Author: Christopher Scarre
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248
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Book Description
Part travel guide, part survey of Europe's prehistory,Exploring Prehistoric Europedelves into fifteen of the most famous, most important, and most exciting archaeological sites in Europe. The first volume in the Places in Time series, this beautiful book takes us to locales both famous and obscure, from Ireland to Poland to Malta, ranging chronologically from Terra Amata, a site in southern France occupied some 380,000 years ago, to Borremose, a Danish settlement that dates to Roman times. The author, archaeologist Chris Scarre, examines the haunting cave paintings of Lascaux, France; the stone circle and ritual complexes of Avebury, England; and the ever mysterious Stonehenge--as well as lesser known but no less intriguing sites around Europe. For each location, he conducts a careful tour of the existing remains, describes the history of its excavation, and then interprets how the site might have been built, used, or occupied. Readers will explore a variety of cultures and monuments, from megalithic stone circles to Neolithic villages to Bronze Age tombs, and see intimate portraits of the daily life of Europe's prehistoric ancestors. Perhaps equally important, Scarre has selected the sites with accessibility in mind--all can be easily reached by the modern tourist--and he also highlights local museums and visitor centers where further artifacts and information can be found. Beautifully illustrated with maps and full-color photographs,Exploring Prehistoric Europemakes the perfect companion for the historically minded traveler--or the reader who wants to curl up at home and wander at leisure through the distant past.
Author: Victoria Ginn
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 184217813X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
Identity is relational and a construct, and is expressed in a myriad of ways. For example, material culture and its pluralist meanings have been readily manipulated by humans in a prehistoric context in order to construct personal and group identities. Artefacts were often from or reminiscent of far-flung places and were used to demonstrate membership of an (imagined) regional, or European community. Earthworks frequently archive maximum visual impact through elaborate ramparts and entrances with the minimum amount of effort, indicating that the construction of identities were as much in the eye of the perceivor, as of the perceived. Variations in domestic architectural style also demonstrate the malleability of identity, and the prolonged, intermittent use of particular places for specific functions indicates that the identity of place is just as important in our archaeological understanding as the identity of people. By using a wide range of case studies, both temporally and spatially, these thought processes may be explored further and diachronic and geographic patterns in expressions of identity investigated.
Author: Timothy Champion
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315422123
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370
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Book Description
The study of European prehistory has been revolutionized in recent years by the rapid growth rate of archeological discovery, advances in dating methods and the application of scientific techniques to archaeological material and new archaeological aims and frameworks of interpretation. Whereas previous work concentrated on the recovery and description of material remains, the main focus is now on the reconstruction of prehistoric societies and the explanation of their development. This volume provides that elementary and comprehensive synthesis of the new discoveries and the new interpretations of European prehistory. After and introductory chapter on the geographical setting and the development of prehistoric studies in Europe, the text is divided chronologically into nine chapters. Each one describes, with numerous maps, plans and drawings, the relevant archaeological data, and proceeds to a discussion of the societies they represent. Particular attention is paid to the major themes of recent prehistoric research, especially subsistence economy, trade, settlement, technology and social organization.
Author: Nancy K. Sandars
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300052862
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 520
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Book Description
Until around 10,000 BC art in Europe appears to have been in advance of the rest of the world and throws light on the total history of early man. The great masterpieces of cave-painting at Lascaux are well known, and one tradition of early sculpture is from the first surprizingly classical. With the shelter paintings of the Spanish Levant and the clay modelling and painted pottery of eastern Europe in the fourth and third millennia BC fresh artistic problems were tackled. Later still evolved the high technical accomplishment of the metal-workers, and this study concludes with an account of the new departures of Celtic La Tene art of the last four centuries BC.
Author: Victoria Ginn
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1842177478
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 176
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Book Description
Identity is relational and a construct, and is expressed in a myriad of ways. For example, material culture and its pluralist meanings have been readily manipulated by humans in a prehistoric context in order to construct personal and group identities. Artefacts were often from or reminiscent of far-flung places and were used to demonstrate membership of an (imagined) regional, or European community. Earthworks frequently archive maximum visual impact through elaborate ramparts and entrances with the minimum amount of effort, indicating that the construction of identities were as much in the eye of the perceivor, as of the perceived. Variations in domestic architectural style also demonstrate the malleability of identity, and the prolonged, intermittent use of particular places for specific functions indicates that the identity of place is just as important in our archaeological understanding as the identity of people. By using a wide range of case studies, both temporally and spatially, these thought processes may be explored further and diachronic and geographic patterns in expressions of identity investigated.
Author: Julian Heath
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538120925
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263
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Book Description
Abundant prehistoric remains survive in the wide landscapes of Europe, but none are arguably as fascinating or awe-inspiring as the “megalithic” (after the Greek megas: great, and lithos: stone) monuments built by the people who lived here during the three hugely important periods of European prehistory known respectively as the Neolithic, the Copper Age, and the Bronze Age. These huge, prehistoric stone structures can still be found scattered in their thousands across Europe and provide a tentative but evocative link to their builders, and to Europe’s distant past. From the Mediterranean islands to the colder climes of Scandinavia, Exploring Megalithic Europe takes readers to many European countries, examining both famous and lesser-known megalithic monuments and looking at what insights these remarkable reminders of prehistoric life may provide into the ancient communities responsible for their construction.
Author: Richard Bradley
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415345514
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
This fascinating study explores how our prehistoric ancestors developed rituals from everyday life and domestic activities. This book examines farming, craft production and the occupation of houses, which were all ritualized in prehistoric Europe.
Author: Barry Cunliffe
Publisher: Oxford Illustrated History
ISBN: 9780192854414
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 590
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Book Description
Provides a comprehensive account of prehistoric Europe from the coming of the Stone Age to the fall of the Roman Empire, providing information on the changing landscape of Europe and responses and adaptations to these changes.
Author: T. Douglas Price
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199914702
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 425
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Book Description
Europe before Rome uses the extraordinary archaeology of prehistoric Europe to explore questions about the origins and evolution of human society
Author: Jane McIntosh
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195384768
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417
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Book Description
What we know of prehistoric Europe stems from archeological finds, ranging from cave paintings to the frozen body of a hunter exposed by a retreating glacier. This means that our knowledge is largely of the ordinary individual - the hunter-gatherer, farmer, or Metallurgist - rather than ofkings. In this intriguing book, Jane McIntosh gathers the results of recent archaeological discoveries and scholarly research, covering all aspects of life in prehistoric Europe: the geography of the continent, economy, settlement, trade, transport, industry and crafts, religion, death and burial,warfare, language, the arts, and more. Throughout, McIntosh stresses the lives lived by the majority, rather than the privileged elite (as is so often the case in recorded history). Not that evidence of the latter is lacking: exquisite jewelry, elaborately woven cloth, and finely wrought weaponstell us a great deal about the rulers of this lost world. Including more than 75 illustrations and maps, the Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe provides an accessible introduction to the 7000-year period that immediately preceded the Roman Empire.
