The Post-Neolithic of Eastern Europe

doi:10.1017/CHO9781139017831.113

3.27 - The Post-Neolithic of Eastern Europe

from VIII. - Europe and the Mediterranean

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014

Bryan K. Hanks

Edited by

Colin Renfrew and

Paul Bahn

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Bryan K. Hanks: Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Colin Renfrew: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

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Summary

Introduction

The study of prehistoric Eastern Europe is today a very different reality from prior to 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union and decline of Marxist-inspired socialism and communism. Rigid intellectual boundaries and political ideologies that once divided scholarship have become more open, and a more vibrant level of academic exchange has developed. As a result, traditional models of understanding for the Post-Neolithic of Eastern Europe have been radically revised in recent years. In contrast to earlier models that favoured the East European steppe zone as the birthplace of prehistoric marauding warrior nomads, more complex understandings of population movement, interaction and trade are dominating contemporary scholarship. This has led to a much greater appreciation for the social, political and economic developments that occurred in this region of the Old World. This chapter provides a survey of these important developments for the Chalcolithic (Copper Age or Eneolithic), Bronze and Early Iron ages and covers chronologically a period from approximately 4500 to 300 bce. While this presents a long sequence, it offers the opportunity to step outside the boundaries of single conventional periods to examine important regional trajectories of sociocultural change.

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge World Prehistory , pp. 1937 - 1957

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9781139017831.113 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2014

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