|
Showing 1 - 5 of
5 matches in All Departments
This catalogue accompanies an international exhibition, "First
Kings of Europe," and another volume also published by the Cotsen
Institute, First Kings of Europe: From Farmers to Rulers in
Prehistoric Southeastern Europe, that examine the artifacts and
cultures of this area from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Over
several millennia, early agricultural villages gave rise to tribal
kingdoms and monarchies, replacing smaller, more egalitarian social
structures with complex state organizations led by royal
individuals invested with power. Several hundred objects and
artifacts in the exhibition are portrayed in the catalog,
accompanied by introductory text and detailed entries for each
item. The spectacular and highly detailed color photographs
introduce us to the gold and silver ornaments, bronze and iron
weaponry, rich metal hoards and magnificent ceremonial vessels that
are masterpieces from this period of history. Many of them have
never left their countries of origin, making the two volumes
documenting them an opportunity not to miss.
A group of scholars analyse and interpret data and artifacts from
the most important museum collections in central Europe and the
Balkans, illustrating the evolution, beginning in the Copper Age,
of political hierarchy in this region. Over a span of four
millennia, early agricultural villages gave rise to Europe's first
kingdoms and monarchies, the first complex state organisations.
This edited book describes the multi-disciplinary research
conducted by the Koeroes Regional Archaeological Project in
southeastern Hungary from 2000-2007. Centred around two Early
Copper Age Tiszapolgar culture villages in the Koeroes Region of
the Great Hungarian Plain, Veszto-Bikeri and Koeroesladany-Bikeri,
the research incorporated excavation, surface collection,
geophysical survey and soil chemistry to investigate settlement
layout and organization. The transition from the Neolithic period
to the Copper Age in the northern Balkans and the Carpathian Basin
was marked by significant changes in material culture, settlement
layout and organization, and mortuary practices that indicate
fundamental social transformations in the middle of the fifth
millennium BC. Prior research into the Late Neolithic of the region
focused almost exclusively on fortified 'tell' settlements. The
Early Copper Age, by contrast, was known primarily from cemeteries
such as the type site of Tiszapolgar-Basatanya. The Project's
results yielded the first extensive, systematically collected
datasets from Early Copper Age settlements on the Great Hungarian
Plain. The two adjacent villages at Bikeri, located only 70 m
apart, were similar in size, and both were protected with
fortifications. Relative and absolute dates demonstrate that they
were occupied sequentially during the Early Copper Age, from ca.
4600-4200 cal B.C. The excavated assemblages from the sites are
strikingly similar, suggesting that both were occupied by the same
community. This process of settlement relocation after only a few
generations breaks from the longer-lasting settlement pattern that
are typical of the Late Neolithic.
The Archaeology of Nucleation in the Old World explores the role of
the built environment in expressing and shaping community
organization and identity at prehistoric and historic nucleated
settlements and early cities in the Old World. The spatial layout
of large settlements results from the interaction of social,
political, economic, and religious orders. Subsequent structural
changes governed by the application, manipulation, and challenges
of these orders yield a dynamic built environment which influences
the processes of organization and identity formation. Taking
advantage of advances in archaeological methods and theory that
allow investigations of nucleated settlements to an extent and
depth of detail that was previously impossible, the contributors to
this volume address specific topics, such as how the built
environment and location of activity zones help us to understand
social configurations; how various scales of social units can be
recognized and the resulting patterns interpreted; how collective
actions contribute to settlement organization and community
integrity; how changes in social relations are reflected in the
development of the built environment; how cooperation and
competition as well as measures to mitigate social and
communication stress can be identified in the archaeological
record; and how the built environment was used to express or
manipulate identity.
|
|