Creativity is an integral part of human history, yet most studies focus on the modern era, leaving unresolved questions about the formative role that creativity has played in the past. This book explores the fundamental nature of creativity in the European Bronze Age. Considering developments in crafts that we take for granted today, such as pottery, textiles, and metalwork, the volume compares and contrasts various aspects of their development, from the construction of the materials themselves, through the production processes, to the design and effects deployed in finished objects. It explores how creativity is closely related to changes in material culture, how it directs responses to the new and unfamiliar, and how it has resulted in changes to familiar things and practices. Written by an international team of scholars, the case studies in this volume consider wider issues and provide detailed insights into creative solutions found in specific objects.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Marie Louise Stig Sørensen, Joanna Sofaer and Lise Bender Jørgensen; Part I. Raw Materials: Creativity and the Properties of Materials: Introduction Marie Louise Stig Sørensen, Joanna Sofaer and Lise Bender Jørgensen; Fibres for Bronze Age textiles Lise Bender Jørgensen and Antoinette Rast-Eicher; Making metals: from copper to bronze Marie Louise Stig Sørensen and Grahame Appleby; Potter's clay Joanna Sofaer; Creativity and materials: reflections Marie Louise Stig Sørensen, Joanna Sofaer and Lise Bender Jørgensen; Part II. Production Practices: Introduction Lise Bender Jørgensen, Marie Louise Stig Sørensen and Joanna Sofaer; Textile production Lise Bender Jørgensen; The production of metal objects Grahame Appleby and Marie Louise Stig Sørensen; The production of pottery Joanna Sofaer; Case studies; Introduction; 1. Creativity and spindle whorls at the Bronze Age tell of Százhalombatta-Földvár, Hungary Sophie Bergerbrant; 2. Forming metal: the development of moulds Grahame Appleby and Marie Louise Stig Sørensen; 3. Variability in the Chaîne Opératoire: the case of Belegiš cremation vessels Sarah Coxon; 4. The production of Scandinavian Bronze Age textiles: skill and creativity Sølvi Helene Fossøy; 5. Twisting the Bronze Age Lise Bender Jørgensen; Production practices: reflections Lise Bender Jørgensen, Marie Louise Stig Sørensen and Joanna Sofaer; Part III. Effects: Shape, Motifs, Pattern, Colour, and Texture: Introduction Joanna Sofaer, Lise Bender Jørgensen and Marie Louise Stig Sørensen; Case studies; Introduction; 6. Creativity in Bronze Age tailoring: women's blouses from Denmark Helga Rösel-Mautendorfer; 7. The one-edged razor: a vivid medium of creativity and meaning Flemming Kaul; 8. Creativity in middle and late Bronze Age bird-shaped and bird-ornamented ceramic objects in the Carpathian Basin and the lower Danube Region Darko Maričević and Joanna Sofaer; 9. To decorate a Nordic Bronze Age razor: a design challenge Marie Louise Stig Sørensen and Grahame Appleby; 10. Creativity as sensual cosmology: bird iconography on metalwork in Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Europe Sebastian Becker; 11. Pots and stories: creativity and design in the Bronze Age of the Pannonian Plain Joanna Sofaer; 12. Left-right logic: an innovation of the Nordic Bronze Age Flemming Kaul; 13. Textiles: pattern, structure, texture, and decoration Karina Grömer; 14. Pattern, colour, and texture in encrusted ceramics in the Carpathian Basin Joanna Sofaer and Sanjin Mihelić; 15. Creating effects in Litzenkeramik Karina Grömer, Sanjin Mihelić, Sarah Coxon and Joanna Sofaer; Creativity and effects: reflections Joanna Sofaer, Lise Bender Jørgensen and Marie Louise Stig Sørensen; Conclusion Joanna Sofaer, Marie Louise Stig Sørensen and Lise Bender Jørgensen.