Geography and Sources

2021 ◽  
pp. 14-43
Author(s):  
Stephen Mileson ◽  
Stuart Brookes
Keyword(s):  
Local People ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Yield Data ◽  
Physical Character ◽  
Use Of Space ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Historic Landscape ◽  
Customary Practices ◽  
Trench Excavation

The second chapter describes the physical character of the study area in detail as a framework for understanding the analysis supplied in the chapters to follow. It also sets out the main sources drawn upon in the book, notably the physical remains of archaeology and the fabric of the historic landscape itself, as well as documentary sources such as Anglo-Saxon charter bounds, manorial records, deeds, legal records, and maps, which yield data about the use of space and about inhabitants’ perceptions, the latter particularly revealed by the field names and bynames coined by local people themselves, and by legal depositions dealing with contested ownerships and customary practices. Key archaeological sources include village earthworks, excavated and standing buildings, and botanical and zooarchaeological remains. Archaeological fieldwork carried out as part of the project is described, including fieldwalking, test pit and trial trench excavation, extensive buildings survey, and measuring the soundmarks of church bells.

scholarly journals La génesis ibérica del moderno poder naval

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-252
Author(s):  
Manuel Vila González
Keyword(s):  
Language Education ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Geographic Scale ◽  
New Era ◽  
Naval Power ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Historical Continuity ◽  
15Th Century

At the end of the 15th century, a revolutionary approach to the use of the sea for its own benefit emerged from the two Atlantic Iberian peoples, characterized by having to face the challenge of ocean navigation and the exploration of new lands, something never even conceived previously. As happened in the previous historical stages with other protagonists, the main motivation to jump into the sea was economic. However, the geographic scale of the endeavor on this occasion ushered in a new era, characterized both by accelerated scientific development and by a globalization of commerce, politics, technology and culture (language, education and Christianity). Portugal conquered the oceans with the aim of establishing a network of commercial enclaves, creating the mold of what has since been considered the logical procedure for maritime powers in order to move freely through the seas that link the colonies with the metropolis. Accordingly, what for just over a century has been called sea (naval) power was nothing but the part of maritime power that was responsible for protecting its own trade from the ambition of others. Spain, however, undertook a similar epic with a more territorial (and patrimonial) mentality, due to which the oceans themselves came to be considered an integral part of the crown possessions as a link that united the different parts of the kingdom. That assumption created a new concept of naval power, by which in time of peace it complemented maritime power, which became at the same time a tributary of the former in the event of war. What the classic Anglo-Saxon writers (Alfred T. Mahan and Julian S. Corbett, in particular) described as maritime and sea power when studying the new history in British documentary sources is nothing more than the transposition of the principles that governed the constitution of Renaissance Portugal in a thalassocracy of planetary scope. The Spanish case is much more complex, since it was not only equally ignored in late-nineteenth-century and later historical-strategic studies (not only Anglo-Saxon, which is even more inexplicable), but it remains in the mist of the unexplored by not having had recognized historical continuity, which has contributed to preventing an adequate understanding of the historical dimension of the success (due to its resilience, durability, prosperity…) of the “empire” of the Hispanic Monarchy.

Power, Place and Territory in Early Medieval South-East Wales

2019 ◽  
pp. 325-345
Author(s):  
Andy Seaman
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Central Places ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Rare Opportunity

Wales provides a rare opportunity to explore the development of an early medieval socio-political landscape in a part of the Western Roman Empire that was not subject to Germanic incursion before the 11th century. South-East Wales is particularly important in this respect as it lies within the Romanised zone of lowland Britain. A lack of early evidence, however, has led scholars to construct anachronistic interpretations overly dependent upon evidence drawn from lawbooks of the 13th century. Archaeological evidence and documentary sources from South-East Wales do, however, afford an opportunity to explore the organisation and exploitation of the early medieval landscape independently of the lawbooks. This chapter examines territorial organisation, central places and long-term political continuity in early medieval South-East Wales. It concludes by considering some of the contrasts between patterns of power in South-East Wales and Anglo-Saxon England.

Watermills and Waterwheels

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Watts
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Salt Water ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Water Power ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship

The Anglo-Saxon achievement in the development of water-power to drive millstones for grinding grain is underlined by references to over 6000 mills in England at the time of the Domesday survey, the majority of which must have been established by or during the late Anglo-Saxon period. This chapter sets out to discuss the legacy of water-power in England after its introduction by the Romans and the apparent revival of watermill technology from the late seventh century, which is attested by archaeological finds and documentary sources. The provision and control of a manageable water supply, using both fresh and salt water, and the technology of waterwheels, in particular interpretation of the archaeological evidence for the use of both horizontal- and vertical-wheeled mills, form an important part of the discussion. The relationship between watermills and those who built and ran them is also considered.

The boundaries of early medieval kingship

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Rippon
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
East Anglia ◽  
Knock Out ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Economic Zones

In the past the study of early medieval kingdoms has mostly been a singledisciplinary activity based upon the extremely limited documentary sources, with boundaries back-projected from much later evidence (e.g. Bailey 1989, fig. 8.1). What is presented in this study, in contrast, is an attempt to have a more archaeologically and landscape-based discussion that includes using the distributions of cultural indicators such as artefact types, architectural forms, burial practices, and the locations of particular sites that appear to have been positioned in liminal locations. Three phases in the development of these kingdoms can be distinguished: • The fifth to sixth centuries (emergent kingdoms): the period of Grubenhäuser and Anglo-Saxon burials associated with a suite of material culture showing marked regional affinities. Anglo-Saxon kingdoms existed by the end of this period, and a broad consensus has emerged that they were formed through the amalgamation of a series of smaller regiones (e.g. Arnold 1988; Bassett 1989a; Yorke 1990; Scull 1993; 1999; Harrington and Welch 2014). This model—which Bassett (1989b) has compared to a football knock-out competition—is, however, based largely upon the fragmentary and very partial documentary record (see Chapter 7), and it does not explain the close correspondence of the boundaries between the fifth- to sixth-century socio-economic zones spheres identified here and those of the Iron Age and Roman periods. • The seventh and eighth centuries (mature kingdoms): a new suite of material culture (e.g. East Anglian and East Saxon coinage, and Ipswich Ware) whose circulation in part appears to have been restricted to the polities within which they were produced. The authority of the East Saxon kings had started to decline during the latter part of this period, although East Anglia survived. • The ninth century (the declining kingdoms): the East Saxon kingdom virtually disappeared and become a territory within Wessex. The distributions of later eighth- and ninth-century inscribed coinage, and distinctive artefact types such as silver wire inlaid strap ends, suggest that the East Anglian socio-economic sphere, and the kingdom that was based upon it, survived within the same boundaries that had emerged by the fifth and sixth centuries until it was overrun by the Danes in the 870s.

scholarly journals Come Rain or Shine? The Social Implications of Seasonality and Weather on the Cremation Rite in Early Anglo-Saxon England

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty E. Squires
Keyword(s):  
Respiratory Infections ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Environmental Disaster ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Poor Ventilation ◽  
Funerary Rites

Limited information is available pertaining to the weather and seasonal conditions of early Anglo-Saxon England. Environmental evidence and documentary sources indicate a downturn in climatic conditions from the fifth though to the early seventh century (Lamb 1981: 57–61; Carver 1989: 142; Dark 2000: 27–8; Hooke 2011: 315–16). This period was dominated by wet and cold conditions, which is in stark contrast to the preceding warmer and drier climate of Roman Britain (Dark 2000: 27). Documentary records from the Continent, dating from the fifth to the ninth century, reference several severe winters which seem to have increased in severity from the fifth through to the seventh century (Brooks 1949: 310–11). A particularly wet and cold year would have decreased agricultural output and made food storage extremely difficult (Koepke and Baten 2005: 147). These factors would have resulted in seasonal scarcities and, in the most severe of cases, famine would have ensued resulting in increased mortality rates. Environmental catastrophes would have also had a similar effect on human populations. The starkest example from this period has been dated to AD 536. It is thought that volcanic eruptions or extraterrestrial impacts from meteorites or comets led to environmental and socio-economic crises, particularly in Scandinavia (Gräslund and Price 2012: 431). Dendrochronology and literary sources provide evidence for lower temperatures, increased rainfall, and famine subsequent to this event, whilst social changes, such as the migration of villages to higher ground due to rising water levels and the adoption of new ideologies and funerary rites, have been associated with this environmental disaster (ibid.: 430, 432, 437–8). Seasonality also has an impact on health and disease. In unfavourable weather conditions and freezing temperatures, people are more inclined to spend longer periods of time indoors during the winter months (Roberts and Cox 2003: 37). In addition to the effects of the cold and wet conditions, increased time indoors can contribute to respiratory infections, such as influenza, the common cold, and sinusitis (ibid.: 37, 173). These conditions would have been made worse in early medieval homes due to indoor pollution from hearths and poor ventilation of these buildings.

scholarly journals Land Use and Access in Protected Areas: A Hunter’s View of Flexibility

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 481
Author(s):  
Ayonghe Akonwi Nebasifu ◽  
Ngoindong Majory Atong
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
National Park ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Local People ◽  
Cultural Resilience ◽  
Mount Cameroon ◽  
Customary Practices

Anthropologists sometimes ask what flexible practices mean when used in instances of land use and access among protected area regimes which control the land and the indigenous or local people who claim rights to the land. In the Mount Cameroon National Park (MCNP), West Africa, this question comes with urgency because of the historical disputes associated with defining access and user-rights to land within this park. In this case, we present an ethnographic study using a transect walk with a native Bakweri hunter to map and analyze his opinions about land use and access into the park. The findings show that, despite State prohibitions for this park, customary practices still occur for mutual reasons, whereas, in situations of disputes, other practices continue on the land unnoticed. We conclude that this flexibility is indicative of reciprocal negotiations and cultural resilience that preserve not only the biodiversity of the park but also the culturally relevant needs of people.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Thorpe
Keyword(s):  
Anglo Saxon
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