Prerequisite:

Admission open to all students with an interest in medieval history and archaeology. Students are recommended, but not required, to take EUH-3182 (Medieval Archaeology) in advance.

Enrollment:

For a summer period of six weeks, the course enrollment is no more than 10 students. Students taking this course cannot re-take it for more academic credit.
 
 

Credit

This course is offered for six (6) semester hours of coursework. The credit for these hours is to be applied entirely to History (EUH-4186). The course is offered in cooperation with the Medieval and Post-medieval Archaeology Research Group at the University of Barcelona and will take place on two sites in Catalonia (northeastern Spain), L'Esquerda, at the foot of the Pyrenees, and Altimiris, in the province of Lleida. Classes will be taught, using lectures and class discussions, supplemented by on-site visits, laboratory work and fieldwork. Participation in an ongoing research excavation will be an integral part of the course. Two weeks of field trips are included in the course schedule. For more details, see the handout.

Textbooks:
 

• Kevin Greene and Tom Moore. Archaeology. An Introduction, 5th edition. London/New York: Routledge, 2010; ISBN: 9780415496391 [hereafter Greene and Moore]

There is no attendance policy, but you are responsible for attending all lectures and reading the required texts. The basis for evaluation of performance will be class participation, one exam, and satisfactory fieldwork. The exam will consist of  two parts: an identification and/or multiple-choice part, and a short essay, in which you will be asked to synthesize your knowledge of the topic, dropping in facts to show that you understand the concrete aspects of that topic. Make-up exam will be given for very serious reasons, in which case you will have to produce some official proof. The exam counts for twenty percent of the final grade. The fieldwork component will count for 70 percent, of which forty percent represents the journal kept during the four weeks of fieldwork. The remaining ten percent of your overall grade is for participation in class discussions.  

Course weekly schedule (lectures and discussions):

Introduction. Archaeology in the classroom, archaeology in the field.
What is medieval archaeology?

• John Hines, “Myth and reality: the contribution of archaeology,” in Old Norse Myths. Literature and Society, edited by Margaret Clunies Ross (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2003), pp. 19-39.
• Axel Christophersen, “The future of medieval archaeology—perspectives and possibilities,” in Bilan et perspectives des études médiévales (1993-1998). Euroconférence (Barcelona, 8-12 juin 1999). Actes du IIe Congrès européen d’Etudes médiévales, edited by Jacqueline Hamesse (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), pp. 209-221.

• Birgit Arrhenius, “The ancient Svearike—myth or archaeological reality?” Quaestiones Medii Aevi Novae 12 (2007), 191-214.

Greene and Moore 7-20

see a video presentation of Thomsen's Three-Age system, as well as the short biographies of Gustaf Kossinna and Oskar Montelius

• Greene and Moore 21-25, 263-272
• see also a biography of Lewis Binford

• Greene and Moore 273-293
• see also a biography of Ian Hodder

• Greene and Moore 55-85
• see a short essay on the use of aerial photography in archaeology
• see also a GIS application to an archaeological project in Burgundy (France)

• Greene and Moore 89-145
• visit the site of the Harris Matrix

Greene and Moore 148-189

see brief presentations of the principles of radiocarbon dating and of luminiscence dating 

visit the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona

• Hans Andersson, “Reflections on Swedish medieval rural archaeology,” in Archäologie des Mittelalters und Bauforschung im Hanseraum. Ein Festschrift für Günter P. Fehring, edited by Manfred Gläser (Rostock: Reich, 1993), pp. 83-91.

• Sofia Andersson and Eva Svensson, “The local and regional arena of a Middle Age Swedish farm,” in Rural Settlements in Medieval Europe. Papers of the “Medieval Europe Brugge 1997” Conference, 6, edited by Guy de Boe and Frans Verhaeghe (Zellik: Instituut voor het Archeologisch Patrimonium, Wettenschapelijke instelling van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, 1997), pp. 221-231.

• Eva Svensson, “Gender and spatial pattern in the Scandinavian farmstead and outland,” in Utmark: the Outfield as Industry in the Iron Age and the Middle Ages, edited by Ingunn Holm, Sonja Innselset, and Ingrid Øje (Bergen: Department of Archaeology, 2005), pp. 157-170.

• see also an aerial photography of the settlement at Store Valby (Denmark) and picture of Märta Strömberg
• see a reconstruction of the settlement at Vorbasse (Denmark)
• visit the medieval village of Wharram Percy
• see a map of Värmland with the location of Skramle

• László Bartosiewicz, “People and animals: the archaeozoologist’s perspective,” in People and Nature in Historical Perspective, edited by József Laszlovszky and Péter Szabó (Budapest: Central European University, Department of Medieval Studies, 2003), pp.23-34.

• Peter Norman, “Outer archipelago fishing as a resource in the societies of the Late Iron Age and the Middle Ages,” Eesti Arheoloogia Ajakiri 13 (2009), no. 2, 132-150.

• Bengt Jacobsson, “Trelleborg in Scania. Late Iron Age settlement, late Viking-age ring fort and high medieval town,” Hikuin 25 (1998), 15-22.

• Jørgen Skaarup, “Medieval castles and castle mounds on the islands south of Fyn: the situation after 50 years’ archaeological investigations,” Journal of Danish Archaeology 12 (1994-1995), 151-169.

• Hans Lind, Viveka Löndahl, Susanne Pettersson, “The unknown castle: the archaeological aspects of lordship, household and rural environment,” in Military Studies in Medieval Europe. Papers of the “Medieval Europe Brugge 1997” Conference, 11, edited by Guy de Boe and Frans Verhaeghe (Zellik: Instituut voor het Archeologisch Patrimonium, Wettenschapelijke instelling van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, 1997), pp. 197-208.

• see images of the earliest castle, the keep of Doué-la-Fontaine and of the Søby Volde  castle on Aerø (southern Denmark)
• see pictures of the Kärnan in Helsinborg and of Saxholmen
• visit the Montgomery Castle in Wales (with a view of the remains of the gatehouse across the rock-cut moat)
• see examples of portcullis, bailey (with an example of two baileys for the Windsor Castle), barbican (Trim Castle, Ireland), "geometric castle" (Château Gaillard, France), and a motte
• see a map of Langeland, with the location of Borrebjerg
• visit Trelleborg and the Danevirke in Denmark (with a view of the section)
• visit Lykkesholm (Denmark) and Glimmingehus (Sweden)

• Mary A. MacLeod, “The moot question of urbanism: recent excavations at Birka,” Northern Studies 33 (1998), 11-23.

• Peter Carelli, “The past and future of archaeology in Lund,” in Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum, I: Stand, Aufgaben und Perspektiven, edited by Manfred Gläser (Lübeck: Verlag Schmidt-Rörnhild, 1997), pp. 429-439.

• see also a picture of Richard Hodges (at the time of his Dark Age Economies)
• see a picture of Åhus from the air and a brief presentation of Birka (complete with a reconstruction of the site, finds from the bronze casting workshop, and finds of Eastern origin)
• see pictures of the Stortorget in Lund and of the Church of St. Peter in Malmö

• Bertil Helgesson, “Uppåkra in the 5^th to 7^th centuries. The transformation of a central place and its hinterland,” in Central Places in the Migration and Merovingian Periods. Papers from the 52^nd Sachsensymposium, Lund, August 2001, edited by Brigitta Hårdh and Lars Larsson (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2002), pp. 31-40. 

• Lars Larsson, “A ceremonial building as a ‘home of the gods’? Central buildings in the central place of Uppåkra,” in The Gudme-Gudhem Phenomenon. Papers Presented at a Workshop Organized by the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA), Schleswig, April 26^th and 27^th, 2010, edited by O. Grim and A. Pesch (Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2011), pp. 189-206.

• see the longhouse in Hofstaðir (Iceland), long believed to be a temple, and the church in Maere (Norway), the excavation of which revealed a cult building underneath
• see pictures of the excavation of the cult building in Uppåkra, of the cache with a beaker and a glass bowl dated c. 500, and of one of the 111 gold-foil plaques found inside the building
• visit the stave churches of Urnes and Borgund (with a plan and a view of the cross braces in the interior) and the ruins of the Church of St. Per in Sigtuna
• see pictures of the cathedrals in Ribe (with a view of the "cat's portal"), Nidaros (Trondheim), Roskilde, Uppsala, and Odense
• see pictures of the churches in Kalundborg (with plan), St. Mary in Sigtuna, and the cathedral in Turku

• Christer Carlsson, “The religious orders of knighthood in medieval Scandinavia: historical and archaeological approaches,” Crusades 5 (2006), 131-142.

• visit the Selje Abbey (with plan) and the Augustinian church in Dalby

• Johan Callmer, “North-European trading centres and the early medieval craftsman. Craftsmen at Åhus, northeastern Scania, Sweden, ca. AD 750-850+,” in Central Places in the Migration and Merovingian Periods. Papers from the 52^nd Sachsensymposium, Lund, August 2001, edited by Brigitta Hårdh and Lars Larsson (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2002), pp. 125-157.
• Anders Reisnert, “Trade in medieval Malmö,” in Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum, II: Der Handel, edited by Manfred Gläser (Lübeck: Verlag Schmidt-Rörnhild, 1999), pp. 493-503.

• Morten Axboe, “Towards the kingdom of Denmark,“ Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 10 (1999), 109-118.

Airfare tickets, passports, visas, adequate medical insurance (including emergency repatriation insurance), and other travel expenses are the responsibility of students. Upon request, assistance with group rates for airfare may be provided.

© 2012 Florin Curta