Sir John Grahame Douglas Clark (1907 95) was a British archaeologist and prehistorian who worked extensively on the Mesolithic period. In this book, which was first published in 1936, Clark presents a study of 'the cultural development, during the earlier half of the post-glacial time, of the food-gathering peoples of the western end of the plain of Northern Europe'. Numerous illustrative figures are also included, together with lists of objects and archaeological sites. The subject matter of the text formed the basis for a course of lectures delivered in the Faculty of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge University during the Lent Term of 1934. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the Mesolithic period and the development of archaeology."

This book was originally published in 1954. Grahame Clark's excavations at Star Carr from 1949 to 1951 have long been regarded as a model of how archaeological investigation should be conducted. In addition to this, the importance of the site itself, the first early mesolithic site in Europe from which a full complement of bone, antler, wood and other organic material was recovered alongside the flint industry, has established for this report on the excavations a permanent place in all archaeological libraries. The book is now reissued.