Introduction

Abstract

The purpose of this book is four-fold: to introduce English-speaking students and scholars to some of the outstanding archaeological research that has been done in Europe in recent years; to integrate this research into an anthropological and historical frame of reference; to address episodes of culture change, such as the transition to farming, the origins of complex societies, and urbanism; to provide an overview of European prehistory from the earliest appearance of humans to the rise of the Roman empire.