David Fontijn is Professor in the Archaeology of Early Europe at the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden, and affiliated member of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI). His research focuses on ritual landscapes and on the social evolution of prehistoric farming societies in Europe and Eurasia. Previous books include the award-winning Sacrificial Landscapes (2003) and Transformation through Destruction (2013; co-written/edited with S. Van der Vaart and R. Jansen).

"This book sheds new light on one of the most pressing problems in European archaeology: why did people in the Bronze Age bury so much metalwork or consign it to rivers and bogs? David Fontijn's analysis is compelling, original and brilliantly argued. It will be influential and ought to take studies of ancient Europe in exciting new directions." – Richard Bradley, Reading University, UK"This innovative and insightful book explores the analytical lenses through which we encounter and explain the deposition of metal objects in Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Europe. Employing anthropological theories of value to call into question the distinctions archaeologists so often draw between social, religious and economic activities, this book will be of interest to anyone working on the significance of objects and depositional practice in the past." – Joanna Brück, University of Bristol, UK"Economies of Destruction is a book worthy of considerable reflection. It is a book filled with new terminology, new concepts and new approaches, drawing heavily on recent anthropological theory, and shifting the traditional focus from the sacred-profane explanations for deposition to concepts of practice and Bronze Age world views. Fontijn has the remarkable ability to present something new and thought-provoking that seems, at the same time, very obvious…No doubt this will become essential reading for all those interested in depositional practices." - Matthew G. Knight, The Prehistoric Society

• Acknowledgments; Preface; Chapter 1 Systematic irrationalities? The Bronze Age ‘destructive economy’; Chapter 2 Selective deposition – what does it entail and how can it be studied?; Chapter 3 The value conundrum: What common things and splendid items share and why their deposition is selective; Chapter 4 Pre-Bronze Age selective deposition; Chapter 5 Trade hoards: The un-economic nature of the Bronze Age metal economy; Chapter 6 Gifts to familiar gods?; Chapter 7 The receiving landscape; Chapter 8 Economies of destruction: ‘keeping-while-destroying’?; Index

David Fontijn is Professor in the Archaeology of Early Europe at the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden, and affiliated member of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI). His research focuses on ritual landscapes and on the social evolution of prehistoric farming societies in Europe and Eurasia. Previous books include the award-winning Sacrificial Landscapes (2003) and Transformation through Destruction (2013; co-written/edited with S. Van der Vaart and R. Jansen).

"This book sheds new light on one of the most pressing problems in European archaeology: why did people in the Bronze Age bury so much metalwork or consign it to rivers and bogs? David Fontijn's analysis is compelling, original and brilliantly argued. It will be influential and ought to take studies of ancient Europe in exciting new directions." – Richard Bradley, Reading University, UK"This innovative and insightful book explores the analytical lenses through which we encounter and explain the deposition of metal objects in Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Europe. Employing anthropological theories of value to call into question the distinctions archaeologists so often draw between social, religious and economic activities, this book will be of interest to anyone working on the significance of objects and depositional practice in the past." – Joanna Brück, University of Bristol, UK"Economies of Destruction is a book worthy of considerable reflection. It is a book filled with new terminology, new concepts and new approaches, drawing heavily on recent anthropological theory, and shifting the traditional focus from the sacred-profane explanations for deposition to concepts of practice and Bronze Age world views. Fontijn has the remarkable ability to present something new and thought-provoking that seems, at the same time, very obvious…No doubt this will become essential reading for all those interested in depositional practices." - Matthew G. Knight, The Prehistoric Society

• Acknowledgments; Preface; Chapter 1 Systematic irrationalities? The Bronze Age ‘destructive economy’; Chapter 2 Selective deposition – what does it entail and how can it be studied?; Chapter 3 The value conundrum: What common things and splendid items share and why their deposition is selective; Chapter 4 Pre-Bronze Age selective deposition; Chapter 5 Trade hoards: The un-economic nature of the Bronze Age metal economy; Chapter 6 Gifts to familiar gods?; Chapter 7 The receiving landscape; Chapter 8 Economies of destruction: ‘keeping-while-destroying’?; Index

David Fontijn is Professor in the Archaeology of Early Europe at the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden, and affiliated member of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI). His research focuses on ritual landscapes and on the social evolution of prehistoric farming societies in Europe and Eurasia. Previous books include the award-winning Sacrificial Landscapes (2003) and Transformation through Destruction (2013; co-written/edited with S. Van der Vaart and R. Jansen).

"This book sheds new light on one of the most pressing problems in European archaeology: why did people in the Bronze Age bury so much metalwork or consign it to rivers and bogs? David Fontijn's analysis is compelling, original and brilliantly argued. It will be influential and ought to take studies of ancient Europe in exciting new directions." – Richard Bradley, Reading University, UK"This innovative and insightful book explores the analytical lenses through which we encounter and explain the deposition of metal objects in Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Europe. Employing anthropological theories of value to call into question the distinctions archaeologists so often draw between social, religious and economic activities, this book will be of interest to anyone working on the significance of objects and depositional practice in the past." – Joanna Brück, University of Bristol, UK"Economies of Destruction is a book worthy of considerable reflection. It is a book filled with new terminology, new concepts and new approaches, drawing heavily on recent anthropological theory, and shifting the traditional focus from the sacred-profane explanations for deposition to concepts of practice and Bronze Age world views. Fontijn has the remarkable ability to present something new and thought-provoking that seems, at the same time, very obvious…No doubt this will become essential reading for all those interested in depositional practices." - Matthew G. Knight, The Prehistoric Society

• Acknowledgments; Preface; Chapter 1 Systematic irrationalities? The Bronze Age ‘destructive economy’; Chapter 2 Selective deposition – what does it entail and how can it be studied?; Chapter 3 The value conundrum: What common things and splendid items share and why their deposition is selective; Chapter 4 Pre-Bronze Age selective deposition; Chapter 5 Trade hoards: The un-economic nature of the Bronze Age metal economy; Chapter 6 Gifts to familiar gods?; Chapter 7 The receiving landscape; Chapter 8 Economies of destruction: ‘keeping-while-destroying’?; Index