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Oxbow says: The Mesolithic is all too often a forgotten period, either amalgamated into prehistory in general, or discussed merely as the precursor to the Neolithic. This study brings it to the forefront. Fourteen essays look at the period between the end of the last Ice Age and the spread of agriculture in different geographical regions, from the Baltic, Norway and southern Scandinavia, to the British Isles, the Low Countries, France, the Rhine and Danube, Russia and the Ukraine, Iberia and the Mediterranean. The regional syntheses examine the beginning and end transitions of the Mesolithic as well as the nature of Mesolithic life - environmental changes and effects, changing technologies and subsistence, settlement, social organisation, art and ritual behaviour. Whilst individual chapters can be dipped into if you are interested in a particular region, the concluding chapter by Geoff Bailey which presents an overview of what has been covered and defines trends and ideas in Mesolithic research, should be compulsory reading.