Europe Before Rome: A Site-by-Site Tour of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages

In this richly illustrated, elegantly written guide to European prehistory, archeologist Price, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (Images of the Past), takes us on a remarkable journey from the very earliest prehuman cultures to the Iron Age of warfare, empires, and human strife. He describes evidence that two million years ago, the first migrants from Africa—Homo antecessor—arrived in Europe. Sites at Atapuerca, Spain, indicate that Homo antecessor ate meat “and sometimes... each other,” and that they fashioned hand axes out of stone. After following Homo’s continuing evolution, Price guides readers on a whirlwind tour of European human history, examining the raw materials and technological and cultural artifacts that provide deep insights into that history. For example, archeological digs in Crete, Greece, and Rome beginning around 3000 B.C.E. reveal mobile, wealthy, and martial societies where weapons and warfare were pre-eminent; the Bronze Age was marked by conflict as larger societies sought to acquire land, slaves, and wealth from their neighbors. Focusing on dozens of specific sites at particular times (e.g., Pincevent, France, 12,000 years ago), Price’s lush survey of major archeological sites in Europe provides a rich and engrossing introduction to what he calls an “extraordinary heritage.” 288 illus., 219 b&w.(Dec.)