Stuart Piggott – författare

This book interprets the main lines of European prehistory from the first agricultural communities in the sixth or even seventh millennium B.C. until the incorporation of much of barbarian Europe within the Roman Empire. It traces the beginnings of animal domestication and plant cultivation in ancient Western Asia, and the transmission of these skills by movements of peoples or by assimilation, in the European continent. The early technology of working in copper, and later in bronze, is discussed. Metal winning and working, and trade in raw materials and finished products, brought social and political repercussions to barbarian and civilised peoples alike.The spread of the Indo-European languages is considered in its archaeological context, as is the formation of the Celtic peoples, soon to acquire iron technology and to become the main barbarian component in Europe, side-by-side with the civilised Mediterranean societies, Greek, Etruscan or Roman. The later Celtic world of Europe and the British Isles is examined, and an attempt made to estimate the contribution of the older barbarian world to the Europe, which emerged from the ruins of the Roman Empire, geographically, the book ranges over the whole European field, from the Atlantic shores to the Urals and the Caucasus. While it does not pretend to be a prehistory of Europe within the period chosen, the book does bring together and discuss for the first time much scattered and often little-known archaeological evidence.This book is organized in a manner that will permit it being read on two levels. For the general non-specialist reader, the text and illustrations should give a sufficient idea of the nature of the theme and of the evidence, and of the development of the barbarian cultures side-by-side with the civilizations of antiquity, as their precursors and their subsequent counterparts. For the archaeological student however the text is documented with rather full references and notes at the end of each chapter, and a select bibliography, which should facilitate access to the original sources.

After an outline of the continental background of the British neolithic cultures the book contains two subdivisions. Professor Piggott first describes those cultures that he classes as primary: that is those bought to Britain by colonists who bought a knowledge of agriculture. He then shows how there arose derivative secondary neolithic cultures showing a resurgence of earlier characteristics. Finally all the British neolithic cultures are considered in relation to one another and to their continental setting, and an outline of relative and absolute chronology is made.

Originally published in 1951, this book contains seventy-three pictures of treasures found in Britain - things that have survived from ancient prehistoric times, made with care and made to be beautiful. These discoveries have kept their attraction for us; the prehistoric and modern craftsman speak a common language; much of what was beautiful by ancestral standards remains so to us. Most of the treasures shown are to be seen in England in museums up and down the country. The book arouses enthusiasm in archaeologists; it will also be of special appeal to practising craftsmen and designers. It was compiled by two experts, but not for limited archaeological interests; this book will also be of interest to those with an interest in craftsmanship.

The agrarian history of Britain begins not with the earliest written documents but with the archaeological evidence marking the advent of the first agriculturalists from the European continent before 3000BC. The foundations of the farming community, which was encountered by the Romans and the subsequent Germanic settlers, were laid by stone-using peoples growing cereal crops and domesticating animals, and the later development of metal technologies enabled these peasant communities to intensify their exploitation of the natural environment. This volume was originally published in two parts, the first edited by Stuart Piggott and the second by H. P. R. Finberg. Part II was actually published in 1972, with the first following in 1981. The volume surveys, for the whole of Britain, this evolution of the man-made landscape over the period of some three millennia before the Roman conquest, utilising in particular the surviving evidence in the British countryside, unique in Europe, for the agrarian pattern of prehistoric settlement.

Based on lectures given at the Conference of the British Summer School of Archaeology at Edinburgh in 1954, this book, published in 1962, surveys the general field of pre-historic Scotland, five archaeologists each contributing chapters discussing the main aspects and problems that have presented themselves in specialised research areas. From the first peopling of the area by human communities with hunting and food-gathering economies, to field antiquities and the introduction of copper and bronze metallurgy and on to the first settlement by Celtic speakers and the links to the first historically documented Scotland. Contributors: R.J.C. Atkinson, G.E. Daniel, T.G.E. Powell and C.A.R. Radford.

Based on lectures given at the Conference of the British Summer School of Archaeology at Edinburgh in 1954, this book, published in 1962, surveys the general field of pre-historic Scotland, five archaeologists each contributing chapters discussing the main aspects and problems that have presented themselves in specialised research areas. From the first peopling of the area by human communities with hunting and food-gathering economies, to field antiquities and the introduction of copper and bronze metallurgy and on to the first settlement by Celtic speakers and the links to the first historically documented Scotland. Contributors: R.J.C. Atkinson, G.E. Daniel, T.G.E. Powell and C.A.R. Radford.