A study of two Germanic tribes, the Baiuvarii and Thuringi, looking at their origins, development, and customs between the fifth and the eighth centuries. The large neighbouring tribes of the Baiuvarii and Thuringi, who lived between the Alps and the River Elbe from the fifth to eighth centuries, are the focus of this book. Using a variety of different sources drawn from the fieldsof archaeology, history, linguistics and religion, the contributions discuss how an ethnos, a gens, or a tribe, such as the Baiuvarii or Thuringi, might appear in the written and archaeological evidence. For the Thuringi tribal traditions started around the year 400 or even earlier, while the Baiuvarii experienced a much later ethnogenesis from both immigrants and a local, partly Romance population in the mid-sixth century. The Baiuvarii and Thuringi are studied together because of the astonishing connections between their two settlement landscapes. In the context of the row-grave civilisation the Thuringi belonged primarily to the eastern, the Baiuvarii to thewestern sphere. The kingdom of the Thuringi was assimilated into the Merovingian Empire after their defeat by the Franks in the 530s, which also changed their burial customs to the style of the western row-grave zone. In contrast,the Baiuvarii were not "Frankicised" until more than a century later and their grave customs remained more typically "Bavarian". The chapters highlight typical features of each region and beyond: settlements, agricultural economy, law, religion, language, names, craftsmanship, grave goods, mobility and communication. Janine Fries-Knoblach is a freelance archaeologist with a special interest in the fields of settlements, agriculture and technology of protohistoric Central Europe, and has taught at a number of German universities; Heiko Steuer is Professor Emeritus of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology and Archaeology of the Middle Ages at Freiburg University, Germany, with a special interest in the social and economic history of Germanic tribes in Central Europe; John Hines is Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University and is supervising the publication of the remaining volumes inthis series. Contributors: Giorgio Ausenda, Janine Fries-Knoblach, Heike Grahn-Hoek, Dennis H. Green, Wolfgang Haubrichs, Joachim Henning, Max Martin, Peter Neumeister, Heiko Steuer, Claudia Theune-Vogt, Ian Wood.

This book presents archaeological research from places of war, violence, protest and oppression of the 20th and the 21st century; sites where the material relics give a deep insight to fateful events - a shadow of war. Alongside renewed interest in National Socialism and the Holocaust, archaeological interest started in former concentration camps of the Nazi dictatorship. The focus was on the central places of the camps, such as the gas chambers, the crematoria, or execution sites, as well as prisoners' barracks and the parade ground. In many cases, these sites revealed forgotten and vanished structures, where archaeological excavations can offer the possibility for commemorating the victims. The research has since widened and includes other sites of Nazi dictatorship and the Second World War, as well as the First World War, the Cold War and locations of civil wars and civilian protest against state authorities and against companies and corporations in many parts of the world. In order to come to a comprehensive understanding contemporary archaeology must take a global perspective. Archaeological finds often shed light on daily life, revealing survival conditions in the internment camps; the lives of people and their fighting and dying on battlefields and in trenches. Likewise, the relics of politically active people in protest camps give an impression of their commitment in civilian protest. Sometimes material remains can help to tell an alternative or balancing narrative to the state's official recorded history. The enormous volume and diverse range of material culture presents challenges and opportunities. Through careful archaeological investigation, we can present different and new perspectives that are not recorded clearly in existing written, pictorial or oral archives. The merging and examination of all sources together is what enables us to understand the complexity of the history. This book will also present future directions in contemporary archaeology that will help bring the study focus beyond sites and assemblages of war and protest.

For many years, 260AD was seen as the dividing line between a Romanesque classical age and a Germanic early medieval period. Now, however, it is necessary to take more account of the manifold and mutual cross-influences between the various population groups and analyse forms of continuity and discontinuity, acculturation and persistence. An examination of archaeological sources in Alamannia shows the existence of Romanesque structures up to around the year 400. The "Reihengraberfelder" (burial gounds with the graves laid out in rows) dating from the mid-5th century can be seen as marking a new beginning. Various links to the Germanic Elbe region and the Danube area show the heterogenity of the population at the beginning of this era. As late as the 6th and 7th centuries, however, different forms of burial can be found in areas close to the Rhine and in the Danube region, which demonstrate the manifold cross-influences.

The idea that the past was an era with long periods of little or no change is almost certainly false. Change has always affected human society. Some of the catalysts for change were exogenous and lay in natural transformations, such as climate change or plant and animal diseases. Others came from endogamous processes, such as demographic change and the resulting alterations in demographic pressure. They might be produced by economic changes in the agrarian economy such as crop- or stock-breeding or better agricultural husbandry systems with the resultant greater harvests. Equally, they might be from technological developments in industry and manufacturing affecting traditional forms of production. We should also note changes in ideology within society and even between principal groups, such as secular and ecclesiastical bodies. We need to consider the impact of politics and warfare. These innovations, transmissions and transformations had profound spatial, economic and social impacts on the environments, landscapes and habitats evident at micro-, meso- and macro-levels. Changes, alterations and modifications may affect how land was worked, how it was organized, and the nature of buildings and rural complexes (homesteads, work buildings, villages, monasteries, towns and landscapes). The authors of the 36 papers focus in particular on transmissions and transformations in a longue duree perspective, such as from early medieval times (c. 500AD) to the High Middle Ages (c. 1000/1200 AD), and from medieval to post-medieval and early modern times (1700). The case studies include the shrinking and disappearance of settlements; changes in rule and authority; developments in the agrarian economy; the shift from handwork to manufacturing; demographic change.

The idea that the past was an era with long periods of little or no change is almost certainly false. Change has always affected human society. Some of the catalysts for change were exogenous and lay in natural transformations, such as climate change or plant and animal diseases. Others came from endogamous processes, such as demographic change and the resulting alterations in demographic pressure. They might be produced by economic changes in the agrarian economy such as crop- or stock-breeding or better agricultural husbandry systems with the resultant greater harvests. Equally, they might be from technological developments in industry and manufacturing affecting traditional forms of production. We should also note changes in ideology within society and even between principal groups, such as secular and ecclesiastical bodies. We need to consider the impact of politics and warfare. These innovations, transmissions and transformations had profound spatial, economic and social impacts on the environments, landscapes and habitats evident at micro-, meso- and macro-levels. Changes, alterations and modifications may affect how land was worked, how it was organized, and the nature of buildings and rural complexes (homesteads, work buildings, villages, monasteries, towns and landscapes). The authors of the 36 papers focus in particular on transmissions and transformations in a longue duree perspective, such as from early medieval times (c. 500AD) to the High Middle Ages (c. 1000/1200 AD), and from medieval to post-medieval and early modern times (1700). The case studies include the shrinking and disappearance of settlements; changes in rule and authority; developments in the agrarian economy; the shift from handwork to manufacturing; demographic change.

The study of belief, faith and religious practices can provide a deep insight into historical societies, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish or pagan. They form a constant of human behaviour. Through religion, cult and rituals, multi-layered and complex cultural norms are expressed, demonstrating group affiliation. However, popular devotion and belief in a rural environment can include practices that are out with those of the official religion. Some of these practices discussed in this book can be investigated through archaeology. Important religious sites like churches, monasteries, mosques and synagogues as well as caves, holy wells and hermitages are discussed. Furthermore burials of children, revenants and the condemned are analysed, as they often deviate from normal practice and shed light on particular communities and their beliefs. Rituals concerning the protection of buildings and persons which focus on objects attributed with religious qualities are another area explored. Through archaeological research it is possible to gain an understanding of popular religion of medieval and early modern times and also to draw conclusions about religious ideas that are not written in documents. By bringing together these topics this book is of particular interest to scholars working in the field of archaeology, history and cultural anthropology. The addressed subjects were the theme of an international conference of the RURALIA association held in Clervaux, Luxemburg, in September 2015. Ruralia promotes the archaeology of medieval settlement and rural life. Current research questions in rural archaeology are discussed in an European wide context. The aim is to strengthen the exchange of knowledge in, and the development of, archaeologically comparable studies, and to make archaeological results available to other disciplines.

The study of belief, faith and religious practices can provide a deep insight into historical societies, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish or pagan. They form a constant of human behaviour. Through religion, cult and rituals, multi-layered and complex cultural norms are expressed, demonstrating group affiliation. However, popular devotion and belief in a rural environment can include practices that are out with those of the official religion. Some of these practices discussed in this book can be investigated through archaeology. Important religious sites like churches, monasteries, mosques and synagogues as well as caves, holy wells and hermitages are discussed. Furthermore burials of children, revenants and the condemned are analysed, as they often deviate from normal practice and shed light on particular communities and their beliefs. Rituals concerning the protection of buildings and persons which focus on objects attributed with religious qualities are another area explored. Through archaeological research it is possible to gain an understanding of popular religion of medieval and early modern times and also to draw conclusions about religious ideas that are not written in documents. By bringing together these topics this book is of particular interest to scholars working in the field of archaeology, history and cultural anthropology. The addressed subjects were the theme of an international conference of the RURALIA association held in Clervaux, Luxemburg, in September 2015. Ruralia promotes the archaeology of medieval settlement and rural life. Current research questions in rural archaeology are discussed in an European wide context. The aim is to strengthen the exchange of knowledge in, and the development of, archaeologically comparable studies, and to make archaeological results available to other disciplines.