Punctuated Insularity

Download or read book Punctuated Insularity written by Gary S. Webster and published by BAR International Series. This book was released on 2017 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sardinia preserves an exceptional record of its Final Neolithic and Copper Age cultures, with a diverse crafts repertory, henges and dolmens, statue-menhirs, chamber tombs - and the only known ziggurat in Europe. The present study provides a synthesis in English for a scholarly readership interested in Mediterranean adaptations during this earliest period of metallurgy. As elsewhere, the infusion of metallurgy had profound implications, as island cultures underwent a series of transformations tied directly or indirectly to it. Spanning two millennia, these changes are studied in terms of material cultures known as Ozieri, Sub-Ozieri, Filigosa-Abealzu, Monte Claro and Bell Beaker. A more overarching finding from this review is the periodic engagement between these cultures and geographically distant ones. Such punctuations of the insular condition had long-lasting effects on local expression, and some thoughts on how this might contribute to understandings of concepts like identity formation are presented by way of a conclusion.