Vicki Cummings is Professor of Neolithic Archaeology at Cardiff University. Her research has focused on the start and spread of the Neolithic in Britain, Ireland and north-west Europe. She has a particular research interest in Early Neolithic monumentality, especially chambered tombs, and has excavated sites in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. More recently her work has focused on the Early Neolithic of Orkney as well as Early Neolithic kinship. She is the author of Monuments in the Making: Raising the Great Dolmens in Early Neolithic Northern Europe (with Colin Richards).

Acknowledgements; List of Figures; Chapter one. Introducing the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland; Chapter two. Britain and Ireland in the fifth millennium cal BC: the calm before the storm; Chapter three. All change. The transition to the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland; Chapter four. A brave new world: life in the early Neolithic of Britain and Ireland; Chapter five. Of earth, bone, timber and stone: mortuary practice and monumentality in the early Neolithic of Britain and Ireland; Chapter six. Circles and lines: the middle Neolithic of Britain and Ireland; Chapter seven. Lines and landscapes of descent: life in the late Neolithic of Britain and Ireland; Chapter eight. Ritual and religion in the round: mortuary practice and monumentality in the late Neolithic of Britain and Ireland; Chapter nine. Beakers, copper and bronze: the start of a new era in Britain and Ireland; Chapter ten. The Neolithic of Britain and Ireland: overview and future directions; Index.