Organizing Bronze Age Societies
The Mediterranean, Central Europe, and Scandanavia Compared

In-depth, comparative study of household economy and settlement in three Bronze Age micro-regions: the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and Northern Europe.

Timothy Earle (Edited by), Kristian Kristiansen (Edited by)

9780521764667, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 August 2010

328 pages, 70 b/w illus. 1 map 16 tables
26 x 18.4 x 2.3 cm, 0.76 kg

'The ambition shown here is all too rare in archaeology.' The Times Literary Supplement

The Bronze Age was a formative period in European history when the organisation of landscapes, settlements, and economy reached a new level of complexity. This book presents the first in-depth, comparative study of household economy and settlement in three micro-regions: the Mediterranean (Sicily), Central Europe (Hungary), and Northern Europe (South Scandinavia). The results are based on ten years of fieldwork in a similar method of documentation, and scientific analyses were used in each of the regional studies, making controlled comparisons possible. The new evidence demonstrates how differences in settlement organisation and household economies were counterbalanced by similarities in the organised use of the landscape in an economy dominated by the herding of large flocks of sheep and cattle. This book's innovative theoretical and methodological approaches will be of relevance to all researchers of landscape and settlement history.

1. Introduction: theory and practice in the late prehistory of Europe Timothy Earle and Kristian Kristiansen
2. The palaeo-environment of Bronze Age Europe Charles French
3. Regional settlement pattern Magnus Artursson
4. Settlement structure and organization Timothy Earle and Michael J. Kolb
5. Households Marie Louise Sørensen
6. Subsistence strategies Maria Vretemark, Hans-Peter Stika and Brigitta Berzsényi
7. Technology and craft Joanna Sofaer
8. Organizing Bronze Age societies: concluding thoughts Timothy Earle and Kristian Kristiansen.

Subject Areas: Prehistoric archaeology [HDDA]