Re: Definition of "Medieval."


"Larry Swain" <theswain@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:yLednfRpKPoOnuXbnZ2dnUVZ_jSdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxx
Uwe wrote:


Yes, the Late Antiquity term was pushed mostly by archaeologists, who
showed
that literary fashions and the daily lives need not necessarily describe
the
same situation. Many were convinced by the develoment of mosaics
(spelling
correct? pictures made from little, coloured stones or bits of glass) in
the
Trier region in Late Antiquity. Since then the case for continuity has
been
strenghtened more and more. Sometimes I feel it is even overdone, when
urban
continuities and achievements are stressed and the rural changes and
break-offs are simply omitted.

Yes, and the realization that at least for places within the Roman
Empire, Britain was little different than Gaul in the fifth century
overall, etc.....well done archaeologists!

IIRC Trier was capital of the western empire for some years. No wonder Rome
seemed to have turned into a quiet backwater.


BTW, Uwe, what are you working on now?

Finishing off on a block of buildings in the center of my home town, across
the street from the foreign affairs people. It's the oldest extension of the
town of Berlin. Officially founded in the 17th c. we had some luck early on
with a medieval pit and a corresponding layer. Two 17th-18th c. refuse pits.
And that was that. For the last weeks we have been moving tons of rubble
from WW II, uncovering walls from 20th c, rarely 19th, buildings with deep
cellars.

Across the street a couple of dozen burials from the 17th and 18th c., some
of them extraordinary stuff, found while laying new sewage pipes next to a
church, a former kurfuerstliches riding house.

And just south of that eight trial pits for a building site starting in
march. There used to be many french protestants living there in the 17th and
18th c. It's a complete little street bordered by two rows of houses.

I'd want to take over work at a renaissance hunting lodge, new sewage,
water, gas, communications and electricity first, and than complete
renovation and restoration. It's in the woods right next to a lake, perfect
for a summer excavation.

We are negotiating about terms for two plots in a village an hours drive to
the west, 13th c.- cellars, maybe even late 12th c, and for a seven-plot
site in the heart of the medieval city of Frankfurt/Oder, about an hour to
the east. Two sites in medieval cities where I've been working on and off
for 12 and 8 years respectively are starting next week.

And inbetween a couple of articles, a draft for a proposal for a research
grant for my Meyenburg castle dig, reading up on 17th to 19th c history and
archaeology and a congress (on the week end). I finished drawing seven
tables of graffiti from a peruvian site my boss is excavating and
publishing, Sechin Bajo.


It is one of those periods of transition which is ill named, either as
late
antiquity or as early medieval. Migration age, another term used in
Germany,
puts too much stress on the germanic gangs moving west and south, and
provinzialroemisch or gallo-roemisch(provincial roman and gallo-roman)
ignores everything outside the Limes.

Yes, there really is no good term to cover it all accurately. Facing
just that question now in an encyclopedia I'm involved with that wants
to do NW Europe from 400-1100, but what to name it that covers? None of
the proposed names really works.

Palaeoclimatic peoples call the core of it the early medieval warm epoch.
But that's too long and not really desriptive.

It's very nature is heterogenous; social, economical, technical and
religious traditions were being deconstructed and put together in new
combinations. The cultural horizon expanded in all of those areas and so did
the geographical one, encompassing the Canaries and India, Scandinavia and
Africa.

Age of trials? Age of errors? Age of expansion? Maybe, in contrast to the
times before and after, Age of diversity?

have fun

Uwe Mueller



.

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