Luc Amkreutz (University of Leiden, Netherlands)

The wetlands and wetland margins of the Lower Rhine area form a rich and
dynamic setting for habitation during the transition to agriculture. Long and dry coastal barriers, salt marshes, brackish intertidal plains, freshwater peat swamps and upland margins create a mosaic of wetland settings that accommodated both hunter-gatherers and later on farmers. The character of the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in this delta is marked by continuity and a very gradual transition to agriculture over a span of c. three millennia (5500-2500 cal BC). During this time period there was no complete consolidation of a farming existence and hunting, gathering and mobility remained important elements of everyday life. Despite distinct (economic) change and development there is therefore also abundant evidence that the perception of life and the character of inhabitation of these environments remained relatively stable. The rich organic dataset that is available because of the beneficial preservation conditions in wetlands, provides many clues as to what ecological and palaeo-environmental factors may have shaped and formed this gradual and 'hesitant' transition, however, it is questionable to what extent the possibilities and constraints posed by the environment were the sole determinants in this process.

Adopting an essentially long-term perspective (spanning three millennia), this paper seeks to address how next to these, the social constructs of wetland communities formed an important factor in the character of occupation and Neolithisation in this region. To understand the choices that were and were not made by the inhabitants of the delta, it is important to understand how these social constructs were shaped by dwelling in wetland environments and the specific interrelated connectivity between people, places, objects and activities this brought about. This approach essentially tries to combine and integrate the palaeo-environmental and economic data with past (stable) perceptions of landscape and environment, seeking to gain an increased understanding of what it was like to become Neolithic in a wetland.