A Medieval Pottery Kiln at Audlem,Cheshire

BUILDING ACCOUNTS for 1398–99 give detailed costs of the construction of a circular, brick, free-standing artillery tower. The artillery towers at Southampton and Canterbury were linked to existing wall circuits, and detached forts in France may be more comparable to the tower at Norwich.     

Medieval Maps at Merton College,Oxford

Abstract

À la fin du XVIIIe siècle, dans le processus de fixation de la frontière linéaire entre le Royaume de France et les Pays‐Bas autrichiens, les cartes manuscrites thématiques des traités des limites jouent un rôle fondamental en tant qu'instruments de négociation. Ces cartes permettent de saisir visuellement la complexité des possessions territoriales et de comprendre les enjeux économiques et politiques des transactions pacifiques. Les cartes analysées, de concert avec les actes des traités, mettent clairement en évidence un aspect moins connu, mais fondamental des cartes des limites, à savoir leur rôle en tant qu'indicateurs des enjeux économiques, en présentant avec beaucoup de soin les grands axes de communication par route.     

Women anthropologists look at women

Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere, eds. Woman, Culture, and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974. xi + 352 pp. Figures, tables, references, and index. $12.50 (cloth), $3.95 (paper).     

Medieval village planning in northern England: some evidence from Yorkshire

A village plan comprising regular toft rows facing a street or green is common in lowland Yorkshire north of the river Aire and west of the river Hull, and many such plans are believed to have been established in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. The obvious occasion for a settlement reorganisation involving the creation of regular plans was the aftermath of a phase of devastation between 1066 and 1070. Domesday Book data are used to identify the local circumstances that favoured regular plan creation. A two-stage recolonisation is hypothesised: first, local survivors were grouped into “manorial” type communities where pre-Conquest village layouts were usually revived; second, free colonists were attracted from other districts and settled in villages of regular plan. Subsequent population growth was in some cases associated with the addition of regular toft rows to existing settlements, thereby giving rise to the more widely distributed partly-regular plans.     

超越的悖论——试析西欧中世纪修道院改革运动

修道是一种脱离世俗,献身宗教的生活方式,一种超越现实的精神追求。在基督教统治下的中世纪西欧,修道本应是深受尊崇的正统化现象,但奇怪的是,它却不断受到批评和谴责,改革修道院的运动此起彼伏。究其原因,是由于西欧中世纪的社会条件以及基督教的主流化地位使以出世自命的修道成为人世的捷径,修道院里弊端丛生,成为腐败渊薮。以超越现实为宗旨和初衷,却一次比一次更深地陷入现实的泥淖。修道何以出现这种悖论而无力自拔?本对此试作分析。不当之处,尚祈指正。     

Excavations at the Medieval Village of Wythemail,Northamptonshire

EXCAVATION of a single enclosure revealed a sequence from early 13th-century timber buildings to structures with stone foundations, or completely stone-built, in the later 13th and 14th centuries. A two-roomed long-house was replaced by a more complex four-roomed long-house built on a different alignment. Also in the enclosure were a sequence of six outbuildings rebuilt in various positions. In the 13th century there were changes in property boundaries and in the 14th century a road was cut obliquely across the enclosure leading to fundamental changes in planning. Evidence for climatic deterioration was given by the increasing use of drains and of paved and cobbled surfaces in the early 14th century. Finds included metal objects, animal bones, local shelly pottery, and 12th- to 14th-century sherds from Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.     

The oldowan reassessed: A close look at early stone artifacts

Early Stone Age assemblages called “Oldowan” and early “Developed Oldowan” are discussed, based on the results of a long-term study of Plio-Pleistocene sites at Koobi Fora, Kenya and an extensive experimental research program of replicating and using early stone artifact forms. Five major conclusions are drawn from this investigation: (1) many Oldowan core forms (“core-tools”) are probably simple by-products of flake manufacture rather than representations of stylistic norms; (2) flakes and retouched flakes - were essential tools in Oldowan technology, particularly for activities involving cutting; (3) this simple technology does not necessarily reflect the cognitive abilities of the early hominids that manufactured the stone artifacts; (4) there is evidence to show that Oldowan technology can be viewed as a simple curated one, in which raw material was intentionally carried from place to place for future use; (5) early hominid populations that made and used stone implements were not necessarily dependent upon them for their survival.     

A look beyond

Edward T. Hall. Beyond Culture. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1976. 256 pp. Bibliography and index. $7.95.     

A Note on Medieval Peasant Demography

Abstract

The deed and mortgage registries of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries provide a revealing glimpse into the property and power relations of a community. Who owned what? Who was in a position to broker land deals or liens against property? Who accumulated land, and from whom did they acquire it? Consequently, property records are essential elements for understanding the spatial and relational aspects of property holding, especially in rural areas where other sources, such as city directories or fire insurance maps, are not available. Drawing upon her research of African American landowners in Georgia, the author discusses the basics of deeds and mortgages. She describes likely findings in land records and defines common terms and practices. She argucs that the practice of identifying the race of a grantor or grantee, using (col) or less frequently C. P. to denote skin color, varied over time and by locality. Reasons for this practice are discussed and some interpretive rules are offered that may help identify the deeds and mortgages of African Americans when skin color is not noted.