Universidad de Burgos Livres

This is an updated, innovative view of the last six millennia BCE in the Iberian Penisula: the last land in Eurasia and the "Far West" of the Old World. Its diversity of lands, soils, climates and external contacts resulted in a wide variety of cultures, as if it were a micro-continent. This book is divided into three parts: the Neolithic and Chalcolithic; the Bronze Age on Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts; and the Iron Age as an affirmation of the urban life that culminated in Romanization. Structured in 15 chapters, authored by leading specialists, it is a modern and dynamic summary written with the perspective of the future and multi-disciplinary methodology. The book covers all aspects of the different cultures and peoples who formed the complex mosaic of protohistory in the Iberian Peninsula, from the latest archaeological discoveries to new research on technology, economy, society, religion, ideology, linguistics, oral traditions reflected in iconography, and palaeo-genetics based on DNA.

This volume aims to offer an up-to-date summary of knowledge relating to human predatory societies settled in Iberia. The archaeological record of the region is essential for the reconstruction of human evolution in Europe in biological, behavioural and cultural domains as it reserves the earliest and more significant records of the humanization of the continent and because it allows the reconstruction of the main trends in that process. This is possible thanks to a rich, large and complete record, encompassing all the stages of that development and all the adaptive and cultural modes. Moreover, the discovery of that record is amongst the earliest known archaeological occurrences in the history of archaeology. The book offers a systematic presentation of the current empirical data written by the same research teams already working every year on site excavations. Included is current knowledge of the main archaeo-palaeontological sites with the most significant records. Sites are arranged in eight physiographic and geological regions, with the aim of making clear the adaptive ways of human societies to similar environments. Over 400 illustrations, tables and figures, most in colour.