The Lives of Prehistoric Monuments in Iron Age, Roman, and Medieval Europe

by Diaz-Guardamino, Marta; Garcia Sanjuan, Leonardo; Wheatley, David

• ISBN13: 9780198724605
• ISBN10: 0198724608
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-12-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This volume explores the pervasive influence exerted by some prehistoric monuments on European social life over thousands of years, and reveals how they can act as a node linking people through time, possessing huge ideological and political significance. Through the advancement of theoretical approaches and scientific methodologies, archaeologists have been able to investigate how some of these monuments provide resources to negotiate memories, identities, and power and social relations throughout European history.

The essays in this collection examine the life-histories of carefully chosen megalithic monuments, stelae and statue-menhirs, and rock art sites of various European and Mediterranean regions during the Iron Age and Roman and Medieval times. By focusing on the concrete interaction between people, monuments, and places, the volume offers an innovative outlook on a variety of debated issues. Prominent among these is the role of ancient remains in the creation, institutionalization, contestation, and negotiation of social identities and memories, as well as their relationship with political economy in early historic European societies.

By contributing to current theoretical debates on materiality, landscape, and place-making, The Lives of Prehistoric Monuments in Iron Age, Roman, and Medieval Europe seeks to overcome disciplinary boundaries between prehistory and history, and highlight the long-term, genealogical nature of our engagement with the world.

Author Biography

Marta Diaz-Guardamino, Leverhulme Research Assistant, University of Southampton, Leonardo Garcia Sanjuan, Senior Lecturer, University of Seville,David Wheatley, Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton

Marta Diaz-Guardamino is a Leverhulme Research Assistant in Archaeology at the University of Southampton. Her research focuses on the later prehistory of Western Europe, particularly on archaeological art, megalithic monuments, and landscapes. Her research interests include the application of social theory and digital imaging technologies to archaeological enquiry.

Leonardo Garcia Sanjuan is a Senior Lecturer in Prehistory at the University of Seville, and has previously occupied academic positions at the universities of Southampton and Bradford. His main field of interest is social complexity in the late prehistory of Iberia, with a special focus on funerary practices and monumental architecture.

David Wheatley is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Southampton whose research interests include the later prehistory of Western Europe, GIS-based approaches to the analysis of archaeological sites and landscapes, and digital imaging. More recently, his research has centred on the social prehistory of southern Iberia.

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Figures
List of Tables
Contributors
Part I: Introduction
1. The Lives of Prehistoric Monuments in Europe: An Introduction, Marta Diaz-Guardamino, Leonardo Garcia Sanjuan, and David Wheatley
2. Before the Standing Stones: From Land Forms to Religious Attitudes and Monumentality, Joyce E. Salisbury
Part II: Case Studies
3. Kings' Jelling: Monuments with Outstanding Biographies in the Heart of Denmark, Steen Hvass
4. Icons of Antiquity: Remaking Megalithic Monuments in Ireland, Gabriel Cooney
5. Beowulf and Archaeology: Megaliths Imagined and Encountered in Early Medieval Europe, Howard Williams
6. Myth, Memento and Memory: Avebury (Wiltshire, England), David Wheatley
7. Les Pierres de Memoire: The Life History of two Statue-Menhirs from Guernsey, Channel Islands, Heather Sebire
8. Back and Forward: Neolithic Standing Stones and Iron Age Stelae in French Brittany, Luc Laporte, Marie-Yvane Daire, Gwenole Kerdivel and Elias Lopez-Romero
9. Enduring Past: Megalithic Tombs of Brittany and the Roman Occupation in Western France, Mara Vejby
10. The Outstanding Biographies of Prehistoric Monuments in Iron Age, Roman and Medieval Spain, Leonardo Garcia Sanjuan and Marta Diaz-Guardamino
11. Megaliths and Holy Places in the Genesis of the Kingdom of Asturias (North of Spain, AD 718-910), Miguel Angel de Blas Cortina
12. Life and Death of Copper Age Monoliths at Ossimo Anvoia (Val Camonica, Italian Central Alps), 3000 BC-AD 1950, Francesco Fedele
13. Biography of a Hill - Novi Pazar in South Western Serbia, Staša Babić
14. What Happens When Tombs Die? The Historical Appropriation of the Cretan Bronze Age Cemeteries, Borja Legarra Herrero
15. Roman Dolmens? The Megalithic Necropolises of Eastern Maghreb Revisited, Joan Sanmarti, Nabil Kallala, Rafel Jornet, M. Carme Belarte, Joan Canela, Sarhane Cherif, Jordi Campillo, David Montanero, Xavier Bermudez, Thais Fadrique, Victor Revilla, Joan Ramon, and Moncef Ben Moussa
Part III: Recapitulation and Conclusions
16. The Plot against the Past: Reuse and Modification of Ancient Mortuary Monuments as Persuasive Efforts of Appropriation, Estella Weiss-Krejci
17. Piercing together a Past, Richard Bradley
Index