Europe before history

Book

Europe before history / Kristian Kristiansen.

Kristiansen, Kristian, 1948- (Author).

Summary:

The societies of the European Bronze Age produced elaborate artifacts and were drawn into a wide trade network extending over the whole of Europe, yet they were economically and politically undiversified. Kristian Kristiansen attempts to explain this paradox using a world-systems analysis, and provides a rich body of evidence to support his case. The result is a coherent overview of this period of European prehistory that addresses some of the larger questions raised in the study of the period. -- Amazon

Record details

ISBN: 0521784360
ISBN: 9780521784368
Physical Description: xxix, 505 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.
Edition: 1st pbk. ed.
Publisher: Cambridge, U.K. ; Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Content descriptions

General Note:: Originally published: 1998.
Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (pages 434-491) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: 1. Background to the inquiry -- 1.1. Introduction -- 1.2. European origins -- 2. Background to the archaeology -- 2.1. Archaeological context -- 2.2. Geographical and chronological framework -- 3. Theoretical context -- 3.1. Contextualising archaeological theory -- 3.2. Systems of social evolution -- 3.3. Societies as organised networks -- 4. Regional systems: the social and cultural landscape in Europe in the Late Bronze Age, 1100-750 BC -- 4.1. The social and cultural landscape -- 4.2. Demographic and economic trends -- 5. Regional divergence: the Mediterranean and Europe in the 9th-8th centuries BC -- 5.1. Economic take-off in the Mediterranean: the Phoenician and Greek expansion -- 5.2. Interaction along the Atlantic facade -- 5.3. From Villanova to Fuen: the Phahlbau connection -- 5.4. The nomadic connection: the Thraco-Cimmerians -- 6. The new economic axis: Central Europe and the Mediterranean 750-450 BC -- 6.1. Interlude and change: the beginning of the Hallstatt Culture -- 6.2. The royal dynasties -- 6.3. Transformation and decline -- 7. Transformation and expansion: the Celtic movement, 450-150 BC -- 7.1. The archaeological context of population movements -- 7.2. The social and historical context of Celtic population movements -- 8. The emergence of the European world system in the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age: Europe in the 1st and 2nd millennia BC -- 8.1. The 2nd millennium: an interpretative and explanatory sketch -- 8.2. Some social and cultural regularities -- 8.3. Some evolutionary regularities -- 8.4. Concluding perspective -- epilogue.