Movement, Exchange and Identity in Europe in the 2nd and 1st Millennia BC: Beyond Frontiers

This collection of papers by an international cohort of contributors explores the nature of the maritime connections that appear to have existed in the Transmanche/English Channel Zone during later prehistory. Organised into three themes, ‘Movement and Identity in the Transmanche Zone’; ‘Travel and exchange’; ‘Identity and Landscape’, the papers seek to articulate notions of frontier, mobility and identity from the end of the 3rd to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, a time when the archaeological evidence suggests that the sea facilitated connections between peoples on both sides of the Channel rather than acting as a barrier as it is so often perceived today. Recent decades have since a massive increase in large-scale excavation programmes on either side of the Channel in advance of major infra-structure and urban development, resulting in the acquisition of huge, complex new datasets enabling new insights into later prehistoric life in this crucially important region. Papers consider the role of several key archaeologists in transforming our appreciation of the connectivity of the sea in prehistory; consider the extent to which the Channel zone developed into a closely unified cultural zone during later Bronze Age in terms of communities that serviced the movement of artefacts across the Channel with both sides sharing widely in the same artefacts and social practices; examine funerary practices and settlement evidence and consider the relationship between communities in social, cultural and ideological terms; and consider mechanisms for the transmission of ideas and how they may be reflected in the archaeological record.

Table of Contents:
Anne Lehoërff Re-considering distance, borders and identity in Europe from the end of the 3rd to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC   Part 1: Movement and identities in the Transmanch zone   Guy De Mulder and Jean Bourgeois On migrations: Sigfried Jan De Laet (1914-1999): his role in Belgian Bronze Age archaeology after the Second World War and the diffusion of cultural characteristics   Walter Leclercq and Eugène Warmenbol Marcel Édouard Mariën (1918-1991) and the Metal Ages in Belgium. Undoing the Atlantic Wall   Stuart Needham Transmanche in the Penard/Rosnoën stage. Wearing the same sleeve or keeping at arm’s length?   Steven Matthews At world's end: the Channel Bronze Age and the emergence and limits of the Atlantic complex   Cyril Marcigny, Jean Bourgeois and Marc Talon Rythmes et contours de la géographie culturelle sur le littoral de la Manche entre le IIIe et le début du Ier millénaire   Pierre-Yves Milcent The Atlantic Early Iron Age in Gaul   Peter Clark Following the Whale's Road: Perceptions of the Sea in Prehistory   Part 2: Landscape and identity Nathalie Buchez, Yves Lorin, Emmanuelle Leroy-Langelin, Armelle Masse, Angélique Sergent and Sébastien Toron Circular funerary monuments at the beginning of the Bronze Age in the North of France: architecture and duration of use   Ghislaine Billand, Isabelle Le-Goff and Marc Talon Evolution of rites and funerary systems during the Early and Middle Bronze Age in the northwest of France   Régis Issenmann, Capucine Tranchant, Alexis Corrochano and Émilie Dubreucq La nécropole de Soliers "PA.EOLE" (Calvados), nouvelles données en faveur d'un complexe medio-atlantique   Emmanuel Leroy-Langelin, Yves Lorin, Armelle Masse, Angélique Sergent and Marc Talon Open Bronze Age settlement forms in the north of France: state of knowledge and research strategies   Nathalie Buchez, Marianne Deckers, Caroline Gutierrez, Alain Henton and Marc Talon Les découvertes récentes de mobilier céramique Bronze ancien-début Bronze final dans le nord-ouest de la France   Sébastien Manem Bronze Age ceramic traditions and the impact of the natural barrier: complex links between decoration, technique and social groups around the Channel   Alain Henton and Nathalie Buchez Evolution des faciès céramiques au Bronze final et à l’aube du premier Âge du Fer, entre Somme, Escaut et rivages de la Manche (France, région Nord-Picardie).   Part 3 : travel and exchange   Patrice Brun The Channel: border and link during the Bronze Age   Christoph Huth Water between two worlds – reflections on the explanatory value of archaeological finds in a Bronze Age river landscape   Mireille David-Elbiali Le passage des Alpes : voyages et échanges entre l’Italie et la Suisse (2200-700 av. J.-C.)   Stefan Wirth Voyage mythique et transport réel au Bronze final européen

About the Author :
Anne Lehoërff is Professor of European Prehistory at the University of Lille and Vice-President of the French National Council for Archaeological Research (CNRA). A specialist in ancient metallurgy, her research interests include the European Bronze Age and the methodology and history of archaeology. Author of many learned papers and books, her most recent publication is ‘Préhistoires d’Europe. De Néandertal à Vercingétorix, 40,000–52 avant notre ère’. Marc Talon is Regional Curator of the archaeology of the newly formed region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in east-central France. Prior to this he was, for many years, a senior member of the French National Archaeological Service (INRAP) in which role he directed many excavations throughout north-western France. A specialist in the Bronze Age of Western Europe, his chief research interest is the archaeology of the Transmanche zone throughout prehistory.

Review :
...I highly recommend this volume to historians with an interest in the Late Bronze Age and proto-European cultures, especially those who have a keen interest in proto-Celtic material culture. The quality of research is outstanding as the volume offers the latest findings in frontier studies and provides plenty of methodological tips to approach these studies. This handsome volume, produced to the high standard customary for Oxbow publications […] is valuable in presenting an overview of our current state of knowledge regarding societies and their links on either side of the Channel during the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, bringing a large amount of information about the Continental side to an anglophone (and not just anglophone) audience that may not have been very familiar with it.