Ancient Scandinavia - An Archaeological History From the First Humans to the Vikings
by T. Douglas Price
Oxford University Press | July 2015 | ISBN: 0190231971 | ePUB | 75 MB
http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Scandinavia-Archaeological-History-Vikings/dp/0190231971
Scandinavia, a land mass comprising the modern countries of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, was the last part of Europe to be inhabited by humans. Not until the end of the last Ice Age when the melting of huge ice sheets left behind a fresh, barren land surface, about 13,000 BC, did the first humans arrive and settle in the region. The archaeological record of these prehistoric cultures, much of it remarkably preserved in Scandinavia's bogs, lakes, and fjords, has given us a detailed portrait of the evolution of human society at the edge of the inhabitable world.
In this book, distinguished archaeologist T. Douglas Price provides a history of Scandinavia from the arrival of the first humans to the end of the Viking period, ca. AD 1050. The first book of its kind in English in many years, Ancient Scandinavia features overviews of each prehistoric epoch followed by illustrative examples from the region's rich archaeology. An engrossing and comprehensive picture of change across the millennia emerges, showing how human society evolved from small bands of hunter-gatherers to large farming communities to the complex warrior cultures of the Bronze and Iron Ages, cultures which culminated in the spectacular rise of the Vikings at the end of the prehistoric period. The material evidence of these past societies--arrowheads from reindeer hunts, megalithic tombs, rock art, beautifully wrought weaponry, Viking warships--give vivid testimony to the ancient peoples of Scandinavia and to their extensive contacts with the remote cultures of the Arctic Circle, Western Europe, and the Mediterranean
About the Author
T. Douglas Price was born in New Haven in 1945. Doug is Weinstein Professor of European Archaeology emeritus and the former Director of the Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he was on the faculty for more than 37 years. He was also 6th Century Chair in Archaeological Science in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen, now retired. He did archaeological fieldwork on early agriculture in Denmark for many years and conducts laboratory studies of isotopes in human tooth enamel to learn about prehistoric migration and mobility. He is the author of a number of archaeology books and articles. He likes archaeology, small children, food, football, family, and Anne Birgitte. He is honorary Professor in the Department of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. His previous books include Europe before Rome, Images of the Past, Europe's First Farmers, and Principles of Archaeology.
CONTENTS
Preface
CHAPTER 1 PLACE, TIME, AND ARCHAEOLOGY
CHAPTER 2 THE FIRST INHABITANTS, 13,000–9500 BC
CHAPTER 3 THE LAST HUNTERS, 9500–4000 BC
CHAPTER 4 THE FIRST FARMERS, 4000–2800 BC
CHAPTER 5 NEOLITHIC SOCIETIES, 2800–1700 BC
CHAPTER 6 BRONZE WARRIORS, 1700–800 BC
CHAPTER 7 THE AGE OF IRON, 500 BC–AD 750
CHAPTER 8 VIKINGS! AD 750–1050
CHAPTER 9 A VIEW TO THE PAST
References
Figure Credits
Index
