The Nuragic 'civilization' of Bronze and Iron Age Sardinia, known for its monumental stone towers, sacred wells and peculiar bronze votive figurines, has long fascinated travellers and archaeologists. Yet only recently have scholars outside the island recognized the potential significance of these unique island societies in the development of broader ancient Mediterranean cultural patterns. One reason has been the relative inaccessibility of recent reference works on the Nuragic evidence. The present Prehistory attempts to remedy the need for a complete and up-to-date synthesis of all extant evidence on Nuragic settlement, technology, economy, trade and ritual. This original interpretation of archaeological, historical and iconographic data constitutes the first modern study of the origins and development of these societies to appear in English.

The Bronze Age, so named because of the technological advances in metalworking and countless innovations in the manufacture and design of tools and weapons, is among the most fascinating periods in human history. Archaeology has taught us much about the way of life, habits and homes of Bronze Age people, but as yet little has been written about warfare. What was Bronze Age warfare like? How did people fight and against whom? What weapons were used? Did they fortify their settlements, and, if so, were these intended as defensive or offensive structures? This detailed and fully illustrated study of warfare in Bronze Age Europe, aims to answer these and many other questions.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the archaeology of Mediterranean prehistory and an essential reference to the most recent research and fieldwork. Only book available to offer general coverage of Mediterranean prehistory Written by 14 of the leading archaeologists in the field Spans the Neolithic through the Iron Age, and draws from all the major regions of the Mediterranean's coast and islands Presents the central debates in Mediterranean prehistory---trade and interaction, rural economies, ritual, social structure, gender, monumentality, insularity, archaeometallurgy and the metals trade, stone technologies, settlement, and maritime traffic---as well as contemporary legacies of the region's prehistoric past Structure of text is pedagogically driven Engages diverse theoretical approaches so students will see the benefits of multivocality

The Cambridge Prehistory of the Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean offers new insights into the material and social practices of many different Mediterranean peoples during the Bronze and Iron Ages, presenting in particular those features that both connect and distinguish them. Contributors discuss in depth a range of topics that motivate and structure Mediterranean archaeology today, including insularity and connectivity; mobility, migration, and colonization; hybridization and cultural encounters; materiality, memory, and identity; community and household; life and death; and ritual and ideology. The volume's broad coverage of different approaches and contemporary archaeological practices will help practitioners of Mediterranean archaeology to move the subject forward in new and dynamic ways. Together, the essays in this volume shed new light on the people, ideas, and materials that make up the world of Mediterranean archaeology today, beyond the borders that separate Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Ancient Greek migrants in Sicily produced societies and economies that both paralleled and differed from their homeland. Explanations for these similarities and differences have been hotly debated. On the one hand, some scholars have viewed the ancient Greeks as one in a long line of migrants who were shaped by Sicily and its inhabitants. On the other hand, other scholars have argued that the Greeks acted as the main source of innovation and achievement in the culture of ancient Sicily, a culture that was still removed from that of mainland Greece. Neither of these positions is completely satisfactory. What is lacking in this debate is a basic framework for understanding ancient Sicily's social and economic history. Archaic and Classical Greek Sicily represents the first ever systematic and comprehensive attempt to synthesize the historical and archaeological evidence, and to deploy it to test the various historical models proposed over the past two centuries. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach that combines classical and prehistoric studies, texts and material culture, and a variety of methods and theories to put the history of Greek Sicily on a completely new footing. While Sicily and Greece had conjoined histories from the start, their relationship was not one of periphery and center or of colony and state in any sense, but of an interdependent and mutually enriching diaspora. At the same time, local conditions and peoples, including Phoenician migrants, also shaped the evolution of Sicilian Greek societies and economies. This book reveals and explains the similarities and differences between developments in Greek Sicily and the mainland, and brings greater clarity to the parts played by locals and immigrants in ancient Sicily's impressive achievements.

What constitutes an island and the archaeology contained within? Is it the physicality of its boundary (between shoreline and sea)? Does this physical barrier extend further into a watery zone? Archaeologically, can islands be defined by cultural heritage and influence? Clearly, and based on these few probing questions, islands are more than just lumps of rock and earth sitting in the middle of a sea or ocean. An island is a space which, when described in terms of topography, landscape form and resources, becomes a place. A place can sometimes be delineated with barriers and boundaries; it may also have a perimeter and can be distinguished from the space that surrounds it. The 16 papers presented here explore the physicality, and levels of insularity of individual islands and island groups during prehistory through a series of case studies on Neolithic island archaeology in the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions. For the eastern Atlantic (the Atlantic Archipelago) papers discuss the sacred geographies and material culture of Neolithic Gotland, Orkney, and Anglesey and the architecture of and ritual behavior associated with megalithic monuments in the Channel Islands and the Scilly Isles. The Mediterranean region is represented by a different type of Neolithic, both in terms of architecture and material culture. Papers discuss theoretical constructs and ritual deposition, cave sites, ritualized and religious aspects of Neolithic death and burial; metaphysical journeys associated with the underworld in Late Neolithic Malta and the possible role of its Temple Period art in ritual activities; and palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Neolithic monuments of Corsica. The cases examined illustrate the diversity of the evidence available that affords a better understanding of the European-Mediterranean Neolithic 'island society', not least the effects of interaction/contact and/or geographical insularity/isolation, all factors that are considered to have consequences for the establishment and modification of cultures in island settings.

Dominating world politics since 1945, the Cold War created a fragile peace while suppressing national groups in the Cold War's most dangerous theater—Europe. Today, with the collapse of Communism, the European Continent is again overshadowed by the specter of radical nationalism, as it was at the beginning of the century. Focusing on the many possible conflicts that dot the European landscape, this book is the first to address the Europeans as distinct national groups, not as nation-states and national minorities. It is an essential guide to the national groups populating the so-called Old World-groups that continue to dominate world headlines and present the world community with some of its most intractable conflicts. While other recent reference books on Europe approach the subject of nations and nationalism from the perspective of the European Union and the nation-state, this book addresses the post-Cold War nationalist resurgence by focusing on the most basic element of any nationalism—the nation. It includes entries on nearly 150 groups, surveying these groups from the earliest period of their national histories to the dawn of the 21st century. In short essays highlighting the political, social, economic, and historical evolution of peoples claiming a distinct identity in an increasingly integrated continent, the book provides both up-to-date information and historical background on the European national groups that are currently making the news and those that will produce future headlines.

A systematic survey of archaic Greek society and culture which introduces the reader to a wide range of new approaches to the period. The first comprehensive and accessible survey of developments in the study of archaic Greece Places Greek society of c.750-480 BCE in its chronological and geographical context Gives equal emphasis to established topics such as tyranny and political reform and newer subjects like gender and ethnicity Combines accounts of historical developments with regional surveys of archaeological evidence and in-depth treatments of selected themes Explores the impact of Eastern and other non-Greek cultures in the development of Greece Uses archaeological and literary evidence to reconstruct broad patterns of social and cultural development

In this book, Sarah Murray provides a comprehensive treatment of textual and archaeological evidence for the long-distance trade economy of Greece across 600 years during the transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age. Analyzing the finished objects that sustained this kind of trade, she also situates these artifacts within the broader context of the ancient Mediterranean economy, including evidence for the import and export of commodities as well as demographic change. Murray argues that our current model of exchange during the Late Bronze Age is in need of a thoroughgoing reformulation. She demonstrates that the association of imported objects with elite self-fashioning is not supported by the evidence from any period in early Greek history. Moreover, the notional 'decline' in trade during Greece's purported Dark Age appears to be the result of severe economic contraction, rather than a severance of access to trade routes.

This project examines the long-term responses of indigenous societies in Sicily and Sardinia to colonial religion in the ancient western Mediterranean. It conducts a comparative analysis of religious developments among indigenous, Greek, and Phoenician communities between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. It shows that while indigenous communities near Greek colonies in Sicily integrated Greek-style material culture and practices into their religious lives, those near Phoenician colonies in Sardinia and Sicily showed much less interest in Phoenician material culture and religion. This contrast is then explained in terms of the greater social accessibility and more communal features of Greek polis religion, which made its practices and material culture broadly attractive across cultural divides in a time of rapid social change.