Overview

This volume explores the pervasive influence exerted by some prehistoric monuments on European social life over thousands of years, and reveals how they can act as a node linking people through time, possessing huge ideological and political significance. Through the advancement of theoretical approaches and scientific methodologies, archaeologists have been able to investigate how some of these monuments provide resources to negotiate memories, identities, and power and social relations throughout European history.The essays in this collection examine the life-histories of carefully chosen megalithic monuments, stelae and statue-menhirs, and rock art sites of various European and Mediterranean regions during the Iron Age and Roman and Medieval times. By focusing on the concrete interaction between people, monuments, and places, the volume offers an innovative outlook on a variety of debated issues. Prominent among these is the role of ancient remains in the creation, institutionalization, contestation, and negotiation of social identities and memories, as well as their relationship with political economy in early historic European societies.By contributing to current theoretical debates on materiality, landscape, and place-making, The Lives of Prehistoric Monuments in Iron Age, Roman, and Medieval Europe seeks to overcome disciplinary boundaries between prehistory and history, and highlight the long-term, genealogical nature of our engagement with the world.

Full Product Details

Author:   Marta Díaz-Guardamino (, Research Fellow, University of Southampton) ,  Leonardo García Sanjuán (Senior Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, University of Seville) ,  David Wheatley (Senior Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.10cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 22.20cm
Weight:   0.666kg
ISBN:  

9780198724605

ISBN 10:   0198724608
Pages:   376
Publication Date:   01 October 2015
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Preface List of Figures List of Tables Contributors Part I: Introduction 1: Marta Díaz-Guardamino, Leonardo García Sanjuán, and David Wheatley: The Lives of Prehistoric Monuments in Europe: An Introduction 2: Joyce E. Salisbury: Before the Standing Stones: From Land Forms to Religious Attitudes and Monumentality Part II: Case Studies 3: Steen Hvass: Kings' Jelling: Monuments with Outstanding Biographies in the Heart of Denmark 4: Gabriel Cooney: Icons of Antiquity: Remaking Megalithic Monuments in Ireland 5: Howard Williams: Beowulf and Archaeology: Megaliths Imagined and Encountered in Early Medieval Europe 6: David Wheatley: Myth, Memento and Memory: Avebury (Wiltshire, England) 7: Heather Sebire: Les Pierres de Memoire: The Life History of two Statue-Menhirs from Guernsey, Channel Islands 8: Luc Laporte, Marie-Yvane Daire, Gwenolé Kerdivel and Elías López-Romero: Back and Forward: Neolithic Standing Stones and Iron Age Stelae in French Brittany 9: Mara Vejby: Enduring Past: Megalithic Tombs of Brittany and the Roman Occupation in Western France 10: Leonardo García Sanjuán and Marta Díaz-Guardamino: The Outstanding Biographies of Prehistoric Monuments in Iron Age, Roman and Medieval Spain 11: Miguel Ángel de Blas Cortina: Megaliths and Holy Places in the Genesis of the Kingdom of Asturias (North of Spain, AD 718-910) 12: Francesco Fedele: Life and Death of Copper Age Monoliths at Ossimo Anvòia (Val Camonica, Italian Central Alps), 3000 BC-AD 1950 13: Sta%sa Babi'c: Biography of a Hill - Novi Pazar in South Western Serbia 14: Borja Legarra Herrero: What Happens When Tombs Die? The Historical Appropriation of the Cretan Bronze Age Cemeteries 15: Joan Sanmartí, Nabil Kallala, Rafel Jornet, M. Carme Belarte, Joan Canela, Sarhane Chérif, Jordi Campillo, David Montanero, Xavier Bermúdez, Thaïs Fadrique, Víctor Revilla, Joan Ramon, and Moncef Ben Moussa: Roman Dolmens? The Megalithic Necropolises of Eastern Maghreb Revisited Part III: Recapitulation and Conclusions 16: Estella Weiss-Krejci: The Plot against the Past: Reuse and Modification of Ancient Mortuary Monuments as Persuasive Efforts of Appropriation 17: Richard Bradley: Piercing together a Past Index

Reviews

Excellent maps illustrate the complexity of the situation in Brittany, while the text tidily encapsulates the major trends brought to bear on the landscapes there by Iron Age attitudes Jerry Glover, Fortean Times Containing a number of skilfully chosen case studies, from the ritualised landscape of Aylesbury to the megalithic metropolis of the eastern Mahgreb, this book would appeal to those exploring the issue from an academic perspective. Ashley Kruger, World Archaeology

Excellent maps illustrate the complexity of the situation in Brittany, while the text tidily encapsulates the major trends brought to bear on the landscapes there by Iron Age attitudes Jerry Glover, Fortean Times

This is a valuable collection, adding geographic and chronological range to discussions of the ways in which memories are constructed and reconstructed through monumental forms. The case studies are diverse but cohere well. The text has been carefully edited and is supported by neatly reproduced illustrations and photographs. Robert Witcher, Antiquity Excellent maps illustrate the complexity of the situation in Brittany, while the text tidily encapsulates the major trends brought to bear on the landscapes there by Iron Age attitudes Jerry Glover, Fortean Times Containing a number of skilfully chosen case studies, from the ritualised landscape of Aylesbury to the megalithic metropolis of the eastern Mahgreb, this book would appeal to those exploring the issue from an academic perspective. Ashley Kruger, World Archaeology This book is studded with excellent contributions ... The Lives of Prehistoric Monuments is tightly focussed and takes us forward in interesting and fruitful directions. Its many case studies offer great insights to how similar issues and problems are worked through prehistoric and early historic chronological sequences across Europe ... a veritable manifesto Andrew Meirion Jones, European Journal of Archaeology

Author Information

Marta Díaz-Guardamino is a Research Fellow in Archaeology at the University of Southampton. Her research focuses on the later prehistory of Western Europe, particularly on archaeological art, megalithic monuments, and landscapes. Her research interests include the application of social theory and digital imaging technologies to archaeological enquiry. Leonardo García Sanjuán is a Senior Lecturer in Prehistory at the University of Seville, and has previously occupied academic positions at the universities of Southampton and Bradford. His main field of interest is social complexity in the late prehistory of Iberia, with a special focus on funerary practices and monumental architecture. David Wheatley is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Southampton whose research interests include the later prehistory of Western Europe, GIS-based approaches to the analysis of archaeological sites and landscapes, and digital imaging. More recently, his research has centred on the social prehistory of southern Iberia.

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