Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2023.2204752
P. Newson
The ancient city of Edessa, later al-Ruh a ) , modern-day Urfa/Şanlıurfa in Turkey, has had a long and distinguished history. However, very little of the city fabric remains extant from before the Ottoman period; exceptions are some fragments of the city defences and the associated high citadel – the subject of this book – whose impressive perimeter walls stand as a complex palimpsest of different periods, particularly those prior to the Ottoman period. Cristina Tonghini’s aims were to make a detailed assessment of the constructional history of the citadel, as a first step in understanding the political, economic and social factors behind its development. Much of this attractive publication is dedicated to recording the extant perimeter wall structures. Tonghini comprehensively presents the results, including colour photos throughout and 39 full colour annotated plates at the end, detailing successions of wall construction styles. In gathering together written sources and inscriptional evidence, along with establishing a wall typology and subsequent wall stratigraphy, her research project has delineated nine periods of wall construction. One interesting point highlighted from the written sources is that the citadel fortifications were not begun until the time of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (ruled 527-65). Fascinating are the impressive number of carved Arabic inscriptions set into the citadel walls, which have proved helpful in determining construction phases through commemorations of site investment by various dynasties such as the Aq Qoyunlu of the 15th century. Accordingly, the methodology and the presentation of the results serve as a model for future fortification studies. Tonghini effectively sheds much light on the technological development of military architecture, principally across the 7th to 15th centuries, during which time Urfa served as a strategic strongpoint in the continual tussle between different powers. Certainly this study helps fill notable gaps in our knowledge of Urfa and the citadel’s role, particularly as regards such issues as the potential impact of Armenian master-builders, and the previously littleknown importance of Mamluk influence on the citadel’s construction. It is to be hoped future work will build upon this very solid foundation.
{"title":"From Edessa to Urfa: The Fortification of the Citadel","authors":"P. Newson","doi":"10.1080/00766097.2023.2204752","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204752","url":null,"abstract":"The ancient city of Edessa, later al-Ruh a ) , modern-day Urfa/Şanlıurfa in Turkey, has had a long and distinguished history. However, very little of the city fabric remains extant from before the Ottoman period; exceptions are some fragments of the city defences and the associated high citadel – the subject of this book – whose impressive perimeter walls stand as a complex palimpsest of different periods, particularly those prior to the Ottoman period. Cristina Tonghini’s aims were to make a detailed assessment of the constructional history of the citadel, as a first step in understanding the political, economic and social factors behind its development. Much of this attractive publication is dedicated to recording the extant perimeter wall structures. Tonghini comprehensively presents the results, including colour photos throughout and 39 full colour annotated plates at the end, detailing successions of wall construction styles. In gathering together written sources and inscriptional evidence, along with establishing a wall typology and subsequent wall stratigraphy, her research project has delineated nine periods of wall construction. One interesting point highlighted from the written sources is that the citadel fortifications were not begun until the time of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (ruled 527-65). Fascinating are the impressive number of carved Arabic inscriptions set into the citadel walls, which have proved helpful in determining construction phases through commemorations of site investment by various dynasties such as the Aq Qoyunlu of the 15th century. Accordingly, the methodology and the presentation of the results serve as a model for future fortification studies. Tonghini effectively sheds much light on the technological development of military architecture, principally across the 7th to 15th centuries, during which time Urfa served as a strategic strongpoint in the continual tussle between different powers. Certainly this study helps fill notable gaps in our knowledge of Urfa and the citadel’s role, particularly as regards such issues as the potential impact of Armenian master-builders, and the previously littleknown importance of Mamluk influence on the citadel’s construction. It is to be hoped future work will build upon this very solid foundation.","PeriodicalId":54160,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Archaeology","volume":"67 1","pages":"240 - 240"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43551857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2023.2204733
J. Richards
{"title":"The Watlington Hoard. Coinage, Kings and the Viking Great Army in Oxfordshire, AD875–880","authors":"J. Richards","doi":"10.1080/00766097.2023.2204733","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204733","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54160,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Archaeology","volume":"67 1","pages":"223 - 224"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44276210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2023.2204674
Y. van den Hurk, I. Riddler, K. McGrath, C. Speller
THE ANGLO-SAXON SITE OF HAMWIC (modern Southampton, Hampshire, UK) has been identified as a major bone-working centre. Besides antler and terrestrial mammal bone, cetacean bone has been recovered in high quantities. These specimens primarily represent working waste. Using peptide mass fingerprinting of bone collagen (ZooMS), it was determined that the majority of these specimens derive from the currently highly endangered population of North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Limited historical sources appear to suggest that whaling was undertaken by the Anglo-Saxons, or by the Normans on the other side of the English Channel prior to the eleventh century ad. Nevertheless, the primary method of acquisition for whale bone was through opportunistic scavenging and trading.
{"title":"Active Whaling, Opportunistic Scavenging or Long-Distance Trading: Zooarchaeological, Palaeoproteomic, and Historical Analyses on Whale Exploitation and Bone Working in Anglo-Saxon Hamwic","authors":"Y. van den Hurk, I. Riddler, K. McGrath, C. Speller","doi":"10.1080/00766097.2023.2204674","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204674","url":null,"abstract":"THE ANGLO-SAXON SITE OF HAMWIC (modern Southampton, Hampshire, UK) has been identified as a major bone-working centre. Besides antler and terrestrial mammal bone, cetacean bone has been recovered in high quantities. These specimens primarily represent working waste. Using peptide mass fingerprinting of bone collagen (ZooMS), it was determined that the majority of these specimens derive from the currently highly endangered population of North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Limited historical sources appear to suggest that whaling was undertaken by the Anglo-Saxons, or by the Normans on the other side of the English Channel prior to the eleventh century ad. Nevertheless, the primary method of acquisition for whale bone was through opportunistic scavenging and trading.","PeriodicalId":54160,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Archaeology","volume":"67 1","pages":"137 - 158"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42434137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2023.2204763
T. Barry
{"title":"Ireland and the Crusades","authors":"T. Barry","doi":"10.1080/00766097.2023.2204763","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204763","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54160,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Archaeology","volume":"67 1","pages":"245 - 246"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42324598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2023.2204661
Letty ten Harkel, Robert M van Dierendonck, Eleanor C Farber, M. Dee, P. Doeve, H. Hamerow, E. Jansma, P. L. le Roux, R. Panhuysen, Pieterjan Deckers
THIS PAPER ADDRESSES THE QUESTION, who were the people who were buried at the early medieval North Sea emporia? Conclusions about the mercantile character of the North Sea emporia are often based on portable material culture. In recognition of the fact that it is difficult to draw conclusions about the identities of people based on finds assemblages, two pilot projects have been completed that involved bioarchaeological analyses of cemetery populations associated with these sites. The first of these, the Investigating the Dead in Early Medieval Domburg project, undertook multi-disciplinary analyses of the (very small) surviving burial population from the mostly destroyed sites in the Domburg area (Netherlands), combining isotope analysis, radiocarbon dating, biological anthropology, dendrochronology, and provenancing and study of previous use of coffin wood. The second, the Medieval Migrants of the North Sea World project, inventoried available isotopic evidence for human remains from emporia sites in England, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, alongside contextual archaeological information. This paper presents both projects, providing the detailed information from Domburg in its wider, international context, and highlighting the need for a comprehensive research agenda to fill current gaps in our understanding of early medieval emporia populations.
{"title":"The Human Remains from Early Medieval Domburg (Netherlands) and Other Coastal Communities in International Perspective: Towards an International Research Agenda for the Cemeteries of the North Sea Emporia","authors":"Letty ten Harkel, Robert M van Dierendonck, Eleanor C Farber, M. Dee, P. Doeve, H. Hamerow, E. Jansma, P. L. le Roux, R. Panhuysen, Pieterjan Deckers","doi":"10.1080/00766097.2023.2204661","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204661","url":null,"abstract":"THIS PAPER ADDRESSES THE QUESTION, who were the people who were buried at the early medieval North Sea emporia? Conclusions about the mercantile character of the North Sea emporia are often based on portable material culture. In recognition of the fact that it is difficult to draw conclusions about the identities of people based on finds assemblages, two pilot projects have been completed that involved bioarchaeological analyses of cemetery populations associated with these sites. The first of these, the Investigating the Dead in Early Medieval Domburg project, undertook multi-disciplinary analyses of the (very small) surviving burial population from the mostly destroyed sites in the Domburg area (Netherlands), combining isotope analysis, radiocarbon dating, biological anthropology, dendrochronology, and provenancing and study of previous use of coffin wood. The second, the Medieval Migrants of the North Sea World project, inventoried available isotopic evidence for human remains from emporia sites in England, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, alongside contextual archaeological information. This paper presents both projects, providing the detailed information from Domburg in its wider, international context, and highlighting the need for a comprehensive research agenda to fill current gaps in our understanding of early medieval emporia populations.","PeriodicalId":54160,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Archaeology","volume":"67 1","pages":"29 - 72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48008049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2023.2204765
A. Pluskowski
{"title":"The Rural World in the Sixteenth Century. Exploring the Archaeology of Innovation in Europe","authors":"A. Pluskowski","doi":"10.1080/00766097.2023.2204765","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204765","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54160,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Archaeology","volume":"67 1","pages":"247 - 248"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46772225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2023.2204730
Simon James
Ancient Arms Race. Antiquity’s Largest Fortresses and Sasanian Military Networks of Northern Iran. (The British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monographs Series VII, Volumes I and II). By Eberhard W Sauer, Jebrael Nokandeh & Hamid Omrani Rekavandi. 22 30 cm. 2 volumes: xviii þ 880 pp, 743 colour and b&w figs, 164 tables. Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 2022. ISBN 978-1-78925-462-4; epub: 978-1-78925-463-1. Price: £90.00 hb.
{"title":"Ancient Arms Race. Antiquity’s Largest Fortresses and Sasanian Military Networks of Northern Iran","authors":"Simon James","doi":"10.1080/00766097.2023.2204730","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204730","url":null,"abstract":"Ancient Arms Race. Antiquity’s Largest Fortresses and Sasanian Military Networks of Northern Iran. (The British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monographs Series VII, Volumes I and II). By Eberhard W Sauer, Jebrael Nokandeh & Hamid Omrani Rekavandi. 22 30 cm. 2 volumes: xviii þ 880 pp, 743 colour and b&w figs, 164 tables. Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 2022. ISBN 978-1-78925-462-4; epub: 978-1-78925-463-1. Price: £90.00 hb.","PeriodicalId":54160,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Archaeology","volume":"67 1","pages":"221 - 222"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41658300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2023.2204729
Trent M Trombley, Caroline Goodson, S. Agarwal
THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE CULTURAL FRAMEWORK and material evidence for teeth and oral health in later medieval Europe, using as a case study the bioarchaeological analysis of an excavated cemetery in central Italy (Villamagna). It proffers an alternative approach to the study of human skeletal material by reframing the questions that bioarchaeologists normally ask about mouths. Instead of stopping at, ‘how much disease?’ or ‘what state of health?’, here, ‘how did the mouth relate to individuals’ experiences of their world, and how might scientific information about health and disease provide insight into wider aspects of life, society and economy?’ is asked. This paper points to a range of cultural understandings around the mouth which were changing in the High and Later Middle Ages (c 1000–1400), namely: the Bible and changing explanations for the relationships between mouth, heart, confession and experience of the divine; an evolving understanding of medicine and medical principles; and new forms of saintly intervention involved in healthcare. Detailed osteobiographies of two adults from Villamagna illustrate shaped individual experiences and the ways in which oral condition reflects and use-patterns and lifeways common to such communities.
{"title":"Medieval Mouths in Context: Biocultural and Multi-Scalar Considerations of the Mouth and the Case of Late-Medieval Villamagna, Italy","authors":"Trent M Trombley, Caroline Goodson, S. Agarwal","doi":"10.1080/00766097.2023.2204729","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204729","url":null,"abstract":"THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE CULTURAL FRAMEWORK and material evidence for teeth and oral health in later medieval Europe, using as a case study the bioarchaeological analysis of an excavated cemetery in central Italy (Villamagna). It proffers an alternative approach to the study of human skeletal material by reframing the questions that bioarchaeologists normally ask about mouths. Instead of stopping at, ‘how much disease?’ or ‘what state of health?’, here, ‘how did the mouth relate to individuals’ experiences of their world, and how might scientific information about health and disease provide insight into wider aspects of life, society and economy?’ is asked. This paper points to a range of cultural understandings around the mouth which were changing in the High and Later Middle Ages (c 1000–1400), namely: the Bible and changing explanations for the relationships between mouth, heart, confession and experience of the divine; an evolving understanding of medicine and medical principles; and new forms of saintly intervention involved in healthcare. Detailed osteobiographies of two adults from Villamagna illustrate shaped individual experiences and the ways in which oral condition reflects and use-patterns and lifeways common to such communities.","PeriodicalId":54160,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Archaeology","volume":"67 1","pages":"187 - 220"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49014821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2023.2204749
Tim Penn
{"title":"Sepolture, rituali e comunità nei secoli IV–VI d.C. Il cimitero paleocristiano e bizantino di Vaste (Puglia meridionale)","authors":"Tim Penn","doi":"10.1080/00766097.2023.2204749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2204749","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54160,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Archaeology","volume":"67 1","pages":"237 - 238"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45345787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}