Archaeology Archive
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Body Mass and Body Mass Index estimation in medieval Switzerland
Posted on January 27, 2013 | No CommentsThe aim of the present study is to test the available BM estimation formulae based on the femoral head breadth (Auerbach and Ruff 2004, Grine et al. 1995, McHenry 1992, Ruff et al. 1991) on skeletal populations from medieval Switzerland and to reconstruct the BM and the BMI within a specific temporal and geographical setting. -
An Archaeological Overview of Weoley Castle, Birmingham
Posted on January 26, 2013 | No CommentsWeoley Castle is a fortified, medieval manor-house situated four miles to the southwest of Birmingham city centre in the parish of Northfield within the historic county of Worcestershire. -
The Anglo-Saxons in Leicestershire
Posted on January 23, 2013 | No CommentsThe introduction of fieldwalking to the county came in the late 1970s, but at this stage the small and fragile early Anglo-Saxon potsherds were not recognised in the field. No one was claiming to have found sites of this period. In fact, it was often claimed that it could not be done. It would be very useful and interesting to re-examine all of the potsherds found during the early years, looking for previously unidentified early Anglo-Saxon and perhaps Iron Age pottery. -
Dealing with rubbish in a medieval town: a ceramic case study
Posted on January 16, 2013 | No CommentsHow was rubbish perceived or categorized? -
L’Anse aux Meadows was a ‘temporary base camp’ for the Vikings in North America, study finds
Posted on January 9, 2013 | No CommentsA new study of the archaeological remains from the only confirmed Viking settlement in North America argues that it was never meant to be a long-term settlement. It is also very likely that it was the home to at least one Norse woman. -
The Archaeology of Knowth in the First and Second Millennia AD
Posted on January 8, 2013 | No CommentsKnowth, Ireland is the site of one the country's most important archaeological sites: from a large neolithic grave mound to medieval and post-medieval settlements, this place offers a huge amount of evidence on Irish history. -
Mummified saints of the Northern Croatian Littoral
Posted on January 8, 2013 | No CommentsEuropean mummies occupy a significant place among the world known mummies. -
An Investigation Into the Use of Color As a Device to Convey Memes During The Little Ice Age
Posted on January 7, 2013 | No CommentsNo single element in art drives emotion more effectively than color. The Greeks knew this and deliberately painted their marble works for the purpose of eliciting a reaction in the viewer. -
The Dominican Convents in Medieval Norway
Posted on January 6, 2013 | No CommentsIn the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Norway was larger than it is today, where the former Norwegian districts of Jämtland and Bohus are now parts of Sweden. In 1380, the Norwegian throne was inherited by the Danish king, and for the rest of the Middle Ages, Danish monarchs ruled Norway, but even though the kings often made use of Danes in the administration, the Norwegian kingdom did in fact remain as an independent part of a so-called double monarchy. -
More pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard discovered
Posted on January 5, 2013 | No CommentsThe Staffordshire Hoard has now grown by a further 81 pieces, after a Coroner's Court declared yesterday that the newly found objects were part of the Anglo-Saxon treasure. -
Excavating All Saints: a medieval church rediscovered
Posted on January 1, 2013 | No CommentsWhen excavations started at the site of the ‘lost’ church of All Saint’s in York, archaeologists knew they would find burials. What they found was much more than expected: an Anchoress and the remains of soldiers who helped Oliver Cromwell take the city at the Siege of York in 1644. Lauren McIntyre and Graham Bruce explain the evidence. -
Place, memory and identity among estuarine fishing communities: interpreting the archaeology of early medieval fish weirs
Posted on December 31, 2012 | No CommentsMedieval fish weirs were artificial barriers of stone or wood built in rivers or estuaries to deflect fish into an opening where they could be trapped in nets or baskets. -
Learning from the Dead
Posted on December 30, 2012 | No CommentsSomewhere along the banks of the River Volga in Russia there is a large earthen mound underneath which are the burnt remains of a cremation funeral conducted over a thousand years ago. -
Christmas in the Qur’än: the Qur’änic account of Jesus’s nativity and Palestinian local tradition
Posted on December 24, 2012 | No CommentsThe confluence of this evidence strongly suggests that the traditions associated with Kathisma church gave rise to the rather peculiar account of Christ’s Nativity found in the Qur ̄an. -
Observational Archaeoastronomy at Stonehenge: Winter and Summer Solstice Sun Rise and Set Alignments Accurate to 0.2 o in 4000 BP
Posted on December 21, 2012 | No CommentsOur studies since 1980 of Solstice and Equalnight Sun Rise and Set alignments at an ancient site in southern Alberta, the Majorville Medicine Wheel Complex (MMWC), have drawn our attention to Stonehenge (Atkinson 1979; Burl 1976, 1993). While there might have been no ideological or religious similarities between societies in North America and Britain 5000 years ago, we know of no evidence that there was not. Indeed, Sun worship was world-wide at that time. -
Greenland’s Viking settlers gorged on seals
Posted on December 17, 2012 | No CommentsA Danish-Canadian research team has demonstrated the Norse society did not die out due to an inability to adapt to the Greenlandic diet: an isotopic analysis of their bones shows they ate plenty of seals. -
Heart burial in medieval and early post-medieval Central Europe
Posted on December 17, 2012 | No CommentsIn this chapter I will focus on heart burials as a particular version of this manner of dividing the dead body into different parts. I will discuss the development in Central Europe but also make a few comparisons with medieval England, as this area recently has been the subject of new work -
Old Bones: Possible Richard III remains and DNA link found
Posted on December 13, 2012 | No CommentsWhat she found was the skeleton of a body with scoliosis, a curved spine, much like historical descriptions of King Richard. But in order to determine if the remains are indeed his, scientists must now compare the DNA of the remains with that of Richard’s living descendent—Canadian Michael Ibsen. -
A good riddance of bad rubbish? Scatological musings on rubbish disposal and the handling of ‘filth’ in medieval and early post-medieval towns
Posted on December 10, 2012 | No CommentsWhat did people do with their rubbish, what does the material contained in these pits actually signify, and how representative of what would have been in use on these sites are the material assemblages recovered from these contexts? -
Beyond fragments and shards: Children in medieval Bergen
Posted on December 10, 2012 | No CommentsBy analysing physical remains reflecting the games, behaviour and clothing of children (specifically toys and shoes) it has been possible to obtain new information and shed new light on the everyday life of children in medieval Bergen -
The weir and the flowing earthworks of Bedford
Posted on December 9, 2012 | No CommentsSurprisingly few urban dwellers today know in which direction their local river flows. Which way is upstream and which downstream? Such knowledge, once so crucial, no longer has much significance for town inhabitants. Other flows – of electricity, gas and oil – now provide most of the energy that the town needs. -
Fools, Devils, and Alchemy: Secular Images in the Monastery
Posted on December 9, 2012 | No CommentsThe fool is one of the most popular and stable character types throughout cultures and times. This is especially true of medieval Europe. The fool, sometimes a jester, sometimes a clown or a trickster, is always recognizable through his abnormal appearance. -
Archaeological dig in Northern Ireland uncovers huge haul of medieval artefacts
Posted on November 29, 2012 | No CommentsArchaeologists have been impressed by the huge treasure trove of artefacts that have been discovered so far during excavations of a crannog in Northern Ireland. -
Conquest or Colonisation: The Scandinavians in Ryedale from the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries
Posted on November 25, 2012 | No CommentsThe study of settlement history has developed within the fields of history, archaeology and geography. As a result much of the work carried out in settlement studies has borrowed the research and conclusions of scholars from other disciplines. -
Publishing your Research in Archaeology Journals
Posted on November 23, 2012 | No CommentsPart 1: How NOT to get Published in Archaeology, by Robin Skeates; Part 2: How to write a book review, by Estella Weiss‐Krejci
