Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic: Landscapes, Monuments and Memory

Rating:
Summary: A pleasure to read
Review: 'Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic: Landscape, Monuments and Memory' (AGN) is a useful and thought-provoking work that brings together the experience and imagination of an archaeologist of the Neolithic. Mark Edmonds uses short fictional pieces to bring to life his knowledge and understanding of Neolithic Britain: the result is very interesting and useful.

One of the problems with studying the prehistoric is the dry and exceedingly complicated research papers and books. It is impossible for me to understand a period in time without some sort of mental image of real people living in that period. So often writers forget that while *they* have such an understanding, their readers do not. Edmonds addresses the needs of both Neolithic newbie and Neolithic expert in his book by taking the Neolithic and using short fictional pieces to try and bring the objects and places to life. He does so carefully, and it is clear to me that his synthesis of the material has made me understand his argument far more clearly than other methods. The material gains coherence and reality, and it underlines part of his thesis about the nature of 'ritual' and 'mundane' space.

In addition, Edmonds' writing has a remarkable clarity. Often in archaeology, I find myself wading through practically incomprehensible paragraphs. Despite the intimidating title, AGN did not sacrifice plain argument for technical expertise. It was a pleasure to work through AGN's complex theses without first having to struggle through paragraph-long sentences using deliberately specialized terminology.

I am not a specialist in the Neolithic. Others may take umbrage at Edmonds' use of 'created reality' to present his material. I think that the format he chose (short piece followed by argument and presentation of material) is useful because it clearly expresses his assumptions. Anyone who claims to understand a particular society or set of societies and claims not to have imagined those worlds in their heads is fooling herself - or is not the proper person for the job. Part of how we explore and grasp the remains of the past is to imagine, and I really appreciate how AGN brings this process forward. Edmonds makes deliberate use of fiction to reconstruct the past, taking what has been a 'behind the scenes' process and laying it out before the reader.