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.

Tra Esino e San Vicino offre una lettura completamente nuova dell'architettura religiosa che, a cavallo tra il romanico e il gotico, si afferma al centro delle Marche, in un'area denominata Valle di S. Clemente. Qui, a partire dall'XI secolo, si assiste ad una straordinaria fioritura di insediamenti costituiti da abbazie, eremi, pievi, di cui spesso si conservano le strutture piu antiche, la maggior parte ancora leggibili nella loro stratigrafia. Attraverso un'analisi dettagliata delle strutture murarie, condotta secondo i piu moderni criteri metodologici dell'archeologia dell'architettura, e una rilettura critica delle fonti scritte, e stato possibile ricostruire le diverse fasi edilizie che hanno segnato la storia delle chiese esaminate, attestante le trasformazioni subite nel tempo a causa delle mutate esigenze liturgiche e dei frequenti eventi distruttivi. Sono cosi riemerse le articolate configurazioni architettonico-liturgiche di alcuni tra i piu importanti edifici religiosi dell'Italia centrale, a cominciare dalla cripta di S. Salvatore di Valdicastro, prima tomba di S. Romualdo, di cui e stato possibile recuperare il "funzionamento" liturgico, fino ad alcune strutture complesse ed estremamente rare - ma non inedite nel panorama architettonico marchigiano - di cui la documentazione scritta non porta traccia, come i matronei di S. Elena all'Esino o i balconi interni di S. Urbano e S. Elena all'Esino. Inoltre, la rielaborazione della documentazione raccolta esaminando le strutture sopraelevate ha permesso di produrre una classificazione delle tecniche murarie e delle tipologie di aperture, organizzate nei relativi atlanti. In questo modo e stato possibile mappare il percorso di alcune maestranze edili, e piu in generale e stato possibile determinarne i caratteri specifici e stabilirne la circolazione, che ha fatto emergere il ruolo determinante di alcuni 'magistri' e delle relative officine nell'elaborazione del paesaggio architettonico di questo territorio.

From the eighth century to the turn of the millennium, East Anglia had a variety of identities thrust upon it by authors of the period who envisioned a unified England. Although they were not regional writers in the modern sense, Bede, Felix, the annalists of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Alfred of Wessex, Abbo of Fleury, and AElfric of Eynsham took a keen interest in East Anglia, especially in its potential to undo English cultural cohesiveness as they imagined it. Angles on a Kingdom argues that those authors treated East Anglia as both a hindrance and a stimulus to the development of early English "national" consciousness. Combining close textual reading with consideration of early medieval barrow burials, coinage, border delineation, and rivalries between monastic houses, Joseph Grossi examines various forms of cultural affirmation and manipulation. Angles on a Kingdom shows that, over the course of roughly two and a half centuries, the literary metamorphoses of East Anglia hint at the region's recurring tensions with its neighbours - tensions which suggest that writers who sought to depict a coherent England downplayed what they deemed to be dangerous impulses emanating from the island's easternmost corner.

While historians of medieval Spain have been unanimous in acknowledging the significance of Infante Manuel's impact on the reign of his brother, Alfonso X, the Wise, and the rise to power of his nephew, Sancho IV, none have attempted a biography of his life, convinced there was insufficient material to justify the endeavour. Systematic and persistent research over many years, however, has uncovered a profusion of facts and figures which, together with the evidence discovered in numerous unedited archival documents, effectively establishes the prince as a major player during Alfonso's troubled rule. This is the first and only book-length biography of Prince Manuel, the progenitor of the longest ruling dynasty in the history of Spain. In his capacity as the monarch's closest advisor, Manuel assiduously maintained critical working relationships with the most notable leaders of his age, including James I and Peter III of Aragon, Louis IX and Philippe III of France, Edward I and Queen Eleanor of England, Popes Alexander IV and Gregory X, and a host of other royal and noble personages from Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. Intended for specialists in the field of medieval Iberian history and literature, Dawn of a Dynasty is a highly reliable source work and a significant contribution to our knowledge of late-thirteenth-century Castile.

The qsar corresponds to a type of human settlement widely distributed in the Sahara desert, including many examples located today in southern Morocco, southern Algeria, southern Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania and Mali. This architectural model is characterised by its use over a wide-ranging time span - probably since the early first millennium BC according to ancient structures recorded by the archaeologist Mattingly in the Libyan Fazzan. This volume, through the systematic analysis and comparison of some qsur of southeastern Algeria (Rig, Mzab, Miya and al-Mani'a), reveals common architectural features that can be used to identify a common type of qsar in this region. The analysis of the construction material shows the primary use of limestone with a local mortar (timchent) and date palm trunks (phoenix dactylifera) for the structural elements (ceilings, doors, arcs, domes). Adobe bricks (tub) are used in the housing and the defence systems punctuated by towers and pierced doors. Despite a discontinuity within the historical narrative, the establishment of populations in this area of the Sahara appears to be much earlier than the medieval period and the qsar is certainly not a creation ex nihilo of the modern era. Because of their numerous modifications and extensions over several centuries, the qsur problematise the dating of such settlements. However, the comparison of its main components encourages the development of a typology to identify some common characteristics that would help position the qsar among the urban planning of the dar al-islam.

The island of Sant' Andrea, situated on the road that since ancient times has linked the Adige Valley with the Lake Garda, once rose impressively from the green expanse of water, but now is a small hump on the edge of a vast marshy basin. Fifteen centuries ago it was the fortified seat of a contingent of soldiers and their families. In 1998, after a long series of sporadic discoveries that started way back in the 19th century, the Archeaology Section of the Rovereto Civic Museum began a research and study project that involved a series of summer excavations, that brought to light a multi-layered archeological site with finds ranging from the prehistoric age to late antiquity, medieval times and right through to even the First World War. Along the northeastern side and the southern edge of the island the remains have been found of some buildings that can be traced to a fortified settlement and on the top part of the hump the remains of a Romanesque church have been investigated. The buildings that made up the settlement illustrate a complex series of construction periods; so far these have been dated between the 5th and 7th centuries. Numerous examples of armoury and military clothing have been found in the settlement area and this clearly suggests the military function of the site. The volume is devoted to the results of the research in the castrum: A general overview of the site is followed by a part devoted to periodization and stratigraphic analysis of the dig; then there is a large section that includes contributions on the small finds; the fourth part contains some concluding remarks.

This book presents the study of pottery in two medieval contexts, Pisa (a city) and San Genesio (a central rural settlement in the Arno Valley). The research focusses on specific issues observed in the two contexts, like characters of production (type of workshops, technological characteristics and characterization of ceramic bodies), specialization of pottery and circulation of the products; characters of consumption (similarities and differences in the composition of the pottery equipment and their modification); the role of social-economic indicator of some pottery classes to verify how much and when imported products from the Mediterranean were considered luxury items, if some types of local or regional pottery could have the same role, if the consumer wealth could be reflected in the specialization of ceramic forms used on the table and in the kitchen, if the desire to emulate aristocracy could be read even in the use of particular forms or pottery equipment; movement to understand in what way (whether by land or water), by what means and by what logic (market, pay census, barter) the pottery would move. The data from this research helps define a picture of relations between town and countryside in the Arno Valley between Xth and XIVth century.

Information regarding epigraphy, both early Christian and medieval, in the province of Burgos was scarce and spread around in inaccessible publications. This Corpus contains and analyses all entries between IV and XIII centuries, located in the province of Burgos in various monuments like Quintanilla de las Vinas, San Pedro de Arlanza, Santo Domingo de Silos, The Real Huelgas, Burgos Cathedral, etc. To this end, starting from a review of the bibliography which has been published, a detailed fieldwork was performed resulting in the collection of 326 entries, 45 of which have never been published before, providing new and corrected readings to many of them. Indeed, the description of each item; its edition, both epigraphic and paleographic; its translation; the metric study of the inscriptions; its historical context; the paleographic study of its characters and analysis of the literary texts, All of that gives the ability to specify many dates in history of the creation of the corresponding monuments the inscriptions are part of, and the recognition of numerous analogies among several of these constructions. Therefore, this work stands as a valuable landmark and touchstone for the fields of History, Art and Medieval Studies.

This volume explores the importance of Norwich as the second city of England for 500 years. It addresses two of the most ambitious Romanesque buildings in Europe: cathedral and castle, and illuminates the role of Norwich-based designers and makers in the region.

This volume presents the proceedings of the workshop 'Archeologia a Firenze: Citta e territorio', organized by CAMNES, Centre for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana, in April 2013. This event experienced an extraordinary participation by experts in the field, and resulted also in a significant success in terms of public archaeological awareness. Almost twenty years after the exhibition 'Alle origini di Firenze' and the publication of its Catalogo, which is considered a signal point in Florentine archaeology, the workshop provided an opportunity for discussion between all those who conducted research, protection and enhancement of the archaeological heritage of Florence thanks to the presentation of the most recent excavations. Moreover, the origins of the city that took the leading role during the Renaissance were discussed, finding in its roots the very reasons for its glorious destiny. The sessions, organized in chronological order - from prehistoric to medieval topics - were supplemented by contributions concerned with conservation and enhancement of the historic landscape whose reconstruction through research and excavation activities constantly requires new discussions and often additional reflections.

King Arthur is probably the most famous and certainly the most legendary medieval king. From the early ninth century through the middle ages, to the Arthurian romances of Victorian times, the tales of this legendary figure have blossomed and multiplied. And in more recent times, there has been a continuous stream of books claiming to have discovered the 'facts' about, or to unlock the secret or truth behind, the 'once and future king'. Broadly speaking, there are two Arthurs. On the one hand is the traditional 'historical' Arthur, waging a doomed struggle to save Roman civilization against the relentless Anglo-Saxon tide during the darkest years of the Dark Ages. On the other is the Arthur of myth and legend - accompanied by a host of equally legendary people, places, and stories: Lancelot, Guinevere, Galahad and Gawain, Merlin, Excalibur, the Lady in the Lake, the Sword in the Stone, Camelot, the Round Table. The big problem with all this is that 'King Arthur' might well never have existed. And if he did exist, it is next to impossible to say anything at all about him. As this challenging new look at the Arthur legend makes clear, all books claiming to reveal 'the truth' behind King Arthur can safely be ignored. Not only the 'red herrings' in the abundant pseudo-historical accounts, even the 'historical' Arthur is largely a figment of the imagination: the evidence that we have - whether written or archaeological - is simply incapable of telling us anything detailed about the Britain in which he is supposed to have lived, fought, and died. The truth, as Guy Halsall reveals in this fascinating investigation, is both radically different - and also a good deal more intriguing.

This volume is the definitive account of the excavation which led to the discovery of the magnificent hoard of 28 pieces of Pictish silverware on St Ninian s Isle, Shetland in 1958. It includes a reassessment of the original archives and finds, including an ogham stone found on the site in 1876 and a fantastic collection of glass beads, as well as several new small-scale excavations on the site of the chapel and its burial ground. Taken together, this work reveals a long sequence of settlement beginning in the Iron Age. The first church was built on the site in the 8th century, and accompanied by a long cist cemetery with cross-incised stones and shrine sculpture. The church may have continued in use into the 9th or 10th centuries, and the recent work has confirmed that the famous hoard was buried into its floor. There was a degree of continuity between the pre-Christian and Christian burials, with evidence that the site was a special place for burial before the advent of Christianity. The report describes these burials in detail, ending the story sometime between the 11th and end of the 12th centuries, when an adult male who had died a violent death was moved to be buried on the site. Thereafter the site was inundated with wind-blown sand. A new chapel with an accompanying long cist cemetery was then built above the earlier church, and a chancel was added later. The associated graveyard continued in use until around 1840, long after the building was demolished."

The Medieval Chantry in England is a special themed issue of Volume 164 of the Journal of the British Archaeological Association. Subscribers to the journal will receive a paperback version of the issue as part of their subscription. The subject is one that has attracted considerable attention from archaeologists and historians of art, architecture and music over the last two decades, though relatively little has been published. Chantries were religious institutions endowed with land, goods and money. At their heart was the performance of a daily mass for the spiritual benefit of their founders, and the souls of all faithful dead. To Church reformers, they exemplified some of medieval Catholicism s most egregious errors; but to the orthodox they offered opportunities to influence what occurred in an unknowable afterlife. The eleven essays presented here lead the reader through the earliest manifestations of the chantry, the origins and development of stone-cage chapels, royal patronage of commemorative art and architecture, the chantry in the late medieval parish, the provision of music and textiles, and a series of specific chantries created for William of Wykeham, Edmund Audley, Thomas Spring and Abbot Islip, to the eventual history and the cultural consequences of their suppression in the mid-16th century."

The British Archaeological Association's 2007 conference celebrated the material culture of medieval Coventry, the fourth wealthiest English city of the later middle ages. The nineteen papers collected in this volume set out to remedy the relative neglect in modern scholarship of the city's art, architecture and archaeology, as well as to encompass recent research on monuments in the vicinity. The scene is set by two papers on archaeological excavations in the historic city centre, especially since the 1970s, and a paper investigating the relationships between Coventry's building boom and economic conditions in the city in the later middle ages. Three papers on the Cathedral Priory of St Mary bring together new insights into the Romanesque cathedral church, the monastic buildings and the post-Dissolution history of the precinct, derived mainly from the results of the Phoenix Initiative excavations (19992003). Three more papers provide new architectural histories of the spectacular former parish church of St Michael, the fine Guildhall of St Mary and the remarkable surviving west range of the Coventry Charterhouse. The high-quality monumental art of the later medieval city is represented by papers on wall-painting (featuring the recently conserved Doom in Holy Trinity church), on the little-known Crucifixion mural at the Charterhouse, and on a reassessment of the working practices of the famous master-glazier, John Thornton. Two papers on a guild seal and on the glazing at Stanford on Avon parish church consider the evidence for Coventry as a regional workshop centre for high quality metalwork and glass-painting. Beyond the city, three papers deal with the development of Combe Abbey from Cistercian monastery to country house, with the Beauchamp family's hermitage at Guy's Cliffe, and with a newly identified stonemasons' workshop in the 'barn' at Kenilworth Abbey. Two further papers concern the architectural patronage of the earls and dukes of Lancaster in the 14th century at Kenilworth Castle and in the Newarke at Leicester Castle.

This volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Society for Medieval Archaeology (established in 1957), presenting reflections on the history, development and future prospects of the discipline. The papers are drawn from a series of conferences and workshops that took place in 2007-2008, in addition to a number of contributions that were commissioned especially for the volume. They range from personal commentaries on the history of the Society and the growth of the subject, to historiographical, regional and thematic overviews of major trends in the evolution and current practice of medieval archaeology in Britain. Critical overviews are presented of the archaeology of medieval landscapes, buildings and material culture; new developments in the scientific study of medieval health, diet and materials; and, innovations in social approaches to medieval archaeology. A series of papers on southern Europe provide a comparative perspective, featuring overviews on medieval archaeology in Italy, Spain and southeastern Europe.

Al-Andalus, the Iberian Islamic civilization centred on Cordoba in the tenth and eleventh centuries, has been a 'lost' civilization in several respects. Its history suppressed or denied for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was regarded as a kind of 'historical parenthesis' with no lasting influence. Over the past twenty-five years, however, the history and archaeology of the Islamic period in the Iberian peninsula has undergone a complete transformation. Lost Civilization presents an introduction to this debate as it has played out in archaeology, taking a comparative civilizations approach that puts the formation of al-Andalus in context with corresponding developments elsewhere in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.