Headhunting and the Body in Iron Age Europe

Headhunting and the Body in Iron Age Europe
ISBN-10
1107377382
ISBN-13
9781107377387
Category
Social Science
Language
English
Published
2012-03-19
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Author
Ian Armit

Description

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.

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