Medieval Archaeology

Magnetic survey data presented as filled contour maps with a non-linear scale reveals the characteristic dipolar signal from iron smelting furnaces. High resolution data, from 10cm spaced surveys, can be modelled mathematically to recover the angles of inclination and declination, which can be used to estimate the last date of firing of a furnace.
The techniques are illustrated with maps of 4 furnaces from prehistoric and medieval sites in north Wales and the results are compared to conventional archaeomagnetic determinations. The potential use of these techniques to any burnt features, such as hearths or small ovens, is discussed.

The seven branched lampstand within a church was thus a symbol of Christ and his Church. In theological terms, it had nothing to do with Jews – except to supersede them. This is a very important point in dealing with the Petersberg Lampstand, and all Christian lampstands.
— The biblical lampstand in Christian contexts was not a Jewish »menorah« as some today would call it, but the lampstand of Christ Jesus. It is a mistake, then, to refer to the Christian lampstand as
a menorah, as I myself did in The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel. This use of Jewish terminology, drawn from the Hebrew Scriptures for Christian lampstands, wipes away what is distinctly Christian in these lamps and what is distinctly Jewish about the menorah. While such elision may be comforting in our own world,
it takes away from the history of both communities, asserting
false closeness between the majority and the minority in medieval (and modern) Europe. When adopted by contemporary Christians
– Evangelicals and sometimes Catholics and mainline Protestants –
it is for their own theological and cultural purposes in their own search for a »usable history«.19 In Germany it is all the more complex, a facet of the regrettably not-yet-complete postwar rapprochement between Christians and Jews. My sense is that the next steps require us to reassert and celebrate the distinctive in each community, even as we continue to seek out all that Jews and Christians share(d).

After the conquest of pagan Hungarian tribes towards the end of the ninth century, and their gradual occupation of the Carpathian Basin, in the year 1000 a major change has occurred. Stephen I, the first king of Hungary was baptized and crowned, and with his reign, the Christian state was born. The reorganization of settlement and power structures went hand in hand with the Christianisation, and so with it, the building of the local church system. Tracing this, however, is challenging, although the topic of Christianisation and so the conversion still considered as a ‘hot topic’ just as much as in archaeological, as in historical research.
In the present paper, we are approaching this issue also from a topographical point of view. Since this process went on in a relatively short period of time, the phenomenon that otherwise resembles much to the standard process of nucleation shows some specific elements as well. The coterminous use of field cemeteries and churchyards are interesting just as much from a topographical, as from a religious aspect. The role of the central secular power on the development of the local church system, and thus its (topographical) relation to early power centres and possibly to the early settlement system could give some alternatives on the problem on which written sources remain silent - the process of conversion and the development of the local church system, and its relation to the relocation of the cemeteries – their incorporation within the settlements.

Venerdì 12 novembre 2021, ore. 20:30
Caspoggio - Sala dell'Immacolata

Conferenza di presentazione dei risultati della prima e seconda campagna di scavi archeologici in località Castello a Caspoggio, sito dell'antico Castrum de Malenco. Il castello è oggetto di scavi di ricerca da parte dell'Università degli studi di Bergamo in regime di concessione ministeriale MIC.

Kniha byla vydána roku 1989 v Praze  / The book was published in 1989 in Prague.

Drazí kolegové, tato kniha je umístěna kvůli jejímu  mimořádnému významu při porozumění archeologii Čech a její špatné dostupnosti zahraničním vědcům a studentům. Naléhavě Vás prosíme, abyste respektovali autorská práva autora a vydavatele. Děkujeme --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear colleagues, this book is placed because of its importance in understanding the archaeology of Bohemia and its poor availability to foreign scientists and students. We urge you to respect the copyrights of author and publishers. Thank you

Research on early medieval Cyprus has focused on the late antique " golden age " (late fourth/early fifth to seventh century) and the so-called Byzantine " Reconquista " (post-AD 965) while overlooking the intervening period. This phase was characterized, supposedly, by the division of the political sovereignty between the Umayyads and the Byzantines, bringing about the social and demographic dislocation of the population of the island. This book proposes a different story of continuities and slow transformations in the fate of Cyprus between the late sixth and the early ninth centuries. Analysis of new archaeological evidence shows signs of a continuing link to Constantinople. Moreover, together with a reassessment of the literary evidence, archaeology and material culture help us to reappraise the impact of Arab naval raids and contextualize the confrontational episodes throughout the ebb and flow of Eastern Mediterranean history: the political influence of the Caliphate looked stronger in the second half of the seventh century, the administrative and ecclesiastical influence of the Byzantine empire held sway from the beginning of the eighth to the twelfth century. Whereas the island retained sound commercial ties with the Umayyad Levant in the seventh and eighth centuries, at the same time politically and economically it remained part of the Byzantine sphere. This belies the idea of Cyprus as an independent province only loosely tied to Constantinople and allows us to draw a different picture of the cultural identities, political practices and hierarchy of wealth and power in Cyprus during the passage from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages.

This dissertation examines ancient anchoring practice in the Mediterranean through ca. 1500 CE, as well as the history and technological developments of iron anchors, which are among the most important tools inherited from the ancient world. The methodology employed is holistic in synthesizing archaeological finds, textual, and iconographic evidence, and includes statistical and geographical analysis based on a substantial catalogue of ancient anchor finds. An experimental project is also included where anchor reconstructions were used in the sea and their utility tested.

Mooring is one of the least studied aspects of everyday life for the people of the ancient Mediterranean. It has been elucidated that in most circumstances beaching would not have been a practical option, even for warships and the smallest cargo vessels. Rather, vessels were equipped with specialized gear for mooring off or near undeveloped shores. This included ship's boats enabling access to the shore. Lower draft vessels, particularly galleys, could approach unbuilt shores and employ mooring stakes and cables, and the ship's landing-ladder would be deployed into shallow water. Where available, however, ships would benefit from built quays which facilitated goods transport.

The iron stock-anchor displays the greatest longevity of any anchoring tool, evinced as early as the 5th c. BCE, and appears to have achieved dominance over wooden types by the 3rd c. CE. From its conception the iron-stock anchor undergoes a broad range of gradual changes to its form and features. The earliest known finds take a 'V' form in the bulk-arms and gradually develop through rounded to 'T' and 'Y' forms in the Byzantine Period. The stocks evolve from removable iron types, to permanent forms entirely of wood. Reintroduction of upward-oriented arm designs from northern Europe around the 13th c. CE, and incorporation of hydraulic mechanized smithing developments, heralded a revolution of anchoring technology. Larger, stronger and more efficient anchors were being produced to standardized dimensions and quality, promoting larger ships, and ultimately resulting in novel characteristics of navigation.

of ceramic studies in the commercial sector. Together, these papers provide a clear statement of where we are, and where we are going wrong. The volume contains much of interest, but would have benefited from a final chapter or expanded introduction, reflecting on the experience of bringing artefact research together from across specialisms and time periods, and considering whether the editors found the disciplinary/ professional faultlines that concern them to be persistent. More (colour) illustrations would have helped too. In sum, this is a welcome exemplar of the current health of artefact studies, and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the explanatory power of finds research, as well as its professional and scholarly context.

""CE CHAPITRE regroupe l’ensemble des informations tirées de l’analyse des charpentes de notre corpus, menée conjointement sous le regard archéologique et dendrochronologique. Dans cette perspective, cette publication constitue la première approche dendro-archéologique pour l’époque médiévale en France. Cette nouvelle discipline, qui permet d’optimiser au maximum l’information conservée par le matériau-bois, nécessite l’implication des questions archéologiques dans la réflexion dendrochronologique, et réciproquement, la dendrochronologie se doit d’intégrer les observations archéologiques, de même que l’apport des textes anciens. Dans cette vision, il est bien évident que la dendrochronologie, aussi précise soit-elle, ne peut se résumer à une simple datation, comme c’est malheureusement souvent le cas. En revanche, si l’on veut apporter localement des éléments de réponse aux questions du potentiel forestier et suivre les étapes successives de la préparation des bois, de la gestion sylvicole au transport des bois au chantier, il est indispensable de disposer au préalable :
– de relevés archéologiques exhaustifs et critiques des charpentes et des bâtiments étudiés, incluant la mise en évidence des phases de construction, des reprises et des éléments réemployés ;
– des mensurations et des descriptions morphologiques et physio- logiques précises des bois architecturaux ;
– d’un relevé des indices de mise en œuvre des structures (marques, traces d’établissage, indices de levage, sens du chevillage, orientation des mi-bois...).
Cette recherche sous-entend qu’un temps énorme doit être consacré à l’analyse des données, mais aussi et surtout au terrain. On ne peut donc pas prétendre réaliser à la fois l’ensemble de ces observations et le prélèvement des échantillons dendrochronologiques en une ou deux journées, de même qu’on ne pourra prétendre faire une étude de charpente sur la seule lecture des marques de charpentier. L’étude des bois normands médiévaux que nous proposons ici résume donc plus de dix ans de recherche conduite sur environ 30 édifices répartis en Haute et en Basse- Normandie, soit 49 charpentes distinctes dont on retrouvera l’essentiel des informations dans les thèses de Frédéric Épaud et Vincent Bernard. Sur ces 49 charpentes, 40 ont pu bénéficier d’une analyse dendrochronologique, réalisée le plus souvent par le laboratoire de l’UMR 6566 à Rennes, mais aussi pour quelques autres par le CEDRE de Besançon et Archéolabs de Saint-Bonnet-de-Chavagne. Ces analyses ont été financées par la Conservation régionale des Monuments historiques de Haute-Normandie, le Service régional d’archéologie de Basse-Normandie et le Centre de recherche sur les Monuments historiques.""

As part of the historical landscape of the Transylvanian voivodat, the medieval road system benefits of scattered details and general information that scholars can use when attempting at its reconstruction. While the overall situation regarding major trade routes and public roads has been looked into based on archival data alone (due to their occurrence in late medieval charters and travel accounts or reports) almost no enquiry has been conducted with the aim of retrieving accurate details about the material aspects of the presumed routes. This paper is aiming at outlining the sources available for the study of the actual road tracks, by highlighting the importance of written, archaeological and cartographic evidence when it comes to identifying and rendering these particular landscape features. Despite the general impression of neglecting the development of engineered roads, late medieval local communities, individuals and even official authorities have sometimes addressed traffic problems by developing road segments, or by commanding maintenance work for already existing ones, including some special features found along the route ways, such as bridges. Apart from general archival information on the maintenance of bridges, ferries, fords and other facilities near toll-collection points, there are also examples as concerns the construction of new road segments, the reopening of dilapidated or blocked ones, as well as dugout road lanes, engineered access roads and paved roads. However, not all of these data can be obtained from written sources, thus, compelling one to have a look at the evidence found on the field and retrieved by archaeological and cartographic research.

Résumé
Les fouilles menées sur des résidences élitaires et des fortifications du haut Moyen Âge se sont multipliées depuis quelques
décennies en France comme en Belgique. Elles ont mis en lumière une grande variété typologique, des choix architecturaux
simples mais souvent efficaces et des influences diverses. Malgré ces avancées, une vision très négative de la fortification du
haut Moyen Âge semble toujours prévaloir et les données réunies sur les résidences aristocratiques précoces n'ont pas toujours
été mises en oeuvre pour évaluer la genèse du château des Xe -XIe s.
Ce bilan bibliographique limité aux cinquante dernières années aborde successivement l'évolution des méthodes d'approche, la
défense des chefs-lieux de cités et des castra, l'état de la poliorcétique, quelques grands types de résidences élitaires et l'intérêt
d'étudier la culture matérielle pour mieux cerner les fonctions et la hiérarchie de ces sites.

Abstract
For some decades, excavations on elitarian residences and fortifications from the early Middle Ages have multiplied in France as
well as in Belgium. They highlighted a great typological variety, simple but often effective architectural choices, and various
influences. Despite this step forward, there still exists a very negative vision of early Middle Age defence works, and the data
collected on early aristocratic dwellings has seldom been used to assess the genesis of the castle in the l0th and 11th centuries.
This bibliographical assessment limited to the previous fifty years successively tackles the evolution of the methodological
approaches, the defense of chief towns and castra, the art of siege, some major types of elitarian residences, and the need for a
study of material culture in order to better comprehend the functions and hierarchy of these sites.

Finds from the arable fields in Brabant (NL) are usually regarded as waste that was mixed in with the manure, or as objects that were lost during the work on the land. As such they are thought to be of little archaeological relevance. Occasionally, however, metal detector hobbyists retrieve artefacts from these fields for which such explanation seems unlikely. These include a.o. papal seals, and the seal matrix of a distant priory. Questions on the nature of these artefacts were the starting point of a metal detector survey on a open field complex in Veldhoven. A pilot project (Verspay 2012) produced interesting results, suggesting that a part of these finds could be linked to religious practice aimed at the protection of the crops, securing a good harvest.

In order to test this hypothesis a subsequent survey was conducted on the neighbouring field complex De Looker. This time covering an entire historical block....

This report covers the results of this systematic study as well as an illustrated catalogue of our findings.

The article presents the results of the architectural and archaeological research which was conducted in 2015 in the basement with a fragment of the
enclosure cellarium of the former Cistercian Abbey in Trzebnica. After presenting a general history of the object and the state of the research, the
scope of architectural and archaeological works was described separately. The final part of the article constitutes an attempt to reconstruct and date
transformations of the cellarium of the Trzebnica enclosure. The researched fragment is a remnant of the first enclosure building. Its western wall
was at the same time a part of the facade of the western wing and its preserved fragment of the room is the only existing relic of the interior of the
oldest convent in Trzebnica.
The cellarium was a two-aisle room covered with a cross vault supported by brick arches and a stone pillar. It performed the function of an everyday
storage of the Cistercian convent. It was probably erected in the years 1203–1214. The first reconstruction of the cellarium took place in around 1706
and it was connected with the construction of the great Baroque building of the Cistercian enclosure. At that time a small cellar was created in the
northern part of the cellarium. A change in the function of the cellar took place in about 1894 after the secularization of the Cistercian convent and
was connected with the beginning of the functioning of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charles Borromeo. Then, on the ground floor of the northern
cloister a monastic chapel was arranged and under it in the cellar a boiler room was probably placed. Another modernization of the cellar took place
probably in about 1909 when a large boiler room was built in the east and concrete floor, a small pool with drainage tubes to collect ground water
were built as well as a stove was put there to dry the interior.
In the post-war times of the 20th century the basement with a cellarium fragment served as a handy storage of the convent. This function was totally
changed in 2015 following the described architectural research. At present its interiors house an exhibition of the revealed cellarium fragments.

The zooarchaeological data from rural settlements (casalia), castles (castra) and cities (civitates) of Medieval Apulia
during the late Middle Ages (10th-15th centuries) allow to recognize different ways of production and distribution of animal resources on the territory. Pig breeding played an important role in the diet of the region although it is difficult to establish a single pattern of exploitation for this animal that supplied meat and fats. In all the sites pigs generally lived more than one year and they were butchered during their second year of life. The killing of young individuals does not seem to reflect human privileged conditions, but it could indicate the difficulties to keep the animals until the sexual maturity, when they reached the maximum meat yield.

This ambitious book is about a way of building that for centuries dominated the making of monumental architecture – yet now not only is it lost as practice, knowledge of its very existence is consigned to oblivion. In pre-modern Europe, the architect built not just with imagination, brick and mortar, but with time, using vast quantities of duration to erect monumental buildings that otherwise would have been impossible. Not mere medieval muddling-through, this entailed a sophisticated set of norms and practices. Virtually all the great cathedrals of Europe were built under this regime. In particular, the major works of pre-modern Italy, from the Pisa cathedral group to the new St Peter’s – the apotheosis of the practice – are thus cast in an entirely new light.  Even as ‘Building-in-Time’ flourished, the fifteenth-century Italian architect Leon Battista Alberti proposed a new temporal regime whereby time would ideally be excluded from the making of architecture (‘Building-outside-Time’). Planning and building, which had formed one fluid, imbricated process, were to be sharply divided, and the change that always came with time excluded from architectural facture. Ironically, it was Brunelleschi, as creator of the cupola of Florence cathedral and one of the supreme practitioners of Building-in-Time, who was the lynchpin of Alberti’s turn to the arts in the mid-1430s. That he arrived in Florence just at the moment Brunelleschi’s dome was being completed was crucial to Alberti’s subsequent career in visual culture.  In telling this story, Trachtenberg rewrites the history of medieval and Renaissance architecture in Italy and recasts the turn to modernity in new terms. Recovering this lost element allows us also to see the present in a new way: temporality is not a neutral or secondary factor in modern architecture culture, but an epistemic condition that silently affects all production and experience of the built environment.