Basic Biographical Information
Kristian Kristiansen (Fig. 1) is the leading European Bronze Age archaeologist of his generation and has helped make Europe into a key anthropological case in the comparative study of complex societies. He received his Ph.D. from Aarhus University in 1975 and continued there as a postdoctoral research fellow until 1979. Then until 1994, he directed the Archaeological Monuments Division in the National Agency for Nature, Monuments and Sites in the Danish Ministry of the Environment. He became Professor of Archaeology at the University of Gothenburg in 1994 and served as Chair from 1994 to 2010. His lasting contributions to European prehistory and world archaeology include a major reconceptualization of Bronze Age Scandinavia and Europe, the internationalization of Bronze Age studies, the formulation of model field research projects that combine diverse scientific and humanist approaches, and a reconceptualization of heritage work within Europe.
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References
Earle, T. & K. Kristiansen. (ed.) 2010. Organizing Bronze Age societies: the Mediterranean, central Europe, and Scandinavia compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kristiansen, K. 1982. The formation of tribal systems in late European prehistory, 4000-500 BC, in C. Renfrew, M. Rowlands & B. Seagrave (ed.) Theory and explanation in archaeology: 241-80. New York: Academic Press.
- 1984. Ideology and material culture: an archaeological perspective, in M. Spriggs (ed.) Marxist perspectives in archaeology: 72-100. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- 1987. From stone to bronze: the evolution of social complexity in northern Europe 2300-1200 BC, in E. Brumfiel & T. Earle (ed.) Specialization, exchange, and complex societies: 30-51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- 1991. Chiefdoms, states, and systems of social evolution, in T. Earle (ed.) Chiefdoms: power, economy, and ideology: 16-43. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- 1995. Europe before history (New Studies in Archaeology). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kristiansen, K. & T. Larsson. 2005. The rise of Bronze Age society: travels, transmissions and transformations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kristiansen, K. & M. Rowlands. 1998. Social transformations in archaeology: global and local perspectives. London: Routledge.
Rowlands, M., M. Larsen & K. Kristiansen. (ed.) 1987. Center and periphery in the ancient world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Further Reading
- 1998. Europe before history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Earle, T.K. (2014). Kristiansen, Kristian. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1292
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