Challenging Preconceptions of the European Iron Age is a collection of essays by some of the leading researchers in the archaeology of the European Iron Age, paying tribute to Professor John Collis. Since the 1960s, John has been involved in investigating and enriching our understanding of Iron Age society, and crucially, questioning the status quo of our narratives about the past. He has influenced generations of students and peers alike, and has been one the strongest voices in the demystification of the ‘Celtic’ world. This volume brings together papers from more than a dozen of Professor Collis’s colleagues and students to mark his 75th birthday. The contributions range across later prehistory and the European continent, taking in major themes that have been his prime interests - hillforts, data, urbanism, and ‘the Celts’.

Barbaric Splendour: the use of image before and after Rome comprises a collection of essays comparing late Iron Age and Early Medieval art. Though this is an unconventional approach, there are obvious grounds for comparison. Images from both periods revel in complex compositions in which it is hard to distinguish figural elements from geometric patterns. Moreover, in both periods, images rarely stood alone and for their own sake. Instead, they decorated other forms of material culture, particularly items of personal adornment and weaponry. The key comparison, however, is the relationship of these images to those of Rome. Fundamentally, the book asks what making images meant on the fringe of an expanding or contracting empire, particularly as the art from both periods drew heavily from - but radically transformed - imperial imagery.