Headhunting and the body in Iron Age Europe / Ian Armit.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Armit, Ian, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Headhunters--Europe.

Headhunters.

Human body--Symbolic aspects--Europe.

Human body.

Human remains (Archaeology)--Europe.

Human remains (Archaeology).

Rites and ceremonies--Europe.

Rites and ceremonies.

Violence--Europe.

Violence.

Iron age--Europe.

Iron age.

Europe--Social life and customs.

Europe.

Europe--Religious life and customs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 259 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Headhunting & the Body in Iron Age Europe

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Across Iron Age Europe the human head carried symbolic associations with power, fertility status, gender, and more. Evidence for the removal, curation and display of heads ranges from classical literary references to iconography and skeletal remains. Traditionally, this material has been associated with a Europe-wide 'head-cult', and used to support the idea of a unified Celtic culture in prehistory. This book demonstrates instead how headhunting and head-veneration were practised across a range of diverse and fragmented Iron Age societies. Using case studies from France, Britain and elsewhere, it explores the complex and subtle relationships between power, religion, warfare and violence in Iron Age Europe.

Contents:

1. Detached fragments of humanity

2. A remarkable spiritual continuity?

3. Shamans on the march

4. Pillars, heads, and corn

5. Neither this world, nor the next

6. From the dead to the living

7. Gods and monsters

8. Bodies of belief.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-139-33407-7

1-107-22597-3

1-280-39387-4

9786613571793

1-139-33744-0

1-139-33989-3

1-139-34147-2

1-139-33657-6

1-139-33831-5

1-139-01697-0

OCLC:

792684383