A comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the archaeology of the first farming communities in Britain and Ireland. Aimed towards the student readership, this book provides an account of the archaeology of Britain and Ireland over the period c.4000 - 2000 BC. The Neolithic is presented as a transformation of economic and technical customs and skills that led to new levels of social complexity and monument building. The chapters introduce many of the current debates and discussions in Neolithic studies, but these are set against the secure base of the rich archaeological record which is described and illustrated. Material is presented through case studies in chapters on landscape change and economic diversity, causewayed enclosures, settlement and houses, the classic Neolithic monuments (barrows and megalithic tombs, henges, cursues, stone circles), and the complex range of artefacts that characterise the Neolithic. The wider issues of the Neolithic are set in context, and the reader will be able to assess the evidence and variety of the archaeology of Britain and Iraland against the broad trends of Europe and beyong. Lists of sites and museums to visit and an extensive biblography offer opportunities for further research and exploration. Caroline Malone began her careet as Curator of the Alexander Keiller Museum at Avebury, before working as an Inspector of Ancient Monuments. She has been Keeper of Prehistory at the British Museum, a Fellow of New Hall and Senior Tutor of Hughs Hall in Cambridge as well as Lecturer in Archaeology at Bristol and Cambridge universities. She is currently Reader in Prehistoric Archaeology and Queen's University, Belfast. Her fieldwork has included sites and landscapes in Scotland, Italy, Sicily and Malta.