The Lost World of Old Europe:
The Danube Valley, 5000-3500 BC
Edited by David W. Anthony
With Jennifer Y. Chi

Cloth | January 2010 | $49.95 / £34.95
240 pp. | 9 x 11 | 220 color illus. 20 halftones. 25 line illus.

Shopping Cart | Endorsements

In the prehistoric Copper Age, long before cities, writing, or the invention of the wheel, Old Europe was among the most culturally rich regions in the world. Its inhabitants lived in prosperous agricultural towns. The ubiquitous goddess figurines found in their houses and shrines have triggered intense debates about women's roles. The Lost World of Old Europe is the accompanying catalog for an exhibition at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. This superb volume features essays by leading archaeologists as well as breathtaking color photographs cataloguing the objects, some illustrated here for the first time.

The heart of Old Europe was in the lower Danube valley, in contemporary Bulgaria and Romania. Old European coppersmiths were the most advanced metal artisans in the world. Their intense interest in acquiring copper, Aegean shells, and other rare valuables gave rise to far-reaching trading networks. In their graves, the bodies of Old European chieftains were adorned with pounds of gold and copper ornaments. Their funerals were without parallel in the Near East or Egypt. The exhibition represents the first time these rare objects have appeared in the United States.

An unparalleled introduction to Old Europe's cultural, technological, and artistic legacy, The Lost World of Old Europe includes essays by Douglass Bailey, John Chapman, Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici, Ioan Opris and Catalin Bem, Ernst Pernicka, Dragomir Nicolae Popovici, Michel Séfériadès, and Vladimir Slavchev.

David W. Anthony is professor of anthropology at Hartwick College. He is the author of The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (Princeton). Jennifer Y. Chi is associate director for exhibitions and public programs at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University.

Endorsements:

"An excellent, up-to-date, and much-needed synthesis on the Copper Age in the lower Danube valley. David Anthony is a renowned researcher, and his expertise is complemented by respected senior researchers who have published widely on southeast European prehistory. This book features exceptional artifacts, most of which are being exhibited for the first time in the United States."--Peter F. Biehl, University at Buffalo, State University of New York

"During the Copper Age in southeastern Europe, technology, infrastructure, and ideology combined to produce remarkable cultural dynamism. The ceramics and metalwork presented in The Lost World of Old Europe reflect the energy and spirit of the inhabitants of countless small communities during this crucial period in European prehistory."--Peter Bogucki, Princeton University

Another Princeton book by David W. Anthony:

• The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World.

Another Princeton book by Jennifer Y. Chi:

• Wine, Worship, and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani.

Subject Areas:

• Archaeology and Ancient History
• Art and Architecture

A copublication with the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University

Shopping Cart:

For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Cloth: $49.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-14388-0

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Cloth: £34.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-14388-0

Prices subject to change without notice

File created: 11/4/2009

Questions and comments to: webmaster@press.princeton.edu
Princeton University Press