ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to advance significantly the weight of archaeology as a social science by contributing to the debates concerning the construction/resistance of inequality that are taking place in archaeology, anthropology and sociology. Iron Age research on Western Europe has moved away from classical evolutionist narratives towards new forms of understanding social formations. Great Britain, which continues to be the more influential archaeological mainstream in Europe has played the lead role in this matter. According to Sharples in Britain the renewal was a reaction to Cunliffe’s Danebury hierarchical model. In the light of the new regional studies, new proposals as “non triangular societies,” heterarchy, segmentarity and peasantry have been applied within complex political landscapes showing that “different Iron Ages” exist. Many regional studies have been included in order to test alternative social models applicable to Iron Age social formations.
