Trypillia Mega-Sites and European Prehistory

Trypillia Mega-Sites and European Prehistory PDF Author: Johannes Müller
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317247914
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 607

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Book Description
In European prehistory population agglomerations of more than 10,000 inhabitants per site are a seldom phenomenon. A big surprise to the archaeological community was the discovery of Trypillia mega-sites of more than 250 hectares and with remains of more than 2000 houses by a multidisciplinary approach of Soviet and Ukrainian archaeology, including aerial photography, geophysical prospection and excavations nearly 50 years ago. The extraordinary development took place at the border of the North Pontic Forest Steppe and Steppe zone ca. 4100–3400 BCE. Since then many questions arose which are of main relevance: Why, how and under which environmental conditions did Trypillia mega-sites develop? How long did they last? Were social and/or ecological reasons responsible for this social experiment? Are Trypillia and the similar sized settlement of Uruk two different concepts of social behaviour? Paradigm change in fieldwork and excavation strategies enabled research teams during the last decade to analyse the mega-sites in their spatial and social complexity. High precision geophysics, target excavations and a new design of systematic field strategies deliver empirical data representative for the large sites. Archaeological research contributed immensely to aspects of anthropogenic induced steppe development and subsistence concepts that did not reach the carrying capacities. Probabilistic models based on 14C-dates made the contemporaneity of the mega-site house structures most probable. In consequence, Trypillia mega-sites are an independent European phenomenon that contrasts both concepts of urbanism and social stratification that is seen with similar demographic figures in Mesopotamia. The new Trypillia research can be read as the methodological progress in European archaeology.

Megasites in Prehistoric Europe

Megasites in Prehistoric Europe PDF Author: Bisserka Gaydarska
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009090666
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
This is an Element about some of the largest sites known in prehistoric Europe – sites so vast that they often remain undiscussed for lack of the theoretical or methodological tools required for their understanding. Here, the authors use a relational, comparative approach to identify not only what made megasites but also what made megasites so special and so large. They have selected a sample of megasites in each major period of prehistory – Neolithic, Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages – with a detailed examination of a single representative megasite for each period. The relational approach makes explicit comparisons between smaller, more 'normal' sites and the megasites using six criteria – scale, temporality, deposition / monumentality, formal open spaces, performance and congregational catchment. The authors argue that many of the largest European prehistoric megasites were congregational places.

Early Urbanism in Europe

Early Urbanism in Europe PDF Author: Bisserka Gaydarska
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783110664935
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
For over 60 years, the accepted view of cultural evolution was that the world's first cities developed in the Fertile Crescent in the 4th millennium BC. This view overlooks the emergence of a much neglected class of sites--the Trypillia megasites of the Ukrainian forest-steppe. The megasites were in fact larger and earlier than the Mesopotamian cities and demonstrate an alternative pathway towards cities without strong central administration and any later urban legacy. In this book, a team of international authors examines the hypothesis of independent Eastern European urbanism using the evidence gathered from the multi-disciplinary investigation of the megasite of Nebelivka.

The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia

The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia PDF Author: Miljana Radivojević
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1803270438
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 700

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Book Description
The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia is a landmark study in the evolution of early metallurgy in the Balkans. It demonstrates that far from being a rare and elite practice, the earliest metallurgy in the world was a common and communal craft activity.

Forging Identities in the Prehistory of Old Europe

Forging Identities in the Prehistory of Old Europe PDF Author: John Chapman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789088909498
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
This book presents a synthesis of the prehistory of South East, Central and Eastern Europe (7000 - 3000 BC).

Maidanetske 2013

Maidanetske 2013 PDF Author: Johannes Müller
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783774940185
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
In European prehistory, population agglomerations of more than 10,000 inhabitants per site are an infrequent phenomenon. The unexpected discovery of the Trypillia mega-sites, excavated nearly 50 years aga by Soviet, Ukrainian and Moldavian archaeologists using a multidisciplinary approach, uncovered the remains of more than 2000 houses spread over 250 hectares. These extraordinary mega-sites developed at the border of the North Pontic Forest Steppe zone ca. 4100-3400 BCE.0One of the key mega-sites is Maidanetske in the Uman Region, Central Ukraine. In 2013, an interdisciplinary European team of researchers started new excavations at the site, which were analysed under the frame of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 1266 ?Scales of Transformation?: The excavation provoked many questions: why, how and under what environmental conditions did Trypillia mega-sites develop? How long did they last? Were social reasons responsible for transformation processes?

Power from Below in Premodern Societies

Power from Below in Premodern Societies PDF Author: T. L. Thurston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316515397
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
This volume challenges traditional narratives on power, moving away from elite-centered models and focusing instead on the archaeology of commoners.

Rethinking Global Governance

Rethinking Global Governance PDF Author: Justin Jennings
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000872424
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
This book argues that long-ignored, non-western political systems from the distant and more recent past can provide critical insights into improving global governance. These societies show how successful collection action can occur by dividing sovereignty, consensus building, power from below, and other mechanisms. For a better tomorrow, we need to free ourselves of the colonial constraints on our political imagination. A pandemic, war in Europe, and another year of climatic anomalies are among the many indications of the limits of global governance today. To meet these challenges, we must look far beyond the status quo to the thousands of successful mechanisms for collective action that have been cast aside a priori because they do not fit into Western traditions of how people should be organized. Coming from long past or still enduring societies often dismissed as “savages” and “primitives” until well into the twentieth century, the political systems in this book were often seen as too acephalous, compartmentalized, heterarchical, or anarchic to be of use. Yet as globalization makes international relations more chaotic, long-ignored governance alternatives may be better suited to today’s changing realities. Understanding how the Zulu, Trypillian, Alur, and other collectives worked might be humanity’s best hope for survival. This book will be of interest both to those seeking to apply archaeological and ethnographic data to issues of broad contemporary concern and to academics, politicians, policy makers, students, and the general public seeking possible alternatives to conventional thinking in global governance.

Perspectives on Socio-environmental Transformations in Ancient Europe

Perspectives on Socio-environmental Transformations in Ancient Europe PDF Author: Johannes Müller
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031533143
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description


Time and History in Prehistory

Time and History in Prehistory PDF Author: Stella Souvatzi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315531836
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Time and History in Prehistory explores the many processes through which time and history are conceptualized and constructed, challenging the perception of prehistoric societies as ahistorical. Drawing equally on contemporary theory and illustrative case studies, and firmly rooted in material evidence, this book rearticulates concepts of time and history, questions the kind of narratives to be written about the past and underlines the fundamentally historical nature of prehistory. From a range of multi-disciplinary perspectives, the authors of this volume address the scales at which archaeological evidence and narrative are interwoven, from a single day to deep history and from a solitary pot to a complete city. In doing so, they argue the need for a multi-scalar approach to prehistoric data that allows for the interplay between short and long term, and for analytical units that encourage us to move continuously between scales. The growing interest in time and history in archaeology and across a wide range of disciplines concerned with human action and the human past highlights that these are exceptionally active fields. By juxtaposing varied viewpoints, this volume bridges gaps in narrative, finds a place for inclusive histories and makes clear the benefit of integrative and interdisciplinary approaches, including different disciplines and types of data.