Spheres of Transition: Early Medieval development (7th - 10th centuries)
Aim
Building on previous work at Wharram Percy and Cottam, and linking with related work by Dominic Powlesland in the Vale of Pickering, we will aim to understand development of economic and societal complexity in the early medieval period - specifically the transition from lordship to feudalism, the development of a market economy, and agricultural and industrial intensification.
Objectives
- Visibility: investigation of new crop mark forms e.g. conjoined curvilinear complexes, and correlation with metal-detector derived evidence for so-called "productive" sites, will allow us to develop archaeological "fingerprints" for settlement types.
- Settlement evolution: further mapping of Wolds landscape development between the 7th and 10th centuries will occur at the micro-level, e.g. to allow socio-economic interpretation of Cottam A/B and Cowlam in relation to evidence elsewhere. Early medieval settlement nucleation will be investigated, facilitating comparisons with late R-B and early Anglo-Saxon transitions (Elmswell, Crossgates, West Heslerton) at the start of the period, and post-Norman Conquest (Wharram etc) at the end.
- Economic: collection of rural ecofactual and artefactual assemblages for the 7th - 10th centuries will allow comparison with York and West Heslerton material, the former, in the form of plants, insects or snails, also elucidating either periods of land disuse, return to scrub etc., or of agricultural intensification on the Wolds.
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