Prof Nick Barton
Lecturer in Palaeolithic Archaeology
Institute of Archaeology
36 Beaumont St, Oxford, OX1 2PG
36 Beaumont St, Oxford, OX1 2PG
phone: 01865 278253
fax: 01865 278254
email: nick.barton@arch.ox.ac.uk
Research Interests
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology; Lithic technology; Human evolution and environmental change; British Late Upper Palaeolithic; Landscape changes and human adaptations in the Mesolithic; Artefact taphonomy and site formation processes in caves.
Primary Geographic Areas
Britain, Western Mediterranean (Iberia and Morocco)
Current grants
- 2009-2012 Leverhulme Major Award:
- ‘Cemeteries and sedentism in the epipalaeolithic of NW Africa’. Multidisciplinary investigation into the prehistoric use of caves in Morocco - Principal Investigator.
- 2008-13 NERC Consortium Award:
- RESET (Response of Humans to Abrupt Environmental Transitions). Interdisciplinary project to examine driving forces behind major shifts in recent human evolution and adaptation - Co-principal investigator.
Current projects
- Director, Morocco Caves Project (with A. Bouzouggar, INSAP, Rabat).
- The Impact of Abrupt Environmental Transitions on early modern human populations in North Africa.
- Director, Archaeology of karstic landscapes in Western Britain.
Publications
Published Books
- 2009
- , (2009), Humans, environment and chronology of the Late Glacial of the North European Plain, Römisch-Germanisches Zentral Museum, Mainz
- 2005
- , (2005), Ice Age Britain, BT Batsford, London
Contributions to Edited Books
- 2010
- , (2010), Luminescence chronology for Aterian cave sites on the Atlantic coast of Morocco: in “Garcea, E.E.A. (ed.), South-Eastern Mediterranean Peoples between 130,000 and 10,000 Years Ago”, pp 18-36, Oxbow Books, Oxford.
- , (2010), (2010), Luminescence chronology for Aterian cave sites on the Atlantic coast of Morocco: in “Garcea, E.E.A. (ed.), South-Eastern Mediterranean Peoples between 130,000 and 10,000 Years Ago”, pp 18-36, Oxbow Books, Oxford.
- 2009
- , (2009), The Lateglacial colonization of Britain: in “Hunter, J. & Ralston, I.B.M. (eds.), Archaeology of Britain”, pp 18-52, Routledge: London.
- , (2009), The Late Glacial reconsidered – recent progress and interpretations : in “Street, M., Barton, N. & Terberger, T. (eds.), Humans, environment and chronology of the Late Glacial of the North European Plain”, pp 189-207, Römisch-Germanisches Zentral Museum, Mainz.
- 2008
- , (2008), Le Mésolithique ancien en Grande-Bretagne: acquisition des matières premières et occupation du territoire: in “Fagnart, J-P., Thevenin, A., Ducrocq, T., Souffi, B. and Coudret, P. (eds.), Le début du Mésolithique en Europe du Nord-Ouest”, pp 219-230, Mémoire XLV de la Société préhistorique française.
- , (2008), Reading the unwritten history: Evans and Ancient Stone Implements : in “MacGregor, A. (ed.), Sir John Evans (1823-1908). Antiquity, Commerce and Natural Science in the Age of Darwin”, pp 95-115, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
- 2007
- , (2007), The Goldcliff Late Mesolithic assemblages: in “Bell, M. (ed), Prehistoric Coastal Communities: The Mesolithic in western Britain. CBA Research Report 149”, pp 103-117, Council for British Archaeology, York.
- , (2007), Abrupt climatic change and chronology of the Upper Palaeolithic in northern and eastern Morocco: in “Rethinking the human revolution: New behavioural & biological perspectives on the origins and dispersal of modern humans ( eds. Mellars, P., Boyle, K., Bar-Yosef,O. & Stringer, C.)”, pp 177-186, Research Monographs of the Macdonald Institute, Cambridge..
- , (2007), A brief overview of recent research into the Aterian and Upper Palaeolithic of Northern and Eastern Morocco: in “Barich, B. (Ed.), Tra il Sahara e il Mediterraneo: il Jebel Gharbi (Libia) e l’Archeologia del Maghreb”, pp 473-488, Edizioni Quasar. Scienze dell’Antichità, Storia Archeologia Antopologia 12 (2004-5).
- 2006
- , (2006), Le Paléolithique Supérieur au Maroc: apport des sites du Nord-Ouest et de l’Oriental.: in “Sanchidrián, J.-L., Márquez, A. and Fullola, J.M. (eds.) La cuenca mediterránea durante el Paleolítico Superior (38.000 – 10.000 años) IV Simposio de Prehistoria Cueva de Nerja ”, pp 138-150, Fundación Cueva de Nerja, & Málaga UISPP, Com.8, Málaga.
- 2005
- , (2005), The informative value of disturbed contexts: in “Rensink, E. & J.H.M. Peeters (eds.), Preserving the Early Past. Investigation, selection and preservation of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites and landscapes”, pp 73-76, Amersfoort, Nederlandse Archeologische Rapporten 31.
- , (2005), The Mesolithic period in England: current perspectives and new research: in “Saville, A. (ed.), Mesolithic Scotland and its Neighbours. The Early Holocene Prehistory of Scotland, its British and Irish context, and some Northern European Perspectives”, pp 339-358, Edinburgh, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,.
- 2002
- , (2002), Ensembles à pointes pédonculées du tardiglaciaire et technologies associées dans le sud de la Grande-Bretagne : in “Otte, M. and Kozlowsk, J.K. (eds.), Préhistoire de la Grande Plaine du nord de l’Europe”, pp 69-81, Liège, ERAUL 99.
- 2001
- , (2001), Britain’s Earliest Humans: in “Hall, S. & Haywood, J. (eds.), Penguin Atlas of British and Irish History”, pp 14-17, Penguin Books.
- , (2001), The British Upper Palaeolithic (1996-2001): an annotated bibliography and some comments: in “Noiret, P. (ed.), Le Paléolithique Supérieur Européen. Bilan quinquennal 1996-2001. UISPP Commission VIII. .”, pp 117-120, Liege: ERAUL 115.
- , (2001), A Lyngby point from Mildenhall, Suffolk and its implications for the British Late Upper Palaeolithic.: in “Milliken, S. & Cook, J. (eds.), A Very Remote Period Indeed. Papers on the Palaeolithic presented to Derek Roe”, pp 234-241, Oxford: Oxbow Books.
- , (2001), The Gibraltar Neanderthals and their extinction. : in “Zilhão, J., Aubry, T. and Faustino Carvalho, A., (eds.), Les premiers homes modernes de la Péninsule Ibérique. Actes du Colloque de la Commission VIII de l’UISPP”, pp 117-122, Lisboa: Intstituto Português de Arqueologia..
Journal Articles & Conference Proceedings
- 2011
- , (2011), The Epipalaeolithic (Iberomaurusian) at Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt), Morocco: A preliminary study of the land Mollusca, Quaternary International, , 1-10
- 2010
- , (2010), Regional and chronological patterns in lithic raw material behaviour during the late glacial and some implications for the British Later Upper Palaeolithic, Lithics: the Journal of the Lithic Studies Society, 31,1-11
- 2009
- , (2009), A Final Upper Palaeolithic site at Nea Farm, Somerley, Hampshire and Some Reflections on the Occupation of Britain in the Late Glacial Interstadial. Quärtar, Quartär, 56,7–35
- , (2009), OSL dating of the Aterian levels at Grotte de Dar es-Soltan I (Rabat, Morocco) and possible implications for the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens, Quaternary Science Reviews, 28,1914–31
- , (2009), A Final Upper Palaeolithic site at Nea Farm, Somerley, Hampshire (England) and some reflections on the occupation of Britain in the Lateglacial Interstadial, Quartär, 56,7-35
- , (2009), Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Paleolithic of North Africa, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 106 (38),16051-56
- , (2009), New dates and palaeo-environmental evidence for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic occupation of Higueral de Valleja Cave, southern Spain, Quaternary Science Reviews, 28,830-9
- 2008
- , (2008), Human burial evidence from Hattab II Cave (Oued Laou-Tétuoan, Morocco) and the question of continuity in Late Pleistocene-Holocene mortuary practices in Northwest Africa, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 18 (2),195-214
- , (2008), Editorial. Modern Human dispersals, environments and cultural change in the Late Pleistocene of Northwest Africa, African Archaeological Review, 25,1-2
- , (2008), Re-evaluating the age of the Iberomaurusian in Morocco, African Archaeological Review, 25,3-19
- , (2008), A humid corridor across the Sahara for the migration "Out of Africa" of early modern humans 120,000 years ago , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 105 (43),16444-47
- , (2008), Putting North Africa on the map of modern human origins, Evolutionary Anthropology, 17,5-7
- , (2008), Neanderthal exploitation of marine mammals in Gibraltar, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 105 (38),14319-24
- 2007
- , (2007), 82,000-year-old shell beads from North Africa and implications for the origins of modern human behaviour, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 104(24),9964-9
- 2005
- , (2005), The Late Upper Palaeolithic occupation of the Moroccan northwest Maghreb during the Late glacial Maximum., African Archaeological Review, 22(2),77-100
- 2003
- , (2003), The Late-glacial reoccupation of the British Isles and the Creswellian, Journal of Quaternary Science, 18 (7), 631-643
- 2001
- , (2001), Bridging the gap: new fieldwork in northern Morocco, Antiquity, 75,489-90

