Christopher Prescott, University of oslo

The transition to the Nordic Late Neolithic around 2400 BC represents a massive transformation of virtually all aspects of society and culture in southerly Norway. At this time there was i.a., a rapid consolidation of agro-pastoralism and farms. This has encouraged an interpretative perspective that can be summed up as “evolutionary Neolithic”. Much evidence, however, suggests an alternative; that developments were part of a broad set of events in North-western Europe related to the Bell Beaker phenomenon. In this perspective agro-pastoral production is important, but other features such as maritime mobility and concepts associated with metallurgy were also central to the historical trajectory. The presentation will outline facets of the above scenario, and present elements of a recent research proposal.