Transitional Landscapes? The 3rd Millennium BC in Europe. Proceedings of the International Workshop Socio-Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Creation of Landscapes III (15th -18th April 2013) in Kiel (Universitätsforsch. z. prähist. Archäol., 292/ Kiel Graduate School "Human Development in Landscapes", 9)

227 pages : illustrations, maps, plans ; 31 cm. A set of narratives dominates the discussions on the 3rd millennium BC in Central and Northern Europe. They are linked to several especially marked or emblematic features of the archaeological record, namely the extraordinary spatial extent of archaeological units of classification, extraordinary homogeneity of material culture within these units, widespread changes in the burial customs, marked changes in settlement patterns, and a perceived continuity into the Early Bronze Age. The formation of the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker units are? as the narrative goes? the results of or indicate a fundamental reorganisation of society (more hierarchic and patriarchic, as well as widened networks), which is either caused by internal developments, or by a wave of massive migration from the east, or west respectively, in the course of which the aforementioned new forms of social relations, a new economic basis (pastoralism, metallurgy) and new ideological systems (highlighted individual and gender-roles) are established. This, so the narrative continues, is a prelude to the European Bronze Age.…