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ham University, Sarah Semple has been tantalising Early Medievalists for several years now with various papers and articles produced off the back of her doctoral research, completed at Oxford University in 2003. Her ground breaking thesis explored how the people of Anglo-Saxon England (AD c.400– 1066) understood and utilised the prehistoric monuments that they found scattered across their landscape. In doing so, she explored not only archaeological evidence but also textual sources, folklore, and toponyms. Now, a decade after her PhD was finished, this much anticipated work has seen publication, and I am pleased to say that it does not disappoint. Brought out by Oxford University Press as part of their ongoing series on Medieval History and Archaeology edited by John Blair and Helena Hamerow, the quality of the published hardback tome is very good, having been edited well and given a nicely composed cover image. Nevertheless, at £85 it comes at a price tag that few archaeologists could afford, although hopefully copies will be available in university libraries across the country. Semple’s work is a perfect example of many recent trends in Anglo-Saxon studies. Interdisciplinary approaches are (thankfully) becoming increasingly common, as archaeologists are coming to recognise the utility of a holistic investigatory approach. Within the study of pre-Christian religion in Early Medieval England more specifically, scholarship no longer relies on scrutinising the religious context of Beowulf or debating the beliefs behind the Sutton Hoo treasure. Now, influenced by archaeological approaches to the ideologies of prehistoric Britain, AngloSaxonists are increasingly devoting themselves to exploring the wider religious use and interpretation of landscape (c.f. Carver, Sanmark, and Semple 2010). Semple opens her volume with an introductory chapter that examines the state of scholarship so far. She discusses the many different ways in which antiquarians, archaeologists, and historians have understood the relation between the Anglo-Saxons and the prehistoric monuments that littered their world; from the pioneering early attempts of the nineteenth-century through to recent developments in landscape archaeology. Doyle White, E 2014 Review of Perceptions of the Prehistoric in AngloSaxon England: Religion, Ritual and Rulership in the Landscape. Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 24(1): 5, pp. 1-3, DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5334/pia.455

Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti’nin önemli yönetim merkezlerinden olan Kayseri’deki Keykubadiye Sarayı’nda gerçekleştirilen sondaj ve kazı çalışmalarında (2014-2019) saraya ait mimari kalıntıların yanı sıra farklı tür ve özelliklerde çeşitli buluntular da elde edilmiştir. Buluntular içerisinde, dönemin zengin süsleme repertuarından örnekler taşıyan çiniler ön plana çıkan eserlerdendir. Bu çalışmada, farklı teknik ve süsleme türlerine sahip çiniler içerisinde, sır altı tekniğinde hazırlanmış geometrik süslemeli levha çiniler ele alınmıştır. Birçoğu bilim dünyasına ilk kez tanıtılacak olan bu çiniler mevcutta tam form vermese de birleşim gösteren parçalar bir araya getirildiğinde bunların kare veya dikdörtgen levhalar olduğu anlaşılmaktadır. Çinilerin hamurları krem renkte sık ve ince gözenekli, 3-4 cm değişkenlik gösteren kalınlıktadır. Renksiz şeffaf veya şeffaf turkuaz sır altında beyaz astar üzerinde, siyah konturlamayla oluşturulan şeritler (çizgi) ile çokgenler geometrik süslemelerin belirleyici unsurlarıdır. Çinilerdeki kompozisyonlardan birisi zikzak düzenlemesi iken, diğerleri şeritler veya çokgenlerin geçmeleriyle oluşan kompozisyonlardır. Zikzak haricinde, süslemelerin gruplandırması şeritler veya çokgenlerden hareketle kompozisyon düzenine göre yapılmıştır., Various finds of different types and characteristics, in addition to the architectural remains of the palace, were found in drilling and excavation works carried out in Keykubadiye Palace in Kayseri, one of the important administrative centres of the Anatolian Seljuk State (2014-2019). Among the finds, tiles setting precedents from the rich ornamental repertoire of the period are among the prominent works. In this study, plate tiles with geometric ornaments prepared in the under-glaze technique among tiles with different techniques and decoration types are addressed. Although these tiles, many of which will be introduced to the world of science for the first time, do not give a full form in the present, it is understood that they are square or rectangular plates when the pieces that combine are brought together. The clay of the tiles is cream coloured, with fine pores and varies between 3 or 4 cm thickness. Stripes formed with black contouring on a white prime under a colourless transparent or transparent turquoise glaze and polygons are the determining elements of the geometric ornaments. While one of the compositions in tiles is a zigzag arrangement, the others are compositions formed by the crossing of stripes or polygons. The grouping of the ornaments was made according to the composition pattern from stripes or polygons, except for the zigzag.

21 ноября 2020 г. научное археологическое сообщество понесло утрату – ушла из жизни Таисия Николаевна Сенигова – археолог, историк, крупный специалист в области изучения памятников Южного Казахстана. Именно она в свое время поставила окончательную точку в спорах о том, кто основал древний Тараз в своей знаменитой книге «Средневековый Тараз».

A review is done by Sergiu Musteata to the book: Iurie Stamati, The Slavic Dossier. Medieval Archaeology in the Soviet Republic of Moldova: Between State Propaganda and Scholarly Endeavor, BRILL: Leiden/Boston, 2019, 310 pages.

The integration of archaeology into the study of the Middle Ages has long encouraged historians to think about the materiality of the past and, in some cases, to consider the spatial contexts in wh...

In this research paper photogrammetric techniques have been successfully applied to historic black and white analogic photographs to convey previously inaccessible architectural and archaeological information. The chosen case study for this paper is the Franciscan Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. A photogrammetric algorithm has been implemented over a series of b/w negatives portraying the archaeological excavations carried out in the years 1967–1969, after the traumatic flood of the river Arno in 1966 that severely damaged the city centre of Florence and, particularly, the Santa Croce monumental site. The final aim of this operation is to provide solid evidence for the virtual reconstruction of the lost rood screen of the basilica of Santa Croce, the current subject of the PhD research of one of the Authors (Giovanni Pescarmona) at the University of Florence. The foundations that were uncovered during the archaeological excavation in the ‘60s are one of the most important hints towards a convincing retro-planning of the structure. Using advanced photogrammetric techniques, and combining them with LIDAR scanning, it is possible to uncover new datasets that were previously inaccessible for scholars, opening new paths of research. This interdisciplinary approach, combining traditional art-historical research methods and state-of-the-art computational tools, tries to bridge the gap between areas of research that still do not communicate enough with each other, defining new frameworks in the field of Digital Art History.

This paper discusses the hypotheses developed by Polish researchers on the mechanisms behind the formation of the Piast state. All issues are discussed from the perspective of medieval history, the views of which were until recently prominent in the literature on the subject, and also from the perspective of the more recent findings of early medieval archaeology. The proposals tabled by archaeologists from particular Polish research centres (in Poznań, Warsaw and Wroclaw) are confronted with the results of historical research. A representative of the Poznań centre, the author presents his ideas on the subject as based, e.g., on the results of absolute dating, which are not always consistent with the views of other scholars.

The paper presents a brief history of the establishment and operation of Bolgar State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve, which actually started with the visit of the settlement and examination of its 10th –14th century monuments by the Russian Emperor Peter the Great in 1721. Systematic archaeological excavations have been conducted at the fortified settlement since 1938. Large-scale investigations were carried out in 2010–2017 under a project “Cultural Heritage of Tatarstan: Ancient Town of Bolgar and the Island Town of Sviyazhsk” initiated by the first President of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Sharipovich Shaimiev. In 2014, Bolgar fortified settlement was included in the UNESCO List of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites. The Reserve occupies an area of 424 ha and accommodates 26 sites of historical and cultural heritage, including 8 monuments of federal significance.

Stećci are medieval tombstones. Scattered across the landscapes of the Western Balkans in their thousands, they amalgamate the historical, cultural and religious components of medieval societies in the region, and are expressions of identity, social systems, politics and religious belief. Through these monuments, a diverse spectrum of identities was enunciated, providing us with a rare opportunity to investigate the archaeo-historic development of medieval South-eastern Europe.

of PhD thesis submitted in 2020 to the Archaeology Doctoral Programme, Doctoral School of History, Eötvös Loránd University under the supervision of Tivadar Vida, Budapest and to the Institute of the Prehistory and Medieval Archaeology at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg (Breisgau) under the supervision of Sebastian Brather.

of PhD thesis submitted in 2020 to the Archaeology Doctoral Programme, Doctoral School of History, Eötvös Loránd University under the supervision of Tivadar Vida, Budapest and to the Institute of the Prehistory and Medieval Archaeology at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg (Breisgau) under the supervision of Sebastian Brather.

The works of the Arab geographers, the finds of Islamic dirhams in northern and eastern Europe, and mentions of Saqaliba slaves scattered in Muslim sources point to the importation of significant numbers of captives from the North to the Islamic world in the ninth and tenth centuries. This slave trade system stands out by the level of detail in which it can be reconstructed; but slavery and slave trade appear to have been a common occurrence in early medieval northern Europe. Why, then, the apparent discrepancy between their ubiquity in the written sources and the scarcity of the archaeological evidence that has so far been associated with them? This paper argues that, while little direct evidence can be expected due to the ambiguous nature of the archaeological record, a promising approach consists in taking a landscape perspective. Large-scale demographic, economic, social, cultural and political changes reflected in the landscape can be usefully confronted with the mechanisms of the slave trade deduced from written and numismatic sources. Slavery and slave trade are thus valid interpretative frameworks for the early medieval archaeology of northern and eastern Europe.

Veliky Novgorod is an ancient Russian medieval metropolis that formed part of the system of European trade and cultural relations. Many important monuments central to the history of the city were damaged during the first half of the 20th century. Three sites that have been the focus of recent conservation and presentation projects are discussed here; the medieval Church of the Assumption in Volotovo, St Panteleimon's Cathedral, and the Church of the Annunciation on Gorodische, a 12th-century church of great significance in medieval Russia. Archaeological excavations informed the conservation and presentation phase of each project, and the completed works have become an important element in Novgorod's tourism branding.

Medieval women are typically portrayed as secluded, passive agents within castle studies. Although the garden is regarded as associated with women there has been little exploration of this space within medieval archaeology. In this paper, a new methodological framework is used to demonstrate how female agency can be explored in the context of the lived experience of the medieval garden. In particular, this study adopts a novel approach by focusing on relict plants at some medieval castles in Britain and Ireland. Questions are asked about the curation of these plants and the associated social practices of elite women, including their expressions of material piety, during the later medieval period. This provides a way of questioning the ‘sacrality’ of medieval gardening which noblewomen arguably used as a devotional practice and as a means to further their own bodily agency through sympathetic medicine. This article was written as part of my Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship 2017– 2019, entitled, ‘HeRSTORY’, based at the Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, UK, where working with Professor Roberta Gilchrist I enjoyed unlimited opportunity to tend and nurture my own ideas. This paper adds to her work on the ‘Contested Garden’. Thanks to Professor Madeline Gray and Gwynedd Archaeological Trust for permission to use David Longley’s images of the Beaumaris effigy. Dr Rachel Delman kindly shared the rosemary reference with me. To develop further my research of relict plants studies at medieval castles, a new project ‘Sowing Seeds of Interdisciplinary Work peer-reviewed

The article is dedicated to the anniversary of Andrei Belavin – a renowned Russian archaeologist and expert in Finno-Ugric studies and medieval archeology of the Volga-Kama region. It features the primary milestones of biography and the important events in his scientific life. The authors present an analysis of the main publications by A.M. Belavin and his concepts which had a great impact on the archaeology of the Volga-Kama region.

Šiuo pokalbiu skaitytojus norime detaliau supažindinti su vieno iš žymiausių šių dienų Lietuvos archeologų, Vilniaus universiteto Istorijos fakulteto Archeologijos katedros vedėjo, prof. dr. Albino Kuncevičiaus, kurio 60-ies metų jubiliejų šiemet paminėjome, archeologine veikla. Jubiliejai yra gera proga apžvelgti ir įvertinti nuveiktus darbus bei pamąstyti apie tolesnės veiklos perspektyvas. Šiame pokalbyje aptartos ir kai kurios visai Lietuvos archeologijai svarbios problemos. Reikšminiai žodžiai: viduramžių archeologija, paveldosauga, Vilniaus universitetas, Dubingių piliavietė, Vilniaus žemutinė pilis, archeologijos vadyba

Además de su cometido en la defensa de la Cristiandad y control territorial, las órdenes militares tuvieron otra función intrínseca a su propia naturaleza: la hospitalidad, entendida en la Edad Media como la asistencia a pobres, enfermos y peregrinos. En la Península Ibérica, destacó en esta faceta la Orden de Santiago, que añadió la redención de cautivos prisioneros en al-Andalus y el Magreb como una premisa más dentro de su labor hospitalaria. Para sostener esta actividad la Orden creó una importante red de hospitales y enfermerías extendidos por todos sus territorios. Uno de estos centros fue el hospital de Alarcón (Cuenca), fundado en torno a 1203, y que tras un periodo de decandencia fue mandado recontruir a finales del siglo XV en el marco reformador que las órdenes religiosas experimentaron bajo el reinado de los Reyes Católicos. A partir de las descripciones contenidas en los Libros de Visita de la Orden, del estudio arqueológico de los restos conservados y las nuevas tecnologías, como la reconstrucción virtual, trataremos de aproximarnos a la realidad del hospital de Alarcón a finales de la Edad Media. Along with their role in the defence of Christianity and territorial control, the Military Orders also carried out another function inherent to their nature, hospitality, which in the Middle Ages meant the assistance of the poor, the sick and pilgrims. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Order of Santiago stood out in this area and they included the redemption of captive prisoners in al-Andalus and the Maghreb as a complementary task to their main objective. To carry out these activities, the Order created an important network of hospitals spread throughout their own domains. One of those centres was the hospital of Alarcón (Cuenca), founded arround 1203. After a period of decline it was rebuilt at the end of the fifteenth century in the context of reform which the religious orders undertook during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. With the use of the descriptions in the Order’s “visitation books”, archaeological analysis of its remains, and the use of new technologies such as virtual reconstruction, we will try to achieve a better understanding of the hospital at the end of the Middle Ages.

The article is dedicated to the anniversary of the prominent Russian archaeologist Elizaveta Mikhailovna Chernykh. The authors reveal her early scientific career, which began with the archaeological club at school and has continued until the now day at Udmurt State University, where she works as a professor. The range of scientific interests of E.M. Chernykh cover a wide period from the Early Iron Age to the New Age. Elizaveta Mikhailovna focuses on the study of the Ananyino Cultural and Historical Area, which is the topic of a significant number of her publications. The territorial range of field studies by E.M. Chernych is remarkable, as she has worked at the sites of Kaliningrad, Kirov, Rostov, Tver and Perm Regions, and of course the Udmurt Republic.

La civitas de Leopoli-Cencelle, fundada por el Papa León IV (s. ix), está situada en las Montañas de Tolfa en el Norte de la Provincia de Roma. El sitio fue objeto de investigación arqueológica dirigida por el Departamento de Arqueología Medieval de Sapienza Universidad de Roma. El trabajo se centra en el análisis de unas 30 herramientas agrículas (hachas, azadas, hoces, podaderas) de la fase estratigráfica de la ciudad municipal (ss. xiii-xiv). La interpretación de los datos materiales de estas herramientas, conjugados con los datos que vienen de las fuentes escritas, de la iconografía, de las ciencias aplicadas a la arqueología, nos ofrece un amplio panorama sobre varios aspectos sociales del ciclo de la producción agrícola en Leopoli. The civitas of Leopoli-Cencelle, founded by Pope Leo IV (9th cent.), is located in the Tolfa Mountains on the northern edge of the Province of Rome. The site has been the object of archaeological research directed by the Department of Medieval Archaeology at La Sapienza University of Rome. The paper focuses on the analysis of about thirty agricultural artefacts (hoes, sickles, billhooks and axes) originating from stratigraphic contexts corresponding to the town's communal facies (13th-14th cent.). The interpretation of the material properties of these tools, resulting from a synthesis of data from written sources, iconography, science applied to archaeology and the artefacts' contexts of recovery, allowed us to shed light on several social aspects of the agricultural production cycle at Leopoli.

The introductory chapter frames medieval sacred heritage in a global context. The growing interest in sacred heritage is charted and its value is discussed in relation to economic, political, social and spiritual value, drawing on examples that demonstrate the multiple values of sacred heritage to both secular and faith communities. Finally, the theme of heritage value is linked to academic interpretations of the sacred in medieval archaeology, advocating a practice-based approach.

Using the example of pottery imported into the Channel ports of southern England, an approach to examining the role of pottery in the emergence and mediation of coastal communities is proposed. Building upon recent scholarship it is argued that it is no longer tenable to see pottery as a carrier of identity or as part of a ‘cultural package’, with meaning instead emerging with identity as people interact with pottery within and outside of port environments. The study proposes that imported pottery found meaning in different ways depending upon the context of acquisition and use and, as such, it mediated different forms of community and identity. The paper ends with a consideration of the wider implications of this approach for ongoing studies of material culture, trade and urban identities in medieval Europe.

This paper outlines major research paradigms in Polish archaeology underpinning the so-called millennium research project conducted between 1948/1949 and 1970. The main focus of this study is the Poznań research centre. The millennium project was an answer to the 1000th anniversary of the Polish State and the Baptism of Mieszko I, the first historical ruler of Poland, celebrated between 1965 and 1966. The research paradigms of the then archaeology were noticeably determined by research issues explored by the historiography of the Middle Ages. First independent archaeological studies on the early Piast state (regnum) were conducted only in the late twentieth century. Their results were based on archaeological evidence from the so-called millennium research in Wielkopolska. During carefully planned and methodically conducted excavations conducted by archaeologists from the Poznań centre, archaeological sources were impeccably recovered, documented and very well preserved along with the field data and documentation.

L’enorme somme editee par Christopher Gerrard et Alejandra Gutierrez s’inscrit a la suite du Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology (Helena Hamerow, David Hinton et Sally Crawford dir., 2011). Elle temoigne toutefois d’orientations assez differentes, qui sont pour partie liees aux problematiques propres au Moyen Âge tardif (Late Middle Ages ou High Middle Ages, 1066-ca 1550) et a la diversite croissante des sources mobilisables pour cette periode. Synthetiser en quelques paragraphes le co...

The early decades of the nineteenth century saw the changeover from the Grand Tour to tourism. In this conversion, antiquities retained their position of relevance as they continued to be a major interest for those first tourists traveling for leisure. The shift from the Grand Tour to tourism took place in the context of a series of political, social and technological changes marking the transition from the Ancient Regime to the modern world of nation-states. Ideologically, the most important rupture came with the emergence of nationalism and its quintessential concern for the nation. One of the key elements in the definition of a nation was – and still is – its history. The crucial role of history and its icons led to the creation of an institutional infrastructure that would become essential for the development of archaeological tourism. Professionals and the general public perceived ancient monuments as patriotic symbols of the national past and explicitly expressed this in paintings, literature, newspaper articles and many other media such as leisure. This chapter will explore the first years of tourist guidebooks as a new mass industry, the appearance of a touristic interest towards medieval sites, and the birth of the tourist travel agency. Tourist destinations especially highlighted in this period included not only Italy but also Egypt.

This chapter considers the development of medieval archaeology in Britain since the formation of the Society for Medieval Archaeology. Anglo-Saxon archaeology had been ‘very largely a museum study’ until that point, centred on objects and the cemeteries from which they came, but now fieldwork came into its own at Thetford, Yeavering and elsewhere, while the pre-war excavations at Sutton Hoo did much to stimulate public interest through its spectacular grave goods. One organization which has had direct but untrumpeted impact on the development of medieval archaeology in Britain is the Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings Directorate, in its various incarnations. It is unhelpful that medieval archaeologists have acquired a reputation for resistance to the latest theoretical developments. Since 1957 there has been a huge overall expansion in the number of students and universities, matched both by increases in academic staff in archaeology departments and the overall number of other institutions who teach archaeology.

A symposium entitled ‘Looking to the Future’ was held as part of the Society for Medieval Archaeology’s 50th anniversary to reflect upon current and forthcoming issues facing the discipline. The discussion was wide-ranging, and is summarized here under the topics of the research potential of development-led fieldwork, the accessibility of grey literature, research frameworks for medieval archaeology, the intellectual health of the discipline, and relevance and outreach.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 16 April 1957 at Burlington House, Piccadilly, Donald Harden, newly appointed Director of the London Museum, first outlined proposals for what he called a ‘society for Dark Age and Medieval Studies’. With a perversity which only academics can muster, another member of Council then objected to the procedures by which Council was selected, finding them to be plain manipulative. The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies had been formed in 1911, and the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia of 1908 had become the Prehistoric Society in 1935, so this was the third of the period societies to be established. At the April 1957 meeting Harden explained that there was opposition to using the term ‘Dark Ages’ and put forward The Society for Medieval Archaeology and the Society for Historic Archaeology.

As in other countries in southern Europe, medieval archaeology in Spain is a young discipline. The predominance of prehistoric and Classical archaeology in academe has conditioned the study of medieval societies on the basis of the archaeological record. It is only in the last 30 years that medieval archaeology has undergone a significant quantitative and qualitative development. This paper presents a brief analysis of the discipline’s historiography and of the main subjects studied, and considers the main challenges currently posed by the development of the subject.

This paper aims to analyze a characteristic typology of Medieval portals, with a widespread diffusion in the Medieval western Europe. Specifically, these portals are characterized by monolithic lintels with triangular or pentagonal shape, for which a systematic study in the academic literature is still missing. Depending on the geographical and the historical context, these portals have been variously interpreted: sometimes like Early Medieval elements, result of a systematic re-use of ancient material, or like a legacy of local building traditions which dates back to the Late Middle Ages. In the following work, after an introduction on the topic and a summary state of the research, with some methodological considerations, there is a census of all the portals identified through the systematic examination of the historical and archaeological literature, which allowed to identify the moment of their major expansion.The results and interpretations of this census were then compared with some case-studies on a local scale, which include both ecclesiastical and residential building, for which a reinterpretation of the traditional local chrono-typologies allowed to make some considerations about the relationship between high and medium building contractors.

Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries AD, the Lower Vistula valley represented a permeable and shifting frontier between Pomerelia (eastern Pomerania), which had been incorporated into the Polish Christian state by the end of the tenth century, and the territories of western Prussian tribes, who had resisted attempts at Christianization. Pomeranian colonization eventually began to falter in the latter decades of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, most likely as a result of Prussian incursions, which saw the abandonment of sites across the borderland. Subsequently, the Teutonic Order and its allies led a protracted holy war against the Prussian tribes, which resulted in the conquest of the region and its incorporation into a theocratic state by the end of the thirteenth century. This was accompanied by a second wave of colonization, which resulted in the settlement pattern that is still visible in the landscape of north-central Poland today. However, not all colonies were destroyed or abandoned in between the two phases of colonization. The recently excavated site of Biała Góra, situated on the western side of the Forest of Sztum overlooking the River Nogat, represents a unique example of a transitional settlement that included both Pomeranian and Teutonic Order phases. The aim of this paper is to situate the site within its broader landscape context which can be characterized as a militarized frontier, where, from the later twelfth century and throughout much of the thirteenth century, political and economic expansion was combined with the ideology of Christian holy war and missionary activity. This paper considers how the colonists provisioned and sustained themselves in comparison to other sites within the region, and how Biała Góra may be tentatively linked to a documented but otherwise lost outpost in this volatile borderland.

In the XX century, after being forgotten for centuries, a series of archaeological excavations have brought to light the settlement, named “Montecastrese”, a system of Medieval fortifications organized on the top of a hill near the town of Camaiore, on the Tirreno sea. The archaeologists brought back to light the traces of the fortress and of the village, exploring the monumental ruins of the northern tower, still in place and tumbled down in two main large parts. In the first half of the XIII century, the castle of Montecastrese was conquered and destroyed by the army of Lucca. At the time of its major development the small fortress was organized around two main towers, with walls and various houses. A quite extended village was placed on the southern side of the hill. In 2015 the municipality of Camaiore commissioned a complete digital survey to the Dipartimento di Architettura in Florence. The general survey plan has seen the use of aerial photogrammetric survey, 3D laser scanner survey and terrestrial photogrammetry. The use of 3D modeling of all the lost parts, from the houses to the defense walls, to the system of towers was one of the focal point in this work, using the modeling process from the survey and supporting the reconstruction hypothesis with previous archaeological data, while matching the missing parts with similar architectures and the needs of the medieval defense/attack techniques. For the northern tower a specific operation based on the use of 3D printed models was brought on to bring to an end the debate about the sequence of the fall of the tower, quite important to the digital reconstruction of this building, the direct manipulation of a scaled model turned out to be a fundamental step for the completion of this part of the research.

This massive volume serves as a textbook for those British universities that teach “later medieval” archaeology, from 1066 to c.1550. It is skillfully edited by Prof Chris Gerrard, assisted by his ...

WITH THE GROWING popularity of theoretical approaches within medieval archaeology, identity has become a central area of research. Although such studies frequently expound upon the role of the material world in negotiations between individuals and society, there is a tendency to overlook what were fundamen- tal agents within this process: animals. This is especially true of Anglo-Saxon England, where farming determined the daily experiences of most people and the exchange of animals was fundamental to the struc- turing of social relations. Adopting an integrated approach, this paper explores the ways in which differing interactions with animals, in their assorted forms, affected human identities. Particular emphasis is placed on gender perceptions, but the mutual linkages between varying forms of identity necessitate the contextu- alisation of gender against other aspects of social personas. In doing so, the need to adopt a holistic approach to the study of interactions amongst people, and between...

A significant amount of land and marine malacofauna remains have been uncovered during the perennial excavations of St. Peter’s monastery in Osor, Croatia. This paper examines the dietary significance of edible land snail and marine shell based on extensive taphonomical analyses. In the theoretical part of the paper the interpretation of dietary restrictions in regard to the Rule of St. Benedict and specifically its interpretation by the monks of St. Peter’s monastery is given. Filtering the results of taphonomical analyses of this indirect evidence for subsistence through theoretical frameworks socially mediated food acquisition and consumption choices of Benedictine monks at St. Peter’s monastery are explored.

Las fortalezas son uno de los más prominentes hitos del paisaje bajomedieval gallego. Pambre (Palas de Rei) es una de ellas, envuelta en la fama de ser una de las pocas capaz de resistir el ataque irmandiño. Sus constructores son los Ulloa, uno de los linajes nobles gallegos más distinguidos de los últimos siglos del medievo. La fortaleza de Pambre, convertida en el nuevo solar principal de la familia, tendrá un importante papel en los conflictos en los que se ve inmersa la casa. El objetivo de este trabajo es sistematizar la variedad de funciones que desempeña una fortificación señorial a partir de la bibliografía y las fuentes conocidas, tomando como ejemplo el caso de Pambre. [gl] As fortalezas son uns dos máis prominentes fitos na paisaxe baixomedieval galega. Pambre (Palas de Rei) é unha delas, rodeada da fama de ser unha das poucas capaces de resistir o ataque irmandiño. Os seus construtores son os Ulloa, unha das liñaxes nobres galegas máis distinguidas dos últimos séculos do medievo. A fortaleza de Pambre, convertida no novo solar principal da familia, terá un importante papel nos conflitos nos que se ve inmersa a casa. O obxectivo deste traballo é sistematizar a variedade de funcións que desempeña unha fortificación señorial a partir da bibliografía e as fontes coñecidas, tomando como exemplo o caso de Pambre.

Funerary archaeology reveals burial practices and the ways in which such mortuary practices can express social identities. The integration of archaeological and anthropological evidence can offer significant data regarding burials. The study of the cemeteries of San Severo at Classe (Ravernna) is being carried out using this integrated approach. All phases of the site of San Severo are characterised by burials and this funerary practice changed and developed, reflecting the life of the basilica and the monastery. All information regarding the characteristics of the layers, the phases and activities of members is entered in the GIS platform, so composite plans can be automatically generated.

El espacio doméstico construido es un producto social que a su vez crea sociedad. La casa constituye un escenario privilegiado, un medio de expresión y transmisión de conductas y comportamientos. No obstante, resulta muy difícil comprender el espacio social a través de unas ruinas arqueológicas vacías y carentes de tercera dimensión, y se corre el riesgo de proyectar una imagen historiográfica previamente construida sobre las sociedades estudiadas. La comprensión del espacio social requiere formalizar y discutir los patrones formales de las estructuras domésticas y sus formas de agrupación. Este trabajo aborda el estudio de los espacios domésticos desde una perspectiva lingüística (una gramática de la casa), distinguiendo los elementos en sí y sus combinaciones. Se definen tres niveles distintos de análisis del hecho doméstico: el morfológico, que se ocupa de la forma de las unidades domésticas y de las transformaciones que experimentan; el sintáctico que enfatiza las relaciones entre las estructuras elementales en el marco de una estructura espacial organizada; y el semiótico, que las analiza como expresiones sociales, materialización e instrumento de significados culturales. De acuerdo a esta perspectiva se propone una reflexión metodológica sobre la caracterización de los espacios domésticos medievales e islámicos en la Península Ibérica; se plantean los problemas derivados del uso social del espacio, los modelos domésticos y su diacronía, y se discute acerca de la casa como indicador material de islamización. The constructed domestic space is a social product which, at the same time, creates society. The house constitutes a privileged scenario, a way of expression and transmission of behaviours. Nevertheless, it seems very difficult to understand the social space through some archaeological ruins, empty and lacking of third dimension, so the risk to cast a historiographical image previously made over the studied societies is high. The understanding of the social space demands to formalize and discuss the formal patterns of the domestic structures and their grouping forms. This paper deals with the study of the domestic spaces from a linguistic perspective (a grammar of the house), distinguishing the elements into themselves and their combinations. Three different levels of analysis of the domestic fact are defined: the morphological, which tackles the form of the domestic units and the transformations they suffer; the syntactic, which emphasizes the relations between the elemental structures in the framework of an organized spatial structure; and the semiotic, which analyzes them as social expressions, materialization and instrument of cultural meanings. In agreement with this perspective, a methodological reflection is suggested about the characterization of the medieval and Islamic domestic spaces in the Iberian Peninsula; the problems that come from the social use of the space is set out, the domestic patterns and their diachronic, and it is discussed about the house as an Islamization material marker. Este trabajo se ha realizado en el marco del proyecto de investigación HAR2009-11441 (Lectura arqueológica del uso social del espacio. Análisis transversal de la protohistoria al Medioevo en el Mediterráneo Occidental) del MICINN.

Important but up to now more or less unsolved questions of early Medieval archaeology focus on the date and the process of Slavonisation in the southwest Baltic area. The state of knowledge in various regions of northeast Germany and Poland lead to partly different research reviews, which in some cases even expressed opposing opinions. There are only a few absolute dates available indicating that the beginning of the Slavonic settlement can be dated to the late seventh and early eighth centuries, but how this process of slavonisation can be explained is still unknown. Did a new Slavonic community migrate into a devastated landscape, or was there a change of identity into a Slavonic way of life connected with continuous Germanic settlement? New interdisciplinary investigations of late Germanic and the earliest Slavonic settlements in northwest Poland focus on these questions. The aim of the research project is to obtain new references for continuities or discontinuities in the history of the settlement and the use of the landscape in the area of Pyrzyce, Western Pomerania, to explain processes of change from the sixth to the eighth century. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.15181/ab.v17i0.53 Key words: Early Slavs, Dobropole Pyrzyckie, Germany, Poland, Baltic Sea, Slavonisation, migration, settlement archaeology, dendrochronology.