Diet and diversity at later medieval Fishergate: The isotopic evidence

We present the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of bone collagen for 155 individuals buried at the Later Medieval (13th to early 16th century AD) Gilbertine priory of St. Andrew, Fishergate in the city of York (UK). The data show significant variation in the consumption of marine foods between males and females as well as between individuals buried in different areas of the priory. Specifically, individuals from the crossing of the church and the cloister garth had consumed significantly less marine protein than those from other locations. Isotope data for four individuals diagnosed with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) are consistent with a diet rich in animal protein. We also observe that isotopic signals of individuals with perimortem sharp force trauma are unusual in the context of the Fishergate dataset. We discuss possible explanations for these patterns and suggest that there may have been a specialist hospital or a local tradition of burying victims of violent conflict at the priory. The results demonstrate how the integration of archaeological, osteological, and isotopic data can provide novel information about Medieval burial and society.

10,000 years in the life of the river Wandle: excavations at the former Vinamul site, Butter Hill, Wallington

Archaeological excavations alongside the river Wandle in Wallington produced evidence of the environmental history and human exploitation of the area. The recovery of a large assemblage of struck flint provided information on the nature of the prehistoric activities represented, while a detailed environmental archaeological programme permitted an examination of both the local sediment successions and thus an opportunity to reconstruct the environmental history of the site. The site revealed a complex sedimentary sequence deposited in riverine conditions, commencing during the early Holocene (from c 10,000 years before present) and continuing through the late Holocene (c last 3000 years). Large flint nodules were washed by the river onto the site where they were procured and worked by Mesolithic and Bronze Age communities. Potentially usable nodules had been tested, and suitable pieces completely reduced, while the majority of useful flakes and blades had been removed for use elsewhere. Small numbers of retouched pieces, such as scrapers and piercers, indicate that domestic activities took place nearby. By the Saxon period the site had begun to stabilise, although it remained marshy and probably peripheral to habitation. Two pits from this period were excavated, one of which contained an antler pick. A small quantity of cereal grain also suggests that cultivated land lay in the vicinity of the site. During the 19th century a mill race was dug across the site, redirecting water from the river Wandle, which resulted in episodic flooding.

Mesolithic to Neolithic and medieval coastal environmental change: intertidal survey at Woolaston, Gloucestershire

At Woolaston on the western shores of the middle Severn Estuary c. 7 km upstream of Chepstow intertidal Holocene sediment exposures have been surveyed and the stratigraphic sequence established by coring and limited excavation. There are two main peats each with a submerged forest. An existing dendrochronological sequence for the Upper Submerged Forest has been extended and the preliminary results of pollen analysis from the peat sequence are summarised. A few flint flakes were found but were not stratified in the mid-Holocene sequence. There is evidence for late Mesolithic / early Neolithic burning episodes which may relate to human activity. Evidence is reported for Medieval activity and the extensive modification of drainage in this period is suggested.

The origins of domestic horses in north-west Europe: new direct dates on the horses of Newgrange, Ireland

This paper presents direct radiocarbon measurements on horse skeletal remains from the Beaker period settlement at the site of Newgrange in Ireland, finds which have previously been argued as the earliest domestic horses in Ireland. The new determinations date the horse remains to the Irish Iron Age and shed important new light on the introduction of domestic horses to Ireland and to north-west Europe more generally. Although the new dates undermine the idea for the introduction of horses as part of a ‘Beaker package’, the early use of horse is not well defined archaeologically or chronologically and the earliest use of domestic horses in Ireland and Britain is still uncertain. This paper also identifies evidence for heavy bitting damage on the Iron Age Newgrange horse teeth and presents some possible parallels between the evidence from Newgrange and that at Tara, which has been previously linked with kingship rituals

Palaeobiology of the medieval population of Albano (Rome, Italy): a combined morphological and biomolecular approach

Recent years have seen increased interest in skeletal populations from the Imperial Roman Age in Italy, but much less is known about diet and standards of living in the subsequent medieval period. To fill this gap, we conducted a morphological analysis of human remains from Albano, an Italian town near Rome, as well as a stable isotope analysis of bone collagen to reconstruct diet. The sample was recovered from a Medieval cemetery (1040–1220 cal. yr. BP) located in the gardens of the historical Palazzo Doria Pamphili in Albano. A minimum number of 40 individuals (31 adults and 9 sub-adults) were examined using standard methods. Though the general health status of the population was good, signs of cribra orbitalia and diffuse enthesopathies were noted during the morphological examination. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of the bone collagen from 24 adult humans and three faunal bones indicate that the diet of the population may be described as predominantly terrestrial and C3-plant based although the data for some of the individuals suggest a modest consumption of C4-(millet) based or aquatic proteins. No evidence of significant dietary differences between the sexes was found. The comparison of the isotope data from Albano with those from populations recovered in the same region is consistent with a shift from a terrestrial, possibly plant foods-dominated subsistence in the Early Middle Ages to a diet with a higher contribution from animal proteins, both terrestrial and aquatic, in the Later Middle Ages.

Biała Góra: the forgotten colony in the Medieval Pomeranian-Prussian borderlands

Biała Góra 3 is a small settlement founded in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century AD in the disputed Christian borderlands of Northern Europe. The incorporation of Pomerania into the Polish state in the tenth century was followed by a process of colonisation across the lower Vistula valley, which then stalled before resuming in the thirteenth century under the Teutonic Order. Biała Góra 3 is unusual in falling between the two expansionist phases and provides detailed insight into the ethnicity and economy of this borderland community. Pottery and metalwork show strong links with both Pomeranian and German colonists, and caches of bricks and roof tiles indicate durable buildings of the kind associated with the monastic and military orders. Evidence for the presence of merchants suggests Biała Góra 3 was one of many outposts in the commercial network that shadowed the Crusades.

Survival at the frontier of Holy War: political expansion, crusading, commerce and the medieval colonizing settlement at Biała Gora, North Poland

Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries AD, the Lower Vistula valley represented a permeable and shifting frontier between Pomerelia (eastern Pomerania), which had been incorporated into the Polish Christian state by the end of the tenth century, and the territories of western Prussian tribes, who had resisted attempts at Christianization. Pomeranian colonization eventually began to falter in the latter decades of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, most likely as a result of Prussian incursions, which saw the abandonment of sites across the borderland. Subsequently, the Teutonic Order and its allies led a protracted holy war against the Prussian tribes, which resulted in the conquest of the region and its incorporation into a theocratic state by the end of the thirteenth century. This was accompanied by a second wave of colonization, which resulted in the settlement pattern that is still visible in the landscape of north-central Poland today. However, not all colonies were destroyed or abandoned in between the two phases of colonization. The recently excavated site of Biała Góra, situated on the western side of the Forest of Sztum overlooking the River Nogat, represents a unique example of a transitional settlement that included both Pomeranian and Teutonic Order phases. The aim of this paper is to situate the site within its broader landscape context which can be characterized as a militarized frontier, where, from the later twelfth century and throughout much of the thirteenth century, political and economic expansion was combined with the ideology of Christian holy war and missionary activity. This paper considers how the colonists provisioned and sustained themselves in comparison to other sites within the region, and how Biała Góra may be tentatively linked to a documented but otherwise lost outpost in this volatile borderland.

The history of entrepreneurship: Medieval origins of a modern phenomenon

The origins of enterprise are often associated with the Industrial Revolution, but this article presents evidence of entrepreneurial activities from a much earlier date – the medieval period. Between 1250 and 1500 the church, merchants and members of the royal court all engaged in activities that demonstrated the entrepreneurial characteristics of innovation, risk-taking and judgement. The activities of the prior of Tynemouth and the career of the wool merchant William de la Pole illustrate these developments. By focusing on individuals rather than firms, it is possible to push back the study of entrepreneurship beyond the Industrial Revolution and early-modern trade to a period that witnessed the origins of the modern state.

Magic and medieval society

Magic and Medieval Society presents a thematic approach to the topic of magic and sorcery in western Europe between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries. It aims to provide readers with the conceptual and documentary tools to reach informed conclusions as to the existence, nature, importance and uses of magic in medieval society. Contrary to some previous approaches, this book argues that magic was inextricably connected to other areas of cultural practice and was found across medieval society: at medieval courts; at universities; and within the Church itself. The book also puts forward the argument that the witch craze was not a medieval phenomenon but rather the product of the Renaissance and the Reformation, and demonstrates how the components for the early-modern persecution of witches were put into place.

Season of birth and sheep husbandry in late Roman and Medieval coastal Flanders: a pilot study using tooth enamel d18O analysis

From the early Roman period, there is archaeological evidence for the exploitation of the Flemish coastal plain (Belgium) for a range of activities, such as sheep herding on the then developing salt-marshes and salt-meadows for the production of wool. During the early Middle Ages, this culminated in the establishment of dedicated ‘sheep estates’. This phase of exploitation was followed by extensive drainage and land reclamation measures in the high Medieval period, transforming areas into grassland, suited for cattle breeding. As part of a larger project investigating the onset, intensification and final decline of sheep management in coastal Flanders in the historical period, this pilot study presents the results of sequential sampling and oxygen isotope analysis of a number of sheep teeth (M2, n = 8) from four late Roman and Medieval sites (dating from 4th to 15th century AD), in order to assess potential variations in season of birth between the different sites and through time. In comparison with published data from herds of known birth season, incremental enamel data from the Flemish sites are consistent with late winter/spring births, with the possibility of some instances of slightly earlier parturition. These findings suggest that manipulation of season of birth was not a feature of the sheep husbandry-based economies of early historic Flanders, further evidencing that wool production was the main purpose of contemporary sheep rearing in the region. Manipulation of season of birth is not likely to have afforded economic advantage in wool-centred economies, unlike in some milk- or meat-based regimes.