This edited volume investigates knowledge networks based on materials and associated technologies in prehistoric Europe and the classical Mediterranean. It emphasises the significance of material objects to the construction, maintenance, and collapse of networks of various forms - which are central to explanations of cultural contact and change. Focusing on the materiality of objects and on the way in which materials are used adds a multidimensional quality to networks.

Identities and social relations are fundamental elements of societies. To approach these topics from a new and different angle, this study takes the human body as the focal point of investigation. It tracks changing identities of early Iron Age people in central Europe through body-related practices: the treatment of the body after death and human representations in art.

The human remains themselves provide information on biological parameters of life, such as sex, biological age and health status. Objects associated with the body in the grave and funerary practices give further insights...