scholarly journals Luxury tableware? Terra sigillata in the coastal region of the northern Netherlands

2020 ◽  
pp. 94-110
Author(s):  
Annet Nieuwhof ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Coastal Region ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Spindle Whorls ◽  
Symbolic Value

With thousands of finds, Roman terra sigillata (TS) is a common find category in terp settlements of the Northern Netherlands. It is traditionally interpreted as luxury tableware of the local elites, who acquired it through their contacts with Romans, or who were able to buy it from traders who came to this area with their merchandise. This paper questions that interpretation. The reason is that the far majority of TS is found as sherds, which, despite their good recognisability, only rarely fit other sherds. Moreover, many of these sherds are worked or used in some way. They were made into pendants, spindle whorls and playing counters, or show traces of deliberate breakage and of use for unknown purposes. Such traces are found on 70–80% of the sherds. The meaning of TS hence seems to have been symbolic rather than functional. Rather than as luxury tableware, TS may have been valued for the sake of the material itself, and may have been imported as sherds rather than as complete vessels. A symbolic value also shows from its long-term use. Used or worked TS sherds from the 2nd and 3rd century AD are often found in finds assemblages that may be interpreted as ritual deposits, not only from the Roman Period but also from the early Middle Ages. There are striking parallels for such use in early modern colonial contexts. TS sherds may have been part of the diplomatic gifts by which the Romans attempted to keep peace north of the limes, or may even have been payments for local products. These sherds might thus be comparable to the trade beads of early-modern European colonial traders.

European Mail Armour

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn A. Wijnhoven
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Military Technology ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
Solid Foundation ◽  
First Time

Mail armour (commonly mislabelled 'chainmail') was used for more than two millennia on the battlefield. After its invention in the Iron Age, mail rapidly spread all over Europe and beyond. The Roman army, keen on new military technology, soon adopted mail armour and used it successfully for centuries. Its history did not stop there and mail played a vital role in warfare during the Middle Ages up to the Early Modern Period. Given its long history, one would think mail is a well-documented material, but that is not the case. For the first time, this books lays a solid foundation for the understanding of mail armour and its context through time. It applies a long-term multi-dimensional approach to extract a wealth of as yet untapped information from archaeological, iconographic and written sources. This is complemented with technical insights on the mail maker’s chaîne opératoire.

Climatic change and foresight in agriculture: the possibilities of long-term weather advice

1973 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
H H Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Climatic Change ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Dry Areas ◽  
Westerly Winds ◽  
Nw Europe

Long-term weather analysis indicates a shortening of the average growing season in NW Europe from the early Middle Ages to the seventeenth century, followed by a lengthening to the mid-twentieth century, but this trend now appears to have reversed. On a world scale, wet areas exposed to prevailing westerly winds became wetter, and dry areas became drier in the first half of the twentieth century. The implications of these changes for agriculture are considerable.

scholarly journals Evolución de un sector costero durante la Alta Edad Media en el NW de la Península Ibérica

2015 ◽  
pp. 27-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebeca Tallón-Armada ◽  
Manuela Costa-Casais ◽  
Teresa Taboada Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Ría De Vigo ◽  
Rosalia De Castro ◽  
Península Ibérica

En el presente trabajo se estudia la evolución de un tramo costero de la Ría de Vigo (NW de la península Ibérica) desde época romana hasta el siglo XVII, prestando particular atención a la Alta Edad Media. Desde el punto de vista arqueológico, la importancia del sector radica en la presencia de una salina de época romana, en uso desde los siglos II BC a III-IV AD, y su abandono para dar paso a la instauración de una iglesia y una necrópolis en la Alta Edad Media (a partir de los siglos IV-V AD). Se muestrearon, con alta resolución, tres secuencias edafo-sedimentarias y se analizaron diversas propiedades físico-químicas (pH, granulometría, contenido en C, N, S, P, Fe, As) y la composición mineralógica, con el fin de determinar la naturaleza de las distintas facies presentes, los procesos implicados y las causas asociadas. Los resultados indican modificaciones en la costa entre finales del periodo romano y comienzos de la Alta Edad Media, con unaevolución del medio desde una dinámica costera, con formaciones de marisma-lagoon costero, a una dinámica eólica, con dunas. Dicho cambio es coincidente con el cese de la explotación romana de sal y el inicio del periodo Frío Altomedieval. Estos resultados son similares a los encontrados en otros puntos de la Ría de Vigo. En los tres sectores comparados (Rosalía de Castro, Toralla y Hospital), a la par que se produce la progradación de las formaciones de marisma y duna, el uso antrópico del sector cambia. Aunque la pauta climática presenta un papel importante en la evolución de este sector, los cambios en la línea de costa que se detectan entre ambos periodos culturales pudo estar determinada también por causas socioecómicas. Evolution of a coastal area during the early Middle Ages in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula - This paper focuses on the evolution of a coastal stretch of the Ria de Vigo (NW Iberian Peninsula) during the early Middle Ages, which presents an important archaeological site with a roman salt mine. Salt exploitation in the Roman period ceased around the AD 3rd-5th centuries, and was followed by the establishment of a churcheand a cemetery during the Middle Ages. The properties (pH, grain size, C, N, S, P, Fe and As, and mineralogicalcomposition) of three pedo-sedimentary sequences were analysed in order to identify the different environmental changes that affected this sector. The results suggest signifcant changes occurred in the coast from the late Roman period (AD 3rth-5th centuries) into the early Middle Ages (AD 5th-6th centuries), with an evolution from a marine-continental dynamics, with formation of salt marshes, to a wind dynamics, with dune formations. This change is consistent with the abandonment of the Roman salt exploitation and the beginning of Cold Dark Ages. These results are similar to those found in other areas of the Ría de Vigo. In the three sectors compared (Rosalia de Castro, Toralla and Hospital) land use changed while the progradation of marsh and dune formations occurred. Although climate may have played a major role in the evolution of this sector, the changes in the coastline between the two cultural periods could be also related to socio-economic causes.

scholarly journals From the Light and into the Dark: the Transformation to the Early Middle Ages

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arrush Choudhary
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Rural Life ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Italian Peninsula ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Decentralized Governance ◽  
The City ◽  
The Middle Ages

From a historic perspective, the period of Roman rule and the following Middle Ages are polar opposites. For most, the city of Rome and the Western Roman Empire represent a time of advancement for the Mediterranean world while the Middle Ages are viewed as a regression of sorts for Europe. The reasons explaining the underlying cause of this transition from the Western Roman Empire to the Middle Ages are numerous but this paper will specifically focus on the practices started by the Romans themselves and how they contributed to the rise of the Early Middle Ages on the Italian Peninsula. More specifically, economic turmoil and urbanization following the 3rd century crisis in the city of Rome laid the groundwork for social, legislative, and political changes that thread the path to the fundamental characteristics of the Middle Ages. Changing views of the city and the countryside, the construction of latifundia and villas, and the passing of legislation that restricted the rights of laborers, in addition to other transformations in late Rome, all contributed to the decentralized governance, rural life, and serfdom that are characteristic of the Middle Ages. Ultimately, the goal of this paper is to illustrate that despite the major differences that exist between the Roman period and the Middle Ages, the practices of the late Western Roman Empire were often directly carried over into the Middle Ages and, as a result, for one to truly understand the origins of the Middle Ages, it is essential to comprehend the traditions started by the late Romans.

Early Medieval Wales and Calabria

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Barriers To Access

In 2011 Chris Wickham highlighted the comparative potential in the post-Roman histories of Wales and southern Italy, commenting that ‘the changing societies in each were the result of indigenous developments alone.’ This chapter takes up the implicit challenge in that statement and discusses South Wales and Calabria utilizing three frames: topographical, economic, and literary. Topographically, the mountainous interiors demand attention not only as barriers to access, but also as places of refuge and retreat. Both areas were open to the sea, and potentially to hostile waterborne raiders. Economically, the two regions were unpromising for agriculture, but ideal for pastoralism, and also offered specific resources that were in demand by local elites. From a literary viewpoint, both regions generated stories that emphasized and used the landscape and followed their protagonists on journeys through and beyond the region. Whilst their development in the early Middle Ages may well have been identifiably indigenous, it did not occur in isolation from wider social and economic change.

Veiled Threats

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Firey
Keyword(s):  
Women Religious ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
History Of ◽  
Symbolic Value ◽  
The Veil

It has long been recognized that the veil taken by consecrated women religious draws upon nuptial associations and thus symbolizes the trope that consecrated women are brides of Christ. The history of the veil’s symbolic value in the early Middle Ages can, however, be probed more extensively than it has been. This chapter proposes that prior to the tenth century polyvalent symbolism and intermittent use produced competing understandings of the veil. That competition culminated in efforts in the ninth century to regulate the practice of veiling, and also in discursive shifts in representation of the veil’s significance. By tracing the chronology of the connection of the veil to the concept of the bride of Christ, Firey invites consideration of the possible function of symbolism as a device for parties with opposing views to negotiate contested positions, practices, and meanings.

CHRONICLING THE MEROVINGIANS IN HEBREW: THE EARLY MEDIEVAL CHAPTERS OF YOSEF HA-KOHEN'S DIVREI HAYAMIM

Traditio ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 423-447
Author(s):  
YANIV FOX
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval History ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Italian Physician ◽  
History Of ◽  
Long Chain

Yosef Ha-Kohen (1496–ca. 1575) was a Jewish Italian physician and intellectual who in 1554 published a chronicle in Hebrew titled Sefer Divrei Hayamim lemalkei Tzarfat ulemalkei Beit Otoman haTogar, or The Book of Histories of the Kings of France and of the Kings of Ottoman Turkey. It was, as its name suggests, a history told from the perspective of two nations, the French and the Turks. Ha-Kohen begins his narrative with a discussion of the legendary origins of the Franks and the history of their first royal dynasty, the Merovingians. This composition is unique among late medieval and early modern Jewish works of historiography for its universal scope, and even more so for its treatment of early medieval history. For this part of the work, Ha-Kohen relied extensively on non-Jewish works, which themselves relied on still earlier chronicles composed throughout the early Middle Ages. Ha-Kohen thus became a unique link in a long chain of chroniclers who worked and adopted Merovingian material to suit their authorial agendas. This article considers how the telling of Merovingian history was transformed in the process, especially as it was adapted for a sixteenth-century Jewish audience.

A Diachronic Maltese Islandscape: Rural Ta’ Qali and ix-Xarolla

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-117
Author(s):  
Clive Vella ◽  
Mevrick Spiteri
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Maltese Islands ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Abstract The archaeological study of the Maltese Islands has received considerable scholarly attention in regard to its island settings and long-term human occupation. However, emphasis on the prehistoric periods of the archipelago runs the risk of creating a biased focus with limited engagement in successive periods. In the spirit of this edited volume, the present article seeks to provide a broader chronological view of two rural areas in the larger island of Malta: Ta’ Qali and ix-Xarolla. These two areas have offered some evidence, through intermittent discoveries from recent construction activities, of three broad periods of increased landscape manipulation and transformation during the Middle-Late Bronze Age, Roman, and Early Modern periods. In seeking to provide an islandscape-based narrative, this article seeks to show that the Maltese Islands experienced periods of more intense human occupation that would have inevitably impacted the agriculturally viable areas of Ta’ Qali and ix-Xarolla. Therefore, despite the Roman period focus of this edited volume, this article takes a long-term view of two rural areas to illustrate identifiable landscape uses and changes.

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