Decolonising the Mesolithic?

“Decolonising the Mesolithic?” was a virtual workshop held on May 21st 2021. It was attended by 38 researchers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, mainly, but not exclusively, active Mesolithic researchers from Europe. Tis short paper reports on the organisation of this workshop, and the response it elicited from its participants. “Decolonising the Mesolithic?” was organised by Ben Elliott and Graeme Warren, with Charlotte Damm, Astrid Nyland and Henny Piezonka chairing small group discussions. Liv Nilsson Stutz and Martin Porr kindly agreed in advance to act as guest discussants. The workshop aimed to provide an initial consideration of the implications of the decolonisation agenda on Mesolithic research practice. Does the Mesolithic need Adecolonising’ and how might this difer from other critical approaches to our practice? Te meeting was discussion-driven and required signifcant self-refection from the participants on their work as Mesolithic specialists.
Following Pimblott’s (2020) overview of the decolonising movement, we structured discussion to consider whether race-based science and Eurocentric approaches infuenced our work. If we considered that it did, we prompted participants to articulate ways of challenging this. Tere was consensus that an
efort to deconstruct racialised and Eurocentric assumptions underpinning Mesolithic research would create a more equitable and critically minded discipline. Tis brief note summarises some of the key themes of this discussion which we think will be of interest for the broader MM community.