Helle Vandkilde

In 1864, a large metal hoard of copper, bronze and silver objects was discovered at Pile in the southern Swedish region of Scania. The hoard has been dated to the onset of the rich Nordic Bronze Age, and emerges as the earliest, finest and one of the largest of the Nordic sacrificial deposits of metalwork in or near water. The metal hoard from Pile in Scania, Sweden provides the first detailed documentation, scientific examination and historical interpretation of the assemblage. Around 2000 BCE the site of Pile was networked with places near and the far in a manner that boosted the political economy of Southern Scandinavia, adding to an atmosphere of tensions and change -- and it made history. The chapters unfold as a ‘history from beneath’ beginning with place, things and time and concluding with metals and the worlds that intersected in Pile at the threshold of the long Bronze Age.

This booklet presents lectures given by professors of archaeology Helle Vandkilde, Claus von Carnap-Bornheim and James Graham-Campbell. Vandkilde discusses Archaeology, Anthropology and Globalisation, touching upon her future project in Papua New Guinea combining archaeology and social anthropology. Von Carnap-Bornheim interprets the finds from the location of the battle (Kalkriese-Niewedder Basin, Germany) in 9 AD between Roman Varus and the Germanic leader Arminius. Graham-Campbell deals with the silver economy in Viking-Age Britain and Ireland.

This book deals with the interrelationship between society and war seen through the analytical eyes of anthropologists and archaeologists. War is a ghastly thing, which unfortunately thrives almost everywhere in the world today. We need, therefore, to have a better understanding of what war does to people and their societies. War produces change, and archaeologists and anthropologists are analytically equipped to pinpoint its direction, patterning, scale and content. The perspective -- and filter -- of time provides one important tool, while context and comparison provide other tools. Looking at the history of war studies, war is quite often perceived of and treated as something set aside from other practices; almost personified. However, the results published in this book allow us to say that it is never autonomous and self-regulating. War always forms part of something else. Numerous questions arise, and at least some answers -- often tentative and multifaceted -- are provided in the twenty-eight studies included in the book. They certainly add to an ongoing debate, hopefully qualifying it as well.