Theme:
5. (Extreme) Environments – Islands, Coasts, Margins, Centres
Title:
MERC Forum: Comparative Island Archaeologies in Medieval Europe
Content:
Islands are contradictory spaces. They are places of contact and isolation, simultaneously at the margins reachable only by water or via a bridge or causeway, but also central to the defining processes of the medieval period such as pilgrimage, commerce, warfare, industry, urbanisation and colonisation.
In this year’s MERC Forum we invite our speakers and audience to reflect on what islands were for, and what islands did, in the Middle Ages. Our speakers are drawn from across Europe and will be discussing a range of island contexts, from coastal islands to those situated on inland rivers. In particular the session seeks to enable the emergence of a comparative approach to island archaeology, to understand how the social, economic and religious roles of islands intersect and diverge, how distinctive island ecologies shaped experiences of these places and to consider the resonances and distinctions between those living in island environments across medieval Europe.
Keywords:
Island, Medieval, Comparative archaeology
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:
Ben Jervis (United Kingdom) 1
Co-organisers:
Marte Spangen (Norway) 2
Affiliations:
1. Cardiff University, UK
2. UiT The Arctic University of Norway
THIS SESSION CAN NOT BE SELECTED AT THIS MOMENT