Collecting contributions from archaeologists conducting research within the British Isles, France, Portugal, Denmark, Russia, the Levant and Europe as a whole, this volume aims to present a cross-section of the exciting range of research currently being conducted to improve our understanding of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. By combining papers that discuss these two periods together, it is hoped that further dialogue between practitioners of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic research can be encouraged.
While this volume is the product of the individual contributors themselves, it would not have been possible if not for the hard work and dedication of a select few individuals. Chief amongst them are my coeditors, who worked tirelessly to coordinate, promote and, ultimately, host such a successful event, especially Helen Drinkall and Angela Perri, who acted as the principal organisers. In addition, they have helped greatly in providing corrections and commentary on the papers that appear here. As a team, we would also like to thank Peter Rowley-Conwy, Mark White, Paul Pettit, and Matt Pope for agreeing to chair themed sessions, and all those who agreed to provide peer-review support.
Finally, Where The Wild Things Are continues to thrive, seeing a second conference event in January 2014 that saw a similar number of delegates in attendance and over thirty papers that continued to expound upon the constantly evolving research within Palaeolithic and Mesolithic studies. Hopefully, we shall see these symposia go from strength to strength, allowing for an interdisciplinary sounding board that will help researchers at all levels advance and disseminate their work.
Frederick F. W. Foulds
January 2014