Canadian Museum of History

?These are ancient lands, the birthplace of the first kingdoms of Europe . . .?

Drawing from the collections of more than two dozen museums in southeastern Europe, First Royals of Europe explores how ancient farming villages evolved into some of the earliest kingdoms in Europe.

In this souvenir catalogue, travel from the farming villages of egalitarian Neolithic communities to the gilded world of Iron Age Thracian and Illyrian rulers, about 8,000 to 2,500 years ago. Learn how the emerging elite wielded weapons, jewelry and tools to gain power by amassing wealth and controlling trade, technology, rituals and warfare. And discover the unique cultures of ancient southeastern Europe firsthand.

RYAN SCHUESSLER is Exhibition Developer at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois, as well as a writer whose work has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.

WILLIAM A. PARKINSON is Curator at the Field Museum of Natural History and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is American Director of the Körös Regional Archaeological Project in Hungary and directs archaeological research in Greece and the United States.

ATTILA GYUCHA is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Georgia and Research Associate at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. He is Hungarian Director of the Körös Regional Archaeological Project and the Vészt?-Mágor Conservation and Exhibition Program in Hungary.