"For a long period, any art or cultural feature alien to the Hellenic or Roman world was held in contempt and the epithet "barbarian" thus acquired a pejorative meaning. The first reactions against this view appeared in the nineteenth century, when scholars began to acknowledge the existence of ancient civilizations which had had no writing. The present study shows the way of life of those Europeans living in the Metal Ages, describing their social and religious customs and setting out to understand, through the material objects they have left us, the way their minds worked and their beliefs evolved. Professor Briard describes the most typical groups, delineating, in particular, scenes of everyday life using the results gleaned from the most striking excavations and extant monuments"--Jacket.