The Rise of Bronze Age Society : Travels, Transmissions and Transformations

The Bronze Age represents an age of unprecedented social transformations in Europe and this book argues that much of this was informed by trade, travel and regional interaction. This important 2005 work integrates European and Classical archaeology to present a significant interpretation of the social development of prehistoric Europe.

Beginning with state formation and urbanization in the Near East c.3000 BC and ending in Central and Northern Europe c.1000–500 BC, the Bronze Age marks an heroic age of travels and transformations throughout Europe. In this 2005 book, Kristian Kristiansen and Thomas Larsson reconstruct the travel and transmission of knowledge that took place between the Near East, the Mediterranean and Europe. They explore how religious, political and social conceptions of Bronze Age people were informed by long-distance connections and alliances between local elites. The book integrates the hitherto separate research fields of European and Mediterranean (classical) archaeology and provides the reader with an alternative to the traditional approach of diffusionism. Examining data from across the region, the book presents an important new interpretation of social change in the Bronze Age, making it essential reading for students of archaeology, of anthropology and of the development of early European society.