Theme:
Interpreting the archaeological record: artefacts, humans and landscapes
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Archaeology and the definition of Cultural Transitions in the Middle Ages
Content:
During the medieval period religious changes led to many cultural transitions in Europe. The expansion of Islam from Arabia to the Western Mediterranean, across North Africa to the Iberian Peninsula and also towards central Europe led to fundamental changes. In the new Muslim territories new rules governed social, political and spiritual identities in novel ways. These were distinctive from those present in Christian Orthodox and Roman Church territories.
Traditionally scholars have envisioned this period as one of massive migrations. This, however, has recently been challenged by DNA and anthropological research on the one hand, and on the other by new archaeological data from landscape studies and the analysis of burial sites. The latter points out to a slow, rather than immediate, transition in the changes leading to new social rules and economic structures. This session aims to discuss the types of transformation and their rate in Medieval societies due to the religion changes that took place during the millennium from the 5th to the 15th centuries. We will welcome papers with data from DNA studies and archaeological evidence in the landscape including settlements, cemeteries and other cultural heritage evidence.
Keywords:
Cultural Transitions, Medieval Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Burial Archaeology, Islamic Archaeology, DNA analysis
Session associated with MERC:
yes
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Jesús Brufal (Spain) 1
Co-organisers:
Francesca Benetti (Italy) 2
Affiliations:
1. University of Lleida
2. University of Padua
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