Publisher's Synopsis
This volume explores technology and communication in the early settlements of Northern Europe. The chapters discuss case studies and present overviews from the early and middle Mesolithic of Northern Europe. Special emphasis is put on the spatial and temporal transmission of knowledge and culture. The volume focuses on themes such as the transmission of specialised knowledge, the generative transmission of knowledge, the understanding of technology as somatic or incorporated culture in human society and the role of pedagogies and teaching in cultural sustainment and transformation. Other contributions discuss the relation between demography and technological developments, as well as the natural and cultural context for the transmission of culture. The understanding of the transmission of technology is closely interrelated to the nature and efficiency of social networks of contact and their social and physical framework. The volume provides new answers to one of the fundamental issues of our time - how to understand and cope with radical changes.
