European Societies in the Bronze Age (Cambridge World Archaeology)

Cambridge World Archaeology

by A.F. Harding, Norman Yoffee (Series Editor)

The European Bronze Age, roughly 2500 to 750 BC, was the last fully prehistoric period and crucial to the formation of the Europe emerging in the later first millennium BC. This book provides a detailed account of its material culture, comparing and contrasting evidence from different geographical zones, and drawing out the essential characteristics of the period. By comparing and contrasting evidence from different geographical and cultural zones of Europe, it draws out the essential characteristics of the Bronze Age. Arranged thematically, it reviews the evidence on settlement, burial, economy, technology, trade and transport, warfare, and social and religious life, and describes the main theoretical models that have been developed to interpret these new materials. The result is a comprehensive study that will be of value to specialists and students, and accessible to non-specialists.

Genres: Archaeology, History, Prehistory, Nonfiction, Ancient History

552 pages, Paperback

First published May 18, 2000

About the author

Prof. Anthony F. Harding is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Exeter, England.

During the year 2015-16 he was Guest Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich.

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthony Harding (emeritus University of Exeter) provides a very in-depth, detailed overview of life in the Bronze Age (2500-800 bce), in Europe, based on archaeological finds. It does not follow a chronological, but a thematic division (housing, clothing, agriculture, warfare, religion, etc.), which allows it to be relatively complete, but which means that evolutions within that period of 1700 years are somewhat less clear. Harding discusses methodological aspects at the beginning of each chapter, which is certainly commendable, but which makes this book less suitable for a general audience. Also striking: the author swears by a materialistic approach. This means that he rejects ethnographic reference material (largely rightly), and hardly uses theoretical models from the social sciences (largely wrongly). More about that in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sense of History]

Definitely a worthwhile book, but unfortunately already more than 20 years old, which is an eternity in the field of archaeological research. After all, the flood of new finds has not dried up in recent decades. Anthony Harding also predicted this, expressing the hope that what he considered an undervalued area of study – the Bronze Age in Europe – would lead to far-reaching new insights. The author mainly had the study of materials and artefacts in mind: “the study of scale and context, and of the 'social life' of these materials and artefacts, offers more fruitful possibilities, which are now being systematic and rapidly followed up. In twenty years' time, the Bronze Age 'world' may look radically different, as a series of 'worlds' in microcosm. The ripples created by a pebble dropped in water may eventually reach the furthest corners of the pool in some attenuated form, but they are felt most strongly close to the point of impact. In just this way, the understanding of production and distribution at the local level will, in my view, come to dominate the study of Bronze Age society.”

Harding was only partly right: of course, local Bronze Age communities are still being studied very closely, based on an increasing flood of archaeological material. But the great revolution of the past decade lay in the more concrete view we have gained on the close connections between those communities, both in materials/artefacts and in peoples themselves. And that is the merit of the new technology of genetic research (ancient DNA study). This shows that human communities in the Bronze Age in Europe were very closely connected, and genetic exchanges continued to take place through migration. We now know for sure that just before the start of the Bronze Age, in the first half of the third millennium BCE, almost the entire European population was renewed/replaced by massive immigration from the Russian-Ukrainian steppe region (coined 'Yamnaya population'). And that even after that, individuals and communities continued to change location. Of course, Harding could not have fully foreseen this in 2000 (he even expresses his doubts whether genetic research would ever yield much). It shows once again that it is always dangerous to make predictions, including about scientific research.
In the meanwhile I read his much shorter and more recent Bronze Age Lives, in which he concedes some of his views were wrong. Being able to admit your mistakes always is a very commendable trait.

[Lee Broderick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a vastly researched subject but Harding is one of the few academics capable of pulling it all together in a cohesive and relevant manner: suggesting conchords and disagreements among both researchers and research. Simply ubiquitous reading for anyone involved in the field.