An Ethnography of the Neolithic
An Ethnography of the Neolithic
£32.00
GBPArchaeological research in Sweden and Denmark has uncovered a startling array of evidence over the last 150 years, but until now there has been no comprehensive synthesis and interpretation of the material. An Ethnography of the Neolithic bridges this gap, giving an accessible and up-to-date analysis of a wide range of evidence, from landscapes to monumental tombs to portable artifacts. Christopher Tilley also uses this material as a basis for a provocative and novel reconstruction of late Mesolithic and earlier Neolithic societies in southern Scandinavia, over a period of 3,000 years. His skilful integration of archaeological evidence with new anthropological approaches makes this book an original contribution to an important topic, whose significance stretches outside Scandinavia, and beyond the Neolithic.
- Shows how archaeologists can produce a social interpretation of the past
- Provides an up-to-date synthesis of earlier Scandinavian prehistory
- Written in an accessible way, with well over a hundred plates, figures, maps etc
Reviews & endorsements
'… incomparable in terms of perception and correlation.' Neil Mortimer, 3rd Stone
'… what has rarely been seen before is the degree of comparative interpretation that is employed here to create a view of prehistory that hitherto has been beyond our reach.' Neil Mortimer, 3rd Stone
Product details
October 2003Paperback
9780521568210
388 pages
190 × 247 × 23 mm
0.706kg
68 b/w illus. 19 colour illus. 35 maps 34 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- Part I. The Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic:
- 1. The original affluent society
- 2. Axes, pots and monuments
- Part II. Stone Monuments and Society in the Middle Neolithic:
- 3. Monument construction and social competition
- 4. Settlement, tomb and landscape
- 5. Death and body symbolism
- 6. The social lives of artifacts
- 7. Neolithic politics and a religion of the body
- 8. Epilogue: working with metaphors.
