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The megalithic architectures of Europe
\"Megalithic monuments are among the most striking remains of the Neolithic period of northern and western Europe and are scattered across landscapes from Pomerania to Portugal. Antiquarians and archaeologists early recognised the family resemblance of the different groups of tombs, attributing them to maritime peoples moving along the western seaways. More recent research sees them rather as the product of established early farming communities in their individual regions. Yet the diversity of the tombs, their chronologies and their varied cultural contexts complicates any straightforward understanding of their origins and distribution. Megalithic Architectures provides new insight by focusing on the construction and design of European megalithic tombs--on the tomb as an architectural project. It shows how much is to be learned from detailed attention to the stages and the techniques through which tombs were built, modified and enlarged, and often intentionally dismantled or decommissioned. The large slabs that were employed, often unshaped, may suggest an opportunistic approach by the Neolithic builders, but this was clearly far from the case. Each building project was unique, and detailed study of individual sites exposes the way in which tombs were built as architectural, social and symbolic undertakings. Alongside the manner in which the materials were used, it reveals a store of knowledge that sometimes differed considerably from one structure to another, even between contemporary monuments within a single region. The volume brings together regional specialists from Scandinavia, Germany, Britain, France, Belgium and Iberia to offer a series of uniquely authoritative studies. Results of recent fieldwork are fully incorporated and much of the material is published here for the first time in English. It provides an invaluable overview of the current state of research on European megalithic tombs\"--From publisher's website.
Book
Megalithic Tombs in Western Iberia
Western Iberia has one of the richest inventories of Neolithic chambered tombs in Atlantic Europe, with particular concentrations in Galicia, northern Portugal and the Alentejo. Less well known is the major concentration of tombs along the Tagus valley, straddling the Portuguese-Spanish frontier. Within this cluster is the Anta da Lajinha, a small megalithic tomb in the hill-country north of the River Tagus. Badly damaged by forest fire and stone removal, it was the subject of joint British-Portuguese excavations in 2006-2008, accompanied by environmental investigations and OSL dating. This volume takes the recent excavations at Lajinha and the adjacent site of Cabeço dos Pendentes as the starting point for a broader consideration of the megalithic tombs of western Iberia. Key themes addressed are relevant to megalithic tombs more generally, including landscape, chronology, settlement and interregional relationships. Over what period of time were these tombs built and used? Do they form a horizon of intensive monument construction, or were the tombs the product of a persistent, long-lived tradition? How do they relate to the famous rock art of the Tagus valley, and to the cave burials and open-air settlements of the region, in terms of chronology and landscape? A final section considers the Iberian tombs within the broader family of west European megalithic monuments, focusing on chronologies, parallels and patterns of contact. Did the Iberian tombs emerge through connections with older established megalithic traditions in other regions such as Brittany, or were they are the outcome of more general processes operating among Atlantic Neolithic societies?
eBook
The World of Stonehenge exhibition: Britain and Europe from 4000–1000 BC
The World of Stonehenge is the latest in a series of impressive exhibitions at the British Museum devoted to European prehistory: a worthy successor to Ice Age Art in 2012 and Celts: art and identity in 2015. Like them, it has already attracted significant public attention, with a raft of positive reviews in the press. Indeed, given the quality and range of material on display, it could hardly fail to be a success. Not only does it gather together key objects from a series of British and Irish museums, but also a range of striking artefacts from continental Europe. Among these, first place must surely go to the Nebra ‘sky disc’; but there are also major finds from France, Switzerland, Denmark and northern Italy that will not previously have been seen in Britain.
Journal Article
Engaging with the Dead
Engaging with the Dead adopts a cross-disciplinary, archaeologically focused, approach to explore a variety of themes linked to the interpretation of mortuary traditions, death and the ways of disposing of the dead. Nineteen papers highlight the current vitality of 'death studies' and the potential of future research and discoveries. contributors explore changing beliefs and practices over time, considering how modern archaeology, ethnography and historical records can aid our interpretations of the past, as well as considering how past practices may have influenced understandings of death and dying within the modern world. It is clear that there are very significant variations in the quantity of dead that appear in the archaeological record over time, and the contributions to this volume attempt to understand why that might be the case. By bringing together papers from a variety of specialists working within Europe and the Near East, we investigate the pivotal role of death studies in the 21st century, providing a case for the retention of human remains in archaeological collections. Engaging with the Dead aims to set period specific contributions within a broader perspective and integrates papers from bioarchaeologists, theologists, textual specialists, as well as archaeologists. It provides an in-depth introduction to the multitude of ways in which the mortuary record can be interrogated and interpreted and explores the role of archaeology and theology within contemporary social studies. This volume challenges our current understanding and conceptualisation of mortuary practices in the ancient and contemporary world.
eBook
The Megalithic Architectures of Europe
Megalithic monuments are among the most striking remains of the Neolithic period of northern and western Europe and are scattered across landscapes from Pomerania to Portugal. Antiquarians and archaeologists early recognized the family resemblance of the different groups of tombs, attributing them to maritime peoples moving along the western seaways. More recent research sees them rather as the product of established early farming communities in their individual regions. Yet the diversity of the tombs, their chronologies and their varied cultural contexts complicates any straightforward understanding of their origins and distribution. Megalithic Architectures provides new insight by focusing on the construction and design of European megalithic tombs – on the tomb as an architectural project. It shows how much is to be learned from detailed attention to the stages and the techniques through which tombs were built, modified and enlarged, and often intentionally dismantled or decommissioned. The large slabs that were employed, often unshaped, may suggest an opportunistic approach by the Neolithic builders, but this was clearly far from the case. Each building project was unique, and detailed study of individual sites exposes the way in which tombs were built as architectural, social and symbolic undertakings. Alongside the manner in which the materials were used, it reveals a store of knowledge that sometimes differed considerably from one structure to another, even between contemporary monuments within a single region. The volume brings together regional specialists from Scandinavia, Germany, Britain, France, Belgium and Iberia to offer a series of uniquely authoritative studies. Results of recent fieldwork are fully incorporated and much of the material is published here for the first time in English. It provides an invaluable overview of the current state of research on European megalithic tombs.
eBook
EDITORIAL
One of the recurrent patterns in the Eurasian past is the tension between the steppe and the sown—between the nomadic peoples occupying the grassland belt from the Ukraine to China, and the settled farmers living along their southern margins. Peoples of the steppe have featured regularly in recent issues of
Antiquity
: the bronze-working traditions of the eastern steppes (Hsu
et al
. 2016)
1
, Andronovo settlement in Xinjiang (Jia
et al
. 2017)
2
, the Yamnaya people of the western steppes (Heyd 2017; Kristiansen 2017)
3,4
, or animal husbandry in the southern oases (Lhuillier
et al
. 2017)
5
. The more nomadic the lifestyle, the fewer the archaeological traces one might expect to find; but for some steppe peoples, those traces are nonetheless spectacular. And for none is that truer than for the Scythians, subject of the current major exhibition at the British Museum.
Journal Article
EDITORIAL
One of the recurrent patterns in the Eurasian past is the tension between the steppe and the sown-between the nomadic peoples occupying the grassland belt from the Ukraine to China, and the settled farmers living along their southern margins. Peoples of the steppe have featured regularly in recent issues of Antiquity: the bronze-working traditions of the eastern steppes (Hsu et al. 2016)1, Andronovo settlement in Xinjiang (Jia et al. 2017)2, the Yamnaya people of the western steppes (Heyd 2017; Kristiansen 2017)3,4, or animal husbandry in the southern oases (Lhuillier et al. 2017)5. The more nomadic the lifestyle, the fewer the archaeological traces one might expect to find; but for some steppe peoples, those traces are nonetheless spectacular. And for none is that truer than for the Scythians, subject of the current major exhibition at the British Museum.
Journal Article
EDITORIAL
One of the recurrent patterns in the Eurasian past is the tension between the steppe and the sown—between the nomadic peoples occupying the grassland belt from the Ukraine to China, and the settled farmers living along their southern margins. Peoples of the steppe have featured regularly in recent issues of Antiquity: the bronze-working traditions of the eastern steppes (Hsu et al. 2016)
1
, Andronovo settlement in Xinjiang (Jia et al. 2017)
2
, the Yamnaya people of the western steppes (Heyd 2017; Kristiansen 2017)
3,4
, or animal husbandry in the southern oases (Lhuillier et al. 2017)
5
. The more nomadic the lifestyle, the fewer the archaeological traces one might expect to find; but for some steppe peoples, those traces are nonetheless spectacular. And for none is that truer than for the Scythians, subject of the current major exhibition at the British Museum.
Journal Article
EDITORIAL
Archaeology takes the long view: that is one of the things that distinguishes it from history. Many of us (prehistorians in particular) deal with dates ending in multiple zeros that can easily confuse the uninitiated. The spans of time are vast, the evidence challenging and the pace of change, for much of that timescale, seemingly very slow. How far that impression is caused by taphonomy—the further back we look, the less there is to go on—and how far by the conservative nature of small-scale societies is a good question. There is no doubt about the gathering pace of change as we approach the present, however, and that is hardly surprising given the ballooning size of human populations. Twenty-first-century technology does not make us cleverer, but there are more of us around to invent things.
Journal Article