Burial practices at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain> change or continuity|

The transition to the Neolithic is often seen as a time of great change: domesticated animals and grain, pottery, monuments, and polished stone tools are all introduced. In Britain, this transition is usually said to occur at 4000 BC, but in recent years, research has moved towards disentangling this ‘package’ through the use of multi-scalar approaches, and some researchers have begun to think about change in terms of human time frames in order to identify variety, messiness, and localness (Cooney 2007.543; Whittle 2003). These approaches are coupled with scientific methods with a particular emphasis on the creation of fine-grained chronologies. The use of strict sampling methods and Bayesian statistical frameworks has enabled a better understanding of the introduction of innovations, and in the case of monument building in Southern Britain, the establishment of a gradualist model. For instance, five important long barrows appear to have been constructed about 3800/3750 calBC up to a century or so before causewayed enclosures (Bayliss and Whittle 2007; Whittle 2007.382).