scholarly journals Elitism and Status: Reassessing Settlement Hierarchy in Early Medieval England

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-42
Author(s):  
Hana Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Hierarchical Model ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
The Status ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Scholarly Attention

The complexities of identifying and understanding settlement hierarchy in early medieval England (c. 5th–11th centuries) is the focus of much debate. Within this field of enquiry, settlement arrangements, architecture, landholding patterns and material culture are commonly used in the identification of a range of settlement types. These include royal complexes, monastic institutions, towns and trading/production sites such as emporia. This same evidence is also used to interpret the status and role of these sites in early medieval England. This paper advances the current understanding of settlement hierarchy through an assessment of rural settlements and their material culture. These settlements have received comparatively less scholarly attention than higher profile early medieval sites such as elite, ecclesiastical and urban centres, yet represent a rich source of information. Through analysis of material culture as evidence for the consumption, economic and social functions which characterise rural settlements, a picture of what were inherently complex communities is presented. The findings further support the need to reassess settlement hierarchy in early medieval England and a new hierarchical model is proposed.  

scholarly journals Speaking Stones: Oral Tradition as Provenance for the Memorial Stelae in Gujarat

Heritage ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1085-1096
Author(s):  
Durga Kale
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
The State ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Western India ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Museum Displays ◽  
Anthropological Fieldwork ◽  
Rich Material

Anthropological fieldwork in rural settlements on the west coast of India has unraveled the close connection between lived experiences, spaces and objects. These “inalienable possessions”, in the words of Annette Weiner, help reconstruct the past through the supplementation of oral traditions. Following this vein, the paper attempts to mesh together the material culture and oral histories to establish the provenance for the plethora of memorials in the state of Gujarat. A series of oral narratives collected in Western India since 2014 has highlighted the role of medieval memorial stelae that commemorate the deceased heroes of war and their wives and companions. This paper creates a niche for the Gujarati oral tradition as provenance for the continued veneration of these memorials. Field observations from 2014–2016 and notes from research in Gujarat from 1985 onwards enabled the study of patterns in the oral preservation of literature. A systematic documentation of the existing stelae and associated oral traditions has informed the views in this paper. The paper speaks to all levels of interaction and the making of an identity for the memorial stones that are unique to the state of Gujarat. A case for the inclusion of such rich material in museum displays is made in connection with this case study of the memorial stelae in Gujarat.

Rock art as a source of the history of prehistory (An account to promote the understanding of prehistoric rock art)

Abgadiyat ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-35
Author(s):  
Hamdi Abbas Ahmed Abd-EI-Moniem
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Remote Past

Abstract Some may believe that the history of mankind begins with the appearance of writing only a few several thousands of years ago (cf. 4000-3000 BCE). Our history, however, extends beyond that date millions of years. The history of mankind, indeed, is deeply rooted in the remote past which is called 'prehistory'. With the lacking of any form of writing, this 'prehistoric' period can be examined directly solely by recourse to the study of archaeological remains. The purpose of this account is to introduce rock art to the readers and show the significant role of this sort of archaeological material in studying the history of mankind before the appearance of written records. The current work, therefore, is divided into three main sections: the first deals with definition of rock art and its nature; the second section is devoted to showing the significance of this aspect of material culture in exploring a long and mysterious period of the early history of man characterized by the complete absence of written records or historical documents; the third and last section, which is a vital and integral part of this work, comprises an explanatory pictorial record to promote the understanding of prehistoric rock art as a source of information needed for writing the history of prehistory.

scholarly journals The Meaning of the Snake in the Ancient Greek World

Arts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Diana Rodríguez Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Classical Greece ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Greek World ◽  
Archaic And Classical Greece ◽  
Previous Scholarship

Despite playing no meaningful practical role in the lives of the ancient Greeks, snakes are ubiquitous in their material culture and literary accounts, in particular in narratives which emphasise their role of guardian animals. This paper will mainly utilise vase paintings as a source of information, with literary references for further elucidation, to explain why the snake had such a prominent role and thus clarify its meaning within the cultural context of Archaic and Classical Greece, with a particular focus on Athens. Previous scholarship has tended to focus on dualistic opposites, such as life/death, nature/culture, and creation/destruction. This paper argues instead that ancient Greeks perceived the existence of a special primordial force living within, emanating from, or symbolised by the snake; a force which is not more—and not less—than pure life, with all its paradoxes and complexities. Thus, the snake reveals itself as an excellent medium for accessing Greek ideas about the divine, anthropomorphism, and ancestry, the relationship between humans, nature and the supernatural, and the negotiation of the inevitable dichotomy of old and new.

scholarly journals Beowulf and Archaeology: Megaliths Imagined and Encountered in Early Medieval Europe

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Williams
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
Manuscript Illustrations ◽  
Ancient Monuments ◽  
Social Memories

Since the mid nineteenth century AD, the poem Beowulf has long been a quarry for inspiration, analogy and insight for those exploring the archaeology of Early Medieval Britain and Scandinavia (Cramp 1957; Hills 1997; Webster 1998; Owen-Crocker 2000). The dialogue of archaeology and poem has been employed to explore a range of Early Medieval social practices and structures: the production and circulation of weapons and armour through inheritance and gift-giving, the role of vessels and feasting practices, hall-building and ceremony, the hoarding of treasure, and various dimensions of funerary practice including barrow-burial, boat-burial, and cremation. In discussing many of these practices, scholars have recently pointed to the sense of the past in the poem as a practice-orientated form of social memory. Synergies have been identified between heroic poetry and the ceremonial use of material culture, monuments, architectures, and landscapes identified in poetry and archaeological evidence as distinct but related technologies of remembrance within the hierarchical Christian Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that emerge during the mid to late seventh century AD (Williams 1998; 2006; 2011a; 2011b; Owen-Crocker 2000; Semple 2013). In this fashion, the assertions of legitimacy and identities by Early Medieval elites, including their claims to land, power and people, were performed through the ritualized reuse, appropriation and naming of ancient monuments and their deployment within rituals and oral performances, including poetry (Semple 2013; see also Price 2010). The locations and immediate environs of major later Anglo-Saxon churches and elite residences, and the maritime and land routes connecting them, provided the dramaturgical and ritualized settings and media by which social memories were transmitted and reproduced. Landmarks such as ancient monuments were actively integrated through reuse for a variety of functions from burial to assembly (Williams 2006; Reynolds and Langlands 2011; Semple 2013). In particular, Sarah Semple’s (2013) important interdisciplinary survey and analysis of Anglo-Saxon perceptions and reuse of prehistoric monuments from the fifth to the eleventh centuries AD, identifies the variegated and shifting perceptions of prehistoric monuments revealed by later Anglo-Saxon texts, manuscript illustrations, place-names and archaeological evidence (see also Semple 1998; 2004).

Mints, Moneyers and the Geography of Power in Early Medieval England and its Neighbours

2019 ◽  
pp. 414-435
Author(s):  
Rory Naismith
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Commercial Activity ◽  
Administrative Functions ◽  
Fiscal System

Thanks to the inscriptions on early medieval coins, the locations where they were made—mints—are among the best-recorded selections of places in Europe. This chapter seeks to demonstrate that the establishment of mints at particular times and places depended above all on contemporary governmental and social conditions. The later Roman Empire had emphasised the centrality of a few large mints closely tied to the fiscal system, but its successor kingdoms in England, Francia, Italy and Spain followed different criteria. Production was often organised on a more personal than institutional basis through the mediation of moneyers, and commercial activity, administrative functions or military/political significance could all dictate the production of coin. It is essential to consider the interaction of these and other factors in shaping the role of a mint, as well as the diversity in function and scale that could apply within even one territory.

scholarly journals Irish merchants and seamen in late medieval England

2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (125) ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy R. Childs
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Opposite Direction ◽  
General Context ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
The Status ◽  
Late Medieval England ◽  
The Middle Ages

Most studies of Anglo-Irish relations in the middle ages understandably concentrate on the activity of the English in Ireland, and unintentionally but inevitably this can leave the impression that the movement of people was all one way. But this was not so, and one group who travelled in the opposite direction were some of the merchants and seamen involved in the Anglo-Irish trade of the period. Irish merchants and seamen travelled widely and could be found in Iceland, Lisbon, Bordeaux, Brittany and Flanders, but probably their most regular trade remained with their closest neighbour and political overlord: England. They visited most western and southern English ports, but inevitably were found most frequently in the west, especially at Chester and Bristol. The majority of them stayed for a few days or weeks, as long as their business demanded. Others settled permanently in England, or, perhaps more accurately, re-settled in England, for those who came to England both as settlers and visitors were mainly the Anglo-Irish of the English towns in Ireland and not the Gaelic Irish. This makes it difficult to estimate accurately the numbers of both visitors and settlers, because the status of the Anglo-Irish was legally that of denizen, and record-keepers normally had no reason to identify them separately. They may, therefore, be hard to distinguish from native Englishmen of similar name outside the short periods when governments (central or urban) temporarily sought to restrict their activities. However, the general context within which they worked is quite clear, and this article considers three main aspects of that context: first, the pattern of the trade which attracted Irish merchants to England; second, the role of the Irish merchants and seamen in the trade; and third, examples of individual careers of merchants and seamen who settled in England.

Connectedness with things. Animated objects of Viking Age Scandinavia and early medieval Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Lund
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
The Social ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
Carolingian Empire ◽  
Medieval Christianity

AbstractThis article examines a small group of artefacts of the Viking Age that may have been perceived as animated objects. These specific weapons and pieces of jewellery appear in narratives in the Old Norse sources as named, as having a will of their own, as possessing personhood. In archaeological contexts the same types of artefact are handled categorically differently than the rest of the material culture. Further, the possible links between these perspectives and the role of animated objects in early medieval Christianity of the Carolingian Empire are examined through studies of the reopening of Reihengräber and the phenomenon offurta sacra. By linking studies of the social biographies of objects with studies of animism, the article aims to identify aspects of Viking Age ontology and its similarities to Carolingian Christianity.

scholarly journals A Complex Historical and Archaeological Study of the Rural Settlements of the XVII – Early XX Century in the Middle Tom' Region Basin

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-47
Author(s):  
A. G. Marochkin ◽  
A. Yu. Yurakova ◽  
I. Yu. Uskov ◽  
S. A. Vasyutin ◽  
A. S. Sizyov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Xviii Century ◽  
The North ◽  
Local Material ◽  
Complex Approach ◽  
Xix Century ◽  
North And South

The present article introduces a new complex approach to the Russian rural settlements of the XVII – early XX centuries in the Middle Tom' Region basin. The approach unites historical, archaeological, and ethnographic researches for a detailed reconstruction of the process of Russian colonization in the region and its reflection in the local material culture. A thorough analysis of historical documentation made it possible to describe the development of the peasant population in the Middle Tom' Region valley. The four stages of this process are different in growth rates, as well as in the priority role of the southern and northern zones of the region. The XVII century saw the most active process of rural development in Sosnovsk area, while the settlements of Kuznetsk area appeared mostly in the first half of the XVIII century. The growth rate in the north and south areas began to level in the second half of the XVIII century – early XIX century. There were no changes in the total number of settlements registered after the middle of the XIX century. The paper also features a brief analysis of archaeological studies of the rural settlements in Western Siberia. The authors believe that the Middle Tom' Region basin still remain largely understudied. The paper contains a catalog of the local archaeological monuments of the Early Modern Period. The catalog is based on the coverage degree, historical identification, and their protection status. The research revealed a certain territorial disproportion in the number of registered archeological monuments. The authors propose some new directions for further studies of the history and culture of the Russian population in the Middle Tom' Region basin.

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