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For some time now, social scientists, literary critics and others who have examined socio-political developments characterised by intercultural interaction (e.g. colonialism or globalisation), have emphasised the creative, transformative and hybrid character of the space 'in-between' (e.g. Bhabha 1994; Young 1995). Even though 'hybridity discourses' have principally explored spheres of intercultural interaction in order to dismantle traditional binary oppositions used in colonial studies, or to describe the subtleties of our contemporary globalised environment, they have also raised awareness of the need to integrate such insights into accounts that explore and theorise a range of social phenomena (e.g. Nederveen Pieterse 2009). Whilst this integration has taken place in the wider context of the social sciences, scant attention has been given within the reflective arena of post-processualism to devising theoretical approaches which allow for analyses either of the space 'in-between' or the 'multivoicedness' (Bakhtin 1981) of material culture (for an exception see Fahlander 2007). This thesis seeks to define the theoretical as well as methodological strategies needed to incorporate the notion of 'hybridity' into the post-processual discourse. Although the effects of hybridity can take various forms (e.g. linguistics, culture, politics, religion) (Ashcroft et al. 1998), our possibilities for exploring this concept in archaeology amount to identifying the effects of hybridity on the realm of material culture. This research focuses on developing a theoretical and methodological approach that allows intercultural interaction to be examined through the identification of material patterning. To do so, the notion of 'diffusion' is reconsidered as an analytical concept in archaeology. This thesis then draws upon this approach to explore developments within the Orcadian Neolithic during the later fourth millennium BC. As a period of structural change in the islands, it has been the breeding ground for the development of various differing approaches to interpretation (e.g. Renfrew 1979b, Hodder 1982a; Sharples 1985). On this occasion, I will argue that this period represented a classic example of the formation of hybrid identities. Whilst a self-unified image of society was sought in these islands during this period, it is suggested that the cultural expressions used to depict identity reflected intercultural interaction with the Boyne Valley (Ireland).

Through the case study of the Shijiahe site, Tianmen, Hubei, this thesis investigates the dynamics of enclosures along the Middle Yangzi River during the third millennium BC. During the early third millennium over a dozen of enclosures were constructed in this region, earlier than elsewhere in China during this millennium. All were abandoned and some re-settled around 2000 BC, followed by another episode of abandonment. The major theoretical paradigms dominating the field are culture history and social complexity. The thesis argues that these are insufficient to fully appreciate the actual details and dynamics of the developments at the Middle Yangzi sites. As an alternative, this thesis employs a combination of approaches. A detailed practice-based analysis of the biography of Shijiahe reveals dynamics of identity formation and changes to tradition not observed before. The techniques of enclosure construction, reasons for their construction and abandonment will also be discussed. The thesis acknowledges the central importance of religion and interaction as two essential underlying currents of prehistoric lives that, in the case of China, have largely been ignored. From this angle a series of objects, such as red pottery cups, pottery pointed-bottom vessels and jade ornaments, from Shijiahe are investigated and their religious significance established. They and the practices they were used in are also mapped according to their find spots, which show the connection of Shijiahe with regions even beyond the Middle Yangzi, such as the Yellow and Huai river regions. These interactions were probably also stimulated by religious practices. The northward connections are of particular importance, as they confirm that the Yangzi, and the giant swamp of the Yunmengze in the Jianghan Plain, were formidable barriers southwards. The usually posited direction of movements from the Yellow River into the south must be challenged on the basis of this thesis, which argues for multiple directions of interaction and transmission of objects and ideas.

Since the first explorations of causewayed enclosures, archaeologists have attempted to define these early Neolithic monuments in relation to territorial patterns, pottery typologies, and ultimately though the concept of structured deposition. While these concepts have been important in advancing our knowledge of causewayed enclosures, the interpretations of the material from the enclosures ditch segments and other areas of these sites have failed to take into account the importance of how objects and materials came to be at the sites, were produced and used there, preceding deposition. This thesis argues that activities at enclosures should not be categorically separated from the everyday activities of those who visited the enclosures. I argue that by looking in detail at the spatial and temporal distribution of objects in association with chronology that the practical activities people engaged in at enclosures have been overshadowed by interpretations stressing the ritual nature of structured deposits. These activities had a direct relationship with enclosures and local landscapes. This argues that perhaps more deposits within causewayed enclosures were the result of everyday activities which occurred while people gathered at these sites and not necessarily the result of a ‘ritual’ act. A re-interpretation of the detail from nine causewayed enclosures within three ‘regions’ of the British Isles (East Anglia, Sussex and Wessex) will be examined. It will be shown that this theoretical approach to activity goes beyond the deposition of objects and also includes enclosure construction, object modification such as flint knapping, animal butchery, and the use of pottery and wood. On a micro scale this indicates that each community who constructed an enclosure deposited objects in a unique and ‘personal’ manner which was acceptable within their defined social system. On a macro scale, this indicates that although all British causewayed enclosures seem to ‘function’ in the same way, the individual sites were constructed, modified and used in distinctive ways. Some enclosures seem to have existed quite independently from their neighbours while other enclosures within close proximity to each other had a specialised role to play. These specialised roles indicate that some enclosures may have been constructed and used by groups who primarily came to them in order to carry out a specific set of activities which were then defined through deposition.

During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic - Pottery Neolithic transition in the Levant, several centuries after the widespread adoption of agriculture and shortly after the adoption of mixed farming, a number of large, formerly successful communities seem to have been abandoned. These apparent settlement transformations are reported to have occurred alongside changes in technology and production, ideological behaviour and the treatment of the dead, and subsistence economy. Whether one views these purported changes as evidence of 'collapse' or not, particular transformations do seem to have taken place and require explanation. Several proposed models attempt to explain why these changes may have occurred, but the anthropogenically induced ecological degradation argument is the most pervasive. While this model has already been tested in a preliminary manner, detailed evaluation of the degradation argument partly based on agronomic research on the ecological impacts of mixed farming is still due.

Between the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, settlements witnessed increasing longevity and there was a region wide shift from circular, purportedly single room to relatively large rectangular multi-room domestic structures. At the same time many non-domestic structures appeared. A number of regional vernacular traditions in domestic architecture have been identified, with rather differently structured uses of space. However it is the broad similarities in formal characteristics of domestic structures over the Near East that tends to be highlighted by researchers, especially those working on the Southern Levantine record that therefore forms the focus of this study.