Overview

Shining a light on some of the most interesting research results on megalithic cultures, as well as their contemporaries, these 16 papers from the European Megalithic Studies Group symposium (Santiago de Compostela, Spain), cover monuments from Germany, moving down the Atlantic Facade across to Ireland and then back to the Western Mediterranean. Issues presented in this volume include temporality and mobility (both at the broad scale and at the local scale), social organisation & settings and external relationships. The methods used to investigate these themes are various: bio-molecular and isotopic analyses, typo-chronology, targeted excavations & radiocarbon dating, material cultural analyses, 3D models, ceremonial & funerary/burial practices (including osteometrics) and large-scale prospection. New methods researching the materiality and symbolism of monuments are also presented; some incorporate the role of the natural world. Alongside them are other contributions focusing on the key characteristic of megalithic monuments – the skilful and purposeful arrangement of large blocks of stone – and their interpretation. Discoveries include the intriguing return of large & complex ceremonial timber circles in active megalithic areas, presenting a significant contrast to what was considered the main funerary expressions in South Portugal. Ultimately, through the application of new, or differently applied, technologies and ways of thinking, this volume offers a series of studies that remove some of the mystery that surrounds these mementos of another time.

Full Product Details

Author:   Gail M. Higginbottom ,  Jadranka Verdonkschot ,  Chris Scarre ,  A. César González-García
Publisher:   Archaeopress
Imprint:   Archaeopress Archaeology
Weight:   1.397kg
ISBN:  

9781805830764

ISBN 10:   1805830767
Pages:   299
Publication Date:   05 March 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

List of editors and main affiliations List of Symposium Speakers – Talks listed if no book chapter List of Volume Contributors (Alphabetical) List of chapter reviewers List of Figures and Tables Preface   Chapter 1: Time, mobility and society: new approaches to megalithic monumentality in western and northern Europe – Chris Scarre Chapter 2: Towards a High-Resolution Chronology of Major Megalithic Monuments: Menga and Montelirio (Andalusia, Spain) – Leonardo García Sanjuán, Marta Díaz-Guardamino and Francisco José Sánchez-Díaz Chapter 3: Dissolving and contrasting. The secondary deposition of human cremains at Perdigões enclosure (3rd millennium BC, South Portugal) – Antonio Valera and Lucy Shaw Evangelista Chapter 4: Para-megalithism: alternative routes to understanding big stones – Jessica Smyth Chapter 5: Funnel Beaker Culture megaliths in northern Germany. A comparison of architectural elements between three regions – Anja Behrens Chapter 6: Sardinian megalithic and rock-cut tombs in the context of the prehistoric western Mediterranean – Maria Grazia Melis Chapter 7: Megaliths: the singularity of each element. Appropriation of distinct entities versus geometric constructions – Luc Laporte Chapter 8: Current Research on Westphalian Megaliths – Kerstin Schierhold Chapter 9: Preserved and demolished megaliths from the Danish Funnel Beaker Culture – Niels H. Andersen Chapter 10: ‘Linking megaliths’. A computational approach to the study of movement and mobility in the megalithic complex of Galicia (Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula) – Miguel Carrero-Pazos and Devin A. White Chapter 11: Multi-method geophysical survey in megalithic landscapes: case studies from Ireland and Sweden – Stephen Davis, Tony Axelsson, Knut Rassmann and Karl-Göran Sjögren Chapter 12: Geoglyphs, petroglyphs, and megaliths – Richard Bradley Chapter 13: Building Space. A Structural Model of Space in Megalithic Landscapes – Felipe Criado-Boado and Jadranka Verdonkschot Chapter 14: Fathoming megaliths: social proxies and indictors for the study of the dolmens – Gail Higginbottom Chapter 15: A Reappraisal of Megalithic Orientations from Iberia and beyond: towards models of interpretation – A. César González-García Chapter 16: Monuments of the Dynasties – Monuments of the People? Megaliths in Europe – Johannes Müller

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Author Information

Gail Higginbottom has a PhD (Arts, Adelaide) and is a postdoctoral researcher (XSCAPE Material Minds 2024) at the Institute of Heritage Sciences (INCIPIT-CSIC, Santiago de Compostela). Jadranka Verdonkschot has a PhD in Archaeology from the Universities of Amsterdam and Alcalá de Henares and is a postdoctoral researcher for XSCAPE Material Minds at the Institute of Heritage Sciences (INCIPIT-CSIC, Santiago de Compostela). Chris Scarre has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at Durham University. A. César González-García has a PhD in Astronomy from the RijkUniversiteit Groningen and is a staff researcher at the Institute of Heritage Sciences (INCIPIT-CSIC, Santiago de Compostela). Felipe Criado-Boado, Professor of Research, Institute of Heritage Sciences (INCIPIT-CSIC, Santiago de Compostela). He is Honorary Research Associate of McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and Research Professor at the CSIC.

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