Christopher J. Kerns

Neolithic Lifeways: Spatial and Chronological Analysis of human engagement and the creation of communal and individual identity in Neolithic Orkney.

Supervisor: Dr. Josh Pollard

Abstract: 

This study, based on recent fieldwork and research in Orkney aims to elucidate the socio-spatial aspects of monuments, settlements and the landscape through the application of spatial analysis within relatively precise chronological models. Social practices and interactions give places and spaces meaning through a process of memory and history. Processes of creating memory and history are interwoven into individual and communal lifeways. Such lifeways structure, create and redefine social roles and identities within communities. Therefore, the intentional construction of places and architectural spaces embodies the social and cosmic ordering of space which underlies all human action.

email: cjk2g11@soton.ac.uk