A Coptic Center in Medieval West Africa: Reframing Prester John and Early Global Trade
This paper explores the importance of new technologies in the art historical study of Medieval West Africa and how related methodologies both help us understand the important art and architectural landscape here in this period, and how Africa and the eastern Coptic Christian world helped to reshape Africa in this era.
Pirates, Merchants, and a Small Battle on the Island of Kythira in the Later Middle Ages
Incidents of maritime violence such as this were common in the Mediterranean during the later Middle Ages.
Around the Barbarian Sea: Settlements and Outcomes in the Early Medieval Baltic
The Viking towns of Birka, Kaupang, Hedeby and Ribe have captured the imagination of archaeologists and the public alike, presenting the lives of their enigmatic inhabitants.
Whetstones lead to new theory on why the Viking Age began
New article argues the Vikings were pushed out of Scandinavia and had to attack raid lands such as the British Isles, since they were prevented from attacking targets closer to home.
Trans-Saharan gold trade and Byzantine coinage
This article suggests that minting at Carthage of the Byzantine gold coins known as globular solidi was related to the acquisition of metal through developing trans-Saharan contacts.
The Land of Darkness and the Global Middle Ages
Why do we find coins from Central Asia and silver from Iran in Lincolnshire? What prompted medieval people to pack up and look for opportunity and adventure elsewhere?
Between Venice and Alexandria: Trade and the Movement of Precious Metals in the Early Mamluk Period
The Venetians were conspicuous among the merchants resuming trade in Mamluk lands shortly after the fall of Acre in 1291.
The Commerce of the German Alpine Passes During the Early Middle Ages
In addition to the inability of the manor to be self-sufficient, the human desire for luxuries, foreign goods, such as fine clothing, highly decorated weapons, and exceptional foods, especially foreign wines and spices, tended to keep commerce alive.
Byzantium and Venice: The Rise and Fall of a Medieval Alliance
The story of the Venetian-Byzantine military alliance is a complex one, with many questions that need to be answered.
Fur trade may have spread the Black Death through Europe, study finds
Commercial trade routes, including the fur trade routes, would have contributed to the rapid spread of the Black Death and other epidemics throughout Europe.
Dorset, Norse, or Thule? Technological transfers, marine mammal contamination, and AMS dating of spun yarn and textiles from the Eastern Canadian Arctic
Norse woven textiles definitely were acquired by Thule people much farther to the north and during the late 13th century. The AMS date received from Skraeling Island helps to narrow the age of the woven woolen cloth recovered there, and implies that interactions between the Norse and Thule Inuit may have begun almost as soon as these Arctic pioneers arrived from Alaska
How fruits spread along the Silk Road in the Middle Ages
New research reveals that many of the most familiar fruits in our kitchens today were cultivated in Central Asia over a millennium ago
Uncovering the glass-industry in 9th century Iraq
Analysis of chemical composition of glass specimens allows reconstruction of glass supply and exchange networks in the Abbasid Caliphate
Ancient DNA reveals the chronology of walrus ivory trade from Norse Greenland
These results reveal a significant shift in trade from an early, predominantly eastern source towards a near exclusive representation of Greenland ivory.
The Italian “commercial revolution”: an archaeological reading
Archaeology tells us more about how commerce really worked than written texts do, but it has not been used enough to construct historical narratives on its own; this lecture will offer one.
How did a cockatoo reach 13th century Sicily?
Frederick II’s cockatoo provides a rare window into that world – a medieval world that was surprisingly interconnected.
Literacy and Trade in Late Medieval Norway
The present article tries to study whether or not it is possible to relate the notion of literacy to trade in this period of time in late medieval Norway.
The elusive Norse harbours of the North Atlantic: why they were abandoned, and why they are so hard to find
In the 8th century, Scandinavians began to press westwards across the North Atlantic; exploring, raiding, colonizing and trading.
The Road to China: Seaborne Exploration in Medieval Islam
This lecture explores how sea and mainland trade with China was one of the most important aspects of the flourishing of Islam in the Middle Ages.
Assembling the archaeology of the global Middle Ages
Responding to recent developments in archaeological theory and growing interest in the ‘global Middle Ages’, an approach to exploring relations between local and global processes in the medieval world is proposed.
World cities before globalisation: The European city network, A.D. 1300-1600
This dissertation is a quantitative study of the spatial business strategies of 130 late medieval and 16th-century European commercial and banking firms, the business networks of which have been put together for a structural analysis of the European city network between ca. 1300 and ca. 1600.
Linking the Mediterranean: The Construction of Trading Networks in 14th and 15th-century Italy
When the Mediterranean Sea is discussed historically, it is never a simple question of geography. Its meaning remains somewhat indeterminate. It refers to intellectual journeys that do not circumnavigate any one particular region; it indicates periods that splash over.
Walrus Ivory and a History of Trade: Greenland Trade Networks in the North Atlantic
Norse settlement in Greenland represents the far westward reach of Norse influence. Despite being a considerable distance from other settlements, the Greenland colony was not nearly as isolated as it appeared.
Catalan commerce in the late Middle Ages
In this article I shall examine the maritime commercial activities of Catalans abroad.