n.a. (2004). The Neolithic of the Irish Sea:. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

the authors offer a series of comments on the history and future of research into material culture, culture and trends of practice in the Neolithic around the Irish Sea

the paper presents evidence for a strong economic shift in the Irish Sea region at the time of the Mesolithic--Neolithic transition and begins to explore some of the implications for the transition to the Neolithic. It is argued that there is an insufficient understanding of the materiality of food production systems

the author looks at the expansion northwards and westwards of the frontiers for causewayed enclosures, and argues that the results are ambiguous and the search unresolved, and also that the processes of data gathering and typology in archaeology may be altering and constraining the evidence before it is actually located

the paper considers how perceptions of the Irish Sea are transformed along a journey that leads from Neolithic occupation sites near the shoreline of Cumbria, to major stone axe sources in the high mountains of the Lake District. The author suggests that archaeologists try to disentangle their assumptions from the actual observations made in the landscape, thereby revealing a more fluid and dynamic world than might otherwise be anticipated; the simplistic use of concepts such as `intervisibility' is questioned, and a more reflexive and critical approach to landscape fieldwork is suggested

the author looks at the dolmen, and in particular at Carreg Samson in Pembrokeshire, examining the idea that the process of construction was in itself a part of the function of these monuments, being a social focus and means of forging a web of significance between people and their physical world, and relationships between each other

the author examines the constitution of material bodies (human, object and monument) in the Manx Neolithic, arguing that the principles which structured the organisation of one type of body were transferred over into others and suggesting that contact between the living and the remains of the dead could be understood in the context of a broader contact with past and sacred things

the paper examines the surviving Neolithic monuments recorded to date on the Isle of Man, in particular focussing on the connections between monument location, monument form and the local topography

the paper examines the place occupied by the megalithic tombs of the Isle of Man in the intellectual constructs of archaeologists over the last century or so and in the folk consciousness of the Manx people. The author suggests that the insular history and tradition surrounding the megaliths should be given full weight, and that the central role of the Isle of Man in Neolithic regional consciousness should be better recognised

the paper looks at the question of Neolithic axe exchange from a perspective that focuses primarily on the materiality of the items concerned. The material properties of axes; the relevance of ethnographically documented exchange mechanisms to the consideration of exchange in prehistory; key attributes of axes, axe finds-contexts and distributions; and the way in which Irish Sea distributions can be understood, are all considered. The question of what sustains or disrupts exchange practices is discussed, and it is proposed that some items are manipulated not only because of inter-group rivalry and the circulation of commodities, but because they are `good to think'

the paper explores the Neolithic of an area in which large, highly visible monuments and causewayed enclosures are apparently absent, in an attempt to redress the balance of narratives for the Neolithic of Britain, and suggests possibilities for alternative ways of looking at the Neolithic utilisation of such regions

the author reassesses questions of the meaning and significance of the art of the great passage tombs of the Boyne Valley, Ireland, and the possible origin of these monuments, by reviewing the intellectual and practical conditions within which passage tomb art is studied. The desire to continue to search for a unity to the `passage tomb phenomenon' within the Irish Sea is questioned

using examples from the Welsh coastline, and in particular from north Pembrokeshire, the author examines the relationships between Early Bronze Age monuments and natural features, taking the position that typologically distinct monuments are part of a wider monumental landscape. He suggests that rather than being constructed through a preconceived form, these are a part of the land and that the natural environment was an intrinsic element of social knowledge in which monuments were conceived through the metaphor of growth