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phone: 01865 278309
fax: 01865 278254
email: rick.schulting@arch.ox.ac.uk
Mesolithic and Neolithic of Western Europe, complex hunter-gatherers, transition to agriculture, mortuary analysis, stable isotope analysis and dietary reconstruction, skeletal evidence of interpersonal violence.
I have had a long-standing interest in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Western Europe, both in themselves, and in terms of the transition to farming. Recent and ongoing research is focussed on improving our understanding of chronology, through the use of AMS 14C dating, and of palaeodiet, through the use of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. Another current research strand involves a re-assessment of extant Neolithic skeletal collections from various regions of western Europe, from the point of view of evidence for interpersonal violence.
Most recently, I have extended my interests to Eurasian steppe pastoralists, and to the hunter-gatherers of Siberia and northern Japan, as a member of the Baikal-Hokkaido Archaeological Project (http://bhap.arts.ualberta.ca/).
An edited volume titled 'Sticks, Stones & Broken Bones: Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective' (OUP), published in 2012, presents overviews of violent injuries on skeletons from various regions of Europe.
Co-Investigator - Cultivating Societies: assessing the evidence for agriculture in Neolithic Ireland: http://www.chrono.qub.ac.uk/instar
Forthcoming
Schulting, R.J. in press. War without warriors? The nature of interpersonal conflict before the emergence of formalised warrior élites, The Archaeology of Violence: An Integrated Approach to the Study of Violence and Conflict. Albany: SUNY Press.
Schulting, R.J. in press. Hunter-gatherer diet, subsistence and foodways. In: V. Cummings, P. Jordan and M. Zvelebil (eds.), Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter‐Gatherers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schulting, R.J., Bronk Ramsey, C., Reimer, P.J., Eogan, G., Cleary, K., Cooney, G., and Sheridan, A. forthcoming. Dating the human remains from Knowth. In: G. Eogan and K. Cleary (eds.), Excavations at Knowth 6: The Archaeology of the Large Passage Tomb at Knowth, Co. Meath. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.
Schulting, R.J., Fibiger, L. (eds.), forthcoming. Sticks, Stone and Broken Bones: Skeletal Evidence for Interpersonal Violence in Neolithic Europe. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Schulting, R.J. and Richards, M. forthcoming. Stable isotope analysis of Neolithic to Late Bronze Age populations in the Samara Valley. In: D. Anthony, D. Brown, A. Khoklov, P. Kuznetsov and O. Mochalov (eds.), Bronze Age Pastoralism in the Middle Volga Steppes. Volume 1. The Evolution of Eurasian Pastoralism in the Bronze Age: Ecology and Demographics in the Middle Volga Region.
2011
Armit, I., Schulting, R., Knüsel, C., Shepherd, I., 2011. Death, Decapitation and Display? The Bronze and Iron Age Human Remains from the Sculptor’s Cave, Covesea, NE Scotland, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 77: 251-278.
Meiklejohn, C., Chamberlain, A.T., and Schulting, R.J. 2011. Radiocarbon dating of Mesolithic human remains in Great Britain. Mesolithic Miscellany 21: 20-58.
Schulting, R.J. 2011. The radiocarbon dates from Tullahedy. In: R.M. Cleary and H. Kelleher (eds.), Excavations at Tullahedy, Co. Tipperary, Neolithic Settlement in North Munster: pp. 145-161. Cork: The Collins Press.
Schulting, R.J. 2011. Mesolithic-Neolithic transitions: an isotopic tour through Europe. In: R. Pinhasi and J. Stock (eds.), The Bioarchaeology of the Transition to Agriculture, 17-41. New York: Wiley-Liss.
2010
Arias, P., and Schulting, R.J. 2010. Análisis de isótopes estables sobre los restos humanos de la Braña-Arintero. Aproximacíon a la dieta de los grupos Mesolíticos de la Cordillera Cantábrica. In: J.M. Vidal Encinas and M.E. Prada Marcos (eds.), Los Hombres Mesolíticos de la Cueva de La Braña-Arintero (Valdelugueros, León): pp. 130-137. León: Museo de León, Estudios y Catálogos 18, Junta de Castilla y León.
Schulting, R.J. 2010. Holocene environmental change and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in northwest Europe: revisiting two models. Environmental Archaeology 15: 160-172.
Schulting, R.J. 2010. Staying home for dinner: an isotopic approach to regionality in Mesolithic Atlantic Europe. In: R. Barndon, A. Engevik and I. Øye (eds.), The Archaeology of Regional Technologies: Case Studies from the Palaeolithic to the Age of the Vikings: pp. 69-88. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press.
Schulting, R.J., Gardiner, P., Hawkes, C., and Murray, E. 2010. A Mesolithic and Neolithic human bone assemblage from Totty Pot, Mendips, Somerset. Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 25: 73-95.
Schulting, R.J., Sebire, H., and Robb, J.E. 2010. On the road to Paradis: new insights from AMS dates and stable isotopes at Le Déhus, Guernsey, and the Channel Islands Middle Neolithic. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 29: 149-173.
Whitehouse, N., McClatchie, M., Barratt, P., Schulting, R.J., McLaughlin, T.R., and Bogaard, A. 2010. INSTAR–Cultivating Societies. Archaeology Ireland 24: 16-19.
2009
Chandler, B., Schulting, R.J., and Higham, T.F.G. 2009. Cannibals in the Cavern? New research on the black mould layer of Kent's Cavern. Transactions and Proceedings of the Torquay Natural History Society 24: 164-175.
Dupont, C., Tresset, A., Desse-Berset, N., Gruet, Y., Marchand, G., and Schulting, R.J. 2009. Harvesting the seashores in the Late Mesolithic of north-western Europe. A view from Brittany. Journal of World Prehistory: 93-111.
McCartan, S.B., Schulting, R.J., Warren, G., and Woodman, P.C. (eds.). 2009. Mesolithic Horizons. Oxford: Oxbow.
Schulting, R.J., Lanting, J.N., and Reimer, P.J. 2009. New dates from Tumulus Saint-Michel, Carnac. In: S. Cassen (ed.), Explorations archéologiques et discours savants sur une architecture néolithique restaurée à Locmariaquer, Morbihan (Table des Marchands et Grand Menhir): pp. 769-773. Nantes: Laboratoire de recherches archéologiques, CNRS and Université de Nantes.
Schulting, R.J., and Richards, M.P. 2009. Radiocarbon dates and stable isotope values on human remains. In: A. Ritchie (ed.), On the Fringe of Neolithic Europe: pp. 67-74. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Schulting, R.J., and Richards, M.P. 2009. Dogs, divers, deer and diet. Stable isotope results from Star Carr and a response to Dark. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 498-503.
Svyatko, S.V., Mallory, J.P., Murphy, E.M., Polyakov, A.V., Reimer, P.J., and Schulting, R.J. 2009. New radiocarbon dates and a review of the chronology of prehistoric populations from the Minusinsk Basin, southern Siberia, Russia. Radiocarbon 51: 243-273.
2008
Schulting, R.J. 2008. Worm's Head, Caldey Island (south Wales, UK) and the question of Mesolithic territories. In: S.B. McCartan, R.J. Schulting, G. Warren and P.C. Woodman (eds.), Mesolithic Horizons: pp. 355-361. Oxford: Oxbow.
Schulting, R.J. 2008. Foodways and social ecologies: Early Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age. In: J. Pollard (ed.), Prehistoric Britain: pp. 90-120. London: Blackwell.
Schulting, R.J., Blockley, S.M., Bocherens, H., Drucker, D., and Richards, M.P. 2008. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis on human remains from the Early Mesolithic site of La Vergne (Charente-Maritime, France). Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 763-772.
Schulting, R.J., and Gonzalez, S. 2008. 'Prestatyn Woman' reconsidered. In: M. Bell (ed.), Prehistorical Coastal Communities: The Mesolithic in Western Britain: pp. 303-305. York: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 149.
Schulting, R.J., Sheridan, A., Clarke, S.R., and Bronk Ramsey, C. 2008. Largantea and the dating of Irish wedge tombs. Journal of Irish Archaeology 17: 1-17.
Sheridan, A., Schulting, R.J., Quinnell, H., and Taylor, R. 2008. Revisiting a small passage tomb at Broadsands, Devon. Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Exploration Society 66: 1-26.
Weninger, B., Schulting, R.J., Bradtmöller, M., Clare, L., Collard, M., Edinborough, K., Hilpert, J., Jöris, O., Niekus, M., Rohling, E., and Wagner, B. 2008. Catastrophic final flooding of Doggerland by the Storegga slide tsunami. Documenta Praehistorica 35: 1-24.
2007
Armit, I., Knüsel, C., Robb, J., and Schulting, R.J. 2007. Warfare and violence in prehistoric Europe: an introduction. In: T. Pollard and I. Banks (eds.), War and Sacrifice: pp. 1-11. Leiden: Brill.
Dupont, C., Schulting, R.J., and Tresset, A. 2007. Prehistoric shell middens along the French Atlantic façade: the use of marine and terrestrial resources in the diets of coastal human populations. In: N. Milner, O. Craig and G. Bailey (eds.), Shell middens in Atlantic Europe: pp. 123-135. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Schulting, R.J., Marcsik, A., and Pap, I. 2007. The evidence of teeth. In: A. Whittle (ed.), The Early Neolithic on the Great Hungarian Plain. Investigations of the Körös culture site of Ecsegfalva 23, County Békés: pp. 469-489. Budapest: Varia Archaeologica Hungarica.
Schulting, R.J. 2007. Non-monumental burial in Neolithic Britain: a (largely) cavernous view. In: L. Larsson, F. Lüth and T. Terberger (eds.), Non-Megalithic Mortuary Practices in the Baltic – New Methods and Research into the Development of Stone Age Society: pp. 581-603. Schwerin: Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 88.
Whittle, A., Barclay, A., Bayliss, A., Schulting, R., and Wysocki, M. 2007. Building for the dead: events, processes and changing worldviews from the 38th to the 34th centuries cal BC in southern Britain. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 17: 123-147.
2006
Richards, M.P., and Schulting, R.J. 2006. Against the grain? A response to Milner et al. (2004). Antiquity 80: 444-458.
Schulting, R.J. 2006. Rethinking the Mesolithic: are we there yet? Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16: 257-260.
Schulting, R.J. 2006. Skeletal evidence and contexts of violence in the European Mesolithic and Neolithic. In: R. Gowland and C. Knüsel (eds.), The Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains: pp. 224-237. Oxford: Oxbow.
2005
Schulting, R.J. 2005. '…pursuing a rabbit in Burrington Combe': New research on the Early Mesolithic burial cave of Aveline's Hole. Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 23: 171-265.
Schulting, R.J. 2005. Comme la mer qui se retire: les changements dans l’exploitation des ressources marines du Mésolithique au Néolithique en Bretagne. In: G. Marchand and A. Tresset (eds.), Unité et diversité des processus de néolithisation sur la façade atlantique de l’Europe (7-4ème millénaires avant J.-C.): pp. 163-171. Paris: Mémoire de la Société Préhistorique Française 36.
Schulting, R.J., Trinkaus, E., Higham, T., Hedges, R., Richards, M., and Cardy, B. 2005. A Middle Upper Palaeolithic human from Eel Point, Caldey Island, South Wales. Journal of Human Evolution 48: 493-505.
Schulting, R.J., and Wysocki, M. 2005. "In this chambered tumulus were found cleft skulls...": an assessment of the evidence for cranial trauma in the British Neolithic. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 71: 107-138.
2004
Schulting, R.J. 2004. An Irish Sea change: some implications for the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. In: V. Cummings and C. Fowler (eds.), The Neolithic of the Irish Sea: Materiality and Traditions of Practice: pp. 22-28. Oxford: Oxbow.
Schulting, R.J., Tresset, A., and Dupont, C. 2004. From harvesting the sea to stock rearing along the Atlantic façade of north-west Europe. Environmental Archaeology 9: 143-154.
2003
Richards, M.P., Schulting, R.J., and Hedges, R.E.M. 2003. Sharp shift in diet at onset of Neolithic. Nature 425: 366.
Schulting, R.J. 2003. The marrying kind: evidence for an exogamous residence pattern in the Mesolithic of coastal Brittany. In: L. Larsson, H. Kindgren, Knutsson, D. Loeffler and A. Åkerlund (eds.), Mesolithic on the Move: pp. 431-441. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
2002
Schulting, R.J., and Richards, M.P. 2002. Dogs, ducks, deer and diet: a reappraisal of the stable isotope evidence on early domestic dogs from the Vale of Pickering, north-east England. Journal of Archaeological Science 29: 327-333.
Schulting, R.J., and Richards, M.P. 2002. The wet, the wild and the domesticated: the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition on the west coast of Scotland. European Journal of Archaeology 5: 147-189.
Schulting, R.J., and Richards, M.P. 2002. Finding the coastal Mesolithic in southwest Britain: AMS dates and stable isotope results on human remains from Caldey Island, Pembrokeshire, South Wales. Antiquity 76: 1011-1025.
2001
Ostapkowicz, J., Lepofsky, D., Schulting, R.J., and McHalsie, S. 2001. The use of cattail (Typha latifolia L.) down as a sacred substance by the Interior and Coast Salish of British Columbia. Journal of Ethnobiology 21: 77-90.
Schulting, R.J., and Richards, M.P. 2001. Dating women and becoming farmers: new palaeodietary and AMS data from the Breton Mesolithic cemeteries of Téviec and Hoëdic. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 20: 314-344.