[I reckon 'temporality of occupation' / sedentism can be 'translated' as how long people stayed put on a site]
‘The Mesolithic’ and ‘the Neolithic’ have often been conceptualized as being different in terms of the temporality of occupation within each period. This paper focuses on the relationship between three main elements of the Neolithic ‘package’ – settlement, cereals and pottery – in order to understand the temporality of landscape occupation in Britain c. 5000–3000 BC. It suggests that recent debates for and against ‘mobile’ or ‘permanent’ occupation within the Neolithic have been unnecessarily polarized. Rather than trying to understand the temporality of occupation in these black and white terms, it argues that we ought to consider the degrees and qualities of sedentism in evidence at that time.
Pits in East Anglia
Pits have been increasingly discussed in recent accounts of the Neolithic in Britain. This change has arguably occurred for three main reasons: a substantial increase in the number of known sites following the introduction of developer-funded archaeology; a recognition that deposition in a variety of contexts was an important aspect of people’s lives; and renewed interest in deepning the character of ‘settlement’.
While most writers have seen them as being related to settlement occupation (e.g. Thomas 1999; Pollard 2000), they have not been treated as interpretatively equivalent to post-built structures. At times, their presence has been considered important primarily as a positive indicator of the desired but consistently absent house plans (e.g. Bradley 2007; C. Evans pers. comm.).
Generally, the more ephemeral archaeological evidence that pits alone are seen to represent has been viewed as signifying more ephemeral ‘settlement’ (e.g. Edmonds 1999, 19; Whittle 1999, 64). The association made between pits and ephemeral settlement is at least partly understandable. It is hard to view a couple of shallow scoops in the ground containing a few scraps of pottery and flint flakes as the archaeological signature of anything more than a short visit to that place.
However, a number of sites have been found, particularly in East Anglia, which signify occupation of a rather more substantial kind: at Kilverstone, 226 pits were recovered; at Hurst Fen there were at least 200; at Broom Heath there were 67; at Spong Hill there were 56 and at Barleycroft Paddocks there were 27: while one possible post-hole structure was found at Spong Hill, it was associated only with one small cluster of pits and its date remains uncertain.
The earthwork enclosure at Broom Heath appears to post-date the pits .It is very diffficult to link the number of pits on a site directly with the duration of occupation; if they had wanted to, it would have been possible for people to dig large numbers of pits very quickly, especially as most of these sites are on soft sandy soils. However, two of the material types found within these pits afford us further insight into the ‘amounts’ of occupation we are dealing with. In the following section, I will consider what the quantities of pottery found within them suggest about the temporality of occupation, before moving on to the temporal implications of their charred plant remains.
More in
Garrow, D. 2010. The temporality of materials: occupation practices in Eastern England during the 5th and 4th millennia BC.
In B. Finlayson & G. Warren (eds) Landscapes in Transition, 208-220. Oxford: Oxbow.
https://www.academia.edu/1480944/Garrow_D._2010._The_temporality_of_materials_occupation_practices_in_Eastern_England_during_the_5th_and_4th_millennia_BC._In_B._Finlayson_and_G._Warren_eds_Landscapes_in_Transition_208-220._Oxford_Oxbow
See also
Placing pits: Landscape Occupation and DepositionalPracticeDuring the Neolithic in East Anglia
https://www.academia.edu/1480941/Garrow_D._2007._Placing_pits_landscape_occupation_and_depositional_practice_during_the_Neolithic_in_East_Anglia._Proceedings_of_the_Prehistoric_Society_73_1-24
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road