Archaeological Approaches to Medieval Europe

by Kathleen Biddick (Editor)

Overview

In bringing together these papers, Archaeological Approaches to Medieval Europe demonstrates the need for active participation of different disciplines in formulating questions about and interpretations of material culture in the Middle Ages. It celebrates the coming of age of historical archaeology, of which medieval archaeology is a subdiscipline. The papers collected are striking for their diversity of approaches and subject matter. They reflect the spirit of an open area excavation where specialists from many disciplines with diverging methodologies meet and work side by side. No paper is specifically devoted to an excavation report, although the majority of contributors made use of data from such reports. The collection is intended primarily as a sampler, but a thematic unity emerges around the potential of archaeological approaches to contribute to a political ecology of the medieval period. The volume is an indispensable offering for archaeologists and historians of the Middle Ages seeking an appraisal of the state of the young discipline of medieval archaeology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780918720535
Publisher:	Medieval Institute Publications
Publication date:	07/01/1984
Series:	Studies in Medieval Culture , #18
Pages:	311
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.17(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kathleen Biddick specializes in medieval historiography and criticism at Temple University and has extensively published on historical criticism and theory.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction by Kathleen Biddick PART I: Organizing Space and Managing Resources The Multiple Estate: A Model for Tracing the Interrelationships of Society, Economy, and Habitat by Glanville R. J. Jones Fieldwork and Documentary Evidence for the Layout and Organization of Early Medieval Estates in the English Midlands by David Hall The Forest: Woodland and Wood-Pasture in Medieval England by Oliver Rackham PART II: Forming and Transforming Agricultural Systems in Temperate Europe Field Edge, Forest Edge: Early Medieval Social Change and Resource Allocation by Kathleen Biddick Some Ecological Dimensions of Medieval Field Systems by H. S. A. Fox Environmental, Ecological, and Agricultural Systems: Approaches to Simulation Modeling Applications for Medieval Temperate Europe by William S. Cooter Early Medieval Agriculture in Coastal Holland: The Evidence from Archaeology and Ecology by William H. Te Brake PART III: Reconstructing Material Worlds from Artifacts North Sea Trade Before the Vikings by Richard Hodges Morphological Analysis of Medieval Fine Pottery: Provenance and Trade Patterns in the Mediterranean World by Janet E. Buerger The Archaeozoology of the Anglo-Saxon Site at West Stow, Suffolk by Pamela Crabtree PART IV: Time-Depth and Settlement: Overview and Case Studies A Diachronic Model for Settlement and Land Use in Southern Burgundy by Carole L. Crumley An Experimental Model for Early Medieval Settlement in Southwestern Burgundy by Walter E. Berry Castle and Countryside: Capalbiaccio and the Changing Settlement History of the Ager Cosanus by Stephen L. Dyson PART V: Context and Concerns Current Research Concerns in Medieval Archaeology in West Germany by Walter Janssen Contributors