Günter Fehring, "Einführung in die Archäologie des Mittelalters. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1987
Translated by Ross Samson. First published in 1991 by Routledge.
Medieval archaeology is a relatively young discipline. It relies heavily on and contributes to the neighbouring disciplines of history and geography as well as certain of the natural sciences. The kinds of sources investigated in the context of medieval archaeology also cast light on many aspects of life in later centuries. The main sources used are: graveyards, churches and churchyards; castles and fortifications; rural and urban settlements; technical production sites and routes of communication. Closely allied to these are the numerous finds of small objects of everyday life, from cutlery and tools to animal remains and grain. This book is a comprehensive discussion of what can be established from the use of such materials about the culture and daily life of medieval Germany. Each subject is augmented with the use of many illustrations. Besides methodological questions, the author considers what can be learnt about the history of settlement and architecture, of technology, of economic and social matters, of churches and missions, and of population, diet and vegetation.
Author(s): Günter P. Fehring
Series: Routledge Library Editions: Archaeology, 39
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2015
Language: English
Pages: XX+266
Preface ix
Translator's Introduction xi
Chapter 1. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY 1
I. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY AS PART OF THE HISTORY DISCIPLINE 1
II. HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN GERMANY 2
a) Early Medieval Cemeteries
b) Churches and Churchyards
c) Settlements
d) Fortifications and Palaces
e) Contribution to Important Questions in Medieval Research
III. DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES 14
a) Subject Boundaries
b) Chronological Limits
IV. ORGANISATIONS ENGAGED IN MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH 18
a) Federal Republic of Germany: the West
b) Federal Republic of Germany: the East (former GDR)
c) Neighbouring Countries
d) Addresses
V. UNIVERSITY COURSES IN MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN GERMANY 25
Chapter 2. THE SOURCES AND THEIR ANALYSIS 27
I. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND INVENTORIES 27
II. ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTING 30
a) Aerial Photography
b) Geophysical Survey
c) Chemical Prospecting
d) Botanical Prospecting
III. EXCAVATION METHODS AND DATING 34
a) Stratigraphy and Relative Chronology
b) Stratigraphically-Tied Finds and Absolute Chronology
c) Results
d) Archaeological and Historical Dating
e) Some Remarks on Excavation Techniques
IV. EVALUATION OF THE EXCAVATION 47
a) The Archaeological Study
b) Scientific and Specialists' Reports
c) Textual and Other Sources
V. PUBLICISING THE RESULTS OF RESEARCH 52
a) Academic Information
b) Information for the Wider Public
Chapter 3. CEMETERIES, CHURCHES, AND CHURCHYARDS 57
I. CEMETERIES 57
a) Cremation
b) Inhumations
c) Grave-Goods
d) Social and Economic History
e) Anthropological Research
f) The Structure of the Cemeteries
g) Cemeteries with 'Christian' Grave-Goods
II. CHURCHES 70
a) Christianity in Late Antiquity and the Question of Continuity into the Early Middle Ages
b) Missionary Activity and the Spread of Christianity
c) The Relationship of Cemeteries to Churches and Churchyards
d) The End and Continuity of the Custom of Burial with Grave-Goods
e) Burial in Churches, Founders' Graves, and Private Churches
f) The Cult of Relics: Reliquaries and Holy Graves
g) Churches, Bishoprics, and Monasteries
h) Churchyards
III. FINDINGS OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 87
Chapter 4. DEFENSIVE SITES: FORTS, CASTLES, AND PALACES 89
I. EARLY MEDIEVAL FORTIFICATIONS 90
a) Large Central-Place Forts from the Migration to the Early Carolingian Period in Southern and Central Germany
b) Carolingian-Ottonian Fortifications with Central-Place Functions in Southern Germany
c) Early to Central Medieval Fortifications with Central-Place Functions in Northern Germany
d) Slavic Fortifications with Central-Place Functions
e) Conclusions
II. DONJONS AND MOTTES; NOBLES' SMALL CASTLES OF THE MIDDLE AGES 108
a) Donjon, Keep, Tower
b) Mottes
c) Rights of Fortification
d) Lordly Manors and Fortified Manors (Moated Sites)
e) Small Forts of the Slavic Nobility
III. THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CASTLES IN THE CENTRAL TO LATER MIDDLE AGES 121
a) Castle Corpus and the Development of Castle Categories
b) Castle Excavations
IV. ROYAL PALACES AND ESTATES 126
a) Carolingian Palaces
b) Ottoman Palaces
c) Palaces of the Staufen Period
V. BLOCKADES AND REFUGES 136
VI. LINEAR EARTH-WORKS AND TERRITORIAL DEFENCES 140
Chapter 5. RURAL AND URBAN SETTLEMENTS 145
I. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS 146
II. RURAL SETTLEMENT 148
a) Building and Topographic Elements
b) The Cultural Landscape and its Use
c) Economic and Social Structures
d) Settlement History and Processes of Colonisation and Abandonment
III. URBAN SETTLEMENTS, THE CONCEPT OF THE TOWN, AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH 179
a) Proto-Urban Sites and Early Towns
b) The Fully Developed Town of the Central and Later Middle Ages
IV. ARCHAEOLOGY OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 221
a) Traffic on the Land
b) Waterways
Chapter 6. THE CONTRIBUTION OF ARCHAEOLOGY TO MEDIEVAL RESEARCH 229
I. HISTORICAL QUESTIONS 229
II. ARCHAEOLOGY AND COOPERATION WITH NEIGHBOURING DISCIPLINES 235
Bibliography 239
Index 261
