Culture and Change in Central European Prehistory

Culture and Change in Central European Prehistory
Author: Helle Vandkilde
Publisher: Aarhus Universitetsforlag
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2007-12-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 8779349765

This book is a cohesive overview of Central European prehistory from the introduction of agriculture around 6000 BC to the state-forming processes that began to emerge during the first millennium BC. A complex mosaic of culture, society and processes is mirrored in the material world and in certain periods involves a large part of the Eurasian continent. Culture and change must be understood as both localised and macro-regional: the book is a cultural-historical tale - inspired by, for example, the attempts of French historians to integrate different levels of history. Emphasis is laid on the eventful boom periods where innovations and cross-cultural interaction intensified in such a way that history's mainly reproductive pattern was broken. Important turning points are attached, among other things, to the first production of food, copper- and bronze metallurgy, and the sword as a weapon and symbol. These technical innovations were part of a complicated interaction with social and cultural processes, which in many cases are connected in a pattern that can be followed in time and space.

Contacts, Boundaries and Innovation in the Fifth Millennium

Contacts, Boundaries and Innovation in the Fifth Millennium
Author: Ralf Gleser
Publisher:
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2019-03-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9789088907142

The fifth millennium is characterized by far-flung contacts and a veritable flood of innovations. While its beginning is still strongly reminiscent of a broadly Linearbandkeramik way of life, at its end we find new, inter-regionally valid forms of symbolism, representation and ritual behaviour, changes in the settlement system, in architecture and in routine life. Yet, these inter-regional tendencies are paired with a profusion of increasingly small-scale archaeological cultures, many of them defined through pottery only. This tension between large-scale interaction and more local developments remains ill understood, largely because inter-regional comparisons are lacking. Contributors in this volume provide up-to-date regional overviews of the main developments in the fifth millennium and discuss, amongst others, in how far ceramically-defined 'cultures' can be seen as spatially coherent social groups with their own way of life and worldview, and how processes of innovation can be understood. Case studies range from the Neolithisation of the Netherlands, hunter-gatherer - farmer fusions in the Polish Lowlands, to the Italian Neolithic. Amongst others, they cover the circulation of stone disc-rings in western Europe, the formation of post-LBK societies in central Europe and the reliability of pottery as an indicator for social transformations.

Culture and Change in Central European Prehistory

Culture and Change in Central European Prehistory
Author: Helle Vandkilde
Publisher:
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2007
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

This book is a cohesive overview of Central European prehistory from the introduction of agriculture around 6000 BC to the state-forming processes that began to emerge during the first millennium BC. A complex mosaic of culture, society and processes is mirrored in the material world and in certain periods involves a large part of the Eurasian continent. Culture and change must be understood as both localised and macro-regional: the book is a cultural-historical tale - inspired by, for example, the attempts of French historians to integrate different levels of history. Emphasis is laid on the eventful boom periods where innovations and cross-cultural interaction intensified in such a way that history's mainly reproductive pattern was broken. Important turning points are attached, among other things, to the first production of food, copper- and bronze metallurgy, and the sword as a weapon and symbol. These technical innovations were part of a complicated interaction with social and cultural processes, which in many cases are connected in a pattern that can be followed in time and space.

European Prehistory

European Prehistory
Author: Sarunas Milisauskas
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1461507510

Sarunas Milisauskas· 1.1 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this book is four-fold: to introduce English-speaking students and scholars to some of the outstanding archaeological research that has been done in Europe in recent years; to integrate this research into an anthropological frame of reference; to address episodes of culture change such as the transition to farming; the origin of complex societies, and the origin of urbanism, and to provide an overview of European prehistory from the earliest appearance of humans to the rise of the Roman empire. In 1978, the Academic Press published my book European Prehistory which, typically for that period, emphasized cultural evolution, culture process, technology, environment, and economy. To produce a new version and an up- to-date prehistory of Europe, I have invited contributions from specialists in the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. Thus while this version of European Prehistory is a new book, however, it still incorporates some data from the 1978 version, particularly in The Present Environment and Neolithic chapters. Like its predecessor, this edition is structured around selected general topics, such as technology, trade, settlement, warfare, and ritual.

Cultural Change in East-Central European and Eurasian Spaces

Cultural Change in East-Central European and Eurasian Spaces
Author: Susan C. Pearce
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2021-03-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030631974

This book weaves together research on cultural change in Central Europe and Eurasia: notably, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. Examining massive cultural shifts in erstwhile state-communist nations since 1989, the authors analyze how the region is moving in both freeing and restrictive directions. They map out these directions in such arenas as LGBTQ protest cultures, new Russian fiction, Polish memory of Jewish heritage, ethnic nationalisms, revival of minority cultures, and loss of state support for museums. From a comparison of gender constructions in 30 national constitutions to an exploration of a cross-national artistic collaborative, this insightful book illuminates how the region’s denizens are swimming in changing tides of transnational cultures, resulting in new hybridities and innovations. Arguing for a decolonization of the region and for the significance of culture, the book appeals to a wide, interdisciplinary readership interested in cultural change, post-communist societies, and globalization.

Men and Cultures

Men and Cultures
Author: Anthony F. C. Wallace
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 848
Release: 2017-01-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1512819522

This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.

European Prehistory

European Prehistory
Author: Sarunas Milisauskas
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2011-08-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1441966331

European Prehistory: A Survey traces humans from their earliest appearance on the continent to the Rise of the Roman Empire, drawing on archaeological research from all over Europe. It includes the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. Throughout these periods, the major developments are explored using a wide range of archaeological data that emphasizes aspects of agricultural practices, gender, mortuary practices, population genetics, ritual, settlement patterns, technology, trade, and warfare. Using new methods and theories, recent discoveries and arguments are presented and previous discoveries reevaluated. This work includes chapters on European geography and the chronology of European prehistory. A new chapter has been added on the historical development of European archaeology. The remaining chapters have been contributed by archaeologists specializing in different periods. The second edition of European Prehistory: A Survey is enhanced by a glossary, three indices and a comprehensive bibliography, as well as an extensive collection of maps, chronological tables and photographs.

Climate and Cultural Change in Prehistoric Europe and the Near East

Climate and Cultural Change in Prehistoric Europe and the Near East
Author: Peter F. Biehl
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2016-11-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1438461836

Rich case studies examining responses to climatic events in ancient Europe and the Near East. The subject of climate change could hardly be more timely. In Climate and Cultural Change in Prehistoric Europe and the Near East, an interdisciplinary group of contributors examine climate change through the lens of new archaeological and paleo-environmental data over the course of more than 10,000 years from the Near East to Europe. Key climatic and other events are contextualized with cultural changes and transitions for which the authors discuss when, how, and if, changes in climate and environment caused people to adapt, move or perish. More than this publication of crucial archaeological and paleo-environmental data, however, the volume seeks to understand the social, political and economic significance of climate change as it was manifested in various ways around the Old World. Contrary to perceptions of threatening global warming in our popular media, and in contrast to grim images of collapse presented in some archaeological discussions of past climate change, this book rejects outright societal collapse as a likely outcome. Yet this does not keep the authors from considering climate change as a potential factor in explaining culture change by adopting a critical stance with regard to the long-standing practice of equating synchronicity with causality, and explicitly considering alternative explanations.

Economy and Society in Prehistoric Europe

Economy and Society in Prehistoric Europe
Author: Sherratt A. Sherratt
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2019-08-07
Genre: HISTORY
ISBN: 1474472567

This book brings together a classic collection of Andrew Sherratt's work on the economic foundations of prehistoric Europe, which have put forward important new ideas about the development of farming, pastoralism, early technology and trade. In a series of contributions that have included wide-ranging syntheses and detailed local studies, he discusses their implications for the understanding of settlement-patterns, social structures, material culture, and less tangible aspects of prehistoric life such as the spread of languages and the use of narcotics.

The Bronze Age in Europe

The Bronze Age in Europe
Author: J. M. Coles
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 626
Release: 2014-10-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317606000

This book provides an account of the development of European culture and society during the Bronze Age, the time span between c. 2000 and 700 BC. It was a period of remarkable innovation, seen for instance in the development and growth of metallurgy as a major industry, the spread of trading contacts, the origins of urbanism and the beginnings of social stratification. The study is divided chronologically into two, the earlier and later Bronze Age, giving a clear picture of the nature of the radical changes which occurred in the period as a whole. The geographical area covered, from the Atlantic shores across Europe into the Soviet Union and from northern Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, is too vast to be taken as one unit, and has been broken down into five regions; each is discussed in terms of settlement form, burial practices, ritual and religious sites, material culture, economic and social background, and trading patterns. The book describes and develops common themes that link together the different areas and cultural groups, rather than taking the typographical approach often adopted by Bronze Age specialists, and uses the results of radiocarbon dating to establish an objective chronology for the period. The text is generously illustrated and fully documented with radiocarbon dating tables and extensive bibliography. Our understanding of Bronze Age Europe is still increasing, but no other book of this scope had been written before this, in 1979. It is a major study of its time of interest to anyone looking beyond popular accounts of the day.