Conservatism as a dynamic response to the diffusion of innovations

This project aspires to investigate how resistance to new and foreign practices and technologies can be a dynamic response to rapid cultural change, rather than a failure to innovate. It will do so through the archaeological examination of settlement structure and ritual activities in later prehistoric Cornwall, United Kingdom. Cornwall was simultaneously a key node in the prehistoric economy and a periphery, with a distinctly local material culture and way of life. The intended outcome of the project is a new model of innovation and conservatism, linking the uptake of new ideas and technologies, to participation in local and more widespread networks of contact and exchange in light of pre-existing social dynamics.