Published by Oxford Press in 2013 and edited by Bronze Age archaeologists Harry ·Fokkens and Anthony Harding· The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age aims to provide a comprehensive overview of European Bronze Age societies and cultures. The book brings together the research results of more than 50 famous scholars and is the definitive work on understanding the Bronze Age in Europe.
Due to factors such as geography, resource conditions, and cultural traditions, the timing of the Bronze Age varied from place to place across Europe, but most regions entered this phase around 2500 BC. The Bronze Age was an important period of technological innovation and social change, people gradually mastered metallurgical technology, bronze ware was widely used, social productivity developed rapidly, and triggered a series of social changes. With its comprehensive and in-depth content, the Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age provides readers with a window into European Bronze Age society and culture, and is of great academic value.
《The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age》
编著: Anthony Harding,Harry Fokkens
出版社: Oxford University Press
Publication date: August 2013
Main content:
The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age brings together the scholarly insights of a wide range of experts and scholars to detail the social and chronological findings of the European Bronze Age. The book is divided into two parts: thematic research and regional research, with a total of 48 chapters, covering 28 archaeological topics and 19 regional studies, presenting readers with a multi-dimensional and three-dimensional picture of the European Bronze Age.
The first chapter is an introduction, which focuses on the novelty of the book compared to similar works, its sources, and future research directions, and summarizes the scholarly debates in Bronze Age studies, including differences in chronological research methods and cultural connections around the world. Traditional chronological research mainly relies on the typology of pottery and bronze, but due to the different conditions in different regions and the fact that the development of pottery and bronze is often parallel, there is a lack of clear connection between the chronological sequences of different places. With the wide application of scientific methods such as carbon-14 dating and tree ring method, some chronological problems have been solved. Needham and his colleagues introduced C14 dating to Britain in 1997, and they established a chronology for the region's bronzes by examining hammer axes. In 2006, Randsborg and Christensen studied oak coffins from Northern Europe using the tree-ring method, establishing a chronological sequence for several countries. However, these methods have their limitations, and they need to be combined with other methods to further analyze the chronological relationships between regions.
In addition, in the study of world systems, there has been a lot of interest about the connections between different parts of the world during the Bronze Age. Earlier, some scholars proposed a "center-periphery" framework (Rowlands, Larsen, Kristiansen, 1987), arguing that the cultural and technological diffusion of the Bronze Age was centered on the Eastern Mediterranean and spread to the surrounding areas. However, this framework ignores the autonomy and diversity of the cultures of the surrounding regions, and a new model has been developed that focuses on the development of each region. The model focuses on economic, political and cultural interactions between regions, noting that regional economic systems have a significant impact on local power structures. Under this model, scholars acknowledge that there was a great deal of material and cultural exchange over long and short distances in many parts of the Bronze Age in Europe. These exchanges promote the dissemination of technology, culture, goods and information, and strengthen the links and interactions between regions.
Chapters 2 to 29 of the book are devoted to the study of European Bronze Age and archaeology. The second chapter is a chronological study of Western Europe, divided into three parts: Britain and Ireland, Netherlands, France and Belgium, and the Iberian Peninsula. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on the ideological, archaeocultural, and related studies of Europe during the critical period from 2500 BC to 2200 BC. Chapters 5 to 29 provide a comprehensive and in-depth look at the complexity, diversity, and transformative nature of the European Bronze Age cultural landscape, with detailed analyses of archaeological sites such as dwellings, tombs, cellars, and monumental sites, as well as skeletal isotope analysis, rights and social classes, warfare, animals, and bronze artifacts.
Chapters 30 to 48 are a regional study of the Bronze Age in Europe. Combined with archaeological finds, these chapters subdivide Europe into regions such as Britain and Ireland, the Low Countries, the Iberian Peninsula, France, the Balearic Islands, the Italy Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia, Northern Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, and the Western Balkans, and discuss in detail the chronological sequence and material culture of these regions. Each region has its own focus, such as in Britain and Ireland, which explores settlement patterns, social structures, and cultural characteristics of the early Bronze Age; In the Low Countries, research has focused on the region's unique bronze artefacts, tombs, and dwellings. Regional studies allow us to gain insight not only into the socio-cultural landscape of the different regions of the Bronze Age in Europe, but also to see the interconnections and influences between these regions, thus providing a more comprehensive understanding of the overall picture of the Bronze Age in Europe.
The above studies are written by experts and scholars in various fields, ensuring the professionalism and richness of the research. At the same time, due to the different research focus and writing style of each scholar, the overall reading experience is affected to a certain extent. In addition, due to the complexity and subjectivity of academic research, there are inevitably some scholars' own academic biases in the book.
Comparison with the Xia Shang volume and the two volumes of Chinese Archaeology
In 2003 and 2004, the Xia Shang volume and the second week volume of Chinese Archaeology, compiled by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, were published successively, introducing the archaeological excavations and research results of Chinese archaeologists on the Bronze Age. The two volumes of Archaeology of China and the Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age focus on the Bronze Age in their respective regions, providing readers with insights into the material culture, social structure, and technological evolution of the two regions. Both of these works have the characteristics of perfect system and abundant materials, which create conditions for further research in the academic circles. However, there are still some differences between the two in terms of content design and research methods.
First of all, in terms of content design, the two volumes of "Archaeology of China" introduce in detail the tombs, agriculture, handicraft remains, social structure and political system of the Chinese Bronze Age from the perspective of dynasties, including the latest archaeological materials of the Central Plains and the surrounding areas of three generations of archaeology. In contrast, the Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age focuses more on thematic and regional studies, such as the examination of land and sea transportation, trade, flora and fauna, salt industry, currency, rock art and other topics in the European Bronze Age, as well as the material and cultural aspects of each region. Although the Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age is less holistic in its research, it also shows us a multidimensional Bronze Age Europe.
Secondly, in terms of research methodology, the two volumes of Archaeology of China focus on the combing of archaeological materials, and reveal the social development and cultural changes of the Chinese Bronze Age by establishing a time frame for sites and relics. At the same time, the book also combines historical documents and archaeological data to systematically sort out and conduct in-depth research on important sites. The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age emphasizes the application of a multidisciplinary approach, including the integration of anthropology, geography, biology, chemistry and other disciplines, from multiple perspectives. In addition, the book also reviews the course of academic research extensively, providing readers with a wealth of academic background and theoretical explanations.
Overall, the Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age is an authoritative work that systematically combs and deeply studies the European Bronze Age, which is helpful for scholars to have an in-depth understanding of the material culture, social structure, spiritual beliefs and technical conditions of the European Bronze Age, and has many references in content design and research methods. Although there are problems such as the overall style is different and individual academic biases are not hidden, the flaws are not concealed, and it is worth savoring.
Author: Zhou Xun Bi Jingwei
This paper is a phased research result of the National Social Science Foundation project "Research on the Occurrence of Ancient Chinese Bronzes" (19XKG009) Author's Affiliation: Shaanxi Normal University
Edit | Zhang Xiaozhu Intern Editor | Meng Qingling
Review | Feng Zhaohui
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