Douglass Bailey's volume fills the huge gap that existed for a comprehensive synthesis, in English, of the archaeology of the Balkans between 6,500 and 2,000 BC; much research on the prehistory of Eastern Europe was inaccessible to a western audience before now, because of linguistic barriers.
Bailey argues against traditional interpretations of the period, which focus on the origins of agriculture and animal breeding. He demonstrates that this was a period when monumental social and material changes occurred in the lives of the people in this region, with new technologies and ways of displaying identity.
Balkan Prehistory will be required reading for everyone studying the Neolithic, Copper and early Bronze Ages of Eastern Europe.

Douglass W. Bailey is Lecturer in European Prehistory at the School of History and Archaeology, Cardiff University. He has carried out extensive fieldwork in Bulgaria and Romania.

Introduction: Balkan prehistory (6500-2500 BC): fundamental changes in human behaviour 1 Setting the scene: the Balkans before 6500 BC 2 Building social environments (6500-5500 BC) 3 New dimensions of material culture: pottery containers and other forms of expression (6500-5500 BC) 4 Continuity or change? Burials, lithics, plants and animals (6500-5500 BC) 5 Continuities, expansion and acceleration of building and economy (5500-3600 BC) 6 Burial and expressive material culture (5500-3600 BC) 7 Transitions to new ways of living: the Balkans after 4000 BC 8 The Balkans (6500-2500 BC): exclusion, incorporation and projection