The Transition Between Palæolithic and Neolithic Times i.e. the Mesolithic Period

• Published in: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia
• Main Author: Burkitt, M. C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1925
• Subjects: General Medicine; Arctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0958841800025199; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0958841800025199

The problem of the transition period between Palæolithic and Neolithic times has long fascinated prehistorians. Much work has been done and a good deal more is known of this elusive era than was the case formerly, though still many things remain obscure. It is proposed here to try and sketch out what has been discovered with special reference to some of the early cultures of Northern Europe and then tentatively to apply this knowledge to our own country. The problem of the surface finds in East Anglia are very intricate and although it is not the province of this paper to concentrate on them, it is hoped that a little light may be thrown on the subject by this study and that some perhaps helpful suggestion may be made. As is well known, the difficulty that the early prehistorians had to face was the apparent catastrophic change in everything which took place at the end of Palæolithic times. Suddenly the Palæolithic industries, art and fauna cease, and their place is taken —as it then seemed—by the comparatively monotonous Neolithic industries of the so-called Western Circle with domestic animals, pottery, polished stone axes and a more or less modern fauna, showing that the climatic conditions, far from being arctic, had become reasonably genial.