Professor Ian McNeely discusses the book written by him and Lisa Wolverton “Reinventing Knowledge”. This event took place August 15, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series.
Here is an intellectual entertainment, a sweeping history of the key institutions that have organized knowledge in the West from the classical period onward. With elegance and wit, this exhilarating history alights at the pivotal points of cultural transformation. The motivating question throughout: How does history help us understand the vast changes we are now experiencing in the landscape of knowledge?
Beginning in Alexandria and its great center of Hellenistic learning and imperial power, we then see the monastery in the wilderness of a collapsed civilization, the rambunctious universities of the late medieval cities, and the thick social networks of the Enlightenment republic of letters. The development of science and the laboratory as a dominant knowledge institution brings us to the present, seeking patterns in the new digital networks of knowledge.
Ian F. McNeely and Lisa Wolverton teach at the University of Oregon and live in Eugene.
Part of Time Team’s History of England special, this episode re-examines some of their finest discoveries, looking at objects they have uncovered from the Medieval period.
Time Team is a British television series that has been airing since 1994. Presented by Tony Robinson, a team of specialists carry out an archaeological dig in three days, with Robinson explaining the process. The show “marks a new approach to archaeology on British television and sets out to capture both the excitement and immediacy of the process of discovery – archaeology as it happens.”
Over two hundred episodes of Time Team have already been aired. Sites are suggested by landowners, local archaeologists, scholars or members of the public, and have included everything from the Paleolithic period to World War II. For example programmes have featured the excavation of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements, Roman villas and medieval churches. Several excavations have resulted in the discovery of sites of national significance, and dozens of academic papers have been written by the members of the show about their discoveries.
Jerome de Groot, writing in his book Consuming History, says Time Team, “presents archaeological investigation as a time-specific adventure, a voyage into the unknown and the harvesting of the hitherto unremarkable sites historical relevance. In some ways the locale becomes the subject of genealogical investigation, a digging into the past in order to understand the journey from that past to the present.”
Watch Episodes Online
Several episodes of earlier Time Team episodes have been made available on Veoh, Google Video and Youtube including:
York – Time Team explores three sites in the famous English city covering three different time periods: Roman, Viking and Medieval
Anglo-Saxon Cemetery – examines a field in Lincolnshire for a possible burial site from Anglo-Saxon times
Medieval England – from their Time Team History of England special, aired in 2002, the team go back to re-examine some of their finest discoveries, looking at objects they have uncovered from the Medieval period.
In the historic city of York, Time Team simultaneously excavated three separate sites containing archaeology from three distinct periods – all under the eagle eyes of ‘live’ television cameras. York was chosen because of the prolific remains of the Roman, Viking and medieval periods that lie beneath its buildings and streets. Time Team’s task was to discover even more about the people who, in the first millennium, shaped the lives of those living in the second.
‘The extraordinary thing about York,’ said Tony Robinson, ‘is that it’s like an enormous trifle – wherever you dig, you discover amazing layers of history. You can find the jelly of the Vikings, the sponge of the Middle Ages and the maraschino cherry of the Romans!’
Time Team’s three regular experts – archaeologists Mick Aston, Phil Harding and Carenza Lewis – oversaw one site each, supported by a small army of specialised archaeologists, geophysicists, historians, graphics experts and diggers. Meanwhile, Tony, with the help of guest presenters Sandy Toksvig and Paul Thompson, moved between all three digs, asking questions on behalf of viewers.
‘It’s by far the largest show we have ever staged,’ said Tony. ‘We have a team of around 150 people and 12 cameras, and we will be transmitting live broadcasts in a city that will be teeming with tourists.’
On the surface it looks just like any other large Lincolnshire field. But when a pipe was laid across it a couple of years previously the trench dug then revealed a number of shallow graves. An exploratory dig in 1998 identified them as Anglo-Saxon – on a site which also threw up large quantities of Roman remains. An earlier water pipe, laid in 1954, had uncovered a lot of Roman pottery here too. So what did it all indicate? And what could Time Team learn about this possible Anglo-Saxon cemetery and former Roman settlement in the three days available?
Here are ten more episodes from Time Team, which cover various finds.
Templecombe, Somerset - The Knights Templar were a major power in the 12th and 13th centuries protecting pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. They gave their name to the village of Templecombe in Somerset. Time Team visits the village in search of evidence of the Templars.
Coventry Cathedral
Much Wenclock, Shropshire – finds 12th and 13th century remains
Inside the Medieval Mind is a 4-part series from the BBC that explores the mindset and lifestyle of medieval citizens and will reveal what motivated people who lived between 800AD and 1400AD and what beliefs we share with our ancestors. It was hosted by Professor Robert Bartlett of the University of St. Andrews, and first aired in 2008.
Medieval expert Dr Rachel Gibbons, Open University Academic Advisor on the series, said: “This is an important series for several reasons. Robert Bartlett is one of the most authoritative voices on the subject of medieval history and is a voice the audience can trust. The academic research that has gone into this programme is impeccable and the viewer will learn so much about the times just by watching.
“The series’ approach is groundbreaking among history programmes. It doesn’t just present events and stories as historical fact, it examines why things happened and why people thought and acted as they did during the Middle Ages. It aims to understand a society rather than just talking about it. The series is not a conventional narrative of important dates; it uses the evidence of historical events and the words and thoughts of people alive in the time to truly get ‘inside the medieval mind.”
Each hour-long episode, titled Knowledge, Sex, Belief, and Power, will focus on a different aspect of medieval life and will be a snapshot of life through all levels of the social hierarchy from the lowliest peasant to the highest Lord.
Knowledge explores the disenchantment of the medieval world, as a rediscovery of ancient knowledge and new methods of scholarship in universities led to an intellectual and scientific revolution during this period, whilst exploration and trading contacts expanded the medieval world view beyond all imagination.
Sex investigates the private lives of medieval men and women, looking at theories of sexual difference, the realities of male-female relationships and courtly romance, and the attitudes of the Church authorities and wider society to marriage, sex and sexual practice, homosexuality, virginity and the celibate vocation.
Belief explores the fundamental place of religious faith and practice to the identity of people in the Middle Ages. It looks at the relationship between the physical and supernatural worlds, the place of pilgrimage, the sacraments and the power of demons, angels and saints in everyday life and the changing relationship of the Church to monasticism, crusading and those outside conventional Christian society.
Power analyses the workings of medieval secular society and the assumptions of people at the time about inequality and the distribution of power. It looks at the lot of the peasantry under feudal, forest and common law codes, the realities of chivalry and the military role of the aristocracy, and the relationship of the medieval king to his subjects – and what might happen when that relationship broke down.
1066: The Battle for Middle Earth is a two part documentary drama in which Justin Hardy tells the story of the great battles of Fulford, Stamford Bridge and Hastings. Epic drama revealing the untold story of the Norman Conquest through the eyes of the ordinary villagers caught up in the chaos.
In this 90-minute documentary, now showing in three 30-minute episodes, Rageh Omaar uncovers the hidden story of Europe’s Islamic past and looks back to a golden age when European civilisation was enriched by Islamic learning.
Rageh travels across medieval Muslim Europe to reveal the vibrant civilisation that Muslims brought to the West. This evocative film brings to life a time when emirs and caliphs dominated Spain and Sicily and Islamic scholarship swept into the major cities of Europe. His journey reveals the debt owed to Islam for its vital contribution to the European Renaissance.
Professor Ian McNeely discusses the book written by him and Lisa Wolverton “Reinventing Knowledge”. This event took place August 15, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. 
