After more than a century of research, an enormous body of scientific literature in the field of El Argar studies has been generated, comprising some 700 bibliographic items. No fully-updated synthesis of the literature is available at the moment; recent works deal only with specific characteristics of Argaric societies or some of the regions where their influence spread. The Archaeology of Bronze Age Iberia offers a much-needed, comprehensive overview of Argaric Bronze Age societies, based on state-of-the-art research.

In addition to expounding on recent insights in such areas as Argaric origin and expansion, social practices, and socio-politics, the book offers reflections on current issues in the field, from questions concerning the genealogy of discourses on the subject, to matters related to professional practices. The book discusses the values and interests guiding the evolution of El Argar studies, while critically reexamining its history. Scholars and researchers in the fields of Prehistory and Archaeology will find this volume highly useful.

About the Author

Gonzalo Aranda Jimenez is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Granada, Spain. He has conducted archaeological fieldwork in different Copper and Bronze Age settlements, and has published in major scientific journals like Antiquity, Oxford Journal of Archaeology, Journal of Social Archaeology and Trabajos de Prehistoria, as well as book chapters in peer-reviewed volumes.

Sandra Monton Subias is ICREA Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University, Spain. She is currently co-chairing the EAA working party "Archaeology and Gender in Europe." She has recently published "European Gender Archaeologies in Historical Perspective" in the European Journal of Archaeology and the co-edited volume Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: Feasting Rituals in the Prehistoric Societies of Europe and the Near East (2011).

Margarita Sanchez Romero is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Granada, Spain. She has worked as a visiting researcher and lecturer at the universities of Bergen (Norway), Helsinki (Finland), Cambridge and Hull (UK), Havana (Cuba), Comahue and Lujan (Argentina) and Los Lagos (Chile).

Reviews

"El Argar is a paradigmatic archaeological case study of people's life and death, power struggle and resistance, abandonment of traditions and adaptation to the environment. This book is a lively archaeological approach to history making during the 2nd millennia BC." - Maria Berrocal, Higher Council for Scientific Research, Spain

"This team of archaeologists, who got the idea of consolidating information from a variety of sources spread over more than a century, has done a good job of synthesizing that information into a usable text. The authors make clear that their goal is to pull together all of the evidence, not just that which has, at one time or another, fit someone's theory. They also aimed to examine the role that slow or no publication has had on the development of the understanding of Bronze Age Iberia. The authors do a very good job of integrating all the different archaeological methodologies to offer an interesting reinterpretation of Argaric material culture and society. [Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.]" - D. A. Slane, University of Maryland University College, CHOICE Review

Book Information
ISBN 9780367871062
Author Gonzalo Jimenez
Format Paperback
Page Count 190
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g