Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World

Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004534008
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1000

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Book Description
Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World brings together leading experts on the European early Middle Ages in a celebration of the life and work of internationally renowned scholar James Graham-Campbell. The geographical coverage of this volume reflects Graham-Campbell's interests and expertise which ranges from Ireland to Eastern Europe and from Scandinavia to Spain. The new perspectives and original studies offered represent a major contribution to the field of medieval studies, with papers on the art, archaeology, history and literature of European societies between the fifth and thirteenth centuries. Contributors are Noël Adams, Barry Ager, Marion M. Archibald, Birgit Arrhenius, Coleen Batey, Cormac Bourke, Stuart Brookes, Ewan Campbell, Helen Clarke, Martin Comey, Rosemary Cramp, Wendy Davies, Ben Edwards, Signe Horn Fuglesang, Richard Gem, David Griffiths, Mark A. Handley, Birgitta Hårdh, Negley Harte, David A. Hinton, Ingegerd Holand, Judith Jesch, Alan Lane, Mick Monk, Richard North, Raghnall Ó Floinn, Patrick Ottaway, Raymond I. Page, Caroline Paterson, Neil Price, Barry Raftery, Mark Redknap, Andrew Reynolds, Ian Riddler, Else Roesdahl, John Sheehan, Alison Stones, Gudrun Sveinbjarnardóttir, Gabor Thomas, Nicola Trzaska-Nartowski, Patrick F. Wallace, Leslie Webster, Naimh Whitfield, Gareth Williams, Sir David Wilson and Sue Youngs.

Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World

Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004534008
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1000

Get Book Here

Book Description
Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World brings together leading experts on the European early Middle Ages in a celebration of the life and work of internationally renowned scholar James Graham-Campbell. The geographical coverage of this volume reflects Graham-Campbell's interests and expertise which ranges from Ireland to Eastern Europe and from Scandinavia to Spain. The new perspectives and original studies offered represent a major contribution to the field of medieval studies, with papers on the art, archaeology, history and literature of European societies between the fifth and thirteenth centuries. Contributors are Noël Adams, Barry Ager, Marion M. Archibald, Birgit Arrhenius, Coleen Batey, Cormac Bourke, Stuart Brookes, Ewan Campbell, Helen Clarke, Martin Comey, Rosemary Cramp, Wendy Davies, Ben Edwards, Signe Horn Fuglesang, Richard Gem, David Griffiths, Mark A. Handley, Birgitta Hårdh, Negley Harte, David A. Hinton, Ingegerd Holand, Judith Jesch, Alan Lane, Mick Monk, Richard North, Raghnall Ó Floinn, Patrick Ottaway, Raymond I. Page, Caroline Paterson, Neil Price, Barry Raftery, Mark Redknap, Andrew Reynolds, Ian Riddler, Else Roesdahl, John Sheehan, Alison Stones, Gudrun Sveinbjarnardóttir, Gabor Thomas, Nicola Trzaska-Nartowski, Patrick F. Wallace, Leslie Webster, Naimh Whitfield, Gareth Williams, Sir David Wilson and Sue Youngs.

Carved Stones and Christianisation

Carved Stones and Christianisation PDF Author: Anouk Busset
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789088909818
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The early medieval period witnessed one of the deepest and most significant transformations of European societies and cultures with the process of Christianisation. The emergence and establishment of Christianity created a new dimension of power in society with an appeal to supernatural forces combined with an access to a broader transnational authority. Carved stones did not merely reflect these changes, but enabled them within northern societies with traditions of sculpture and epigraphic representations. This book looks at three datasets of monuments from Ireland, Scotland and Sweden using an innovative comparative framework to offer new insights on these monuments and the societies that erected them.Analysed through the three major themes of place, movement, and memory, the case studies are presented from a holistic perspective comprising the monument, their landscape settings and historical and archaeological contexts (when available). The results of this research demonstrate that by means of comparisons across national boundaries, new interpretations emerge on the use and functions of early medieval carved stones. The thematic approach adopted emphasises similarities and contrasts in a more efficient manner than a geographical approach, freed from historiographical biases within scholarly traditions of 'Celtic' or 'Scandinavian' archaeologies. Furthermore, a multi-scale analysis places the monuments within their local contexts but also within a broader narrative of Christianisation.

Crossing Boundaries

Crossing Boundaries PDF Author: Eric Cambridge
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1785703080
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 661

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Book Description
Interdisciplinary studies are increasingly widely recognised as being among the most fruitful approaches to generating original perspectives on the medieval past. In this major collection of 27 papers, contributors transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries to offer new approaches to a number of themes ranging in time from late antiquity to the high Middle Ages. The main focus is on material culture, but also includes insights into the compositional techniques of Bede and the Beowulf-poet, and the strategies adopted by anonymous scribes to record information in unfamiliar languages. Contributors offer fresh insights into some of the most iconic survivals from the period, from the wooden doors of Sta Sabina in Rome to the Ruthwell Cross, and from St Cuthbert’s coffin to the design of its final resting place, the Romanesque cathedral at Durham. Important thematic surveys reveal early medieval Welsh and Pictish carvers interacting with the political and intellectual concerns of the wider Insular and continental world. Other contributors consider what it is to be Viking, revealing how radically present perceptions shape our understanding of the past, how recent archaeological work reveals the inadequacy of the traditional categorisation of the Vikings as ‘incomers’, and how recontextualising Viking material culture can lead to unexpected insights into famous historical episodes such as King Edgar’s boat trip on the Dee. Recent landmark finds, notably the runic-inscribed Saltfleetby spindle whorl and the sword pommel from Beckley, are also published here for the first time in comprehensive analyses which will remain the fundamental discussions of these spectacular objects for many years to come.This book will be indispensable reading for everyone interested in medieval culture.

Life in the Viking Great Army

Life in the Viking Great Army PDF Author: Dawn Hadley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192588168
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
The Viking Great Army that landed in East Anglia in late 865 had a lasting impact on English society, culture, politics, and economy. The Viking Great Army landed in East Anglia in late 865 and over the following fifteen years it fought numerous battles in all four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, made and broke peace treaties, and deposed or killed at least three Anglo-Saxon kings, replacing them with its own appointees. It had a major impact on English society, initiating extensive transformations in Anglo-Saxon society, culture, economy, and political organisation. Previous Viking armies had raided only in the summer months, but the Great Army was a constant presence over this period, overwintering at various locations in northern and eastern England. This presence changed the political, economic, and social landscape of England forever, but historical sources say very little about it. Now, new archaeological evidence has revealed the location of two of its camps, and at least fifty other places it visited. This book describes life in the tents and towns that the Viking Great Army inhabited: the treasure, tools, and weapons found in the camps and what they reveal about how the groups that made up the Army lived and the activities that took place, including the processing and trading of loot, the minting of coins, and the manufacture of jewellery. What emerges is evidence of a rich and diverse community whose impact on England can be traced to the present day.

The Archaeology of Slavery in Early Medieval Northern Europe

The Archaeology of Slavery in Early Medieval Northern Europe PDF Author: Felix Biermann
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030732916
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
This volume is the first comprehensive study of the material imprint of slavery in early medieval Europe. While written sources attest to the ubiquity of slavery and slave trade in early medieval British Isles, Scandinavia and Slavic lands, it is still difficult to find material traces of this reality, other than the hundreds of thousands of Islamic coins paid in exchange for the northern European slaves. This volume offers the first structured reflection on how to bridge this gap. It reviews the types of material evidence that can be associated with the institution of slavery and the slave trade in early medieval northern Europe, from individual objects (such as e.g. shackles) to more comprehensive landscape approaches. The book is divided into four sections. The first presents the analytical tools developed in Africa and prehistoric Europe to identify and describe social phenomena associated with slavery and the slave trade. The following three section review the three main cultural zones of early medieval northern Europe: the British Isles, Scandinavia, and Slavic central Europe. The contributions offer methodological reflections on the concept of the archaeology of slavery. They emphasize that the material record, by its nature, admits multiple interpretations. More broadly, this book comes at a time when the history of slavery is being integrated into academic syllabi in most western countries. The collection of studies contributes to a more nuanced perspective on this important and controversial topic. This volume appeals to multiple audiences interested in comparative and global studies of slavery, and will constitute the point of reference for future debates.

Early Medieval Monetary History

Early Medieval Monetary History PDF Author: Martin Allen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351942522
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 469

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Book Description
Mark Blackburn was one of the leading scholars of the numismatics and monetary history of the British Isles and Scandinavia during the early medieval period. He published more than 200 books and articles on the subject, and was instrumental in building bridges between numismatics and associated disciplines, in fostering international communication and cooperation, and in establishing initiatives to record new coin finds. This memorial volume of essays commemorates Mark Blackburn’s considerable achievement and impact on the field, builds on his research and evaluates a vibrant period in the study of early medieval monetary history. Containing a broad range of high-quality research from both established figures and younger scholars, the essays in this volume maintain a tight focus on Europe in the early Middle Ages (6th-12th centuries), reflecting Mark’s primary research interests. In geographical terms the scope of the volume stretches from Spain to the Baltic, with a concentration of papers on the British Isles. As well as a fitting tribute to remarkable scholar, the essays in this collection constitute a major body of research which will be of long-term value to anyone with an interest in the history of early medieval Europe.

Divina Moneta

Divina Moneta PDF Author: Nanouschka Myrberg Burström
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317149041
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
This edited collection analyses the phenomenon of coin use for religious and ritual purposes in different cultures and across different periods of time. It proposes an engagement with the theory and interpretation of the ‘material turn’ with numismatic evidence, and an evidence-based series of discussions to offer a fuller, richer and fresh account of coin use in ritual contexts. No extensive publication has previously foregrounded coins in such a model, despite the fact that coins constitute an integrated part of the material culture of most societies today and of many in the past. Here, interdisciplinary discussions are organised around three themes: coin deposit and ritual practice, the coin as economic object and divine mediator, and the value and meaning of coin offering. Although focusing on the medieval period in Western Europe, the book includes instructive cases from the Roman period until today. The collection brings together well-established and emerging scholars from archaeology, art history, ethnology, history and numismatics, and great weight is given to material evidence which can complement and contradict the scarce written sources.

Monarchs and Hydrarchs

Monarchs and Hydrarchs PDF Author: Christian Cooijmans
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429535821
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
As the politico-economic exploits of vikings in and around the Frankish realm remain, to a considerable extent, obscured by the constraints of a fragmentary and biased corpus of (near-)contemporary evidence, this volume approaches the available interdisciplinary data on a cumulative and conceptual level, allowing overall spatiotemporal patterns of viking activity to be detected and defined – and thereby challenging the notion that these movements were capricious, haphazard, and gratuitous in character. Set against a backdrop of continuous commerce and knowledge exchange, this overarching survey demonstrates the existence of a relatively uniform, sequential framework of wealth extraction, encampment, and political engagement, within which Scandinavian fleets operated as adaptable, ambulant polities – or ‘hydrarchies’. By delineating and visualising this framework, a four-phased conceptual development model of hydrarchic conduct and consequence is established, whose validity is substantiated by its application to a number of distinct regional case studies. The parameters of this abstract model affirm that Scandinavian movements across Francia were the result of prudent and expedient decision-making processes, contingent on exchanged intelligence, cumulative experience, and the ongoing individual and collective need for socioeconomic subsistence and enrichment. Monarchs and Hydrarchs will appeal to both students and specialists of the Viking Age, whilst serving as an equally valuable resource to those investigating early medieval Francia, Scandinavia, and the North Sea world as a whole.

Creating Material Worlds

Creating Material Worlds PDF Author: Louisa Campbell
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1785701835
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Despite a growing literature on identity theory in the last two decades, much of its current use in archaeology is still driven toward locating and dating static categories such as ‘Phoenician’, ‘Christian’ or ‘native’. Previous studies have highlighted the various problems and challenges presented by identity, with the overall effect of deconstructing it to insignificance. As the humanities and social sciences turn to material culture, archaeology provides a unique perspective on the interaction between people and things over the long term. This volume argues that identity is worth studying not despite its slippery nature, but because of it. Identity can be seen as an emergent property of living in a material world, an ongoing process of becoming which archaeologists are particularly well suited to study. The geographic and temporal scale of the papers included is purposefully broad to demonstrate the variety of ways in which archaeology is redefining identity. Research areas span from the Great Lakes to the Mediterranean, with case studies from the Mesolithic to the contemporary world by emerging voices in the field. The volume contains a critical review of theories of identity by the editors, as well as a response and afterward by A. Bernard Knapp.

The Birsay Bay Project

The Birsay Bay Project PDF Author: Christopher D. Morris
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789256089
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1229

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Book Description
The Brough of Birsay was the power-center of the Viking earldom of Orkney and is one of Historic Environment Scotland’s key monuments and visitor attractions on the islands. This publication is the culmination of 60 years of investigations that took place on the site between 1954 and 2014. This new volume incorporates comprehensive accounts of work undertaken by Dr Ralegh Radford and Mr Stewart Cruden between 1954 and 1964, excavations by the Viking and Early Settlement Research Project under the direction of the author on site between 1974 and 1981, a rescue excavation in 1993, a geophysical survey in 2007 and archival research up to 2014. Specialist artefactual and palaeobiological studies of metallurgical material, ogham inscriptions and a gilt-bronze mount of Insular origin are included, together with re-analysis of the radiocarbon dates from all sites in Birsay Bay, and a re-assessment of the architecture and dating of the church and related buildings on the Brough itself. The final two chapters put the Brough, as both a Pictish power-center and the hub of the Viking earldom, in the overall context of Birsay Bay and Viking and late Norse Orkney, and the wider world between the Pictish and late Norse/Medieval periods. As well as being the author’s third and final volume reporting on work for the Birsay Bay Project, this volume completes a trilogy of studies of the Brough itself, alongside Mrs Cecil Curle’s and Prof John Hunter’s earlier monographs.