Cutting Pit-houses

This chapter presents the thesis, structure, and philosophy of the book. Using the author’s Romanian excavations as a start, the chapter reviews the state of knowledge about pits and pit-houses in Neolithic Europe, critically reviews the debate over structured deposition (and suggests that the actions of breaking the surface of the ground—that is, digging—have not featured in previous work on the topic), defines art/archaeology (as an innovative way to provide original thought on the topic), and then justifies the book’s approach and unusual content and layout. The argument made is both that a new way to engage the archaeological object is through a new trans-disciplinary approach that juxtaposes past and present, archaeology and art, and that the reader will gain much from examining the Neolithic and other periods through the processes and consequences of cutting surfaces.