Milisauskas S. (ed.) European Prehistory. A Survey

Springer, 2002. — 449 pp. — (Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology). — ISBN: 978-0-306-47257-2.The purpose of this book is four-fold: to introduce English-speaking students and scholars to some of the outstanding archaeological research that has been done in Europe in recent years; to integrate this research into an anthropological frame of reference; to address episodes of culture change such as the transition to farming; the origin of complex societies, and the origin of urbanism, and to provide an overview of European prehistory from the earliest appearance of humans to the rise of the Roman empire.Introduction (Sarunas Milisauskas).
The Present Environment, A Geographic Summary (Sarunas Milisauskas).Topography.
Climates.
Biogeography.
Some Implications For Human Occupants.
The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic (Michael A. Jochim).
Ice Age Europe: Chronology and Environment.
The Early Europeans: The Biological Record.
Sites and Findspots: The Archaeological Record.
The Lower Palaeolithic.
The Middle Palaeolithic.
The Upper Palaeolithic (Michael A. Jochim).
The Transition to the Upper Palaeolithic.
Early Upper Palaeolithic Subsistence.
Early Upper Palaeolithic Settlement and Exchange 68
The Developed Early Upper Palaeolithic: The Gravettian.
Europe During the Last Glacial Maximum.
The Late Glacial Period.
Summary of the Upper Palaeolithic.
The Mesolithic (Michael A. Jochim).Postglacial Environmental Changes.
The Archaeological Record.
The Early Mesolithic (10,300-8000/7500 BP).
The Late Mesolithic.
Summary of the Mesolithic.
Early Neolithic, The First Farmers in Europe, 7000-5500/5000 BC (Sarunas Milisauskas).Early Neolithic Society.
The Origins and Spread of Farming in Europe.
The Problem of a Prepottery Neolithic in Europe.
The Transition to Farming in Central Europe.
The Earliest Farmers in the Alpine Zone.
The Transition to Farming Along the Atlantic Coast of Europe.
Relationship of Farmers to Hunters and Gatherers.
Subsistence Strategies.
Central Europe: The Linear Pottery Culture.
Exchange.
Settlement Organization - Household, Individual Settlement and Regional Settlement System.
Economic Specialization By Early Neolithic Settlements and Individuals.
Population.
Warfare.
Social Status: Mortuary Evidence.
Mortality, Longevity, Sex Ratios, and Population Composition.
Sociopolitical Organization.
Rituals and Beliefs.Middle Neolithic, Continuity, Diversity, Innovations, and Greater Complexity, 5500/5000-3500/3000 BC (Sarunas Milisauskas and Janusz Kruk).Chronology and Cultural Sequence.
Transition to Farming in the British Isles.
The Transition to Farming in the Circum-Baltic Region.
Innovations.
Milk and Cheese Production.
Riding and the Domestication of Horses.
Wool Production.
The Appearance of Wheeled Vehicles.
Ards and Plows.
Beginnings of Metallurgy.
Subsistence Systems.
Alpine Region.
Salt Production.
Tracks and Roads.
Flint Mining.
Exchange.
Settlement.
Cups, Beakers and Drinking.
Megalithic Monuments.
Warfare.
The Problem of Writing and Record Keeping.
The Origin of Complex Societies.
Gender Differentiation.
Mortality, Longevity, Sex Ratios, and Population Composition.
The Iceman or Otzi.Late Neolithic, Crises, Collapse, New Ideologies, and Economies, 3500/3000-2200/2000 BC (Sarunas Milisauskas and Janusz Kruk).Chronology and Cultural Sequence.
Subsistence Strategies.
Settlement Organization.
Warfare.
Ritual and Social Organization.
Ranked Societies.
The Origin and Dispersal of the Indo-European Speaking Populations.The Bronze Age (Anthony F. Harding).Life and Death.
Economic Life.
Metals and Metallurgy.
Craft Production.
Transport.
Warfare.
Religion and Ritual.
Individual and Society.
The Wider Scene: Territory and Landscape.
Complex Societies in the Aegean.
The Iron Age (Peter S. Wells).
The Idea of the Iron Age.
Chronology.
Economy.
Trade.
Warfare.
Rise of Economic and Political Centers.
La Tene and Other New Styles.
Migration and Change.
Contacts With Literate Societies.
Linguistic and Ethnic Groups.
Origins of Urbanism.
Ritual.
The Roman Conquest.
Conclusion (Sarunas Milisauskas).