People, Ritual and Death: Life in Early Prehistoric Europe

This course focuses on a critical understanding of daily life in Europe during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. c. 10 000 BC to c. 2000 BC. The course introduces evidence from various parts of the European continent to create a context for the understanding of people?s lives in early prehistoric Ireland. One aspect of the course is to understand the reasons for the varied subsistence patterns, their development and change in different parts of Europe. Another central aspect is to critically examine the role of ritual in people?s daily life and its material expression in the treatment of the dead. The societal meaning and function of large scale monument-building that develops in the Neolithic forms another important part of the course. A theme running through the course is the focus on the interplay between social, ritual and subsistence aspects of life within people?s daily routine. The course is structured thematically illustrating the above aspects by using case studies from a wide range of chronological and geographical contexts within Europe.