Making and Meaning in the Bronze and Iron Ages brings together a wide-ranging selection of papers from the METALAGES2024 colloquium, offering new perspectives on chronology, material culture, and social life across prehistoric Europe and the Mediterranean. While grounded in the technical challenges of chronological research, this volume moves beyond dating frameworks to explore how time, production, and meaning intersect in archaeological interpretation.
Contributors engage with cutting-edge methods – including radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, Bayesian modelling, and isotopic analysis – while critically examining their integration with typological sequences and regional cultural schemes. These studies demonstrate that chronology is not merely a technical tool, but a dynamic field that shapes our understanding of human agency, cultural interaction, and historical change.
At the same time, the volume reflects the diversity of current research in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Case studies span settlement networks in Ireland and northern Britain, dendrochronological sequences in Italy, and fortified landscapes in Central and Western Europe. Other contributions address gender, personhood, craft production, and long-distance connections in Mediterranean societies, highlighting the interplay between material practices and social meanings.
By bringing together methodological innovation and interpretative insight, this collection captures the collaborative and interdisciplinary spirit of the METALAGES series of international colloquia, organized by the UISPP Scientific Commission Metal Ages in Europe and the Mediterranean. It offers an essential resource for scholars interested in the evolving relationships between chronology, landscape, and society in later European prehistory.
