Ancient Europe

by Stuart Piggott

This book interprets the main lines of European prehistory from the first agricultural communities in the sixth or even seventh millennium B.C. until the incorporation of much of barbarian Europe within the Roman Empire. It traces the beginnings of animal domestication and plant cultivation in ancient Western Asia, and the transmission of these skills by movements of peoples or by assimilation, in the European continent. The early technology of working in copper, and later in bronze, is discussed. Metal winning and working, and trade in raw materials and finished products, brought social and political repercussions to barbarian and civilised peoples alike.The spread of the Indo-European languages is considered in its archaeological context, as is the formation of the Celtic peoples, soon to acquire iron technology and to become the main barbarian component in Europe, side-by-side with the civilised Mediterranean societies, Greek, Etruscan or Roman. The later Celtic world of Europe and the British Isles is examined, and an attempt made to estimate the contribution of the older barbarian world to the Europe, which emerged from the ruins of the Roman Empire, geographically, the book ranges over the whole European field, from the Atlantic shores to the Urals and the Caucasus. While it does not pretend to be a prehistory of Europe within the period chosen, the book does bring together and discuss for the first time much scattered and often little-known archaeological evidence.This book is organized in a manner that will permit it being read on two levels. For the general non-specialist reader, the text and illustrations should give a sufficient idea of the nature of the theme and of the evidence, and of the development of the barbarian cultures side-by-side with the civilizations of antiquity, as their precursors and their subsequent counterparts. For the archaeological student however the text is documented with rather full references and notes at the end of each chapter, and a select bibliography, which should facilitate access to the original sources.

Genres: History, Archaeology, European History, Ancient

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Stuart Ernest Piggott, CBE, FBA, FSA, FRSE FSA Scot was an English archaeologist, best known for his work on prehistoric Wessex.

Piggott was born in Petersfield, Hampshire, the son of G. H. O. Piggott, and was educated there at Churcher's College. On leaving school in 1927 he took up a post as assistant at Reading Museum, where he developed an expertise in Neolithic pottery.

In 1928 he joined the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and spent the next five years producing a revolutionary study of the site of Butser Hill, near Petersfield. He also worked with Eliot Cecil Curwen on their excavations at The Trundle causewayed enclosure in Sussex.

Still without any formal archaeological qualification, Piggott enrolled at Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler's Institute of Archaeology, London, taking his diploma in 1936. In 1937 he published another seminal paper, The Early Bronze Age in Wessex.

In 1958 Piggott published a survey of Scottish prehistory, Scotland before History, and in 1959 a popular introductory volume, Approach to Archaeology.

Reviews

[Michael Joosten · Rating 3 out of 5]

A page-turner, Ancient Europe is not--but I did finish what is a very SOLID, heavy book in two and a half days. Piggott is very much a scholar, footnotes and more, though what stops him from being an engaging writer is more his need to return to the same points again and again. Some of that, I'll admit, is necessary but it leaves the seams exposed, so to speak: this is a lecture that's been expanded to a book.

That said, if history ignites your imagination--and if you're a Tolkienist for whom the pre-literate history of Europe beyond the Roman Empire exerts a powerful influence--this is grist for the mill, however dry it may be. I suspect there are plenty of details where the scholarly consensus of June, 1964 is woefully out of date, but in broad strokes this is still a better frame for understanding the pre-history of Europe than a seven-hour Wikipedia trawl (my previous best experience with history beyond the literate Mediterranean). Piggott's repetitive method helps keep straight the various [insert reference here] Cultures and their different time-frames and also helped keep the time-line in sync with the Greek and Near Eastern history I know better.

[Thom Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

About as dry as archaeology can be. Tempted to say this is not for the popular reader. Dozens of maps of post-holes, burial sites.....patterns of dots on maps. More of a file cabinet than a narrative. That said, surely no narrative can be constructed of any strength without the sort of info PIggott supplies in great amount.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good survey for general interest. Dry and academic. Probably outdated, but I remember finding it to be a handy resource when I was studying ancient European prehistory in undergrad.