Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State
The Evolution of Complex Social Systems in Prehistoric Europe

An interdisciplinary group of contributors to this volume re-examine the structure and political development of Celtic states scattered across present-day Europe.

Bettina Arnold (Edited by), D. Blair Gibson (Edited by)

9780521585798, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 February 1998

172 pages, 21 maps 1 table
23.5 x 19.1 x 0.9 cm, 0.31 kg

"This stimulating book deserves to be read widely outside of `Europeanist' circles." Bernard Wailes, American Anthropologist

In this collection, archaeologists, historians, geographers and language specialists re-examine the structure and political development of Celtic states scattered across present-day Europe. The main theoretical focus is on whether and when state-level complexity was attained in the different Celtic settlements. The contributors also discuss and evaluate the various methods for studying Celtic social systems: the historical textual studies, as opposed to the analysis of the archaeological record, and the use of regional comparisons. Interweaving archaeological and textual evidence, the result is an interdisciplinary study of state formation never before attempted on such a wide scale which contributes to our understanding of social complexity in Celtic Europe, and, more generally, to the processes underlying social transformation.

1. Introduction: beyond the mists: forging an ethnological approach to Celtic studies Bettina Arnold, and D. Blair Gibson
Part I. Celtic Political Systems: Research Paradigms: 2. From chiefdom to state organization in Celtic Europe Patrice Brun
3. Building an historical ecology of Gaulish polities Carole L. Crumley
4. The early Celts of west central Europe: the semantics of social structure Franz Fischer
Part II. Recovering Iron Age Social Systems: 5. The material culture of social structure: rank and status in early Iron-Age Europe Bettina Arnold
6. The significance of major settlements in European Iron Age society Olivier Büchsenschütz
7. Early 'Celtic' socio-political relations: ideological representation and social competition in dynamic comparative perspective Michael Dietler
Part III. The Question of Statehood in La Téne Europe: 8. States without centres? The Middle La Tène period in temperate Europe John Collis
9. Late Iron-Age society in Britain and north-east Europe: structural transformation or superficial change? Colin Haselgrove
10. Settlement and social systems at the end of the Iron Age Peter S. Wells
Part IV. Evolution and Ethnohistory: the Protohistoric Polities of Gaul and the British Isles: 11. Modelling chiefdoms in the Scottish Highlands and islands prior to the '45 Robert A. Dodgshon
12. Caesar's perception of Gallic social structures Sean B. Dunham
13. Chiefdoms, confederacies, and statehood in early Ireland D. Blair Gibson
14. Clans are not primordial: pre-Viking Irish society and the modelling of pre-Roman societies in northern Europe Nerys Thomas Patterson.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], European history [HBJD]