The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously, especially for outside northern Europe, and for the corresponding period in the Levant and Caucasus. The Mesolithic has different time spans in different parts of Eurasia. It refers to the final period of hunter-gatherer cultures in Europe and the Middle East, between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic Revolution. In Europe it spans roughly 15,000 to 5,000 BP; in the Middle East roughly 20,000 to 10,000 BP. The term is less used of areas farther east, and not at all beyond Eurasia and North Africa.
Star Carr is a Mesolithic archaeological site in North Yorkshire, England. It is around five miles (8 km) south of Scarborough. It is generally regarded as the most important and informative Mesolithic site in Great Britain. It is as important to the Mesolithic period as Stonehenge is to the Neolithic period or Scandinavian York is to understanding Viking Age Britain.
Sir John Grahame Douglas Clark, who often published as J. G. D. Clark, was a British archaeologist who specialised in the study of Mesolithic Europe and palaeoeconomics. He spent most of his career working at the University of Cambridge, where he was appointed Disney Professor of Archaeology from 1952 to 1974 and Master of Peterhouse from 1973 to 1980.
The Vale of Pickering is a low-lying flat area of land in North Yorkshire, England. It is drained by the River Derwent. The landscape is rural with scattered villages and small market towns. It has been inhabited continuously from the Mesolithic period. The present economy is largely agricultural with light industry and tourism playing an increasing role.
Steven Mithen, is an archaeologist. He is noted for his work on the evolution of language, music and intelligence, prehistoric hunter-gatherers, and the origins of farming. He is professor of early prehistory at the University of Reading.
Events from the prehistory of Britain.
Peter Rowley-Conwy, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of Archaeology at Durham University from 2007 to 2020, having joined the university as a lecturer in 1990: he is now professor emeritus. He had previously taught and researched at Clare Hall, Cambridge and the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Sir Paul Anthony Mellars was a British archaeologist and professor of prehistory and human evolution at the University of Cambridge.
The Neolithic period in the British Isles lasted from c. 4100 to c. 2,500 BC. Constituting the final stage of the Stone Age in the region, it was preceded by the Mesolithic and followed by the Bronze Age.
Marek Zvelebil, FSA (1952–2011) was a Czech-Dutch archaeologist and prehistorian.
Dominic Powlesland, is a British landscape archaeologist based in North Yorkshire. He has contributed to the methodologies of field archaeology and landscape survey, particularly geophysics and the use of computers when recording and processing archaeological data. He is the director of the Landscape Research Centre and visiting professor at the universities of York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Vienna.
Ian Gordon Simmons is a British geographer. He retired as Professor of Geography from the University of Durham in 2001. He has made significant contributions to environmental history and prehistoric archaeology.
Clive Stephen Gamble, is a British archaeologist and anthropologist. He has been described as the "UK’s foremost archaeologist investigating our earliest ancestors."
Nicola Jane Milner is a British archaeologist and academic. She is head of the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. Her research focuses on the Mesolithic period, and the transition between the Mesolithic and Neolithic. She has worked at the iconic site of Star Carr in the Vale of Pickering for over 15 years, and has directed excavations at the site since 2004.
Peter Woodman was an Irish archaeologist specialising in the Mesolithic period in Ireland. He was a professor emeritus at University College Cork and a former keeper of the Ulster Museum.
The Star Carr Pendant is a unique engraved shale pendant from the Mesolithic site of Star Carr in North Yorkshire, England. It has been described as the oldest Mesolithic art in Britain.
Donald "Don" Henson was a British archaeologist and prehistorian, specialising in public archaeology.
A. Jennifer Price was an archaeologist and academic, specialising in the study of Roman glass. She was professor emerita in the department of archaeology at Durham University.
Roger Michael Jacobi was a British archaeologist specialising in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Britain. Known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of British prehistory, Jacobi authored several key synthetic volumes and worked to catalogue, sequence and reanalyse collections from across Britain and northwestern Europe. Sections of his extensive personal archive were posthumously published as the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Artefact (PaMELA) database. He studied archaeology at Jesus College, Cambridge, and held positions at Lancaster University, the University of Nottingham, and the British Museum.
The Star Carr Frontlets are a series of modified deer skulls, probably worn by people, from the Mesolithic site at Star Carr in North Yorkshire.
