Fingerprinting the Iron Age: Approaches to identity in the European Iron Age: Integrating SouthEastern Europe into the debate,Used

Archaeology has long dealt with issues of identity, and especially with ethnicity, with modern approaches emphasizing dynamic and fluid social construction. The archaeology of the Iron Age in particular has engendered much debate on the topic of ethnicity, fuelled by the first availability of written sources alongside the archaeological evidence which has led many researchers to associate the features they excavate with populations named by Greek or Latin writers. Some archaeological traditions have had their entire structure built around notions of ethnicity, around the relationships existing between large groups of people conceived together as forming unitary ethnic units. On the other hand, partly influenced by anthropological studies, other scholars have written forcefully against Iron Age ethnic constructions, such as the Celts.The 24 contributions to this volume focus on south east Europe, where the Iron Age has, until recently, been populated with numerous ethnic groups with which specific material culture forms have been associated. The first section is devoted to the core geographical area of south east Europe: Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, as well as Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The following three sections allow comparison with regions further to the west and the south west with contributions on central and western Europe, the British Isles and the Italian peninsula. The volume concludes with four papers which provide more synthetic statements that cut across geographical boundaries, the final contributions bringing together some of the key themes of the volume.The wide array of approaches to identity presented here reflects the continuing debate on how to integrate material culture, protohistoric evidence (largely classical authors looking in on first millennium BC societies) and the impact of recent nationalistic agendas.Table of Contents1. Tribute to John AlexanderSimon Stoddart2. Introduction: the challenge of Iron Age identitySimon Stoddart and Catalin Nicolae PopaPERSPECTIVES FROM SOUTH EAST EUROPE3. The Coexistence and Interference of the Late Iron Age Transylvanian CommunitiesSndor Berecki4. Identities of the Early Iron Age in Northeastern SloveniaMatija Crenar and Dimitrij Mleku5. Royal Bodies, Invisible Victims: gender in the funerary record of Late Iron Age and Early Hellenistic ThraceBela Dimova6. Mediterranean Wine and Dacian Conviviality. Ancient and Modern Myths and Archaeological EvidenceMariana Egri7. Sarmizegetusa Regia the Identity of a Royal Site?Gelu Florea8. The Ethnic Construction of Early Iron Age Burials in Transylvania. Scythians, Agathyrsi or Thracians?Alexandra Ghenghea9. Negotiating Identities at the edge of the Roman EmpireMarko Jankovic10. Tracing Ethnicity Backwards: the case of the Central Balkan TribesVladimir Mihajlovic11. The Quest for Group Identity in Late Iron Age Romania. Statistical Reconstruction of Groups based on Funerary EvidenceCatalin Nicolae Popa12. Changing Identities of the Iron Age Communities of Southern PannoniaHrvoje Potrebica and Marko Dizdar13 Indigenous and Colonist Communities in the Eastern Carpathian Basin at the Beginning of the Late Iron Age. The Genesis of an Eastern Celtic WorldAurel Rustoiu14. Ancient Thrace between the East and the WestNikola Theodossiev15. Hellenization and Ethnicity in the Continental Balkan Iron AgeIvan VranicPERSPECTIVES FROM THE WEST16. Central Places and the Construction of Collective Identities in the Middle RhineMoselle RegionManuel FernndezGtz17. Fingerprinting Iron Age Communities in SouthWest Germany and an Integrative Theory of CultureOliver Nakoinz18. Iron Age Identities in Central Europe: some initial approachesPeter RamslPERSPECTIVES FROM THE FAR WEST19. Negotiating Identity on the Edge of EmpireLouisa Campbell20. Personal Adornment in Iron Age Britain. The Case of the Missing Glass BeadsEli