Overview

Aspects of the Bronze Age in the Atlantic Archipelago and Beyond presents twenty-one contributions, mostly originating from the Belfast Bronze Age Forum of 2013, supplemented with new research to create an unusually coherent collection of peer-reviewed studies. Far more than typical conference proceedings, this volume offers a benchmark exploration of the Bronze Age in Ireland, Britain, and its wider European context. Organised into three thematic sections—Concepts, Chronologies and Connections; Mining, Metalworking and Artefact Studies; and Landscape, Settlement and Rock Art—the book traces the threads of technology, exchange, and identity that ran throughout Atlantic Europe. In the introductory contribution, the editor revisits the influential notion of the ‘Atlantic Bronze Age’, charting how this concept evolved and morphed over time, while also questioning models such as the ‘Celtic from the West’ hypothesis. Other contributions highlight the significance of local dynamics within this broader zone: the Isles of Scilly, the Isle of Man, and Ireland’s western reaches emerge as striking case studies of communities negotiating contact, isolation, and innovation. The volume also showcases cutting-edge archaeological science, from tracing copper sources at the Great Orme and at Derrycarhoon, to analyses of cauldrons, razors, halberds and sword moulds, revealing both technological sophistication and ritual dimensions of material culture. Papers on hillforts, burnt mounds, and reused rock art further illuminate places of gathering, memory, and transformation in the Bronze Age landscape. Praised by one of its reviewers as ‘a vital reference point for Atlantic Bronze Age studies’, this volume combines breadth with depth, presenting fresh discoveries alongside critical reflections on old debates. Reissued here in a new edition, it remains indispensable for students, researchers, and anyone interested in the social and cultural worlds of Bronze Age Europe.

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9781805831297

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Dirk Brandherm is Reader in Prehistory at Queen’s University Belfast and current President of the UISPP’s Metal Ages commission. His research interests are primarily concerned with exploring the dynamics of societal change in later prehistory, particularly in the Chalcolithic and in the Bronze and Iron Ages of Western Europe and the Mediterranean.

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