Thracian Tales On The Gundestrup Cauldron

This book traces the development of hammering techniques in Greek, Roman and related (e.g. Graeco-Scythian) jewellery and toreutics based on the analysis of ancient tools used for manufacture of hammered metalwork, primarily punches and matrices with figural designs, and actual finds of metalwork and jewellery. The book offers essays on metalworkers' tools from Mycenean Greece until the Late Roman Period. It includes chapters on different categories of hammered metalwork in the corresponding periods and Excursus about particular matrices or punches and hoards of toreutics. Bringing together the tools of metalworkers and actual objects manufactured with them opens new perspectives on chronological and cultural attribution of ancient jewellery and toreutics and illuminates the role of mass production and artistic creativity in ancient history. The book is illustrated with 133 photographs.

Deals with the reality of the indigenous peoples of Europe - Thracians, Scythians, Celts, Germans, Etruscans, and other peoples of Italy, the Alps, and beyond.

Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities (Belgrade - 17-21 September 2013). The theme of the congress included archaeological, historical, linguistic, anthropological, geographical and other investigations across the huge area through which the Argonauts passed in seeking to return from Colchis.

The image of a giant sword melting stands at the structural and thematic heart of the Old English heroic poem Beowulf. This meticulously researched book investigates the nature and significance of this golden-hilted weapon and its likely relatives within Beowulf and beyond, drawing on the fields of Old English and Old Norse language and literature, liturgy, archaeology, astronomy, folklore and comparative mythology. In Part I, Pettit explores the complex of connotations surrounding this image (from icicles to candles and crosses) by examining a range of medieval sources, and argues that the giant sword may function as a visual motif in which pre-Christian Germanic concepts and prominent Christian symbols coalesce. In Part II, Pettit investigates the broader Germanic background to this image, especially in relation to the god Ing/Yngvi-Freyr, and explores the capacity of myths to recur and endure across time. Drawing on an eclectic range of narrative and linguistic evidence from Northern European texts, and on archaeological discoveries, Pettit suggests that the image of the giant sword, and the characters and events associated with it, may reflect an elemental struggle between the sun and the moon, articulated through an underlying myth about the theft and repossession of sunlight. The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf' is a welcome contribution to the overlapping fields of Beowulf-scholarship, Old Norse-Icelandic literature and Germanic philology. Not only does it present a wealth of new readings that shed light on the craft of the Beowulf-poet and inform our understanding of the poem’s major episodes and themes; it further highlights the merits of adopting an interdisciplinary approach alongside a comparative vantage point. As such, The Waning Sword will be compelling reading for Beowulf-scholars and for a wider audience of medievalists.

This dictionary, with more than 1000 articles, provides a comprehensive survey of all important aspects of Celtic religion and culture, covering both the prehistoric continental Celts and the later, medieval culture that found written form long after the Celts had settled in the British Isles. Articles in the dictionary also cover the interaction between Celtic and Roman civilisations, and the seminal input of medieval Celtic legend into the Arthurian tradition. The continental and insular Celtic languages, both ancient and modern, are described, and there is a full account of the Celtic deities known to us from the inscriptions and iconography of the classical world. Celtic art and agriculture, the Ossian myth, the Irish Renaissance, and the history of Celtic studies are among other areas treated in depth.

Eighteen authors from 10 countries offer an assessment of the role of ideology in the emergence and development of early states. In a comparative perspective the significance of ideology in the processes that led to formation of states in Europe, Africa, Meso-America and Polynesia is discussed by specialists in the fields of anthropology, history and archaeology. Special attention is given to subjects such as the concept of ideology, regional comparison, the reconstruction of ideologies on the basis of archaeological data, gender relationships, coercion, legitimacy, sacred kingship, and ideology and change (in an introductory chapter) and a concluding discussion. The findings of this volume will not only be of interest to anthropologists, historians and archaeologists, but to all those interested in the complex interaction of ideological and political developments.

The Celtic World is a detailed and comprehensive study of the Celts from the first evidence of them in the archaeological and historical record to the early post-Roman period. The strength of this volume lies in its breadth - it looks at archaeology, language, literature, towns, warfare, rural life, art, religion and myth, trade and industry, political organisations, society and technology. The Celtic World draws together material from all over pagan Celtic Europe and includes contributions from British, European and American scholars. Much of the material is new research which is previously unpublished. The book addresses some important issues - Who were the ancient Celts? Can we speak of them as the first Europeans? In what form does the Celtic identity exist today and how does this relate to the ancient Celts? For anyone interested in the Celts, and for students and academics alike, The Celtic World will be a valuable resource and a fascinating read.

Archaeology and Folklore explores the complex relationship between the two disciplines to demonstrate what they might learn from each other. This collection includes theoretical discussions and case studies drawn from Western Europe, the Mediterranean and North. They explore the differences between popular traditions relating to historic sites and archaeological interpretations of their history and meaning.

Thirteen papers on Roman archaeology from the 10th TRAC conference in London. The tenth Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference was held in April 2000, at the Institute of Archaeology. As the confernce was diveded into five different sessions. In the opening session, Representing Romans the methodology of portraying the Romans to the wider world was expolored. Hunter and Clarke's paper outline the challenge of designing appropiate gallery displays for the new National Museum of Scotland whereas Grew, discusses the development of Roman London. Fincham's paper discusses the threat of overwheling military intervention by the imperial ower in colonial negotiations. Issues of ethnicity, gender, class and occupation within the later Roman army are addressed here. Green's paper presents an important discussion of hte nature of human/stag hybrids in iron Age and Gallo-Roman iconography and Hawkes presents an anlysis of differential foodways, preparing and serving meals encountered in Roman Britain. Carr considers the role of body decoration and grooming, arguing that individuals in different areas of south eastern Roman Britain made different cultureal choices to structure their ethnic identities. The final set of papers focused on Constructing Chrildhood in the Roman World reconsidering some long-standing truisms regarding the status and treatment of children in the Roman context. Pearce's examines Roman infant burial and what role religion plays in burial cerimony.