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.

From the Callanish stones and the great ritual monuments of the Neolithic, the broch towers and the wheelhouses of the Iron Age, through to the arrival of the Norse and the Lords of the Isles, this book explores the history of human settlement and society from the first hunter-gatherers to the Clearances. What emerges is a Hebridean archaeology as distinctive as those of Orkney and Wessex.

The brochs are among the best-known ancient monuments in Scotland. However, despite a long and colourful history of research, it is only in the last 20 years that the results of field survey, excavation and radiocarbon dating have begun to flesh out a picture of their evolution and development from around 600 BC to AD 100.This well-illustrated book describes the current state of our knowledge, probes the long-running controversies over their origins and function, and provides an annotated list of the most accessible and best-preserved broch sites. Individual chapters cover: Beginnings; Anatomy of a broch tower; Broch landscapes, broch people; Lords of the north; Lords of the south; Beyond the brochs.

People have lived in Scotland for at least 10,000 years. Yet, for the first 9000 of these years, no recognisable concept of 'Scotland' even existed. Most books on Scottish history dispose of these nine millennia in a brief introduction, before moving on to the more familiar kings, queens, barons and battles of medieval Scotland. Ian Armit tells the story of Scotland's earliest history by concentrating on 100 of the most exciting and accessible monuments, which he places firmly in their wider context. Armed with full information on 'How to get there', the reader is encouraged to go out and discover the wealth of this archaeological evidence that can be seen all over Scotland - Neolithic chambered tombs and stone circles, Bronze Age rock carvings and hut circles, Iron Age hillforts and brochs, Roman forts, Pictish symbol stones, early Christian crosses and Viking graves. The book includes regional itineraries, a guide to museums and heritage attractions, and an archaeological glossary.

Your introduction to the story of Celtic Scotland.This authoritative and handsomely illustrated book is aimed at the general reader who wants to know about the mysterious people who inhabited Scotland from the Bronze Age onwards. They created wonderful works of art in gold and silver and their brochs and hillforts are scattered over the Scottish landscape. Many modern-day Scots are descended from them.Using the results of modern archaeology and historical sources, Ian Armit answers the key questions about who the Celts were, wherethey came from, their relationship with other Celtic tribes throughout Europe, their customs and beliefs and their daily life. It is a fascinating story told with flair and clarity by one of Britain's leading experts on the Celts.

This authoritative and handsomely illustrated book is aimed at the general reader who wants to know about the mysterious people who inhabited Scotland from the Bronze Age onwards. They created wonderful works of art in gold and silver and their brochs and hillforts are scattered over the Scottish landscape. Many modern-day Scots are descended from them.Using the results of modern archaeology and historical sources, Ian Armit answers the key questions about who the Celts were, wherethey came from, their relationship with other Celtic tribes throughout Europe, their customs and beliefs and their daily life. It is a fascinating story told with flair and clarity by one of Britain's leading experts on the Celts.

From the Callanish stones and the great ritual monuments of the Neolithic, the broch towers and the wheelhouses of the Iron Age, through to the arrival of the Norse and the Lords of the Isles, this book explores the history of human settlement and society from the first hunter-gatherers to the Clearances. What emerges is a Hebridean archaeology as distinctive as those of Orkney and Wessex.

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.

From the Callanish stones and the great ritual monuments of the Neolithic, the broch towers and the wheelhouses of the Iron Age, through to the arrival of the Norse and the Lords of the Isles, this book explores the history of human settlement and society from the first hunter-gatherers to the Clearances. What emerges is a Hebridean archaeology as distinctive as those of Orkney and Wessex.

The brochs are among the best-known ancient monuments in Scotland. However, despite a long and colourful history of research, it is only in the last 20 years that the results of field survey, excavation and radiocarbon dating have begun to flesh out a picture of their evolution and development from around 600 BC to AD 100.This well-illustrated book describes the current state of our knowledge, probes the long-running controversies over their origins and function, and provides an annotated list of the most accessible and best-preserved broch sites. Individual chapters cover: Beginnings; Anatomy of a broch tower; Broch landscapes, broch people; Lords of the north; Lords of the south; Beyond the brochs.

People have lived in Scotland for at least 10,000 years. Yet, for the first 9000 of these years, no recognisable concept of 'Scotland' even existed. Most books on Scottish history dispose of these nine millennia in a brief introduction, before moving on to the more familiar kings, queens, barons and battles of medieval Scotland. Ian Armit tells the story of Scotland's earliest history by concentrating on 100 of the most exciting and accessible monuments, which he places firmly in their wider context. Armed with full information on 'How to get there', the reader is encouraged to go out and discover the wealth of this archaeological evidence that can be seen all over Scotland - Neolithic chambered tombs and stone circles, Bronze Age rock carvings and hut circles, Iron Age hillforts and brochs, Roman forts, Pictish symbol stones, early Christian crosses and Viking graves. The book includes regional itineraries, a guide to museums and heritage attractions, and an archaeological glossary.

Your introduction to the story of Celtic Scotland.This authoritative and handsomely illustrated book is aimed at the general reader who wants to know about the mysterious people who inhabited Scotland from the Bronze Age onwards. They created wonderful works of art in gold and silver and their brochs and hillforts are scattered over the Scottish landscape. Many modern-day Scots are descended from them.Using the results of modern archaeology and historical sources, Ian Armit answers the key questions about who the Celts were, wherethey came from, their relationship with other Celtic tribes throughout Europe, their customs and beliefs and their daily life. It is a fascinating story told with flair and clarity by one of Britain's leading experts on the Celts.

This authoritative and handsomely illustrated book is aimed at the general reader who wants to know about the mysterious people who inhabited Scotland from the Bronze Age onwards. They created wonderful works of art in gold and silver and their brochs and hillforts are scattered over the Scottish landscape. Many modern-day Scots are descended from them.Using the results of modern archaeology and historical sources, Ian Armit answers the key questions about who the Celts were, wherethey came from, their relationship with other Celtic tribes throughout Europe, their customs and beliefs and their daily life. It is a fascinating story told with flair and clarity by one of Britain's leading experts on the Celts.

From the Callanish stones and the great ritual monuments of the Neolithic, the broch towers and the wheelhouses of the Iron Age, through to the arrival of the Norse and the Lords of the Isles, this book explores the history of human settlement and society from the first hunter-gatherers to the Clearances. What emerges is a Hebridean archaeology as distinctive as those of Orkney and Wessex.