Be sure and catch the Atlas of Civilisation series, in this case the early chapters of The Cultural Atlas of France, The Cultural Atlas of Russia, etc.
We are no longer adding books on the Scythians. They were not Mongols but Europids, and ruled Cental Asia until the Late Antiquity invasions of the Huns drove them west and south, so that they became known then as the Alans, while other segments were part of the rootstock of the Franks. They will now be addressed on the Central Eurasian page.
Boucher, Francois
Twenty Thousand Years of Fashion; the History of Costume and Personal Adornment **** Harry N. Abrams, 1966; 440 pg, index, glossary Gives unusually broad coverage of "Bronze Age" and other costumes from excavated artwork, even preserved corpses. Worth reading and studying. T1
Cornelius Tacitus, Publius
Germania (The Germans) **** The first 27 "books" (sections like large chapters) cover the geography of the Germanic areas and general Germanic culture, while the remaining 19 detail individual tribes, as they differ from the norm. Of course, the farther anything or anyone is from the Roman border, the less accurate and more fanciful the tale. Written about 98 CE, Tacitus may not be a rigorous modern anthropologist, but he's all we have for the period, prejudiced as he is. After all, to him one of the signs of savagery of the Germans was that they took women's advice! You can find him on the Internet Classics Archive from MIT (see either Classical Greek or Roman bibliographies) or via Paul Halsall's Internet Medieval Sourcebook (Dark Ages or Middle Ages bibliographies). T2
Cunliffe, Barry
The Celtic World **** St. Martin's Press; 224 pgs Excellent reconstruction of the complex civilization that Classical authors often dismiss as "barbarians" (which in the end means merely someone who does not speek Greek as a native language). Shows the continuance of the Celtic culture as part of the base of the Middle Ages and modern world. T2
Delbrueck, Hans
The Barbarian Invasions; History of the Art of War, volume II **** University of Nebraska Press, 1980, trans. Walter J. Renfroe, Jr.; orig. 1921; 505 pg, index Reduces the numbers in the hordes to realistic levels, which rather cuts into the heroism of the swamped Romans, who simply show the decay of their military in losing things they might have won. Excellent on debatable points and technical details. T2
Ellis, Peter Beresford
The Druids *** Eerdmans; 304 pg One of several possible interpretations. T2
Evans, D. Ellis
Gaulish Names *** Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967 An excellent compilation of Celtic names in Gaul and Britain, recorded in Latin and Greek letters, but lumps together all questionable names with Male Names, leaving only a few marked out as Female Names. Actually, gender could have been determined as Probably Female and Probably Male in most cases. As it is, it looks as though only seven or eight female names were ever recorded. Sorts according to philological roots. About 1500 names. T1
Glob, P. V.
The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved **** Ballantine Books, NY; see also Faber and Faber, Ltd., and Cornell University Press; 1965; trans. by Rupert Bruce-Mitford; now from Barnes & Noble in hardcover Details the finding and investigation of ancient sacrifices preserved in northern European bogs (whence the title), and explores their culture and deaths. Good for clothes of the period! Very readable. T1
Green, Miranda J.
Celtic Goddesses: Warriors, Virgins and Mothers **** George Braziller Covers the not-PC Goddesses of the Irish and British based on archeaology and myth, including war Goddesses, Goddesses of promiscuity (have fun, girls, and make lots of new tribe members), and the horse Goddesses. T3 The World of the Druids *****! Thames & Hudson Superb reconstruction of the place of Druids in Celtic life -- and most of non-Classical Europe was Celtic. Explains the Roman's propaganda trying to discredit them and laws making them illegal, because they always formed a core for rebellions. T2
Celtic Goddesses: Warriors, Virgins and Mothers **** George Braziller Covers the not-PC Goddesses of the Irish and British based on archeaology and myth, including war Goddesses, Goddesses of promiscuity (have fun, girls, and make lots of new tribe members), and the horse Goddesses. T3
The World of the Druids *****! Thames & Hudson Superb reconstruction of the place of Druids in Celtic life -- and most of non-Classical Europe was Celtic. Explains the Roman's propaganda trying to discredit them and laws making them illegal, because they always formed a core for rebellions. T2
Green, Miranda J., editor
The Celtic World *****! Routledge Paul Kegan; 839 pg Worth the possible back injury! Actually only 7" x 10", but FAT. Covers towns and farms, politics (yes, they were sophisticated enough to do more than growl at each other), religion, trade, warfare, literature, all the good stuff. T2/3
Herm, Gerhard
The Celts: The People Who Came Out of the Darkness **** Barnes & Noble, NY; 312 pg Covers the 2000-year span of the archeological and spottily historical culture that ruled Northern Europe and periodically invaded the Classical Mediterranean. T2
Ingraham, Holly
People's Names: A Cross-cultural Reference Guide to the Proper Use of Over 40,000 Personal and Familial Names in Over 100 Cultures *****! McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, NC; 1997; 613 pgs, index, select annotated bibliography Compiles Gaulish, Gothic, and other names of the period. Sarmatians, etc, can be found in Iranian chapter of the historical section. We are told the revised edition will be stronger in this. T1
King, John
The Celtic Druids' Year **** Blandford, London A lot of books on Druids out there are either really about the neo-Pagan Reformed Druids of North America, or the Welsh-language preservationist Druids. This is actually focused on the ancient Celtic Druidism, especially its fundamental seasonal aspects. T2
Laing, L & J
The Picts and the Scots **** Alan Sutton; 172 pgs Uses archeological as well as historic evidence to show both the autochthonous Pictish culture back into the earliest (Roman) period, and the invasive Scots from Scotia (modern Ireland), and how they eventually melded. T1
McEvedy, Colin
The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History *** Penguin Books, 1967; 96 pg, index Good to show the spread of literacy, bronze, iron, and the influence of the Mediterranean. T1
Osprey Military Books
The worst book out by Osprey still gets three stars. The best are five stars and a bang. These are each a dense, military monograph on weapons, tactics, strategy, and history, with some little cultural background. Rarely at libraries, you will usually find these where military miniatures are sold. T2/3 The Men-at-Arms Series on "Rome's Enemies":
Now that's an area hard to dig up stuff on!
Pawlicki, T. B.
Seibs, Benno
Sharp, M.
Time-Life Books, the editors of
TimeFrame 3000-1500 BC: The Age of God-kings *** Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1987 Very pictorial, good text. The air-brushed reconstructions are sometimes too in love with vast plain surfaces rather than trying to give us maximum pictorial information, and the maps, while they cover the ground, are strictly minimal. Nice little essay on megalithic building. T1
TimeFrame 600-400 BC: A Soaring Spirit *** Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1987 Same format and flaws as the other, which is still pretty good. Strictly Old World; guess the New World was on vacation. Does give a nice picture of a Celtic town. T1
http://atlantic.evsc.virginia.edu/julia/AncientWorld.html
Superb linksite, which it would be silly to try and duplicate here. Especially fine for including Asian, American, and African sections, not just Europe and the Near East.
Lots of photos and articles, including reviews of the latest books.
http://www.ucr.edu/h-gig/topperindex.html
A thorough-going linksite maintained by the University of California at Riverside, H-GIG sorts by area, by era (ancient<yours>, Medieval, early Modern, Modern, and 20th C), or by topic (military, women, etc.). It's a good place to start a hunt for books and essays online.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
Halsall is collecting texts in translation, and also providing links to other sites like Berkeley, so as not to duplicate effort. This huge initial page links internally and externally to a list of period works, from the late Byzantine-early Christian age to the early Renaissance. Wonderful source, attractive without glitz, many matrices of approach (eg, by a topic like women's roles or by a period).
Especially, check his link to Other Medieval Sites. This is actually a lot of Ancient sites, and there are a fine lot for the oft-ignored Slavs and other Eastern European peoples.