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Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For two and a half thousand years they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists. Barry Cunliffe's classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of ea...
The story of the origins of the British and the Irish peoples, from the end of the last Ice Age around 10,000BC to the eve of the Norman Conquest - who they were, where they came from, and how they related to one another.
What is it about Brittany that makes it such a favourite destination for the British? To answer this question, Bretons and Britons explores the long history of the Bretons, from the time of the first farmers around 5400 BC to the present, and the very close relationship they have had with their British neighbours throughout this time. More than simply a history of a people, Bretons and Britons is also the author's homage to a country and a people he has come to admire over decades of engagement. Underlying the story throughout is the tale of the Bretons' fierce struggle to maintain their distinctive identity. As a peninsula people living on a westerly excrescence of Europe they were surround...
Brilliant horsemen and great fighters, the Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south - the Chinese, the Persians and the Greeks - and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe. Relations with the Greeks around the shores of the Black Sea were rather differen...
Who were the Druids? What do we know about them? Do they still exist today? The Druids first came into focus in Western Europe - Gaul, Britain, and Ireland - in the second century BC. They are a popular subject; they have been known and discussed for over 2,000 years and few figures flit so elusively through history. They are enigmatic and puzzling, partly because of the lack of knowledge about them has resulted in a wide spectrum of interpretations. Barry Cunliffe takes the reader through the evidence relating to the Druids, trying to decide what can be said and what can't be said about them. He examines why the nature of the druid caste changed quite dramatically over time, and how successive generations have interpreted the phenomenon in very different ways. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
In this guide Barry Cunliffe sheds light on the Celtic race using a range of evidence and explores subjects such as trade migration and the evolution of Celtic traditions.
Since its first publication in 1971, Barry Cunliffe's monumental survey has established itself as a classic of British archaeology. This fully revised fourth edition maintains the qualities of the earlier editions, whilst taking into account the significant developments that have moulded the discipline in recent years. Barry Cunliffe here incorporates new theoretical approaches, technological advances and a range of new sites and finds, ensuring that Iron Age Communities in Britain remains the definitive guide to the subject.
The story of the peoples of Eurasia, from the birth of farming to the expansion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century. An immense historical panorama set on a huge continental stage, this is also the story of how humans first started building the global system we know today.
The finding, in 1727, of the gilded bronze head of the Roman goddess Minerva during the construction of the famous Stall Street led to the discovery of the Roman temple and of the baths. Since then archaeologists have discovered more and more about the Roman city of Aquae Sulis. In this new edition of a work first published almost thirty years ago, Professor Cunliffe brings the story right up to date. He deals in detail with the temple and its precinct and with the 'curse tablets' which have been deciphered to reveal the thoughts of Roman visitors. He then explains just how the bathing establishment was organized and explores the relationship between the spa and the town. We learn what life was like for the local inhabitants as well as for the visitors. Finally, he charts the process of decline and decay during the 300 years after the Roman period.
For almost forty years the study of the Iron Age in Britain has been dominated by Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe. Between the 1960s and 1980s he led a series of large-scale excavations at famous sites including the Roman baths at Bath, Fishbourne Roman palace, and Danebury hillfort which revolutionized our understanding of Iron Age society, and the interaction between this world of 'barbarians' and the classical civilizations of the Mediterranean. His standard text on Iron Age Communities in Britain is in its fourth edition, and he has published groundbreaking volumes of synthesis on The Ancient Celts (OUP, 1997) and on the peoples of the Atlantic coast, Facing the Ocean (OUP, 2001). This volume brings together papers from more than thirty of Professor Cunliffe's colleagues and students to mark his retirement from the Chair of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford, a post which he has held since 1972. The breadth of the contributions, extending over 800 years and ranging from the Atlantic fringes to the eastern Mediterranean, is testimony to Barry Cunliffe's own extraordinarily wide interests.