This thesis employs two approaches to investigate water stress at the early and mid Epipalaeolithic site of Kharaneh IV in the Azraq Basin, Jordan. Firstly, the archaeobotanical analysis explores the local environment by using the ecology of identifiable charred seeds to indicate water availability (autoecology). Included alongside this is a seed catalogue, which presents the unique archaeobotanical assemblage recovered through sampling. Secondly, to further explore the local palaeoenvironment and due to the potential broad hydrological tolerances of some species, stable carbon isotope δ13C analysis of the archaeobotanical remains is used to track changes in water stress during the occupation of the site. These analyses provide a complementary approach to traditional archaeobotanical studies. Combined, these data offer considerable insight into questions about the local environment, particularly water stress, and the potential use of plants during the occupation of Kharaneh IV. The results presented here demonstrate that Kharaneh IV experienced variable water stress throughout its occupation, with a drying out of the site coincident with the end of occupation. This signature of drying is found within both the isotopic and autoecological analyses, providing multiple lines of evidence for this pattern. This thesis serves as a case study for the usefulness and inferential power of multi-method approaches that combine archaeobotanical and isotopic analysis.

The debate on Neanderthal social and symbolic capabilities is one of the fundamental issues of Palaeolithic archaeology, with the archaeological record suggesting that Neanderthals did not display the same range and variability of behaviours as anatomically modern humans (AMH). This lack of evidence has often been attributed to the cognitive superiority of AMH over Neanderthals. The reliance on the material record alone, however, neglects a range of non-material behaviours that are arguably of equal importance to understanding the cognitive abilities of this species, but which leave no archaeological traces. This thesis presents an alternative approach to the interpretation of Neanderthal social behaviour that is based on ethnographic modelling drawn from contemporary hunter-gatherers and applied to the archaeological records of Neanderthals and AMH living in Europe during Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (60-30ka). The aim of this thesis is to highlight Neanderthal behavioural responses to fluctuations in environmental productivity and to compare these to the behaviours of AMH in the earlier Upper Palaeolithic to determine if any significant differences existed between the two species. The thesis employs a range of ethnographic and archaeological data which relate to a range of material and non-material social and symbolic behavioural expressions, such a rites of passage, cooperative hunting, care for the elderly, and prestige hierarchies that are not typically inferred from the archaeological record. The ethnographic record allows for the quantification of such behaviours so that correlations can be made between social expressions (cohesion, control etc) that can then be inferred from the material record. Statistical tests, including General Linear Modelling, were employed to determine the robustness of these correlations. The ethnographic model was applied to the archaeological record of the Upper Palaeolithic prior to its being applied to the Neanderthal record of OIS-3 to determine the suitability of applying it to prehistoric contexts. Results show that both Neanderthals and AMH employed similar behavioural mechanisms for coping with resource stress in relation to social cohesion, though individual expressions varied between the two species depending on their environmental contexts. Analysis suggests that the Neanderthal capacity for spiritual and material expression was hindered by demographic and physiological constraints rather than any differences in cognitive capacity. Finally, analysis shows that Neanderthals employed optimal behavioural capacities throughout the Middle Palaeolithic and were a much more behaviourally variable hominid than previous interpretations of the archaeological record have suggested.

This research project takes a fresh look at the Neolithic archaeology of the Isle of Man, using that material to evaluate a number of themes in contemporary archaeology. The theme of personhood in prehistory is most central to the study. This project discusses the prevalent interpretative schemes which archaeologists use to understand prehistoric people, prehistoric bodies, and prehistoric social relationships. As such it joins with a number of current themes in archaeological interpretation, most notably; the role ofphenomenology in inferring past experience; the use of ethnographic analogy in understanding past and present ideas and experiences of the person and body; the impact of modernity in forming current ideas of the person (particularly the impact on archaeological thought); and the relationship between the material world, social activity and discourse, both in modernity and in prehistory. Two main types of theory are employed in this project. Both are geared towards understanding social relationships and the way that personhood is generated through activity. The first theory is a theory of performativity, adapted from the work of Judith Butler. The second is a relational approach to personhood, following the work of Marilyn Strathern and other social and cultural anthropologists. These approaches offer a critical basis for the re-consideration of past and present bodies, and past and present relations of personhood. They also provide the basis for reinterpreting past material culture, architecture and landscapes. The project situates archaeology as a product of different modern discourses, and argues that these have shaped the interpretation of past discourses. It sets out to deconstruct those present discourses, and re-evaluate the role of conflicting experiences of the self and world in the present. In this approach concepts of archaeological units; the house; the culture; the individual; the family; are all open to question. They are considered as types of metonym which condition archaeological interpretation. By refuting the authority of these metonyms, and by illustrating how they have become sedimented in archaeological discourse (specifically for the Neolithic on the Isle of Man), the project explores the possibilities for more context-specific interpretations. Finally, this thesis offers some new interpretations of Neolithic activity on the Isle of Man, interpretations which focus more on the social production of self and world than on capturing the 'meaning' of the past. These interpretations are not totalising, but partial, and seek to explore the possibility of conflict and subversion in Neolithic activities.

This thesis focuses on the traditional logboats of Coquí, an Afro-descendant community in the Pacific coast of Chocó, Colombia. It considers these boats as an entry point into the life of the community and explores the technological and functional aspects of the watercraft, their wider context, and related social practices. Based on a transdisciplinary approach, it draws on an ethnographic methodology to look at the question of whether and how the boats inform on the life of the community, their history, their identity and their maritime concerns. This thesis reflects upon the multiple ways in which people in Coquí relate to their boats and the many levels at which these boats operate. It demonstrates that the watercraft of the community of Coquí is significantly complex and holds a fundamental importance to their existence. The present study addresses the need of a comprehensive in-depth look at traditional boats in which the relationships between people and boats are as relevant as the pure technological and functional interests, dominant in the field of boat studies and maritime archaeology. It shows that ethnography is an effective methodology to unveil the richness of the materiality of social life, and the diversity of human engagements with the world.