The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe

The Neolithic --a period in which the first sedentary agrarian communities were established across much of Europe--has been a key topic of archaeological research for over a century. However, the variety of evidence across Europe, the range of languages in which research is carried out, and the way research traditions in different countries have developed makes it very difficult for both students and specialists to gain an overview of continent-wide trends. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe provides the first comprehensive, geographically extensive, thematic overview of the European Neolithic --from Iberia to Russia and from Norway to Malta --offering both a general introduction and a clear exploration of key issues and current debates surrounding evidence and interpretation. Chapters written by leading experts in the field examine topics such as the movement of plants, animals, ideas, and people (including recent trends in the application of genetics and isotope analyses); cultural change (from the first appearance of farming to the first metal artefacts); domestic architecture; subsistence; material culture; monuments; and burial and other treatments of the dead. In doing so, the volume also considers the history of research and sets out agendas and themes for future work in the field.

1 - Defining the 'Neolithic in Europe': Diverse and Contemporaneous Communities, c. 6500-2500 BC
2 - Environments and Landscape Change
3 - South-East Europe
4 - The Neolithization of Mediterranean Europe: Mobility and Interactions from the Near East to the Iberian Peninsula
5 - Central and Eastern Europe
6 - Moving Animals and Plants in the Early Neolithic of North-Western Europe
7 - Language, Genes, and Cultural Interaction
8 - South-East Europe
9 - The Neolithic in Mediterranean Europe
10 - Central and Eastern Europe
11 - Northern and Western Europe
12 - Tells and Settlements in South-East Europe
13 - Domestic Space in the Mediterranean
14 - Longhouse Lifestyles in the Central European Neolithic
15 - Lakeside Dwellings of the Circum-Alpine Region
16 - Households and Communities in Neolithic France
17 - Houses, Halls, and Occuptation in Britain and Ireland
18 - Places of Settlement in Southern Scandanavia
19 - Stable Isotopes and Neolithic Subsistence: Pattern and Variation
20 - Subsistence Practices and Social Routine in Neolithic Southern Europe
21 - Subsistence Practices in Central and Eastern Europe
22 - Subsistence Practices in Western and Northern Europe
23 - The Neolithic Year
24 - Religious Routine and Pilgrimage in the British Isles
25 - Invention and European Knapping Traditions
26 - Shared Labour and Large Scale Action: European Flint Mining
27 - Stone and Flint Axes in Neolithic Europe
28 - Pottery of South-East Europe
29 - Linearbandkeramik Pottery and Society
30 - Ceramics and Society in Northern Europe
31 - Bell Beaker Pottery and Society
32 - A Miniature World: Models and Figurines in South-East Europe
33 - Spondylus and Shell Ornaments
34 - Amber
35 - The First Metalwork and Expressions of Social Power
36 - Early Metallurgy in Iberia and the Western Mediterranean
37 - Early Metallurgy in Western and Northern Europe
38 - Deposition in Pits
39 - Animals and Social Relations
40 - Central European Enclosures
41 - Italian Enclosures
42 - Causewayed Enclosures in Northern and Western Europe
43 - Chambered Tombs and Passage Graves of Northern and Western Europe
44 - Rock Carvings in Iberia
45 - Rock Carvings in South Central Europe
46 - Rock Carvings in Northern Europe
47 - Underground Religion in the Central Mediterranean Neolithic
48 - A Place in the Cosmos: Monuments and Celestial Bodies
49 - Mortuary Practices, Bodies, and Persons in the Neolithic and Early-Middle Copper Ages of South-East Europe
50 - Burial and Human Body Representations in the Central Mediterranean Neolithic
51 - Mortuary Practices, Bodies, and Persons in Central Europe
52 - Mortuary Practices, Bodies, and Persons in North-East Europe
53 - Mortuary Practices and Bodily Representations in North-West Europe
54 - Unexpected Histories? South-East and Central Europe
55 - What Do We Mean By 'Neolithic Societies'?
56 - The Decline of the Neolithic and the Rise of the Bronze Age Society

Chris Fowler, Senior Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology, Newcastle University. Jan Harding, Senior Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology, Newcastle University. Daniela Hofmann, Junior Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology, Hamburg University.