Sources of geomaterials in the Sicani Mountains during the Early Middle Ages: A case study of Contrada Castro, central western Sicily

Resumo: O presente artigo busca explorar questões historiográficas concernentes ao período da Antiguidade Tardia, localizando a criação e fluidez de identidades como um dos principais focos de análise. Para apreciação analítica e problematização deste panorama, apresentamos um estudo de caso específico: a relação entre ostrogodos e hunos nos séculos V e VI. Argumentando em favor de uma relação tribal muito mais intensa do que se imagina, visamos apresentar problemas retóricos na documentação e propor uma abordagem que forneça novas perspectivas para a historiografia ostrogótica e, ao mesmo tempo, abra espaço para revigorados estudos acerca de identidades na Antiguidade Tardia e Primeira Idade Média.Palavras-chave: Ostrogodos – Hunos – Etnicidade – Antiguidade Tardia. Abstract: The present article aims to explore historiographical questions concerning Late Antiquity, understanding the creation and fluidity of identities as one of the main analytical focuses for the period. To approach such panorama, a case study will be presented: the relation between Ostrogoths and Huns in the fourth and fifth centuries. Arguing in favor of a much closer tribal relationship, rhetorical issues concerning the sources are unfilled and an approach able to trigger new perspectives to Ostrogothic historiography are proposed – at the same time, opening space to renewed studies on identities during Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages.Keywords: Ostrogoths – Huns – Ethnicity – Late Antiquity.

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The Book Trade in the Middle Ages

The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195336948.013.104 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 722-734

Author(s):

Kouky Fianu

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Book Trade ◽

Book Production ◽

Early Middle Ages ◽

New Markets ◽

Social Perspectives ◽

The University ◽

The Middle Ages

Taking medieval Paris as a case study, the author examines the evidence for the book trade in the Middle Ages, from commercial, cultural, and social perspectives. If book production was concentrated in the early Middle Ages in monasteries and on religous texts, after 1200 university texts and lay vernacular works began to comprise a greater proportion of the output, aimed at new markets. These new audiences supported a variety of craftsmen, variously regulated by the University and the secular authorities, concentrated around the cathedrals. Booksellers, libraires, increasingly supervised the diverse craftmen engaged in book production.

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On the Difficulties of Tracing a Religious Identity in the Early Middle Ages: Some Methodological Remarks and a Case Study on Gregory of Tours’s Perception and Assessment of Other Religions

Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages - Historiography and Identity I: Ancient and Early Christian Narratives of Community ◽

10.1484/m.celama-eb.5.119124 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 65-93

Author(s):

Hans-Werner Goetz

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Religious Identity ◽

Early Middle Ages

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Historical Suitability and Sustainability of Sicani Mountains Landscape (Western Sicily): An Integrated Approach of Phytosociology and Archaeobotany

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12083201 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 3201 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Giuseppe Bazan ◽

Claudia Speciale ◽

Angelo Castrorao Barba ◽

Salvatore Cambria ◽

Roberto Miccichè ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Plant Communities ◽

Rural Community ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Case Study Site ◽

Western Sicily ◽

Ongoing Project ◽

Vegetation Series

Since 2015, the ongoing project “Harvesting Memories” has been focused on long-term landscape dynamics in Sicani Mountains (Western Sicily). Archaeological excavations in the case study site of Contrada Castro (Corleone) have investigated a settlement which was mainly occupied during the Early Middle Ages (late 8th–11th century AD). This paper aims to understand the historical suitability and sustainability of this area analysing the correlation between the current dynamics of plant communities and the historical use of woods detected by the archaeobotanical record. An integrated approach between phytosociology and archaeobotany has been applied. The vegetation series of the study area has been used as a model to understand the ecological meaning and spatial distribution of archaeobotanical data on charcoals from the Medieval layers of the Contrada Castro site. The intersection between the frequency data of the archaeobotanical record and the phytosociological analysis have confirmed the maintenance of the same plant communities during the last millennium due to the sustainable exploitation of wood resources. An integrated comparison between the structure and composition of current phytocoenoses with archaeobotanical data allowed us to confirm that this landscape is High Nature Value (HNV) farmland and to interpret the historical vegetation dynamics linked to the activities and economy of a rural community.

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Poliorcética, morfología edilicia y técnicas constructivas en el Tossal de la Vila, un recinto fortificado de época emiral en el extremo septentrional del Šarq al-Andalus

X ◽

10.4995/fortmed2020.2020.11383 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Joan Negre ◽

Ferran Falomir ◽

Marta Pérez-Polo ◽

Gustau Aguilella

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Late Antiquity ◽

Archaeological Site ◽

Early Middle Ages ◽

Mountain Ranges ◽

Construction Techniques ◽

First Results ◽

The Subject

Poliorcetics, architectural morphology and construction techniques at Tossal de la Vila, a fortified enclosure from the Emirate period in the northernmost end of Šarq al-AndalusThis work focuses on the first results from the systematic excavation of the Tossal de la Vila (Serra d’en Galceran, Castelló) archaeological site. This is, a hillfort build during the Emirate of al-Andalus in the intersection between the territories of Tortosa, Valencia and the Iberian System mountain ranges. Our case study is framed within the historiographic discussion on the subject of rocky and castellated settlements in this area set forth thirty years ago by André Bazzana. A debate that was largely enriched by several works pending the last years on the subject of hilly occupations between Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages. In that direction, we analyse here the architectural questions that have been raised by the recent archaeological works at the site. Specifically, we will try to systematise the different defensive solutions adopted on the design of the fort, as well as the diverse construction techniques used along the fortbuilding process.

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