Theme:
2. From Limes to regions: the archaeology of borders, connections and roads
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Establishing Boundaries: Linear Earthworks, Frontiers and Borderlands in Early Medieval Europe
Content:
In stark contrast to the sustained investigation of the Roman Empire’s frontier zones, early medieval linear earthworks (including those called ‘ramparts’, ‘dykes’ and ‘walls’) have been repeatedly marginalized in archaeological research. Even within investigations of early medieval territorial creation and organization, and further still for those earthworks of a monumental scale, such as Offa’s Dyke, Wat’s Dyke, Wansdyke and the Danevirke, their date, function and significance remain poorly understood. Yet these earthworks may have operated as the spines of early medieval frontiers and borderlands and their creation had ideological, political, social and economic dimensions. Their creation led, in some instances, to the establishment of the complex networks of surveillance and control, land divisions and territory formation which set the groundwork for the transformation of medieval communities and kingdoms. Even today, early medieval linear earthworks are deployed in political and cultural debates and discourses on migrations, ethnicity, frontiers and nationhood.
This MERC sponsored session aims to promote new research on early medieval frontier landscapes, including monumental linears, their landscape settings, afterlives and legacies, including their heritage management and interpretation. The session organisers invite contributions to address themes relating to linear earthworks and medieval frontiers and borderlands including: (i) their relation to post-Roman territorial regions; (ii) how they were components of frontier networks; (iii) the dating and biographies of these linear works; (iv) the role they played in the emergence and collapse of communities and kingdoms, (v) their role in interactions between different societies; (vi) what elements of broader ideological, political, cultural and economic geographies in the early medieval period they represent; (vi) their contemporary role in modern cultural identity; (vii) the impact of heritage conservation, management and interpretation on these features; (viii) how they are viewed in contemporary media and popular culture.
Keywords:
Linear Earthworks, Borderlands, Frontiers, Boundaries, Early Medieval/Medieval
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:
Liam Delaney (United Kingdom) 1
Co-organisers:
Astrid Tummuscheit (Germany) 2
Howard Williams (United Kingdom) 1
Frauke Witte (Denmark) 3
Affiliations:
1. University of Chester
2. Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein
3. Museum Soenderjylland
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