Inheritance, Social Networks, Adaptation

How did societies change between the Early Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age? And what was the impetus that led to these changes — social contacts and innovation, intergenerational contacts, or perhaps simply adaptation? Taking these questions as its starting point, this richly detailed volume explores four different regions of southern Poland to compare and contrast the mechanisms that drove socio-cultural change in the region between the second and the first half of the first millennium BC. Drawing on standardized sets of archaeological data, the chapters gathered here examine the interplay of different factors influencing cultural change across five key parameters: environment; settlement patterns; settlement organization; economy; and material culture. The result is a beautifully illustrated volume that offers important insights into Central and Eastern European prehistory, made accessible for an English-speaking audience.