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| Title: | Culture & Change in Central European Prehistory
: 6th to 1st millennium BC |
| Author: | Helle Vandkilde |
| ISBN: | 8779342450 : 9788779342453 |
| Illustrations: | illus |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Size: | 175x250mm |
| Pages: | 240 |
| Weight: | .544 Kg. |
| Published: | Aarhus University Press - October 2007 |
| List Price: | 18.95 Pounds Sterling |
| Availability: | In Print |
| Subjects: | World history: BCE to c500 CE: ARCHAEOLOGY: SOCIOLOGY; SOCIAL STUDIES: EUROPE |
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.
Preface; Culture and Change: Interpretative Framework; The First Food Producing Communities; The Social Breakthrough of Copper-based Metallurgy; Social Integration of Secondary Products; Elitist Conduct and Commemoration of Warriorhood; Bronze Metallurgy and Social Hierarchy; The Golden Age of the Sword; Towards Urbanisation and State Formation: Conclusions; References and Further Reading; Geographical Index; Index of Names; Subject Index.
