METAL PRODUCTION IN LATE ANTIQUITY: FROM CONTINUITY OF KNOWLEDGE TO CHANGES IN CONSUMPTION

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Giannichedda
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Technical Details ◽  
Lasting Impression

The study of metal production in Late Antiquity falls between the Early Roman period and the Early Middle Ages—both of which left a more lasting impression. Late Antiquity marks an ambiguous boundary, or rather a period of transition in which significant continuity of knowledge of ancient techniques can be found, although sometimes translated into new forms, as a result of: a crisis in extraction activities of the central government; of contacts between peoples who brought with them different traditional techniques; and of changes in use, whether utilitarian or not. To examine these phenomena, three methods can be applied: firstly, one can differentiate products through their technical details; secondly, one can quantify production, and thus the metal that was actually available to the different social groups; thirdly, one can undertake archaeometallurgical research on sites of particular interest.

The Spatial Database of the TransFER project

2021 ◽  
pp. 248-251
Author(s):  
Tena Karavidović
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Spatial Database ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Web Gis ◽  
Iron Production ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Drava River

This paper presents basic objectives and methods used to design the spatial database within the project ‘Iron production along the Drava River in the Roman period and the Middle Ages: Creation and transfer of knowledge, technologies, and goods’ (TransFER), funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (IP-06-2016-5047). The database has been conceived and implemented to facilitate spatial analysis based on the objectives of the research into iron production along the Drava River in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. The selected data has been made accessible to the external user via the project’s webpage in the form of a Web-GIS browser.

THE FATE OF RURAL TEMPLES IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE CHRISTIANISATION OF THE COUNTRYSIDE

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Béatrice Caseau
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Rural Landscape ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Sacred Sites ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
Early Byzantine

Throughout the Roman period the countryside was a landscape of sacred sites both monumental and natural. Rural temples were numerous and essential to the religious life of peasants and landowners. The fate of rural temples reveals something of the conflicting religious beliefs that were present in the rural landscape until the 6th c. Rural temples were among the first temples to be destroyed on some Christian estates, but in other places their power of attraction remained strong until the Early Middle Ages, even when they were in ruins. In the Early Byzantine period, however, temples were too visible, causing some Christians to lead expeditions against them. Convinced pagans searched for other, more remote, cult places to where they could maintain some form of pagan practice. These included inner sanctuaries inside their homes, or remote natural sites. Temple traditions were lost as a result.

The Fate of Small Towns, Hilltop Settlements, and Elite Residences in Merovingian-Period Gaul

2020 ◽  
pp. 610-640
Author(s):  
Luc Bourgeois
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Power Networks ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The Many

The study of places of power in the Merovingian realm has long been focused on cities, monasteries, and royal palaces. Recent archaeological research has led to the emergence of other categories. Four of them are addressed in this chapter. These include the capitals of fallen cities, which continue to mark the landscape in one way or another. Similarly, the fate of small Roman towns during the early Middle Ages shows that most of them continued to host a variety of secular and ecclesiastical powers. In addition, from the fourth century onward, large hilltop fortified settlements multiplied anew. They complemented earlier networks of authority, whether elite residences, artisan communities, or real towns. Finally, from the seventh century onward, the great aristocratic villas of late antiquity were transformed into settlements organized around one or more courtyards and supplemented by funerary and religious structures. The evolution of political spaces and lifestyles explains both the ruptures in power networks that occurred during the Merovingian epoch and the many continuities that can be seen in the four kinds of places studied in this chapter that were marked by these developments.

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