Avorio d'ogni ragione: the supply of elephant ivory to northern Europe in the Gothic era

This article accounts for the hitherto unexplained increase in the availability of ivory in mid-thirteenth-century France through an alteration in the medieval trade routes that brought elephant tusks from Africa to northern Europe. A newly-opened passage through the Straits of Gibraltar allowed a small amount of luxury goods to be shipped together with bulk materials necessary to the flourishing textile industries of northern Europe.     

Phylogeographic analysis of barley DNA as evidence for the spread of Neolithic agriculture through Europe

Results of analyses of the photoperiod response gene (PPD-H1) and simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in modern landraces of cultivated barley were used as evidence for the mechanism of agricultural spread in Neolithic Europe. In particular, we explored the usefulness of considering adaptive genes as indicators of past selective pressures acting on crops, during their spread through Europe. In some areas, such as the Alpine region, Britain and Scandinavia, we have evidence to suggest that the adaptation of crops to certain climatic conditions may have contributed to the timing of agricultural spread. At the northern fringes of Europe, and in higher altitude locations in central Europe, the introduction of more suitably adapted cereals may have facilitated successful agriculture to trigger agricultural expansion. This research opens up the possibility of investigating other genetic adaptations to climate, which would permit a fuller evaluation of the relative contributions of climate/crop and forager/farmer interactions in the process of agricultural spread.     

England’s trade with the Continent in the early thirteenth century: customs and the port of Dover

ABSTRACT

This article identifies and prints the earliest detailed customs list from northern Europe, which was prepared for the port of Dover in 1233 or soon after, and it gives fuller and more detailed information about trade than for any other northern European port at this date. The list shows a remarkable diversity of trade, including some of the earliest references to particular goods in English documents, and widespread sources of trade including Flanders, Germany and Italy. The depiction of such trading links prompts questions about the ‘commercial revolution’ and the development of European trade, for it shows how varied trade and consumption could be in the era of the fairs of the Champagne towns, before the establishment of direct maritime links from the Italian cities to northern Europe. The appearance of commodities and trading links in the Dover list suggest that commercial development was earlier and more evolutionary.     

Defining and Characterizing Archaeological Quartzite: Sedimentary and Metamorphic Processes in the Lithic Assemblages of El Habario and El Arteu (Cantabrian Mountains,Northern Spain)

Quartzite was the second most‐often used lithic raw material in Europe in the Palaeolithic. However, this rock has not been characterized fully from the geo‐archaeological point of view. This study characterizes, defines and determines types of quartzite in northern Spain through a methodology that integrates petrography, digital image processing and X‐ray fluorescence. As a methodological foundation for the characterization of the material, it aims to open the possibility of discovering mechanisms of mobility, selection and management of quartzite by prehistoric societies. The types determined, based on the petrogenesis of the material, enable a better understanding of the archaeological sites of El Arteu and El Habario in the context of northern Spain in the Middle Palaeolithic.     

INHABITING NEW LANDSCAPES: SETTLEMENT AND MOBILITY IN BRITAIN AFTER THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM

Summary.   This paper explores the debate over the reoccupation of northern Europe after the last glacial maximum. Previous contributions to this debate have focused more on the timing of this event, rather than the technological and mobility strategies that enabled people to move into new landscapes. It is argued that a more detailed examination of the archaeological evidence from specific sites can provide a more nuanced understanding of these issues and can highlight the variety of technical economies employed in the late glacial. These concerns are explored through a case study from the Vale of Pickering in northern England.     

Sub-regionalism in the Newly Independent States

Since 1989, six new sub-regional cooperation groups have emerged as the states of northern, central and eastern Europe work towards forging relationships with one another and their neighbours to east and west. Five of these groups are still in existence and have had considerable success in establishing cooperative relations in many areas outside the realm of purely military security. The authors suggest that such sub-regional groups could provide a useful model in the search for stability among the Newly Independent states of the former Soviet Union. Acknowledging and describing the ways in which this environment differs markedly form that of northern, central and eastern Europe, they point out the suitability of the model to the particular circumstances of the post-Soviet republics.     

Northern Laboratories of Nature and the Quest for Scientific Honour in Early Modern Sweden

Abstract

This article studies the role of climate and geography in the scientific networks which were taking form in Europe in the early modern period. It seeks to contribute to an analysis of the meanings attributed to the North as a scientific environment or an object of study and, in particular, show the wider contextual motivations behind the research of the northern lights as well as phenomena related to physical cold. The analysis will concentrate on the learned discussions taking place between scholars in the Kingdom of Sweden and the Académie des Sciences in Paris. The great scholarly interest in the aurora borealis starting in the early eighteenth century emerged rapidly after the sudden appearance of this striking and enigmatic phenomenon across a large part of Europe during the first decades of the eighteenth century. In a similar manner, cold winters experienced all over Europe during the late seventeenth century had inspired the first scientific societies in Europe to carry out experiments that under ordinary circumstances could not have been pursued. These events underlined the dependency of early empiricists on nature's help when extending the scope of their scientific inquiries. The awareness of the constraints of empirical study, combined with a new ideological view of scientific societies as seats of a collective scientific effort, prompted a new kind of specialization in science. The idea was introduced that each scholar or country should take care of producing experiments and observations that were best attainable in their particular environment. The need became most obvious in research topics such as the cold which – unlike heat – could not be produced artificially. As a demand for observations that were specific to northern tracts emerged in Europe, northern scholars discovered in their expertise on the northern issues a niche to negotiate a new prestige in the European scientific networks. Traditional views had maintained that only the warm, southern climates offered a natural environment for civilisation and arts to flourish. New empirical sciences practised by the scientific societies seemed to provide a convenient break with this assumption.     

Burial Practices in the Northern Danelaw,c.650–1100

Abstract

The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 formed a watershed in the pastoral care of Western Europe. Aiming to transform nominal faith into a more active and personal religious experience, the Lateran IV decrees instigated an internal mission. In the decades immediately following the Council, its reforms were disseminated across Europe through diocesan legislation, where bishops adapted the decrees to fit local circumstances. This paper attempts to follow both the transmission and implementation of the 1215 decrees in the Northern Province, analysing both the reforming climate of northern England and the actual effects of the legislation in the approximate century and a quarter immediately following the Fourth Lateran Council.     

Millet,the late comer: on the tracks of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Panicum miliaceum</Emphasis> in prehistoric Greece

Archaebotanical evidence for Panicum miliaceum is reviewed for prehistoric Greece including published and unpublished recent finds, providing a basis for exploring the context of the appearance of millet in Greece, the timing of its introduction and cultivation, and its significance in terms of contacts, movement of people, and cultural identity as expressed through culinary practice and food consumption. To this end, the archaeobotanical record is examined together with human isotopic, archaeozoological, and artefactual evidence. Millet is introduced to the northern part of Greece sometime during the end of the 3rd millennium bc and established as a widely used crop during the Late Bronze Age. Isotopic evidence suggests that millet consumption during the Late Bronze Age was not widespread but confined to certain regions, settlements, or individuals. Millet is suggested to reach Greece from the north after its spread westwards from China through Central Asia and the steppes of Eurasia. The timing of the introduction of millet and the horse in northern Greece coincide; the possibility therefore that they are both introduced through contacts with horse breeding cultures cultivating millet in the north and/or northeast is raised. Intensified contact networks during the Bronze Age, linking prehistoric northern Greece to central Europe and the Pontic Steppes, would have opened the way to the introduction of millet, overland via river valleys leading to the Danube, or via maritime routes, linking the Black Sea to the north Aegean. Alternatively, millet could have been introduced by millet-consuming populations, moving southwards from the Eurasian steppes.     

Crossing the Maelstrom: New Departures in Viking Archaeology

Journal of Archaeological Research - This paper reviews the achievements and challenges of archaeological research on Viking Age northern Europe and explores potential avenues for future research....     

Transport Amphorae in the West Hallstatt Zone: Reassessing Socio‐Economic Dynamics and Long‐Distance Mediterranean Exchange in Western Central Europe in the Early Iron Age

Trade and cultural relations between western Central Europe and the Mediterranean world in the Early Iron Age remain a major topic of discussion. The products exchanged were mainly connected with the ritual preparation and social consumption of Mediterranean wine. This article examines the question through a comparative study of transport amphorae from the entire West Hallstatt zone. The systematic analysis is based on a specialized study carried out on the material itself. Typological analyses allow us to identify where amphorae originated; previously this was thought to have been just Massalia but this now needs to be expanded to the whole Mediterranean Basin. An analysis of the distribution of amphorae enables us to identify the trajectory these products followed. A comparison with amphora types attested in potential ports in southern France and northern Italy suggests possible trade routes for specific types. Finally, a new chronological scheme for amphorae provides insights into the economic reasons behind these imports and the social impact these products had, enabling us to identify broader socio‐economic trends and long‐distance exchange patterns in western Central Europe.     

Classification of the Amber Beads of the Hungarian Bronze Age

Abstract

Spectroscopic provenance analysis of Hungarian amber artifacts has shown that nearly all of them are of Baltic amber or succinite, which occurs naturally only in northern Europe. The present paper explores the question whether these beads were made in northern Europe and imported into Hungary as finished products, or were made in Hungary from imported raw material.

To this end, 659 extant amber beads of the Bronze Age of Hungary are divided into 17 types by shape and dimensions. The significance of the typology is borne out by striking diachronical patterns: e.g., flattened globular beads (Group III) are virtually limited to the Middle Bronze Age, while truncated bi-conical beads (Group IX) are essentially exclusive to the Late Bronze Age. By comparing Hungarian bead forms of a given period with those of countries to the north, including Denmark and the Baltic States, the classification offers a means by which imported beads may be distinguished from locally made beads.     

Deglaciation and Human Colonization of Northern Europe

Few places worldwide experienced Late Glacial ecological shifts as drastic as those seen in the areas covered by, or adjacent to, the massive ice sheets that blanketed much of the northern hemisphere. Among the most heavily glaciated regions, northern Europe underwent substantial ecological shifts during and after the Last Glacial Maximum. The climatically unstable Pleistocene–Holocene transition repeatedly transformed far-northern Europe, placing it among the last regions to be colonized by Paleolithic societies. As such, it shares paleoenvironmental and archaeological analogues with other once glaciated areas where human populations, entrenched in periglacial environments prior to glacier retreat, spread into newly deglaciated territories. Perhaps most significant for northern Europeans were post-glacial effects of the Younger Dryas and Preboreal periods, as shifts in climate, plant, and animal communities elicited several adaptive responses including innovation, exploration, and the eventual settlement of once glaciated landscapes. This paper is a detailed review of existing archaeological and paleoecological evidence pertaining to the Late Upper Paleolithic of northern Europe, and offers theoretical observations on human colonization models and ecological responses to large-scale stadial and interstadial events.     

Honour, community and hierarchy in the feasts of the archery and crossbow guilds of Bruges, 1445-81

Archery and crossbow guilds first appeared in the fourteenth century in response to the needs of town defence and princely calls for troops. By the fifteenth century these guilds existed across northern Europe. Despite this they have not received the attention they deserve, and have even been dismissed as little more than militias. An analysis of the uniquely detailed account books of the two Bruges guilds, the archers of St Sebastian and the crossbowmen of St George, reveals much about their social activities, and especially their annual meals. Feasts were important to the guilds in three main ways. Firstly, they demonstrated the guild's status and wealth. Secondly, meals helped to strengthen the bonds of the community. The guild's community could include not just members resident in Bruges, but also shooters from other towns and even leading noblemen. Thirdly, and in contrast to this, communal meals were an occasion to exhibit the hierarchy present within these guilds. Hierarchy is shown through the range of foods purchased, and through the seating plans preserved in the St Sebastian's guild accounts.     

INSTRUMENTS OF CONVERSION? THE ROLE OF MEGALITHS IN THE MESOLITHIC/NEOLITHIC TRANSITION IN NORTHWEST EUROPE1

This paper discusses the general conditions which have given rise to megalithic construction techniques, and the specific circumstances under which megalithism became important in Neolithic Europe. It argues that the great elaboration of megalithic constructions in western and northern Europe must be related to the survival there of Mesolithic populations, and that monumentality was an essential element of the cultural rhetoric whereby these indigenous groups were converted to a Neolithic way of life.     

Long‐Distance Pilgrimage and the Counter Reformation in France: Sacred Journeys to the Mont Saint‐Michel 1520 to 1750

In the Counter Reformation, a great upsurge in pilgrimage activity occurred across Europe. Much of this pilgrimage was to local shrines, often newly created. Another destination was Rome. Less well known is the post‐Reformation refashioning of ancient, long‐distance pilgrimages. This article examines the origins and nature of such revived pilgrimage, using the example of the Mont Saint‐Michel in northern France. In the Catholic Reformation, the traditional, distant centres of pilgrimage contributed to the devotional culture of individuals and groups who wanted to go beyond the local, to experience a challenge as part of their spiritual and social growth. At the Mont, revival of the shrine came from the universality of the cult of St Michael, his role in the struggle against heresy, and veneration tied increasingly to that of Christ through the Eucharist. While pilgrims continued to travel in search of, or in thanksgiving for, healing and other graces, there was also greater emphasis on spiritual healing and intimacy with God. Also, for many young men, they proved themselves and their Catholicity by undertaking this heroic journey. Through the pilgrimage to the Mont, reformed Catholicism spread many of its ideas and values around the cities and communities of northern France.     

Eilert Sundt. A founding father of the social sciences in Norway

The cult of St Nicholas spread in Scandinavia and northern Rus' in approximately the same period, namely in the last decades of the 11th and the first decades of the 12th centuries. In spite of such a correspondence, the dissemination of the cult in the two adjacent regions has been treated as two separate phenomena. Consequently, the growing popularity of the cult in Scandinavia has traditionally been dealt with as an immanent part of the transmission of the Catholic tradition, and a similar phenomenon in northern Rus' has been discussed with reference to the establishment of Orthodox Christianity. By contrast, the evidence analysed in this article shows that the establishment of the cult of St Nicholas in the two regions was an intertwined process, in which the difference between Latin Christendom and Greek Orthodoxy played a minor role. The early spread of this particular cult thus suggests that, as far as some aspects of the cult of saints are concerned, the division between Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity in Northern Europe was less abrupt in the 11th and 12th centuries than has been traditionally assumed. This was due to the fact that the medieval cult of saints was not limited to the liturgy of saints, but was a wider social phenomenon in which political and dynastic links and cultural and trading contacts across Northern Europe often mattered more than confessional differences. When we leave the liturgy aside and turn to kings, princes, traders and other folk interacting across the early Christian North, then the confessional borders are less useful for our understanding of how some aspects of Christian culture were communicated across Northern Europe in the first two centuries after conversion.     

Honour,community and hierarchy in the feasts of the archery and crossbow guilds of Bruges, 1445–81

Archery and crossbow guilds first appeared in the fourteenth century in response to the needs of town defence and princely calls for troops. By the fifteenth century these guilds existed across northern Europe. Despite this they have not received the attention they deserve, and have even been dismissed as little more than militias. An analysis of the uniquely detailed account books of the two Bruges guilds, the archers of St Sebastian and the crossbowmen of St George, reveals much about their social activities, and especially their annual meals. Feasts were important to the guilds in three main ways. Firstly, they demonstrated the guild's status and wealth. Secondly, meals helped to strengthen the bonds of the community. The guild's community could include not just members resident in Bruges, but also shooters from other towns and even leading noblemen. Thirdly, and in contrast to this, communal meals were an occasion to exhibit the hierarchy present within these guilds. Hierarchy is shown through the range of foods purchased, and through the seating plans preserved in the St Sebastian's guild accounts.     

Demography and the extinction of European Neanderthals

Causes previously suggested for the sudden extinction of Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) in Europe, starting around 35,000 years ago, comprise food shortage, climatic effects and violence from Modern Humans. The aim here is to formulate a demographic model with reconstructed fertility and death rates, capable of modelling the population development under conditions of changing climate and prey availability, from the early appearance of Neanderthals in Europe about 260,000 years ago to their demise. Parameter variation studies are made for the parameters considered to have the highest uncertainty. Finally, the option of regional migration between northern, middle and southern Europe is added, in order to capture population movements away from a region in response to deteriorating or improving climate. This model accounts for population developments, including the re-population of the Middle and Northern regions of Europe during and after the warm Eem period. However, parameter choices that give plausible results during the initial 210,000 years also predict that the Neanderthals should have survived the latter part of the Weichselian ice age, despite competing for food with Modern Human newcomers during the last part of the period. The conclusion is that other reasons for extinction than climate or starvation must be sought.     

NEW ASPECTS OF THE MESOLITHIC‐NEOLITHIC CEMETERIES AND SETTLEMENT AT ZVEJNIEKI,NORTHERN LATVIA

The paper reflects upon recent international research at Zvejnieki in northern Latvia, a renowned complex of a burial ground and two settlement sites used in the Mesolithic and Neolithic. Since its discovery and first excavations in the 1960s, Zvejnieki continues to produce evidence that provides new grounds for understanding mortuary practises and ancient lifeways. This information is relevant for other contemporary sites in Europe revealing new and hitherto unexpected elements of burial traditions. It is suggested that the Zvejnieki population was partly mobile, and the site was one of the places to bury the dead. The ancestral link was established through transportation and use of occupational debris from more ancient sites and through the incorporation of earlier burial space or even burials into the new graves. The depth of a burial also appears to be a significant variable in ancient mortuary practices.