Contemporary archaeology is polarized between the technically competent excavators, who have sophisticated ways of recording, analyzing, classifying and describing their sites, and the social theorists, influenced by sceptical sociologies in science and cultural studies. This book defines the contours of each faction and argues that conflict between their aims and procedures is unnecessary. Andrew Jones instead emphasizes the process of interpretations, which is, in his view, the real concern of archaeologists.

Prehistoric Europe: Theory and Practice provides a comprehensive introduction to the range of critical contemporary thinking in the study of European prehistory.

• Presents essays by some of the most dynamic researchers and leading European scholars in the field today
  
• Ranges from the Neolithic period to the early stages of the Iron Age, and from Ireland and Scandinavia to the Urals and the Iberian Peninsula