Megalithic Tombs in Western Iberia

Megalithic Tombs in Western Iberia
Author: Chris Scarre
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2019-12-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1785709836

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?

Emerging Complexity

Emerging Complexity
Author: Robert Chapman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1990-04-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521232074

At the heart of Emerging Complexity is the thesis that complex societies developed independently during the Copper and Bronze Ages in south-east Spain.

The Archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula

The Archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula
Author: Katina T. Lillios
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2020
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107113342

One of the only guides to the prehistoric archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula that engages with key anthropological and archaeological debates.

Land-use and Prehistory in South-East Spain

Land-use and Prehistory in South-East Spain
Author: A. Gilman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2014-10-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 131760475X

Based on a major research programme, and originally published in 1985, this book looked to provide an economic foundation for reinterpreting the Neolithic-Bronze Age sequence of South-east Spain in terms of emergent social complexity. The cultural evolution of the area had already been considered in terms of influence from the eastern Mediterranean but this book uses site catchment analysis to give an economic baseline for all thirty-five of the better-known prehistoric settlements of the region. Site catchment analysis assumes that people minimised transport costs in production and that ancient and modern resource spaces correspond systematically. This research therefore studied modern land use and combined it with evidence from historical, archaeological and geomorphological investigation. The book shows the increasing social complexity evident in the archaeological record emerging as a result of progressive intensification of agricultural technique. Offering a complete coherent evolutionary model for the archaeological sequence of the region’s prehistory, this book is a worthy in-depth study for prehistorians, geographers and anyone interested in the history of the western Mediterranean.

Archaeological Encounters

Archaeological Encounters
Author: Margarita Díaz-Andreu
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 490
Release: 2012-11-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1443842761

This book examines the relationship between British and Spanish archaeology in the light of international geographies of knowledge. It looks at the practical aspects of the personal relationships established between British and Spanish prehistoric archaeologists from the 1920s to the 1970s. Part I of the book sets the scene. It provides some contextual information on the main events in the archaeology of both countries in the period under study. It also introduces Professor Luis Pericot, the archaeologist whose archive serves as the basis for much of what is discussed throughout the following chapters. In Part II of the book an analysis of the correspondence held in the Pericot Archive (the Fons Pericot in the Biblioteca de Catalunya) is undertaken. The examination of the letters exchanged between Spanish and British prehistorians in general, and in particular between Luis Pericot and about a dozen major British scholars of his time, allows the reconstruction of the nature of the relationships formed between them. The analysis has been divided into three chapters, corresponding to the three main towns where his correspondents lived for most of their academic careers: London, Cambridge and Oxford. In Part III of the book the information obtained from the correspondence is then complemented and re-examined, considering three main aspects: the production, transmission and reception of knowledge. This analysis puts together aspects discussed in Part I of the book with the data gathered from the letters in Part II, as well as other information provided by publications including translations and reviews. First of all an assessment is made as to whether the geographical context affected the way knowledge of prehistoric archaeology was produced. Secondly, the mechanisms and networks that allowed the international transmission of both ideas and practices linked to prehistoric archaeology are assessed. A third aspect looked into is the reception of knowledge, linking this with issues such as academic prestige and authority.

Computational Approaches to the Study of Movement in Archaeology

Computational Approaches to the Study of Movement in Archaeology
Author: Silvia Polla
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2014-07-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110377136

This book contains a collection of papers discussing questions related to space and movement in the framework of computational archaeology, landscape archaeology, historical geography and archaeological theory. The contributions, written by recognized experts in the field, show how the study of settlements pattern and movement has been dramatically transformed by the use of technology like Geographic Information System (GIS). The papers focus on the ways to approach past movement using GIS in archaeological landscape studies: theoretical, technical and interpretative issues are addressed and explored. They provide the state of the art in theory and methodology and show, by using case studies, the potential of the developed approaches for the understanding of factors and effects of landscape formation and transformation in the long term.

Antiquity

Antiquity
Author: Osbert Guy Stanhope Crawford
Publisher:
Total Pages: 640
Release: 1980
Genre: Archaeology
ISBN:

Includes section "Reviews."

Space and Time in Mediterranean Prehistory

Space and Time in Mediterranean Prehistory
Author: Stella Souvatzi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2013-10-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1135042888

Space and Time in Mediterranean Prehistory addresses these two concepts as interrelated, rather than as separate categories, and as a means for understanding past social relations at different scales. The need for this volume was realised through four main observations: the ever growing interest in space and spatiality across the social sciences; the comparative theoretical and methodological neglect of time and temporality; the lack in the existing literature of an explicit and balanced focus on both space and time; and the large amount of new information coming from prehistoric Mediterranean. It focuses on the active and interactive role of space and time in the production of any social environment, drawing equally on contemporary theory and on case-studies from Mediterranean prehistory. Space and Time in Mediterranean Prehistory seeks to break down the space-time continuum, often assumed rather than inferred, into space-time units and to uncover the varying and variable interrelations of space and time in prehistoric societies across the Mediterranean. The volume is a response to the dissatisfaction with traditional views of space and time in prehistory and revisits these concepts to develop a timely integrative conceptual and analytical framework for the study of space and time in archaeology.

Atlantic Europe in the First Millennium BC

Atlantic Europe in the First Millennium BC
Author: Thomas Hugh Moore
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 720
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199567956

This volume of 33 papers on the Atlantic region of Western Europe in the first millennium BC reflects a diverse range of theoretical approaches, techniques, and methodologies across current research, and is an opportunity to compare approaches to the first millennium BC from different national and theoretical perspectives.

The Origins of Transhumant Pastoralism in Temperate Southeastern Europe

The Origins of Transhumant Pastoralism in Temperate Southeastern Europe
Author: Elizabeth R. Arnold
Publisher: British Archaeological Reports Oxford Limited
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2006
Genre: History
ISBN:

Chapter 7 describes the data examined in this investigation. In the chapter, each site is described, including site location, environment and nature of deposits. The mandibular and loose teeth remains are quantified by species and by major period. It also describes the thin sectioning data, both the modern comparative collection and the archaeological sample. Chapter 8 presents the results of the data analysis. The first part focuses on the tooth wear and eruption data, examining both production strategies and implications for the transhumant movement of herds. The second part focuses on the thin sectioning results. Chapter 9 presents the final conclusions regarding the data and discusses their implication in terms of the origins of transhumant pastoralism in the northern Balkans.