Customer Reviews

Prehistoric Europe: An Illustrated History

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I expected the book to be somewhat uneven in quality since it has 11 authors and 13 chapters with each chapter written by one individual. But the chapters on the Neolithic era are particularly weak. These chapters divide Europe into the southeast region, the southwest, etc., at the same moment in time, without showing movements of people and cultures into different regions at somewhat later or earlier times. The regions are just arbitrary compass points; they don't reflect the significance of transportation along coasts and rivers, for instance. Within a region the presentation does little to distinguish the agricultural people near the coasts from less settled or highland people living further inland. The coverage of Iberia is flimsy at best, and too brief. The account of the bell-beaker people is totally confusing. I could go on. On the other hand, the chapters surrounding the era of the Romans are really great. (But I didn't buy a book entitled "Prehistory" to read about that era.) As far as the book's illustrations go, there are over 10,000 dolmens and other prehistoric megalithic monuments in Western Europe today, but the book has just a single photograph of one, and that particular one happens to be covered with earth, the photograph is taken from the air, and all you see is a mere mound of grass. Reviewing the illustrations as a whole, some of them are worthless, but the majority are well worthwhile pictures of weapons, drinking vessels, jewelry, statues, etc. A few of them are in color. There are also some maps. Maps can be a great help in presenting findings in a work like this, but the book doesn't utilize maps as much as it should (and again the Neolithic and Bronze ages are the weakest in this regard).

I read this book through once, and have read the second half again. I found it very difficult to keep track of different tribes and their movements from Central Asia, into the Balkans and onward. Some of the contributors wrote extremely clearly and their chapters were easy to follow, Others, including the editor, made me cringe. I nearly put the book down while reading the introduction and had to resist taking a red pen to the text. I found the description of the rise of metallurgy interesting although oversimplified. No mention was made of small indigenous metal working. I also agree with the previous reviewer on the confusing description of bell beaker pottery and the use of this style of pottery. Having found bell beaker shards, I would like to know more about the spread and use of this highly decorative and stylized pottery.