'Here lies our leader all cut down, the valiant man in the dust.' The elegiac words of the "Battle of Maldon", an epic poem written to celebrate the bravery of an English army defeated by Viking raiders in 991, emerge from a diverse literature - including "Beowulf" and "Bede's Ecclesiastical History" - produced by the people known as the Anglo-Saxons: Germanic tribes who migrated to Britain from Lower Saxony and Denmark in the early fifth century CE. The era once known as the 'Dark Ages' was marked by stunning cultural advances, and Henrietta Leyser here offers a fresh analysis of exciting recent discoveries made in the archaeology and art of the Anglo-Saxon world. Arguing that the desperate struggle (led by Alfred the Great) against the Vikings helped define a distinctively English sensibility, the author explores relations with the indigenous British, the Anglo-Saxon conversion to Christianity, the ascendancy of Mercia and the rise of Wessex. This vivid history evokes both the emergent kingdoms of Alfred and Offa and the golden treasures of Sutton Hoo. It will appeal to students of early medieval history and to all those who wish to understand how England was born.

Local architectural heritage is an expression of a long-lasting circle of traditions and oral knowledge fostered from one generation to another and revealed through simple or complex architectural realities. It is also a manifestation of economic and social impact on the landscape. Given this assumption, this volume, by means of new building archaeology research approaches, debates the development and the organisation of the fortified architectures, settlements and centres during the medieval age in the historical area of Luni (Lunigiana), a sub-cultural region that stands between Tuscany and Liguria (Italy). The author portrays a complete and summarized picture of the development of the power of the bishopric in the Luni area, promoter of the seigniorial territorialization and castle-building, between the 10th and 14th centuries. The study of the historical architectures adopts a multifaceted methodology that combines building archaeology such as wall stratigraphic relationships, building phases, type-chronology of the architectural elements, and masonry techniques analysis together with more recent dense image modeling and 3D reconstruction techniques.

TheninthvolumeofNotebooksonMedievalTopography(Documentaryandfieldresearch), givesmuchinputintoresearchaboutCulturalLandscape.Latium(MonteRomano;Viterbo), andBasilicata(provincesofPotenzaandMatera)aretheItalianlandschosentowhichmethods, instrumentsandanalyses, havebeenapplied.Researchfromgeology, archaeology, history, agronomy, historyofart, engineering, architecture, literature, photographyandcinemahaveallbeenusedtocontributetoabetteranalysisofCulturalLandcsape, ie.theSpaceaffectedbyTimeandHumanaction.ThewholeareaofBasilicatahasbeenstudied, especiallythenorthern, centralandeasternside(artisticandarchitecturalheritage).InLatiumtheprimaryareaofinteresthasbeenthevillageofMonteRomanoanditscounty.ThelandscapeevolutionhasbeenexaminedfromtheRomanperiod(IIIcent.B.C.)untilthecontemporaryone.ThelastpartdiscussesthoroughlytheeconomicconditionofthelandsalongtheriverMarta, betweenTuscaniaandCorneto(Tarquinia)inXVandXVIcent.Duringthisperiodtherewasorganizedcattlebreedingandanancientbovinerace(theMaremmana).Combiningsurvey, bibliographicandarchivalrecoveryofunpublisheddocuments, withoutneglectinganyaspect(suchasthecataloguingofsprings), theCulturalLandscapehasbeenexaminedfromdifferentperspectives, eventhosethatseemlessrelevant(cattle breeding, agriculturalandfood), butarestillaneconomicresource.Thustheyareveryimportanttoaculturaldevelopment.Theresearch, exploringafairlywiderangeofpossibilities, wantstobeastimulustothosewhowanttostudyacomplexandarticulaterealitylikeCulturalLandscape."

Since its establishment in 1985 the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies has regularly hosted international, interdisciplinary conferences, especially an annual Easter Conference. The 2006 MANCASS Easter conference titled 'Royal Authority: Kingship and Power in Anglo-Saxon England' focused on historical contributions analysing sources of knowledge about royal power; and others which pinpointed loss of power or insecure pretensions to the crown. There were also offerings which teased material relevant to the conference theme out of artefactual and literary sources.

This series of short volumes, each devoted to a theme which is the subject of contemporary debate in archaeology, ranges from issues in theory and method to aspects of world archaeology. This timely, concise volume enlarges on the debate that still continues twenty-five years after Richard Hodges' ground-breaking Dark Age Economics was first published. Special attention is given to the archaeological, anthropological and historical models about gift and commodity exchange, pertinent to western Europe during the seventh to tenth centuries, and how these debates shed new light on the evolution of towns. One theme of the book examines the role of the elite in economic practice. Twenty-five years ago archaeologists and historians challenged this; today, paradoxically, as government plays a reduced role in managing our economies, medieval archaeologists and historians concur that the economics of the Early Middle Ages were highly regulated.

This volume of collected essays is intended as a demonstration of the ways in which a theoretically informed archaeology significantly enhances our understanding of the early middle ages (indeed of the past more generally). It begins from the premise that theory must be worked though in data (abstract theorising conjures up only ahistorical pictures of the past) and applies a consistent and contemporary body of theory (broadly characterised as 'post-processual) in a series of case-studies. These essays, which address some of the key issues in contemporary archaeology (identity, the appropriation/destruction of the past, gift exchange, object biographies, the influence of our present on the construction of the past, the impact of texts on past societies), are linked by a series of discussions which serve both to update the arguments and to create a continuous and coherent narrative. The result is therefore much more than the sum of the parts and will be of interest not just to scholars of the early middle ages, but to archaeologists and historians more generally.

In Sacred Violence, renowned medieval historian Jill N. Claster examines warfare between Christians and Muslims for control of the embattled city of Jerusalem. Beyond the battlefield, however, Claster explains the relationship of Jews, Christians, and Muslims to the Holy City and how that relationship still resonates today. The book encompasses the history of the kingdom founded by the Crusaders which lasted, against all odds, for two hundred years, and details the richness that emerged from the interplay of its many cultural groups. It also tells the story of how and why the Crusades came about, their impact on the Middle East and Europe, and their legacy to subsequent generations. Sacred Violence includes twenty-eight black-and-white images, a sumptuous colour insert, and numerous maps to draw the reader closer to this tumultuous history. A chronology and a list of key rulers provide further clarification of events. An extensive bibliography is included.

This book deals with the documentation and interpretation of the rock sites located in La Mancha center (Spain), from the detailed study of the symbols that have been engraved in the rock. These sites, from historical times, can provide valuable information for the study of the mentalities and beliefs of the popular classes during the Modern Age, strongly influenced by the atmosphere created after the Counter-Reformation. Crosses, calvaries, orbs, human and animal representations, letters, cup-marks and game boards make up an authentic symbolic universe, of clear Christian roots, whose understanding is possible to achieve even though it requires collaboration between multiple fields of knowledge such as archaeology, theology, numismatics, heraldry, architecture, sculpture, painting... Unfortunately, researchers have paid scant attention to the issue at hand, assuming paradigms that from our point of view should be reviewed, such as the authorship of the petroglyphs or their chrono-cultural affiliation. The study of the rock formations located in La Mancha center can shed light on these and other subjects, providing a good starting point in order to improve the documentation and interpretation of historical rock engravings in other parts of the world.

Bits of late Roman coinage, the mutilated torso of a marble Venus, blue debris from an early medieval glassworks, and the powder rasped from the reputed tomb of Mary Magdalene - these tantalizing mementos of human history found scattered throughout the landscape of southeastern France are the points of departure for Gustaf Sobin's lyrical narrative. A companion volume to his acclaimed "Luminous Debris", "Ladder of Shadows" picks up where the former left off: with late antiquity, covering a period from roughly the third to the thirteenth century. Here Sobin offers brilliant readings of late Roman and early Christian ruins in his adopted region of Provence, sifting through iconographic, architectural, and sacramental vestiges to shed light on nothing less than the existential itself.

The aim of this work is to study the issue of agriculture on hillsides through the use of terraces, according to a multidisciplinary and multiscalar approach (in time and space). Mediterranean hillsides are frequently covered with terraces. These are generally dedicated to agriculture, whatever the sociocultural contexts are. All Mediterranean regions are subject to the same regime of rainfall, often violent and very localized in time. Therefore, farmers face the problem of soil erosion and management of their water resources. Questions concerning the causes, techniques and chronology of these constructions are considered. Recent researches carried out in several Mediterranean countries underline the part played by terracing in the shaping of Mediterranean landscapes from the Neolithic period to the present time, and its importance among ancient societies. These researches show that the emergence of the agricultural terracing technique originated in not one but several locations, that this technique was put into practice at least from as early as the Bronze age in the western as well as in the eastern Mediterranean, and that the variety of techniques employed are not mainly connected to chrono-cultural factors but are first bound to environmental conditions. The author selects for her researches areas from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, the Near East and North Africa. In French with English abstract.

This book brings together for the first time archaeological findings from key ports throughout the Indian Ocean - the Red Sea, South Arabia, the Gulf and India - to build up a balanced picture of relations between East and West. Combined evidence from artefacts and documents reveals a complex situation whereby ordinary goods were carried alongside the more costly items - such as pepper, aromatics and gems - that drove the trade. Here the focus is on ordinary artefacts that uncover a network of Romans, Arabs, Sasanians and Indians who participated in the trade. The evidence from ceramics, especially, shows the interplay between these different ethnic groups, where they lived, when the trade was active, and even how it was organised.The account is arranged geographically, drawing on new evidence from the author's experience of archaeological sites and materials on the Red Sea and in India. A final chapter sketches the changing fortunes of trade between the first century BC and the seventh century AD in the light of these important new archaeological discoveries.

This study takes an anthropological approach to define the term 'selpulture de catastrophe', contrasting features of mass burials due to plague, genocide and battlefield casualties. French text.

This volume is a study of a bend in the River Marne in the Middle Ages and Early Modern era. It looks at land-ownership along the course of the river, navigability of the river and its exploitation for fishing and water-mills, as well as medieval attepts to manage the river. French text.

Romanesque is the style name given to the art and architecture of Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries. Coined to express the indebtedness of the artistic culture of this period to the Classical past, it has been in continuous use for two centuries and has outlived other paradigms in the study of medieval culture. The study of Romanesque as a stylistic phenomenon is today almost exclusively the preserve of art historians, particularly in the English-speaking world. In this polemical book 'the Romanesque', especially as applied to architecture, is subjected to a long overdue, theoretically-informed, archaeological inquiry. The main aim is to liberate the buildings in question from the exclusive grip of unimaginative, uncritical, and ideologically-suspect, scholarship. The book's principal interpretative argument is that the pan-European corpus of buildings described as Romanesque is a product of the fragmentation of the heritage of romanitas in the 1000s and 1100s, rather than a product of its renaissance.

The collection of almost 1,000 clay pipes from the quarantine port of Pomegues provides a unique insight into pipe production and use throughout the Mediterranean and further afield. The author's exhaustive study makes a significant contribution to knowledge both of pipe production and circulation in a number of different ways. Although these have already been recognised and published from a range of sites throughout the Mediterranean basin, the Pomegues collection, arriving off Marseilles on ships from many ports of origin, is by far the most extensive and varied yet collected. This study establishes a logical nomenclature for the formal and technical variables that can be observed on these pipes."

"In Goodbye to the Vikings?", Richard Hodges uses new archaeological evidence to re-read the familiar history of the early Middle Ages. Taking his examples from the fifth to the tenth centuries, he re-examines many familiar themes, including the identity of King Arthur, the Pirenne thesis, Marc Bloch on feudalism, the significance of nationalism in early medieval archaeology and the place of the Vikings in European history. Some of the studies are wide-ranging, while others re-examine the archaeology of the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno (Italy) in detail. This book shows how archaeology is making us appreciate the changing rhythms of early medieval Europe, especially in terms of the contacts made by traders, pilgrims and travellers.

A detailed study of contexts and ceramic finds from medieval Seville, including a catalogue of over 250 entries of ceramic finds. Includes catalogues of finds, inscriptions, typologies. Spanish text.

"Villa to Village" challenges the historical view that hilltop villages in Italy were first founded in the tenth century. Drawing upon recent excavations, the authors show that the makings of the medieval village lie in the demise of the Roman villa in late antiquity. The book describes the lively debate between archaeologists and historians on this issue. It also examines the evidence for the first manorial villages of the Carolingian era and describes how these were transformed into the familiar feudal villages that are characteristic of much of Italy.

A study of the exploitation and management of mineral resources in the western Alpine reigon of Italy in the medieval period. Di Gangi reviews the evidence already available from 18th and 19th century geologists, studies toponyms from historical and modern maps, looks at recent historiography, documentary evidence and combines this with survey work studying settlements and their relationship to mineral resources. A useful reference work of collated material for mineral exploitation from the 10th to 15th century and a good starting point for further investigations.

This text examines the important continuing discussion of the rebirth of urbanism in Carolingian Europe. Drawing upon a good deal of new archaeological evidence from southern and northern Europe, Richard Hodges looks at the end of towns in Roman antiquity, the phenomenon of the Dark Age emporium, and the hotly disputed mechanisms which led to the inception of market towns during the age of Charlemagne. Much use is made, in particular, of recently excavated evidence from the Mediterranean, as well as from England.

This book presents, in sixteen papers, recent developments and some of the main topics seen in academic Medieval Archaeology studies in Spain. The papers explore some of the emergent and consolidated topics of the discipline, such as landscapes, cities, rural spaces, bio-archaeological records, archaeology of architectures, agrarian archaeology, post-Roman archaeology, colonial archaeology in the Canary Islands and the archaeology of religious minorities, opening new lines of enquiries and providing new theoretical and methodological approaches. An overview of Medieval Archaeology studies in Spain is offered, proposing a wide range of topics for discussion. Finally, the book explores the connections between Spanish Medieval Archaeology and other European traditions, specifically, English, Italian and Portuguese Medieval Archaeology.

Contents: The Contribution of Archaeology to our Understanding of re-Norman London, 1973-1988; Medieval and Tudor Domestic Buildings in the City of London; Shops and Shopping in Medieval London; The Romanesque Architecture of Old St Paul's Cathedral and its late eleventh-century Context.; The First Facade of Old St Paul's Cathedral and its Place in English Thirteenth - Century Architecture; Restorations of the Temple Church, London; 'Liber Horn', 'Liber Custumarum' and Other Manuscripts of the Queen Mary Psalter Workshops; London, Londoners and Opus Anglicanum; Some New Types of Late Medieval Tombs in the London Area.

This volume - in Italian, with an English summary - illustrates the Popolani Collection, that was donated to the Archaeological Museum of Florence by Carlo Popolani, a physician who lived in Damascus in the early 20th century. The collection consists of ancient pottery vessels, terracotta oil-lamps, glazed Islamic tiles, Romano-Byzantine glassware, as well as various objects from the Damascene antique market. In particular, the rich group of glazed tiles is very representative of the typical Mamluk and Ottoman production that flourished in Damascus between the XV and XVIII century.

This volume gathers a series of selected contributions about settlement patterns in the Italian countryside between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. It provides a critical overview of the most recent research carried out on late antique and early medieval Italy (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Lazio, Apulia and Calabria) and uses innovative interpretative frameworks to gain a better understanding of rural settlement dynamics.