‘What do we collect and seek to interpret?’ Fossils in Neolithic and Bronze Age Contexts in Britain and Ireland

Abstract

A PhD thesis which draws together the evidence for the occurrence of fossil objects in archaeological sites in Great Britain and Ireland during the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. The wider contexts of fossils discovered in sites of the same period in Europe and of fossils discovered in earlier periods (Palaeolithic and Mesolithic) are also discussed. This is also a re-examination and update of the work of Kenneth Oakley and as such investigates the folklore of fossils. The use of fossiliferous stone for lithics is also considered.