The End of the Longhouse

Abstract

Early Neolithic houses in Britain remain scarce, but the oldest structures interpreted as such are often considered to have their ultimate origins in the longhouses of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) and its successor cultures of the fifth millennium BC. However, the continental evidence shows that the key principles of the Danubian longhouse were lost or reinterpreted across many centuries before the start of the British Neolithic; post-Danubian variability in house form preceded the emergence of a different set of domestic architectural principles in the late fifth millennium, reflecting the incorporation of new cultural influences into Middle Neolithic society. This chapter sets out the details of those changes in house form and considers their social implications. It is suggested that a similar process may be reflected in the development of houses within the British Neolithic.