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.     

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).     

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。     

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.     

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.     

中世纪英格兰农奴制探微——以黑死病前的劳役限定和折算为视角

近年来,国内外学界研究中世纪英格兰的农奴制时多强调领主权力的有限性和佃农积累的可能性.但黑死病前英格兰农奴劳役的限定和折算表明:领主借此获得了多种好处,而大部分佃农在人身自由之外未必得到经济实惠.这提醒我们,既不能像一些西方学者那样,过分强调习惯对佃农的保护作用,也不能推测超经济强制的削弱一定能给佃农带来经济实惠.