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Dr. Whittle reviews the latest archaeological evidence on Neolithic Europe from 7000 to 2500 BC. Describing important areas, sites and problems, he addresses the major themes that have engaged the attention of scholars: the transition from a forager lifestyle; the rate and dynamics of change; and the nature of Neolithic society. He challenges conventional views, arguing that Neolithic society was rooted in the values and practices of its forager, predecessors right across the continent. The processes of settling down and adopting farming were piecemeal and slow. Only gradually did new attitudes emerge, to time and the past, to the sacred realms of ancestors and the dead, to nature and to the concept of community. Unique in its broad and up-to-date coverage of long-term processes of change on a continental scale, this completely rewritten and revised version of Whittle's Neolithic Europe: a survey reflects radical changes in the evidence and in interpretative approaches over the past decade.
List of contents
1. The time of ancestors; 2. Keeping the land: indigenous foragers, c.9000-after 7000 BC; 3. The first generations: south-east Europe, c.7000/6500-5500 BC; 4. Old and new histories: south-east Europe, c. 5500-4000 BC; 5. Accents of change: south-east Europe, c.4000-3000 BC; 6. Longhouse lives: central and western Europe, c.5500-before 4000 BC; 7. Unfair settlements and abstract funerals: central and western Europe, c.4000-2500 BC; 8. One foot in sea: the central and west Mediterranean, c.7000-5000 BC; 9. The heart of the country: the central and west Mediterranean, c.5000-2500 BC; 10. The creation of new worlds.
Summary
This uniquely broad and challenging book reviews the latest archaeological evidence on Neolithic Europe. Describing important sites and problems, and addressing major themes, this revised version of Whittle's Neolithic Europe reflects radical changes in interpretive approaches over the past decade.
