Includes bibliographical references (pages 270-292) and index.

Introducing the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland -- Island life : Britain and Ireland in the late Mesolithic -- All change? : the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain and Ireland and its north-west European background -- A brave new world : life in the early Neolithic of Britain and Ireland -- Of earth, bone, timber and stone: mortuary practice and monumentality in the early Neolithic of Britain and Ireland -- Circles and lines: the middle Neolithic of Britain and Ireland -- Lines and landscapes of descent : life in the late Neolithic of Britain and Ireland -- Constructing theatres in the round : mortuary practice and monumentality in late Neolithic of Britain and Ireland -- Beakers, copper and bronze : life and death at the end of the Neolithic and into the early Bronze Age -- The Neolithic of Britain and Ireland : a summary and future directions.

'The Neolithic of Britain and Ireland' provides a synthesis of this dynamic period of prehistory from the end of the Mesolithic through to the early Beaker period. Drawing on new excavations and the application of new scientific approaches to data from this period, it considers both life and death in the Neolithic.