This thesis is a study of the bronze Italian helmet over six centuries, from the last quarter of the sixth century B. C to the end of the 1st century A. D. It surveys and examines the mainstream development and evolution of the helmet in the Apennine peninsula, in particular the nine major forms which dominate the equipment of the Italian warrior during this period i. e. The Apulo-Corinthian, the Negau, the Italo-Chalkidian, the Etrusco-Thracian, the Italo-Pilos, the Samno-Attic, the Montefortino, the Coolus and the Hagenau helmets. Starting from the premise that the majority of helmets no matter of what form, were intended to be functional and that their evolution is entirely dependent upon the type of warfare for which each form was developed, the changing nature of that warfare and the cultural affinities of the people who used it, this thesis discusses the external agencies and cultural influences that can be traced in the development of each form, the origins of the forms themselves and provides a definitive typology for each. Where possible it also establishes an absolute chronology for these typologies, based upon dated examples, the stylistic evolution of form, the size and shape of the helmet bowl, its decoration and standards of manufacture and finish. Due to the complexities of the manufacturing processes involved in the production of bronze helmets and as many of the techniques used were common to all forms this study commences with an examination of these processes and the tools and technology employed including an examination of the growth of mass-production technique in Italian helmet production. Where possible workshop groups have been isolated for each form and areas of regional production defined. This analysis is based on a detailed examination and comparison of the distribution of each type within each form, their dating, fittings i. e crestfixtures, cheek-pieces etc and their decoration and its possible derivation. Finally the functional aspects of the bronze Italian helmet are discussed and attempts are made to account for the overwhelming popularity of the Montefortino helmet which from the the end of the third century B. C. had eclipsed all other Italian helmet forms. It examines the disappearance of the majority of these culturally distinct types which is a marked feature of Rome domination of Italy. It concludes therefore that it is Rome's centralisation of production under her political and military control that led to the suppression of the widespread indigenous Italian arms industries and inevitably led to the progressive rearmament of the Apennine peninsula after the Roman and ultimately Celtic fashion and therefore that it is Rome's cultural control of Italy that led to the supremacy of the Montefortino helmet.

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This paper concerns a comparative analysis between two pre-Roman burial ground and the cremated individuals buried there, Skogome cemetery in Bohuslän and Smörkullen cemetery in Östergötland. The comparative analysis consists of several parts that concern both cemeteries inner and outer burial customs, and the osteological analysis of a total of 18 cremated invidvidulas. By studying the different parts separately, it has been possible to identify similarities and differences between the two contemporary cemeteries. There are great similarities between the cemeteries, differences were mainly observed in the osteological material relating to the amount of bone in each burial. The smaller amounts of bone in the graves of Skogome also holds a higher degree of fragmentation, but can not be explained by a higher combustion rate than the skeletal material from Smörkullen. This may indicate differences in the management of the individual’s remains after the cremation at the two sites. According to Borgström (1973) all agegroups probably buried in the cemetery Smörkullen, which also was observed trough the osteological analysis of the graves from Skogome. No gender assessments have been conducted since the methods have shown a need to further development in order to be applied on cremated individuals (Franzen 2011). Thus, questions about the gender distribution of the two grave fields remain unanswered. Mortality, health and gender assessments within of the two populations may be performed if the remaining graves from the burial grounds were further studied. The osteological analysis showed similar skeletal lesions of degenerative changes in the vertebraes in the two skeletal materials.The larger proportion of the graves contained no today preserved archaeological artefacts. The artefacts that occur are mainly different tools and costume details. The discussion has been an attempt to interpret these similarities and differences in order to identify if they could have a ritual, traditional or functional background. A clear distinction has been difficult. The analysis requires larger archaeological contexts, and further comparisons before this can be done. Local differences have been observed, but the great similarity between of the two burial grounds reflects the pre-Roman Iron Age expression in the mortuary traditions of the two populations.

The thesis examines c. 280 forms and motifs derived from a reconstruction of 93 gold stater types struck within 7 geographical regions across southeastern England, c. 80 BC - AD 45. The thesis highlights the emerging presence of an iconographic repertoire across southern Britain during the late pre-Roman Iron Age. Gold staters remain an important aspect of this phenomenon which is demonstrated to have manifested itself in other media, particularly metalwork. That this new art form supplemented, but did not supplant, existing types of non-representational La Tene style art is suggested by the presence of other types of object that continue to be decorated in this fashion throughout the first century AD. In the absence of any other type of established or coherent methodology Erwin Panofsky's (1993, 1972) method of iconographic analysis is adopted in order to provide a framework for the analysis. Whilst retention of Panofsky's three 'Acts of Interpretation' can be justified, a post-structuralist critique of Panofsky's method exposes fundamental theoretical shortcomings with regards the interpretation of meaning. In contrast to preceding interpretations of iconographical data, inferences are made upon the basis of lan Hodder's (1995, 1986) 'context of use' of other types of comparable forms and motifs within the archaeological record. The iconological content of staters is interpreted in terms of a transition, c. 20 BC - AD 10, from the expression of corporate or public ideals in a 'tribal periphery' to the manifestation of personal or private concerns in the southeastern 'core'. This divergence coincides with the emphasis placed upon the relative 'monetary' or 'political' roles performed by coinage within these regions. From the context of the forms or motifs illustrated on staters it is concluded that such images were appropriated by members of a minority social elite to legitimise and maintain their position at the apex of a social hierarchy.

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Is it relevant to treat bog bodies as its own category within the archaeological research? This paper examines how scholars and researchers, through their publications and depictions of the preserved prehistoric individuals, are helping to create such a category. What has changed in the way scholars look at and describe these astounding finds? Also examines the various theories researchers provide regarding bog bodies and how they are deposited.

<p>Is it relevant to treat bog bodies as its own category within the archaeological research? This paper examines how scholars and researchers, through their publications and depictions of the preserved prehistoric individuals, are helping to create such a category. What has changed in the way scholars look at and describe these astounding finds? Also examines the various theories researchers provide regarding bog bodies and how they are deposited.</p>

During the Late Bronze Age, the number of metal objects in the Baltic Sea region increased tremendously.  Mobility and interaction in this northern inland sea intensified. This occurred in a period of prehistory when the ship was the predominant symbol in southern Scandinavia. The ship can be found in rock carvings, on bronze objects and by way of erected stone monuments: stone ship settings. These stone ships are mainly to be found in the Baltic Sea region, with a marked concentration on Gotland. The stone ship settings and their landscape context are the focus of this dissertation. The objective is to clarify whether it is possible to find evidence of social groupings of people in the Nordic Late Bronze Age (1100-500 BC), by focusing on the stone ship monument, adopting a maritime approach. These people might have been part of a maritime institution specializing in trade and long distance journeys during this period, thus achieving a more advanced maritime way of life in the Baltic Sea. Are the ship settings an expression of these specific groups of people, who utilized their practices to position and articulate themselves in the landscape? If such maritime institutions can in fact be traced, there must also be uniformly structured locations for these groups of people to meet in, some kind of antecedents of harbours. By taking an inland sea, the Baltic Sea, as a geographical demarcation, a different perspective of prehistory is attained. The area in the Late Bronze Age and earliest Iron Age (950/900-200 BC) differed from the Nordic Bronze Age sphere. The communities around the Baltic Sea, through the establishment and sharing of mutual interests, seem to have reached a certain degree of consensus. This concordance might well be largely explained by the complex dependency on metal. Such a manifestation would not have been possible without an infrastructure or network, in this case a maritime one. This is something which has previously been overlooked in discussions on the Bronze Age in the Baltic Sea.

For the last 200 years, 6 wagons of the same Celtic inspired wagon type have been found in Denmark: two in a bog, two in a grave each, and two in a house each. This wagon type is called the Dejbjerg wagons, named after the two most known wagons in the category; the ones found in the bog called Præstegårdmose in Dejbjerg, Denmark. The purpose of the essay is to study the Dejbjerg wagons and their relation to the four-wheeled wagons of the Celtic Europe, the contacts between Denmark and Central Europe, and examine what the purpose, or rather the use, of the wagons’ deposition was – if they even had any. To be able to do this, action-based ritual theory – a theory popularised by Catherine Bell – has been used. The essay is concluded in that the way the wagons have been deposited must have meant something for the prehistoric Danish people, and the motifs and ornaments seen on the Danish wagons have a clear Celtic influence, which leads to the conclusion that the prehistoric Danish people must have had contacts in one way or another with the Celts.

A phenomenon during the late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age which in its simplest form could be called ‘a culture of the Baltic Sea’ is an idea which many archaeologists have favoured. However, the term ‘a culture of the Baltic Sea’ is not the most ideal to use when discussing the Baltic Sea during this time in prehistory, as the term is rather simplifying from what would be the more diverse truth. The term entails that there should have been a cultural homogeneity across the Baltic Sea as it most certainly was not. This thesis complicates this otherwise simplified term and calls the cultural phenomenon ‘a cultural hybrid of the northern Baltic Sea area’ (i.e. the northern part of the Baltic Sea including its neighbouring gulfs). A cultural hybrid, in this sense, allows there to be cultural differences within an area. These differences are accepted by the people within the cultural hybrid which in turn allow people to live among each other, rather than to become a social obstacle making the people separate into smaller and more homogenous cultural groups. This assumed existence of a cultural hybrid is put to the test as a hypothesis. To answer the hypothesis, the cultural hybrid is studied from the perspective of the tarand-graves (an Estonian originating grave type erected and used around the shores of the northern Baltic Sea area during 500 BC–500 AD) which in turn is interpreted according to ritual practice theory. The hypothesis is proven to be true which makes it possible to apply the concept of cultural hybridity, and its connection with tarand-graves in the northern Baltic Sea area, to the Åland Islands. Although the islands have a very promising geographical position in the middle of the northern Baltic Sea area, interestingly, no tarand-graves have been registered there. Grave field Ec 6.6 on the western side of the Åland Islands becomes the object of study mainly due to grave 14, which placed on that particular grave field, carries a high tarand-grave potential. The material is partly collected from two field visits to Ec 6.6 and partly from an excavational report from 1949 of the same grave field. The result shows that the Åland Islands, as well as Ec 6.6, have a very high likeliness of being hosts for tarand-graves.