During HaA-HaB, many settlements were established in Silesia and in the central part of Poland, and their stability seems to be confirmed by the existence of regional groups and subgroups, by long-lasting colonies, and by long-used burial grounds, located at large settlements. At the end of HaB, many pre-Scythian elements occurred in this area, only partly influenced by the Cimmerians . During that period the peoples living north of the Carpathian and Sudeten Mountains remained very dependent on the productive and cultural circle south of the Carpathians, with which they maintained strong connections . The Lusatian settlement zone , apart from its increasing internal stability, also tended to extend its range . A partition of the Lusatian Culture, which had appeared earlier , became more pronounced under the strong influence of the East Hallstatt cultural and productive center in the eastern Alpine region , and the so-called amber route . The eastern zone of the Lusatian Culture remained under the influence of the Carpathian center, while the western zone was strongly influenced by the pre-Celtic (Bylanska or Horakowska) and northern Illyrian (Calon denberian) cultures. In HaD2' ca. 520-500 B.C., this latter area was the site of an armed incursion of Scythian groups coming from the east through the Karpacka Valley. The most characteristic features of the western zone include its own varieties of more general Hallstatt traits , such as fortified settlements (which date from HaA in the Lusatian Culture) , production of iron (done domestically since HaD), and decorated pottery.

This volume includes "The Influence of Nineteenth-Century Anthologies of Celtic Music in Redefining Celtic Nationalism," by Graham Aubrey; "Breuddwyd Rhonabwy and Memoria," by Matthieu Boyd; "A Reactionary Dimension in Progressive Revolutionary Theories? The Case of James Connolly's Socialism Founded on the Re-Conversion of Ireland to the Celtic System of Common Ownership," by Olivier Coquelin; "The Spiteful Tongue: Breton Song Practices and the Art of the Insult," by Natalie A. Franz; "Celtic Democracy: Appreciating the Role Played by Alliances and Elections in Celtic Political Systems," by D. Blair Gibson; "Pendragon's Ancestors," by Nathalie Ginoux; "When Historians Study Breton Oral Ballads: A Cultural Approach," by Eva Guillorel; "Textual and Historical Evidence for an Early British Tristan Tradition," by Sabine Heinz; "Time and the Irish: An Analysis of the Temporal Frameworks Employed by Sir Henry Maine, Eoin MacNeill, and James Connolly in Their Writings on Early Modern Ireland," by Heather Laird; "'And thus I will it': Queen Medh and the Will to Power," by Edyta Lehmann; "Judas, His Sister, and the Miraculous Cock in the Middle Irish Poem Crist ro crochadh," by Christopher Leydon; "Se principen nominat: Rhetorical Self-Fashioning and Epistolary Style in the Letters of Owain Gwynedd," by Patricia Malone; "Abduction, Swordplay, Monsters, and Mistrust: Findabair, Gwenhwyfa, and the Restoration of Honour," by Sharon Paice MacLeod; and "Performing a Literary Paternity Test: Bonedd yr Arwyr and the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi," by Sarah Zeiser.

During HaA-HaB, many settlements were established in Silesia and in the central part of Poland, and their stability seems to be confirmed by the existence of regional groups and subgroups, by long-lasting colonies, and by long-used burial grounds, located at large settlements. At the end of HaB, many pre-Scythian elements occurred in this area, only partly influenced by the Cimmerians . During that period the peoples living north of the Carpathian and Sudeten Mountains remained very dependent on the productive and cultural circle south of the Carpathians, with which they maintained strong connections . The Lusatian settlement zone , apart from its increasing internal stability, also tended to extend its range . A partition of the Lusatian Culture, which had appeared earlier , became more pronounced under the strong influence of the East Hallstatt cultural and productive center in the eastern Alpine region , and the so-called amber route . The eastern zone of the Lusatian Culture remained under the influence of the Carpathian center, while the western zone was strongly influenced by the pre-Celtic (Bylanska or Horakowska) and northern Illyrian (Calon denberian) cultures. In HaD2' ca. 520-500 B.C., this latter area was the site of an armed incursion of Scythian groups coming from the east through the Karpacka Valley. The most characteristic features of the western zone include its own varieties of more general Hallstatt traits , such as fortified settlements (which date from HaA in the Lusatian Culture) , production of iron (done domestically since HaD), and decorated pottery.

This book tracks the development of social complexity in Ireland from the late prehistoric period on into the Middle Ages. Using a range of methods and techniques, particularly data from settlement patterns, Blair Gibson demonstrates how Ireland evolved from constellations of chiefdoms into a political entity bearing the characteristics of a rudimentary state. This book argues that early medieval Ireland's highly complex political systems should be viewed as amalgams of chiefdoms with democratic procedures for choosing leaders rather than kingdoms. Gibson explores how these chiefdom confederacies eventually transformed into recognizable states over a period of 1,400 years.

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.