The earth, the sky and the water's edge: changing beliefs in the earlier prehistory of Northern Europe

The Nordic Bronze Age Rose from Copper Age Diversity: Contrasts in the Cimbrian Peninsula

“…It is important to stress that although a specific onto logical mode is often dominant, the different modes are not mutually exclusive (Descola 2006, 147;2013, 233). Although the topic cannot be adequately addressed in the present work, and thus remains somewhat speculative, it is tentatively suggested that the cosmo logy of the late NBA was precisely one such hybrid comprised of different world views representing both an existing vernacular (decentred) and a new elitist (centred) ontology (Bradley and Nimura 2013;Holst 2015, 79; see also Andrén 2014, 171). This hybridity is perfectly illustrated in the wheel cross (Fig.…”

Horses, Fish and Humans: Interspecies Relationships in the Nordic Bronze Age

“…Rather, it relied on traditional animistic practices evident in Eurasia's deep past, and in contemporary northern Scandinavian hunter-gatherer societies (e.g. Hultkrantz 1978;Morphy 1989;Bolin 2000;Conneller 2004;Borić 2007;Lindström 2012;Bradley & Nimura 2013;Ahlqvist & Vandkilde 2018;Hedeager 2010Hedeager , 2011. Apparently, people continued to be tightly connected to their animated past.…”

The World Ends Here, the World Begins Here: Bronze Age Megalithic Monuments in Western Scotland

“…As quoted in Higginbottom et al (2015), it is still uncommon for 'prehistorians to move beyond generalised statements and toward the detailed interpretation of particular beliefs and ceremonial practices' (Harding et al 2006, p. 27) or indeed towards deep reflective considerations of what the cosmological systems might be, in particular within British archaeology (exceptions include Bradley 2012Bradley , 2013Bradley and Nimura 2013;Burl 1981;Darvill 1997Darvill , 2016Gillings 2015;Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina 1998;Parker Pearson et al 2011;Pollard and Ruggles 2001;Richards 1996bRichards , 2013aSims 2009, in press;Whittle 1997;Whittle et al 1999). However, it is clear that, with apparently simpler standing stones at least, we can now move beyond very simple statements when 1 3 we consider the new evidence above, including most recently that revealed by the use of Stellarium Mom 2018, 2020) as well as that found previously for Coll and Tiree (Higginbottom et al 2015).…”