Michael
Jul 21st 2009, 05:45 PM
EUROPE BETWEEN THE OCEANS: 9000 B.C.–A.D. 1000
This is a book I should like to get my hands on. :)
His major point is that the peoples who filled up the European peninsula from the end of the Pleistocene (about 10,000 years ago) until A.D. 1000 were shaped by their environment in a distinctive way, influenced particularly by the area’s extensive coastal zones and their effect on mobility and innovation. Some might say that a similar argument could be made for other culture areas surrounded by the sea that have developed very differently, and that environmental determinism has its limits as an explanation for social evolution. However, as a narrative device the maritime focus works quite well—better possibly for some areas of Europe than for others, but it’s effective in reminding us that environment actually can be destiny in more ways than one.
A major problem for anyone faced with the task of generating a synthetic overview of European cultural evolution is how to define the study area. In some ways Cunliffe sidesteps this issue by never precisely specifying boundaries other than seacoasts. It is perhaps not a coincidence that he becomes vague about boundaries precisely where the maps of the Roman empire did, suggesting that some of the areas considered part of Europe today (including much of the Low Countries, northern Germany, Scandinavia and the various gateways to Asia in eastern Europe and the Balkans) actually developed according to a slightly different rhythm than areas in the south and west. He refers to “peninsular Europe” but leaves open where the precise locations of the northern and eastern borders might be, even though these regions are frequently discussed as sources of various goods, peoples and cultural impulses.
Book Review (http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/europa-emerging-from-the-sea)
It is so rare to see such high quality historical studies being done on any topic other than some micro-study on the clothing styles of the wives of 14th century cod fishermen in Portugal. These later type histories are becoming a dime-a-dozen (and usually worth exactly that).
Substantial studies of large topics in history are virtually unheard of in the last couple decades. Nice to see an exception here.
This is a book I should like to get my hands on. :)
His major point is that the peoples who filled up the European peninsula from the end of the Pleistocene (about 10,000 years ago) until A.D. 1000 were shaped by their environment in a distinctive way, influenced particularly by the area’s extensive coastal zones and their effect on mobility and innovation. Some might say that a similar argument could be made for other culture areas surrounded by the sea that have developed very differently, and that environmental determinism has its limits as an explanation for social evolution. However, as a narrative device the maritime focus works quite well—better possibly for some areas of Europe than for others, but it’s effective in reminding us that environment actually can be destiny in more ways than one.
A major problem for anyone faced with the task of generating a synthetic overview of European cultural evolution is how to define the study area. In some ways Cunliffe sidesteps this issue by never precisely specifying boundaries other than seacoasts. It is perhaps not a coincidence that he becomes vague about boundaries precisely where the maps of the Roman empire did, suggesting that some of the areas considered part of Europe today (including much of the Low Countries, northern Germany, Scandinavia and the various gateways to Asia in eastern Europe and the Balkans) actually developed according to a slightly different rhythm than areas in the south and west. He refers to “peninsular Europe” but leaves open where the precise locations of the northern and eastern borders might be, even though these regions are frequently discussed as sources of various goods, peoples and cultural impulses.
Book Review (http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/europa-emerging-from-the-sea)
It is so rare to see such high quality historical studies being done on any topic other than some micro-study on the clothing styles of the wives of 14th century cod fishermen in Portugal. These later type histories are becoming a dime-a-dozen (and usually worth exactly that).
Substantial studies of large topics in history are virtually unheard of in the last couple decades. Nice to see an exception here.