This book is concerned with the history of human societies and the course of human interactions in Europe during the period that is traditionally called the Bronze Age, that is to say in absolute years the period of time between about 2500 and 800 BC. During this time, Europe changed from a continent settled by small farming and pastoral groups, strongly linked at the local level but only weakly linked, if at all, at broader levels, to one where it is possible to discern the existence of quasi-political groupings on a relatively large scale; from a society where individuals were powerful but did little to express that power in their material remains to one where the expression of status and power was extremely important; and from a society where the use of metal was rather rare and its circulation highly restricted to one where metals were a commonplace and vast quantities were produced.

The progress of these aspects of life and death was not, however, even across time or space. Nor were the processes outlined uniform in their manifestation. Europe is a large and geographically complex area (fig. 1.1), and the variety of its landscapes inevitably finds reflections in the patterns of activity of its inhabitants. It has also traditionally been seen as a melting-pot for the creation of ‘peoples’, that is to say ethnic identities. Although perspectives on both these aspects have shifted in recent years, it is undeniable that people reacted differently in different places and at different times to stimuli that from today's perspective look to have been similar or identical.