Late Saxon Planned Towns

1971 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Biddle ◽  
David Hill
Keyword(s):  
Tenth Century ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
New Towns ◽  
Permanent Settlement ◽  
Planned Towns ◽  
The Military

SummaryDocumentary, topographical, and archaeological evidence suggests that the rectilinear street plan of modern Winchester was laid out as a planned system not later than the mid tenth century and probably before c. 904. Among the places listed in the Burghal Hidage there are seven which show clear evidence of rectilinear planning which is not of Roman origin. Four are on the sites of Roman towns—Winchester, Chichester, Exeter, and Bath—and three on non-Roman sites—Wareham, Wallingford, and Cricklade. These plans are seen as the result of a deliberate policy of urban formation in response to the military situation during Alfred's reign (871–99). These places are not so much fortresses as fortified towns in which the rectilinear street plan is a deliberate expression of the organization and apportionment of the land for permanent settlement. Rectilinear street systems appear to be characteristic of the larger places founded or re-organized by Edward the Elder or Athelstan, but rectilinear planning does not thereafter appear until the plantation of new towns in the Norman and later period.

Riflessioni sulle economie dei secoli X e XI

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Molinari
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Pottery Production ◽  
Economic Networks ◽  
Local Exchange ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
New Information ◽  
Recent Conference ◽  
Modern Economic

Chris Wickham has recently turned his attention to the economic and social transformations of the central Middle Ages. In the same period relations between the Christian and Muslim worlds have been presented primarily in terms of holy war or raids, and hardly ever framed in economic terms. Archaeology can help to answer questions about exchange routes, systems of production and settlement patterns, and pottery provides a key element in reconstructing the complexity of pre-modern economic networks. In this paper I want to compare two case studies. I will first examine the role of Palermo in the internal economy of Sicily and beyond. Recent excavations have provided much new information on the Muslim and Christian periods in its history, and particularly on the city’s planned growth and development as a centre of pottery production and export in the tenth century. I will then turn to the archaeological evidence for Rome, which Chris has described as the most complex city between the tenth and twelfth centuries, both economically and socially, in the whole Italian peninsula. In fact, based on the material evidence, Rome was far less complex than Palermo, and unlike Milan, it failed to take off economically in the thirteenth century. Chris has suggested that the success of the latter city was due to its specialized products, local exchange system and connections with a hierarchy of smaller settlements in the locality. Whilst the archaeological evidence for Milan is much scarcer, these features can usefully be tested as a model against which to compare other cities. Comparing Rome and Palermo it is the Sicilian city that can be said to have had the more vibrant economy, with its exports to multiple rural centres some distance away. Whilst a recent conference has underlined the existence of specialized artisans serving Rome’s elite and its numerous pilgrims, unlike Palermo it did not base its economy on production and mercantile activities.

Egyptian Fortresses and the Colonization of Lower Nubia in the Middle Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 269-288
Author(s):  
Laurel Bestock
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Models ◽  
State Control ◽  
Middle Kingdom ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Border Zones ◽  
Permanent Settlement ◽  
The Military ◽  
Original Construction

In the early part of the 2nd millennium bce, the Egyptian state took control of Lower Nubia, building a series of monumental fortresses along the Nile that are remarkable for their sophisticated military architecture. This was Egypt’s first major expansion beyond its traditional borders. Various theoretical models of imperialism and core-periphery interactions have been brought to bear on studies of the forts and their populations, seeking to explain the military, economic, and ideological purposes behind the original construction of the monuments as well as the apparently shifting nature of their occupation, from probable rotating garrisons to more permanent settlement, and their interactions with local populations (cf. Trigger 1976:64–81; Adams 1977:183–88; Zibelius-Chen 1988:69–135; S.T. Smith 1995, 2003; Williams 1999; Flammini 2008; Török 2009:79–101; Vogel 2004; Knoblauch 2008). The resulting picture of Egyptian occupation of Nubia is a nuanced if not entirely agreed upon one. The fortresses are important to archaeology more broadly because they offer a richly documented case study for consideration of state control of foreign territory; they belong in the broader discourse about imperialism, colonization, and colonialism, how different state strategies of control can be understood in the material record, and how people live and interact in border zones. That the methods of Middle Kingdom control can be contrasted to both earlier and later Egyptian strategies of interaction with Nubia, and that the region is one of modern colonial entanglements, makes a critical approach to its occupation in the Middle Kingdom all the more vital.

War without Frontiers: The Archaeology of the Arab Revolt, 1916–18

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
NEIL FAULKNER ◽  
NICHOLAS J. SAUNDERS
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
First World War ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
World War ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
Conflict Archaeology ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Military ◽  
First World

The Arab Revolt of 1916–18 played a significant part in the military collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War. This chapter argues that archaeological evidence indicates that the revolt's importance was probably substantially greater than has sometimes been acknowledged. The evidence demonstrates the need for a critical re-evaluation of the issue in southern Jordan. The archaeological investigation of sites associated with the Arab Revolt in southern Jordan offers dramatic insights into the material consequences for the Ottoman army of combating the guerrilla tactics of British-backed Arab guerrillas. The aim of the discussion is twofold: to give more precision to the military assessment of the Arab Revolt in the area between Ma'an and Wadi Rutm, and to demonstrate the potential of the new and multidisciplinary sub-discipline of twentieth-century ‘conflict archaeology’.

What and Where? Revised Overview of Base Extent

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon James
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
The Military ◽  
The City

Archaeological evidence indicates that, during the final halfcentury of the life of the city, the area directly annexed by the military was significantly larger than the original excavators realized. In addition to concentrations of soldiers around the gates and defences, and at various places within the ‘civil’ town, the military came to control a single continuous swathe of the urban interior, comprising the entire N part of the walled area from the W defences to the river cliffs, and extending as far as the S end of the Citadel, plus the floor of the inner wadi right down to Lower Main St opposite the (by Durene standards) showy C3 bath, which it also apparently built. This area totals c.13.5 ha (c.33 acres)—a literal quarter of the intramural area which today covers c.52 ha (c.118 acres, measured from the CAD plan of the city by Dan Stewart; both city and base were slightly bigger in antiquity, before loss of the River Gate and parts of the Citadel). In its final form, the base included several distinct zones (Pl. XXIII). The NW part of the city had become a military enclosure, bounded on the E side by a continuous wall down the W side of G St, incorporating the street facades of the E3 bath and E4 house. On the S it was defined by the ‘camp wall’ from the city defences to D St; with no sign of a wall across blocks F5 or F7, the perimeter between D and F Sts is inferred. It must be presumed that, as to the W, the 8th-St-fronting properties of the two blocks were taken over, but that the party walls comprising the boundary with civil housing to the S was not further elaborated. These lines converged on the amphitheatre, which formed the corner of the enclosure. This perimeter of the NW enclosure involved physically blocking Wall, A, C, D, and 10th Sts. A major entrance was on 8th St, at G St between the amphitheatre and the E4 house.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
S. Elizabeth Penry
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Common People ◽  
New Towns ◽  
The Common ◽  
Planned Towns ◽  
The Town ◽  
Over Time

In the sixteenth century, Spaniards forcibly resettled Andeans into planned towns called reducciones. Andeans adapted the political and religious institutions of the new towns, the cabildo (town council) and the cofradías (confraternities), and made them their own, organizing them by the Andean social form, the ayllu. Over time, political legitimacy and authority within towns was transferred from traditional native hereditary lords, the caciques, to the common people of the town, who called themselves the común. Although a Spanish word, común took on Andean meaning as it was the word used to translate terms for collective land and the collective people of a town. It became a recognized shorthand for a political philosophy empowering common people. In the late eighteenth-century era of Atlantic Revolutions, the común rose up against its caciques, in an Enlightenment-from-below moment of popular sovereignty.

The Merovingian monastery of St Evroul in the light of conflicting traditions

1972 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
Marjorie Chibnall
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Historical Truth ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Old Men

Historians of early monasticism in Frankish Gaul either have little to say about the monastery founded by St Evroul or, like Dom Laporte, devote their attention to a discussion of the probable date of his life. The disappearance of almost all early documentary sources is one reason for this: there was certainly a break in the occupation of the site for perhaps half the century between the destruction of the monastery in the tenth century and its refoundation in 1050, and only one charter, dated 900, was rescued and copied in the eleventh century. The fact that there has been no systematic excavation of the site, so that archaeological evidence of buildings before the thirteenth-century church is lacking, is another. Early annals and reliable lives of other saints have nothing at all to say on the subject. The first historian to tackle it, Orderic Vitalis, writing in the early twelfth century, had to admit that he could discover nothing about the abbots for the four hundred years after St Evroul; and he had to draw on the memories and tales of the old men he knew, both in the monastery and in the villages round about. Needless to say he harvested a luxuriant crop of legends and traditions of all kinds. The problem of the modern historian is to winnow a few grains of historical truth out of the stories that he garnered, and the hagiographical traditions, some of which he did not know.

The ‘Shirazi’ Colonization of East Africa

1965 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neville Chittick
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
East African ◽  
East African Coast ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
The Persian Gulf

The paper puts forward a new interpretation of aspects of the early history of the East African coast, and in particular maintains that the immigration of the ‘Shirazi’ took place some zoo years later than the date in the latter part of the tenth century which has hitherto been accepted.After a brief summary of the Arabic sources bearing on the history of the coast, and of the received history of Kilwa before the beginning of the fourteenth century, the two versions of the Kilwa Chronicle are examined. The Arabic version is concluded to be more reliable than the Portuguese, though very little reliance should be placed on the regnal years of the sultans as given in either.The archaeological evidence, based chiefly on recent excavations at Kilwa, is examined, with particular reference to the coins minted on the coast. Certain types of these coins are found to have been hitherto wrongly attributed, notably those of 'Ali bin al-Hasan, which are shown to be the earliest.An outline of the history of the coast is presented, based on the combined historical and archaeological evidence. No satisfactorily attested relics of the period of trade with the Graeco-Roman world have yet been found. The earliest settlements discovered date from the eighth to ninth century A.O., most or all of which were probably pagan, but already trading with the Muslim world. By about i ioo there were several Muslim towns on the coast. This period is related to the Debuli of the traditions.The arrival of the ‘Shirazi’ is related to the appearance of coins of 'Au bin al-Hasan, who is identified with the first ruler of the ‘Shirazi’ dynasty at Kilwa (about A.0. I 200); Mafia was of equal importance at this time. A marked cultural break in the latter part of the thirteenth or early fourteenth century is thought to be related to a change in dynasty at Kilwa, a fresh settlement of immigrants, and the gaining of control of Sofala and the gold trade.It is suggested that the Shirazi settlement consisted not of a migration of people from the Persian Gulf direct to Kilwa and other places, but rather a movement of settlers from the Banadir coast.

scholarly journals Stadens Ureenlighed

Kulturstudier ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivi Lena Andersen
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Human Waste ◽  
The North ◽  
Permanent Settlement ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
A Site ◽  
To Receive ◽  
New System ◽  
Written Sources

<p><strong>The uncleanliness of landfill culture in 18th-century Copenhagen</strong></p> <p>After the discovery of an 18th-century landfill that contained a diversity of well-preserved objects discarded by Copenhageners, about 30 archaeological surveys have since been conducted at a site in the north-central part of the city. This coastal district, called Frederiksstaden, is now known for its prominent mansions and the home of the Danish royal family, but its function as a landfill is rarely mentioned as a phenomenon in stories about the area. From studying the excavated items, this article seeks to explore how they reflect the trash culture during Copenhagen’s Age of Absolutism, as well as to describe the landfill’s appearance and when the need for it arose.</p> <p>Using the archaeological source material as a base, the study also examined geotechnical, written, cartographic, iconographic and natural-scientific sources in order to achieve a more nuanced understanding of the landfill and to reflect on how the different sources relate to each other. This article argues that getting citizens to adapt to the new system of trash management was a long and challenging process; e.g., according to written sources, the landfill was only supposed to receive household garbage and sweepings from the city’s streets, but the archaeological evidence shows that human waste from latrines was also disposed of there. Other trash items found in the landfill exhibit signs of extensive reuse before having been discarded, which supports statements from other sources.</p> <p>The most obvious sources for information about the appearance of the landfill – specifically, 18th-century cartography and art – proved not to be worthwhile. Instead, archaeological evidence and written sources provided a better image of the swampy conditions that caused the terrain to even out over time – a process that began in this area during the second half of the 17th century. The need for a centrally-controlled framework to manage garbage seems to be connected to the development of a permanent settlement, the new system of matriculation, an emphasis on ownership and overall population growth, which included the fear and nuisance of disease. This resulted in using a coastal area as a landfill – an area where aristocratic mansions were also built during Copenhagen’s Age of Absolutism.</p>

Excavations at Gloucester. Fourth Interim Report: St. Oswald's Priory, Gloucester, 1975–1976

1978 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Heighway
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Interim Report ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Medieval Pottery ◽  
Uncovered Part

SummaryExcavations at St. Oswald's Priory, Gloucester, showed that the site was occupied in the second century by the Roman municipal tile works which was abandoned by the fourth century. The ruined church which now stands on the site shows two successive building phases pre-dating a Norman arcade; excavation established part of the plan of this late Anglo-Saxon church and also uncovered part of the tenth- to thirteenth-century cemetery. Documentary evidence suggests that this was the ‘new minster’ built by Æthelflæd and Æthelred of Mercia. Taking other historical and archaeological evidence into consideration, Gloucester can be argued to have had, in the late ninth to early tenth century, a special significance for the rulers of Mercia.Specialist reports are offered on the stratified medieval pottery, and on the inscribed bell-mould from the tenth-century church.

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