Download or read book Mesolithic Europe written by Geoff Bailey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-06-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the archaeology of the hunter-gatherer societies that inhabited Europe in the millennia between the Last Ice Age and the spread of agriculture, between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago. Traditionally viewed as a period of cultural stagnation, new data now demonstrate that this was a period of radical change and innovation. This was the period that witnessed the colonization of extensive new territory at high latitudes and high altitudes following postglacial climatic change, the development of seafaring, and the synthesis of the technological, economic, and social capabilities that underpinned the later development of agricultural and urban societies.