Vesa-Pekka Herva is a professor of archaeology at the University of Oulu, Finland. He has studied the Aegean Bronze Age and European northern worlds from the Neolithic to the present. His research interests encompass cosmologies, human-environment relations, cultural heritage, and classical Graeco-Roman traditions.Antti Lahelma is a university lecturer of archaeology at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research focuses on prehistoric rock art, identity, and worldview, particularly in the northern circumpolar region, and he has also worked extensively on the archaeology of the Ancient Near East. He has previously authored together with Vesa-Pekka Herva a book titled Northern Archaeology and Cosmology: A Relational View (Routledge, 2020).

• List of Figures; Preface; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Origins and Origin Narratives; Chapter 3: Cities beneath the Surface; Chapter 4: Money, Metals and Treasures; Chapter 5: Otherworldly Writing and Communication;Chapter 6: Civilization and Its Monsters; Chapter 7: Concluding reflections; Bibliography; Index.

Vesa-Pekka Herva is a professor of archaeology at the University of Oulu, Finland. He has studied the Aegean Bronze Age and European northern worlds from the Neolithic to the present. His research interests encompass cosmologies, human-environment relations, cultural heritage, and classical Graeco-Roman traditions.Antti Lahelma is a university lecturer of archaeology at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research focuses on prehistoric rock art, identity, and worldview, particularly in the northern circumpolar region, and he has also worked extensively on the archaeology of the Ancient Near East. He has previously authored together with Vesa-Pekka Herva a book titled Northern Archaeology and Cosmology: A Relational View (Routledge, 2020).

• List of Figures; Preface; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Origins and Origin Narratives; Chapter 3: Cities beneath the Surface; Chapter 4: Money, Metals and Treasures; Chapter 5: Otherworldly Writing and Communication;Chapter 6: Civilization and Its Monsters; Chapter 7: Concluding reflections; Bibliography; Index.