Ethnische Interpretationen in der frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie

This volume analyses previous attempts to delineate ethnic groupings with the help of archaeological finds. After a short review of the history of these interpretations, central concepts are examined (people, culture, race, language) and ethnological and sociological concepts of identity are adduced. Against this background, Brather undertakes a comparative description of the methodological problems of ethnic reconstructions for the period between the Iron Age and the Middle Ages, and contrasts them with interpretations from cultural, economic and social history as alternative approaches to an explanation which is closer to the sources. This structural historical analysis places the explanatory power of archaeological sources on a footing with those of literary texts.

Sebastian Brather is a Research Fellow in the Department of Prehistory at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

"Für den Namenforscher ist dieses Buch eine Fundgrube, wenn er den heutigen Forschrungsstand der Archäologie Eurasiens komprimiert zur Kenntnis nehmen möchte. Überdies ist es eine imponierende Fortsetzung der Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde."
Hans Walther in: Namenkundliche Informationen 2009