Headhunting and the Body in Iron Age Europe (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521877565)

Across Iron Age Europe the human head carried symbolic associations with power, fertility status, gender, and more. Evidence for the removal, curation, and display of heads ranges from classical literary references to iconography and skeletal remains. Traditionally, this material has been associated with a Europe-wide "head-cult," and used to support the idea of a unified Celtic culture in prehistory. This book demonstrates instead how headhunting and head-veneration were practised across a range of diverse and fragmented Iron Age societies. Using case studies from France, Britain, and elsewhere, it explores the complex and subtle relationships between power, religion, warfare, and violence in Iron Age Europe.

Author: Ian Armit
ISBN-10: 0521877563
ISBN-13: 9780521877565
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/19/2012
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 10.00h x 7.10w x 0.80d