Twenty years ago, Gamble’s “Palaeolithic Societies of Europe” was published, representing a landmark moment in the study of the social lives of both archaic hominins and early members of our own species, Homo sapiens. For arguably the first time, Palaeolithic populations, and the archaeological record which they generated, were analysed within an explicitly social framework interpreted in terms of the nested scales of social networks and the resultant interactions within and between individuals, groups, and regional populations. Two decades later, social approaches have become fundamental to Palaeolithic archaeology. However, the Palaeolithic archaeological record does look rather different. Not only does it now extend back in time to 3.3 million years ago, but it also incorporates at least three new hominin species (Homo floresiensis, Homo naledi, the Denisovans and possibly a fourth, Homo luzonensis), and falls increasingly under the purview of geneticists, whose research provides unique insights into hominin interactions and evolution. What has been the impact of these developments on how we conceive of Palaeolithic society, and what should be research priorities moving forward? Taking the 20th anniversary of Gamble (1999) as our impetus, we invite papers from researchers working on all aspects of Palaeolithic society, social life, and sociality, broadly defined. Papers are welcome from all Palaeolithic sub-periods, geographic regions, and theoretical perspectives. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: population connectivity and landscape use; group size, life history and demography; social organisation and economic strategies, including the role of individuals of different ages and sexes in Palaeolithic societies. Complementary perspectives from scholars working on primate archaeology or early farming societies are also welcome.
Organisers: Jenni French; UCL • Fiona Coward; Bournemouth University
14:00 | Jenni French, UCL; Fiona Coward, Bournemouth University | Introduction
14:10 | Becky Wragg Sykes, Independent scholar / Trowelblazers | Neanderthal Revolutions: radical manifestos for Palaeolithic Societies
14:25 | Gail Hitchens, University of York | Carrying on with Neanderthal mobility: a new approach to understanding group movement
14:40 | Annemieke Milks, UCL; Sheina Lew-Levy, Simon Fraser University; Noa Lavi, University of Haifa; Rachel Reckin, University of Cambridge; David Friesem, NA | Creative, influential, and daring! A review of the archaeological evidence for prehistoric hunter-gatherer children
14:55 | April Nowell, University of Victoria | Reconsidering the personhood of Gravettian infants
15:10 | Session organisers | Discussion
15:30 | - | BREAK
16:00 | Juana Maria Olives Pons, Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology; Jordi Estévez Escalera, ARESOCARE-UAB | The social regulation of reproduction among hunter-gather-gatherers: an interdisciplinary and experimental approach
16:15 | Matt Grove, University of Liverpool | An unbounded social landscape: demography, complexity, and inter-assemblage variability
16:30 | Natasha Reynolds, University of Bordeaux | Scaling up, scaling down: how to describe a heterogeneous European Upper Palaeolithic record
16:45 | Taryn Bell, University of York | Emotional baggage? Emotion, material culture and social life in the Palaeolithic
17:00 | Clive Gamble, University of Southampton | Discussion
17:30 | - | END
