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Exploring Prehistoric Europe
Part travel guide, part survey of Europe's prehistory, Exploring Prehistoric Europe delves into fifteen of the most famous, most important, and most exciting archaeological sites in Europe.
The first volume in the Places in Time series, this beautiful book takes us to locales both famous and obscure, from Ireland to Poland to Malta, ranging chronologically from Terra Amata, a site in southern France occupied some 380,000 years ago, to Borremose, a Danish settlement that dates to
Roman times. The author, archaeologist Chris Scarre, examines the haunting cave paintings of Lascaux, France; the stone circle and ritual complexes of Avebury, England; and the ever mysterious Stonehenge--as well as lesser known but no less intriguing sites around Europe. For each location, he
conducts a careful tour of the existing remains, describes the history of its excavation, and then interprets how the site might have been built, used, or occupied. Readers will explore a variety of cultures and monuments, from megalithic stone circles to Neolithic villages to Bronze Age tombs, and
see intimate portraits of the daily life of Europe's prehistoric ancestors. Perhaps equally important, Scarre has selected the sites with accessibility in mind--all can be easily reached by the modern tourist--and he also highlights local museums and visitor centers where further artifacts and
information can be found.
Beautifully illustrated with maps and full-color photographs, Exploring Prehistoric Europe makes the perfect companion for the historically minded traveler--or the reader who wants to curl up at home and wander at leisure through the distant past.
The first volume in the Places in Time series, this beautiful book takes us to locales both famous and obscure, from Ireland to Poland to Malta, ranging chronologically from Terra Amata, a site in southern France occupied some 380,000 years ago, to Borremose, a Danish settlement that dates to
Roman times. The author, archaeologist Chris Scarre, examines the haunting cave paintings of Lascaux, France; the stone circle and ritual complexes of Avebury, England; and the ever mysterious Stonehenge--as well as lesser known but no less intriguing sites around Europe. For each location, he
conducts a careful tour of the existing remains, describes the history of its excavation, and then interprets how the site might have been built, used, or occupied. Readers will explore a variety of cultures and monuments, from megalithic stone circles to Neolithic villages to Bronze Age tombs, and
see intimate portraits of the daily life of Europe's prehistoric ancestors. Perhaps equally important, Scarre has selected the sites with accessibility in mind--all can be easily reached by the modern tourist--and he also highlights local museums and visitor centers where further artifacts and
information can be found.
Beautifully illustrated with maps and full-color photographs, Exploring Prehistoric Europe makes the perfect companion for the historically minded traveler--or the reader who wants to curl up at home and wander at leisure through the distant past.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published February 4, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 29, 2018
I found this to be an odd but mostly enjoyable volume, and the oddness I found in it is rather instructive. This book sits at an unusual point, and that is that it is a book encouraging tourism to prehistoric European sites where art and architecture survive. There is a conundrum in this, in that the presence of large amounts of tourists makes it more difficult to preserve ancient sites which, by virtue of their age, tend to be rather fragile, but the presence of those tourists also creates a large enough popular base for the preservation of ancient history. The dilemma of the same people being both a threat to sites as well as a necessary and worthwhile part of a coalition for preservation of those sites is one that this book deftly handles, even if in a bit of a heavy-handed way. As someone deeply interested in ruins and ancient history [1], I am certainly part of this book's fairly obvious target audience, and despite having some critical things to say about the author and his approach I also found much about this book enjoyable and it did give me some travel ideas, so on the whole it was definitely a worthwhile read.
The slightly more than 200 pages of this book are divided into fifteen chapters that look at individual sites across Europe (except for Greece) and give some comments on the artifacts that can be found there, the efforts at excavation and reconstruction, and some speculations on the meaning and importance of the artifacts as a whole, about which much can be said. While some of the sites were particularly familiar to me (Lascaux, Avebury, Stonehenge), most of the sites were very unfamiliar to me, and they include some open-air Paleolithic carvings in Portugal that were threatened with inundation in a dam, Maltese temples and graves, a Neolithic village in the Orkneys that was rather dark and difficult to walk in, and a fire-prone and security minded Polish town, along with a Celtic township in France which was destroyed by the Romans at the beginning of its historical period, among other intriguing sites. The author does a good job at making someone want to go to these strange places and puzzle over the mysteries of the past and try to figure out why the builders of these towns and temples and tombs and the artists of these drawings and carvings did what they did.
There is both a good deal of fun and at least some frustration in the author's speculation, given that he appears to want to make these sites universally appear as old as possible and paint those who want to economically develop the areas (including right-of-center political parties in Portugal, for example) in as bad a light as possible, which is irksome for me as a right-of-center person. On the other hand, without the speculation of the author there would be little of depth to this book except for very technical discussions and drawings about the sites and what they contain, which means that the speculations add a great deal of what narrative enjoyment exists in this book. What I found most striking in the author's discussion of art and its creation is that it was the most isolated peoples in history who were the most serious about creating art. As a fairly isolated person who tends to be intensely creative, I found this to be a rather melancholy reflection on the fact that the art of these ancient people has survived far longer than the meaning that was meant by that art, leaving people to wonder without knowledge what intentions and purposes those artists had in their creations.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
The slightly more than 200 pages of this book are divided into fifteen chapters that look at individual sites across Europe (except for Greece) and give some comments on the artifacts that can be found there, the efforts at excavation and reconstruction, and some speculations on the meaning and importance of the artifacts as a whole, about which much can be said. While some of the sites were particularly familiar to me (Lascaux, Avebury, Stonehenge), most of the sites were very unfamiliar to me, and they include some open-air Paleolithic carvings in Portugal that were threatened with inundation in a dam, Maltese temples and graves, a Neolithic village in the Orkneys that was rather dark and difficult to walk in, and a fire-prone and security minded Polish town, along with a Celtic township in France which was destroyed by the Romans at the beginning of its historical period, among other intriguing sites. The author does a good job at making someone want to go to these strange places and puzzle over the mysteries of the past and try to figure out why the builders of these towns and temples and tombs and the artists of these drawings and carvings did what they did.
There is both a good deal of fun and at least some frustration in the author's speculation, given that he appears to want to make these sites universally appear as old as possible and paint those who want to economically develop the areas (including right-of-center political parties in Portugal, for example) in as bad a light as possible, which is irksome for me as a right-of-center person. On the other hand, without the speculation of the author there would be little of depth to this book except for very technical discussions and drawings about the sites and what they contain, which means that the speculations add a great deal of what narrative enjoyment exists in this book. What I found most striking in the author's discussion of art and its creation is that it was the most isolated peoples in history who were the most serious about creating art. As a fairly isolated person who tends to be intensely creative, I found this to be a rather melancholy reflection on the fact that the art of these ancient people has survived far longer than the meaning that was meant by that art, leaving people to wonder without knowledge what intentions and purposes those artists had in their creations.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
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March 4, 2016yessss, a great research book!
This book finally helped me understand the structure and make-up of Stonehenge. And I'm telling you, I have watched every show, read everything I could get my hands on about that, but this one laid it out completely differently and it was clarity itself. Sometimes the penny just drops.
But that's not all. This book was chock full of information on all types of prehistoric sites, like Tarxien in Malta, the Boyne Valley, Newgrange, a nice bit about Skara Brae, and more.
It was fascinating, and full of notes aside from the main text, photos, and a bibliography for each chapter. There was also - thank you! - a note on each chapter on accessibility of the site and artifacts. Of course, it's an old book, but knowing that there was *once* a museum might help me find out if one is there now. And I realize that some new discoveries have been made. But this was such a fundamental overview, so helpful, that I can't fault it for not including everything.
Took lots of notes and this gave me lots of ideas for my WIP.
This book finally helped me understand the structure and make-up of Stonehenge. And I'm telling you, I have watched every show, read everything I could get my hands on about that, but this one laid it out completely differently and it was clarity itself. Sometimes the penny just drops.
But that's not all. This book was chock full of information on all types of prehistoric sites, like Tarxien in Malta, the Boyne Valley, Newgrange, a nice bit about Skara Brae, and more.
It was fascinating, and full of notes aside from the main text, photos, and a bibliography for each chapter. There was also - thank you! - a note on each chapter on accessibility of the site and artifacts. Of course, it's an old book, but knowing that there was *once* a museum might help me find out if one is there now. And I realize that some new discoveries have been made. But this was such a fundamental overview, so helpful, that I can't fault it for not including everything.
Took lots of notes and this gave me lots of ideas for my WIP.
March 13, 2016
I love archaeology and I love these kinds of books. I've been to three archaeological sites on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. The Callanish standing stones, Carloway Broch and Clach Mhiclieod (MacLeod's Stone) and the remains of what might be a chambered cairn of neolithic vintage. None of which are in this book. However, when I read this book, which I have several times, it takes me back to the Isle of Lewis.
May 13, 2013
I've so many more stops to add to my wish list now.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews