Revisiting Grooved Ware

Understanding Ceramic Trajectories in Britain and Ireland, 3200–2400 cal BC

Mike Copper, Alasdair Whittle, Alison Sheridan, Mike Copper, Alasdair Whittle, Alison Sheridan

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN:
  9798888570333
• Topic: Sciences sociales
• Subtopic: Histoire de la Grande-Bretagne

Following its appearance, arguably in Orkney in the 32nd century cal BC, Grooved Ware soon became widespread across Britain and Ireland, seemingly replacing earlier pottery styles and being deposited in contexts as varied as simple pits, passage tombs, ceremonial timber circles and henge monuments. As a result, Grooved Ware lies at the heart of many ongoing debates concerning social and economic developments at the end of the 4th and during the first half of the 3rd millennia cal BC. Stemming from the 2022 Neolithic Studies Group autumn conference, and following on from Cleal and MacSween's 1999 NSG volume on Grooved Ware, this book presents a series of papers from researchers specializing in Grooved Ware pottery and the British and Irish Neolithic, offering both regional and thematic perspectives on this important ceramic tradition. Chapters cover the development of Grooved Ware in Orkney as well as the timing and nature of its appearance, development, and subsequent demise in different regions of Britain and Ireland. In addition, thematic papers consider what Grooved Ware can contribute to understandings of inter-regional interactions during the earlier 3rd millennium cal BC, the possible meaning of Grooved Ware's decorative motifs, and the thorny issue of the validity and significance of the various Grooved Ware sub-styles. The book will be of great value not only to archaeologists and students with a specific interest in Grooved Ware pottery but also to those with a more general interest in the development of the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Foreword
• Contents
• List of contributors
• 1. Introduction: connected Grooved Ware worlds
• 2. Grooved Ware in Orkney
• 3. Skara Brae: the significance of the Grooved Ware assemblages
• 4. Scottish Grooved Ware beyond Orkney
• 5. Grooved Ware in northern England since 2000
• 6. Grooved Ware in Wales
• 7. Land of milk and honey? Grooved Ware use in Neolithic Wales
• 8. Grooved Ware in Ireland
• 9. Niche bunching and the Inland Sea: Grooved Ware settlement at Over, Cambridgeshire, and River Great Ouse distributions
• 10. The only way isn’t Essex, but it may be one of them …: Grooved Ware, Beakers and long-distance connections in southern Britain
• 11. Between Essex and Wessex: a review of Grooved Ware from the Upper and Middle Thames Valley
• 12. Recent Grooved Ware discoveries from Bulford and other sites in southern Wiltshire
• 13. Grooved Ware in south-east England: social geographies, chronology and interpretation
• 14. Grooved Ware in the south-west peninsula
• 15. Comments on Grooved Ware from a bemused sceptic: questions of classification and terminology, dating and interpretation
• 16. Grooved Ware in Britain and Ireland, 2023: retrospect and prospect