The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age animal-shaped bronze and clay vessels of central Europe and northern Italy are a regular grave good especially in richly furnished burials. Often these are various depictions of birds and cattle ; either they show whole animal bodies, generally made in clay and with the mouth serving as spout, or plastic animal heads were added to the vessel shoulder. In addition, the handles of cups can end in bird heads or bear small cattle figures. Plastic figures on vessels are also included. Other animal species, such as horses, predators or the hybrid cattle-bird or horned bird are also present, but much rarer. The present work is the first monograph dedicated to animal-shaped vessels and vessels with plastic zoomorphic additions. It discusses over 900 finds from eleven modern-day European countries and spanning the period of their most widespread use, from c. 1500 to 500 B.C.. The areas where most finds have been collected mainly comprise the Late Bronze Age Urnfield Culture, the Lausitz Culture and the Iron Age Villanova and Hallstatt Cultures. The bird-shaped rattles of the Lausitz Culture are also included, as they show hardly any stylistic differences to the bird vessels. The period of use of a millennium and the wide area of distribution suggest that these animal depictions are more than just a kind of vessel ornament. In addition, the contextual association as grave goods and the rich variation strongly indicate religious symbolism. Alongside their typological, chronological and stylistic characterisation, their dating and history of cultural relationships, this volume also places a strong focus on contextual association and on the use of these exceptionally designed objects. In addition, contemporary parallels of animal vessels from Greece and the Near East are discussed, also in terms of potential areas of origin. Following the principle that it is not the appearance of a symbol, but its use that can clarify meaning, scenes from situla art which show the use of zoomorphic vessels are also presented. The analyses show that an inter-regionally widespread drinking ritual, strictly monitored by social elites, was carried out in the course of burial ceremonies. This celebration was particularly ostentatious where a member of the upper echelons of society began their “journey to the other world”, the people who found their rest in what we now call “princely burials”. Given their consistent stylistic attributes, context and use, zoomorphic vessels illustrate shared religious ideas between the Lausitz, Villanova and Hallstatt Cultures.weiterlesen