EUROPEAN PREHISTORY COLLECTION

The Ashmolean's European Prehistory collection is one of the finest and most comprehensive in the country, especially for the antiquities of northern Europe. It ranges in age from the Lower Palaeolithic to the start of the Roman era, and is particularly strong for the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic and the Bronze Age periods. Geographically it covers most of the continent apart from Crete (see Aegean collection) and the Italian Iron Age (see Roman collection). A large proportion of the material is from Britain, including from fieldwork in the Oxfordshire region by museum staff up to the 1960s.

Barton, N. Ice Age Britain. (English Heritage: Batsford. 2005).

Foster, J. Life and Death in the Iron Age. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2002).

BALLYSHANNON 'SUN DISC'

An early discovery of a prehistoric object

CYCLADIC FIGURE

From Pre-history to Picasso

KNOSSOS STORAGE JAR

An octopus at home in a palace

EUROPEAN PREHISTORY

This gallery concerns the prehistoric peoples of Europe, and what can be learned about them from their surviving...

This gallery concerns the prehistoric peoples of Europe, and what can be learned about them from their surviving material culture.

ITALY BEFORE ROME

This gallery focuses on the Italian peninsula before its domination by Romans when it was a mixture of cultures,...

This gallery focuses on the Italian peninsula before its domination by Romans when it was a mixture of cultures, including Latin, Samnite and Etruscan.

ANCIENT CYPRUS

This gallery focuses on the wealth of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus from around 5000 BC to AD 200.

AEGEAN WORLD

In this gallery you can find information about the Bronze Age (3200 to 1100 BC) around the Aegean Sea, especially...

In this gallery you can find information about the Bronze Age (3200 to 1100 BC) around the Aegean Sea, especially the early Cyclades, Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece.

Want to find out more about the Ashmolean's antiquities department

MORE