Overview

Could the circulation of objects or ideas and the mobility of artisans explain the unprecedented uniformity of the material culture observed throughout the whole of Europe? The 17 papers presented here offer a range of new and different perspectives on the Beaker phenomenon across Europe. The focus is not on Bell Beaker pottery but on social groups (craft specialists, warriors, chiefs, extended or nuclear families), using technological studies and physical anthropology to understand mobility patterns during the 3rd millennium BC. Chronological evolution is used to reconstruct the rhythm of Bell Beaker diffusion and the environmental background that could explain this mobility and the socio-economic changes observed during this period of transition toward Bronze Age societies. The chapters are mainly organised geographically, covering Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean shores and the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, includes some areas that are traditionally studied and well known, such as France, the British Isles or Central Europe, but also others that have so far been considered peripheral, such as Norway, Denmark or Galicia. This journey not only offers a complex and diverse image of Bell Beaker societies but also of a supra-regional structure that articulated a new type of society on an unprecedented scale.

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9781789253849

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In this regard, this last work presents an unmissable anthology/collection, reflecting the different traditions of research, and the diversity which leads to its richness. --Clement Nicolas Tome 113, numero 2, avril-juin 2016 This volume represents an important step in that direction, for which the editors and contributors should be warmly congratulated.

In this regard, this last work presents an unmissable anthology/collection, reflecting the different traditions of research, and the diversity which leads to its richness. --Clement Nicolas , Tome 113, numero 2, avril-juin 2016 This volume represents an important step in that direction, for which the editors and contributors should be warmly congratulated.--Clement Nicolas , Tome 113, numero 2, avril-juin 2016

In this regard, this last work presents an unmissable anthology/collection, reflecting the different traditions of research, and the diversity which leads to its richness. --Clement Nicolas Tome 113, numero 2, avril-juin 2016 This volume represents an important step in that direction, for which the editors and contributors should be warmly congratulated.

Author Information

Laure Salanova is a researcher at the CNRS, based at the Université Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense with research interests focusing on Neolithic societies, in particular Bell Beaker societies of the 3rd millennium primarily addressed through ceramic and burial assemblages Maria Pilar Prieto Martinez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and History at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain with particular research interests in the material culture of prehistoric pottery in western Europe, especially Galicia, Britain and Denmark, and the examination of ways in which social inequalities are expressed through the different dimensions of material culture, for instance in Bell Beaker using societies.

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