Rupert Gebhard

The Oxford Handbook of the European Iron Age presents to students, scholars, and interested general readers a broad overview of current understanding of the archaeology of Europe from 1000 bc to the early historic period. During this period, new technologies, agricultural innovation, and demographic growth saw much of the landscape opened up to near modern limits, accompanied in many areas by greater social and economic complexity. Three introductory chapters situate the reader in the times and the environments of Iron Age Europe. Fourteen regional chapters provide overviews of developments in different parts of the continent, from Ireland and Spain in the west to the borders with Asia in the east, and from Scandinavia in the north to the Mediterranean shores in the south, exploiting the large quantities of new evidence yielded by the upsurge in archaeological research and excavation on this period over the last thirty years in many areas. Twenty-six thematic chapters then examine different aspects of Iron Age archaeology in more depth, from lifeways, economy, and complexity to identity, ritual, and expression. Among the many topics explored are agricultural systems, settlements ranging from villages to cities, landscape monuments, iron smelting and forging, production of textiles, politics, demography, gender, migration, funerary practices, social and religious rituals, coinage, literacy, and art and design. This volume is the only publication currently available that explores all aspects of the European Iron Age in all parts of the continent, along with consideration of regions beyond Europe with which European communities maintained commercial and diplomatic relations.

Zoe y Kate son dos deportistas de élite entregadas al ciclismo de pista, pero con unas vidas muy diferentes. Zoe, una chica explosiva y temperamental, doble campeona olímpica, es el rostro publicitario de una conocida marca de agua mineral. Vive en un lujoso piso en Manchester y tiene muchos amantes ocasionales. Kate es más sensata y tranquila. Está casada con Jack, un campeón de ciclismo, y está volcada en su hija Sophie que padece leucemia. Por esa razón Kate no ha podido competir en los dos últimos juegos olímpicos, y Londres 2012 es su última oportunidad. Cuando Tom, su común entrenador, recibe la noticia de la Federación Inglesa de Ciclismo de que solo podrá enviar a una participante. Elegir entre Kate o Zoe es una decisión particularmente difícil, porque Tom conoce la historia de ambas. Pero tiene que ser imparcial y organiza una carrera entre ellas para nombrar la vencedora. Sin embargo, justo el día de la competición, el estado de salud de Sophie empeora gravemente…