Medieval: archeology

Showing posts with label archeology. Show all posts

What The Ancients Did For Us - The Britons > .
What The Ancients Did For Us >> .
Making History - AllHistories >> .

Celtic Life in the Iron Age > .
Ancients - Tony Blake - tb >> .

Antiqua Machinis - tb >> .

Worcester, Battle - 1651-9-3

Battle of Worcester artefacts unearthed .

The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 at Worcester, England, and was the final battle of the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarian New Model Army, 28,000 strong, defeated King Charles II's 16,000 Royalists, of whom the vast majority were Scottish.
....

Cromwell's plan of battle divided his army into three parts, each part having a specific target: Colonel Robert Lilburne from Lancashire and Major Mercer with the Worcestershire horse were to secure Bewdley Bridge on the enemy's line of retreat. Lambert and Fleetwood were to force their way across the Teme and attack St John's, the western suburb of Worcester. Cromwell himself and the main army were to attack the town itself.

This plan was executed, and in the opinion of C.F. Atkinson the author of the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article on the Civil War, the Battle of Worcester was indeed—as a German critic, Fritz Hoenig, pointed out—the prototype of the Battle of Sedan. Worcester resembled Sedan in much more than outward form. Both were fought by "nations in arms", by citizen soldiers who had their hearts in the struggle, and could be trusted not only to fight their hardest but to march their best. Only with such troops would a general dare to place a deep river between the two halves of his army or to send away detachments beforehand to reap the fruits of victory, in certain anticipation of winning the victory with the remainder. The result was, in brief, one of those rare victories in which a pursuit is superfluous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Worcester .

BBC Farm Series

Agricultural Transformation (18thC-19thC) ↠

It appears that, in a never-ending Red Queen game, BBC has complained and YouTube has eradicated episodes (and channels) carrying uploads of Victorian and Edwardian Farm. When the inevitable happens, and some brave soul uploads more free advertising for the DVDs, I will update the playlists. So far, Tales from the Green Valley, Tudor Monastery Farm, and Wartime Farm remain intact.

In chronological order by period, not television production:

Tudor Monastery Farm
TMF playlist contents.

Tales From the Green Valley
TFGV playlist contents.

Victorian Farm
VF playlist contents.

Edwardian Farm
EF playlist contents.

Wartime Farm
WF playlist contents.

Land Use in Britain – Overview.

Land Use in Britain – Stone Age to Iron Age.

Land Use in Britain – Romans and Vikings.

Land Use in Britain – Normans bring Feudalism.
Land Use in Britain – Beyond Early Modern.

Playlist Wild Food.

Burial

A-Z of Archaeology: 'B - Burials' > .

Lathe, Plaster, Wood, Roofing - Traditional Building

Traditional Building - Lathe & Plaster - nfnpa > .

Traditional Building – Hands on Wood - Joists - nfnpa > .

Traditional Building – Hands on Roofing - ndnpa > .
Traditional Building – Hands on Brick - nfnpa > .

The New Forest has a wide range of historic buildings which are of local, vernacular or cultural interest and which are intrinsic to its special character. Repairs and alterations to these buildings often require specialist understanding, method and materials to ensure their special character is not lost.

Knitting, Nålebinding, Sprang

Knitting, Nålebinding, Sprang

Knitting is a technique of producing fabric from a strand of yarn or wool. Unlike weaving, knitting does not require a loom or other large equipment, making it a valuable technique for nomadic and non-agrarian peoples.

The oldest knitted artifacts are socks from Egypt, dating from the 11th century CE. They are a very fine gauge, done with complex colorwork and some have a short row heel, which necessitates the purl stitch. These complexities suggest that knitting is even older than the archeological record can prove.

Earlier pieces having a knitted or crocheted appearance have been shown to be made with other techniques, such as Nålebinding, a technique of making fabric by creating multiple loops with a single needle and thread, much like sewing. Some artifacts have a structure so similar to knitting, for example, 3rd-5th century CE Romano-Egyptian toe-socks, that it is thought the "Coptic stitch" of nalbinding is the forerunner to knitting.

Most histories of knitting place its origin somewhere in the Middle East, and from there it spread to Europe by Mediterranean trade routes and later to the Americas with European colonization.

Archaeological finds from medieval cities all over Europe, such as London, Newcastle, Oslo, Amsterdam, and Lübeck, as well as tax lists, prove the spread of knitted goods for everyday use from the 14th century onward.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_knitting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knitted_fabric#History_of_knitwear
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A5lebinding

Sprang 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2pcDEnN3Jk
Sprang 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAEfWnhMKRM
Sprang 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MmrfDV5m18
Sprang 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz429pqqdO4
Sprang 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqb2NYxXfVs
sprang braiding just one row
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc1kPywxgcc
Sprang braiding making holes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4cJYWlMUAk .

Leather tanning - Medieval to Edwardian

Medieval tanner

In need of shoes, gloves, armour, bottles, saddles, harnesses, bellows, sheaths, or scabbards? In the Middle Ages, you would rely on leather workers in a sequence that ran from husbandman to butcher, skinner, and fellmonger. Leather 'workers' included skinners, tanners, curriers, and specialist leather artisans, such as saddlers. (Detailed description of leather-working techniques here.)

Tanners enjoyed the exclusive right to purchase cow hides from butchers. The lighter, smaller skins of sheep, goat, pig, and deer were handled by fellmongers and preserved by tawers (also known as a tawyers or whittawers).

Medieval furrier

In tawing, the hide was soaked in an aqueous solution containing potash alum and salt. Sometimes egg yolk and flour were added to improve the product. Strictly speaking, not having been tanned, a tawed skin is not leather, and is putrescible when wet.

Because horns and hooves had no value to a butcher, they often left them attached to the skins. Wherever the tanner discarded horn cores and hooves, their remains are a sign that a pit was associated with a tannery.

Horners valued the outer layer of the horn. So the archaeological remains of tanneries typically include pits where horn cores and hooves have been discarded along with scraps of leather (1º, 2º, 3º). However, glue could made by boiling scraps of leather, adding to the stench of the tanning operation.

Barks, Roots, Fruits, Nuts and Leaves are used for their tannic acid to tan skins. Tannin converts hides permanently into leather. Oak, hemlock, fir, mangrove, wattle, eucalyptus, acorn caps, sumac, pine, spruce, willow and many more have been used all around the world for this process that seems almost magical in it's ability to transform fragile, rot-prone skin into a material with much loved unique properties. Natural Leather Tanning relies heavily on these traditional materials.

The full article and list can be read at http://www.skillcult.com/blog/tanningmaterials

Of interest: 13th century cat- and goat-hide shop excavated in England.

Making parchment: video.

Medieval tanning pits - Birmingham ~1300

https://youtu.be/JZq9cBzrIVI?t=155 .

Click on images to enlarge.

View of medieval tanning pits - wood-lined trenches and pits
in scale model of Birmingham, England around 1296 CE.

Tanner scraping hides
close-up of lower centre section of image above.

View of medieval tanning pits from different angle
scale model of Birmingham, England around 1296 CE.

As the model shows, tanners needed access to water, which they necessarily contaminated with the chemicals and byproducts of their foul-smelling trade.

.Hide Tanning- Traditional Scottish Methods & Peat Bog Survival Uses - Fandabi Dozi > .

World's Oldest Tannery = 1,000 Years | Fez, Morocco | BusIn > .

Modern Vegetable-Tanned Leather (So Expensive) - BusIn > .

Take a video tour of the model of medieval Birmingham (tanning pits at 2m 35s, new window)

The following summary of the tanning process is adapted from here.

After removing the horns and hooves, and trimming unusable portions of the hide (belly, areas around head and legs, udders, and hide edges), the tanner washed blood, dung, and dirt from the hide.

Next, fat, hair, and flesh were removed—usually by immersion in a solution of lime or urine. (In sufficiently warm conditions, the hide could be sprinkled with urine and folded hair-side inward to encourage rotting of the hair follicles.)

After treatment, loosened hair was scraped from the hide with a blunt single-edged knife, and flesh was removed with a sharper, double-edged knife.

After rewashing, the hide was de-limed and and softened by one of two alternate processes:
a) an alkali-rich process of immersion in warm dog dung or bird droppings
b) drenching in a solution of barley or rye in stale beer or urine

The hides were washed again, then agitated in a solution of crushed oak bark. After being layered with ground bark, the hides were transferred to a pit filled with a weak tanning solution. Later, they would be moved to a tank containing a high concentration of tannins, in a process that required at least a year to complete.

After 12-18 months soaking in tannin solutions, the tanned hides were rinsed, and smoothed using a two-handled setting pin. Next, they were dried slowly in a dark shed before being sent to a currier, for stretching, shaving, and softening by the application of greases, sometimes brain.

Although oak bark was used extensively in Britain, other plant materials were substituted: fir, white willow (Salix alba), sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), oak galls, birch, alder, hemlock, heather, and the rhizomes of some ferns.

Oak bark contains both types of tannin: catechols and pyrogallols.
Catechols are more astringent, act more quickly than pyrogallols, producing leathers of pink, red or dark brown hues: birch, hemlock, alder, and fir bark.
Pyrogallols improve leather's wearing properties and resistance to water, so they are favored for sole leather, bookbinding, and upholstery. They produce pale leather varying from creamy or yellowish to light brown: sweet chestnut, oak galls, and oak-wood.

19th, early-20th century descriptions:

Bourne Archive - hide preparation .

Bourne Archive - leather tanning .

Bourne Archive - contents .

Tanning a deer skin - WLps > .

Leather, Parchment, Fur - ElQu >> .
Tanning Videos >> .

Full Bark Tanning Process - Video Series - SkCu >> .
Best Traditional Leather Tanning Videos - SkCu >> .
Tanning and Leather - SkCu >> .
Hide Tanning - SkCu > .
Hide Glue, from Start to Finish - SkCu >> .
Brain Tanning Hair On 1 - SkCu > .
Brain Tanning Hair On 2 - SkCu > .
Brain Tanning Hair On 3 - SkCu > .
How I Process Deer Legs for Sinew, Skins, Bones, Hooves and Glue Stock - SkCu > .
How to Remove Sinew from a Deer - SkCu > .
How to Remove Backstrap Sinew Cleanly, Without Wasting Any Meat 1 - SkCu > .
How to Remove Backstrap Sinew Cleanly, Without Wasting Any Meat 2 - SkCu > .
How to Remove Backstrap Sinew Cleanly, Without Wasting Any Meat 3 - SkCu > .

The Magic Ingredients That Turn Skin Into Leather - Barks, Roots and Leaves for Natural Hide Tanning > .
Q&A, Tanning Furs v.s. Leather - SkCu > .Leather from Salmon (or other fish) Skin - Zed > .
Why Vegetable-Tanned Leather Is So Expensive - BusIn > .

Ancient tanneries—now a tourist attraction—have been discovered beneath the modern city of Nottingham within a system of caves cut into the soft sandstone as houses, cellars and workplaces.

"Nottingham was once known as Tigguo Cobauc in Old Brythonic meaning Place of Caves by the Welsh Bishop of Sherborne (Asser) in his The Life of King Alfred (893)." [w1]

"Two caves cut into the cliff face and opening out to daylight housed the only known underground tannery in Britain. The Pillar Cave was originally cut around 1250 but had been filled in by a rock fall by 1400. Cleared and reopened as part of the tannery in 1500 with circular pits cut to hold barrels. A second cave was also cut with rectangular clay-lined vats. The small size of the vats in these caves indicate that they were probably used for sheep or goats skins rather than cowhide. There was an opening to the River Leen where they would wash the skins in the town's drinking water." [wc]

remains of Medieval tannery
discovered beneath Nottingham, England

City of Caves tannery, Nottingham

Virtual flyround of the caves devoted to tanning:

Fly-round playlist - arch >> .

All you could possibly want to know about the archaeology of leather-working, particularly of footwear in huge pdf file.

2022 Fish Skin Leather ~ Restaurant Waste | BusIn > .

Edwardian leather tanning:

Selecting leather - Parts of a hide > .

Papermaking, Parchment, Manuscripts:

Parchment and Making Manuscripts:

Playlist: Leather, Parchment, Book Binding:

Playlist: Tanning and Leather, SkillCult:

Peg Loom

How to make a rug using a peg loom > .

𝕸 Forest of Dean, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Severn

Beachley Peninsula, Severn Estuary ..

Forest of Dean map ..
Forest of Dean - Puzzlewood ..
Forest of Dean - ironworking ..
Forest of Dean ..
Medieval Gloucester: Topography ..
Gloucester Cathedral ..
Gloucester Castle ..
Gloucester ..
Gloucester & Barton ..
Gloucester churches & parishes ..
Gloucester Oxbode Rosse ..
Gloucester, tannery area, Alvyn Gate ..
Gloucester, Broadsmith, Bull Lane, Cross Keys, Longsmith ..
Gloucester, St Peter's Abbey ..
Gloucester, Lower Westgate, Bareland St Nicholas's ..
Gloucester, intramural ..
Gloucester, Westgate ..
Hundred of Westbury ..
St. Briavels hundred ..
Llanthony Secunda Priory ..
Gloucester, Twyver, Ladycroft ..
Gloucester, Southgate Street and Blackfriars map ..
Gloucester, Southgate Street and Blackfriars description ..
Gloucester, Upper Westgate Street ..
Gloucester - Upper Westgate, Cross ..
Severn Bore ..
Severn Bore, Hydraulic Jump ..

Land Use in Britain - Paleolithic to Agricultural Revolution

Overview:

(For what it's worth, this is an essay that I submitted aeons ago for a Geography course. I might tweak it later.)

Britain has been occupied by man since Paleolithic times. Earliest British agriculture began around 4500 BC. A series of immigrations and invasions affected the populace, the social structure, and the English language. The shifting social structure influenced the utilization of land. The population had expanded to the brink of agricultural crisis by 1500 AD. Spurred by need and greed, agricultural innovation burgeoned after the sixteenth century.

Sections:

Stone Age to Iron Age:
Stone Age.
Bronze Age (around 3000 B.C. to 600 B.C.).
Iron Age (600 B.C. to the first century A.D.).
Climatic trends figure.

Romans and Vikings:
Roman Britain (43 B.C. to 442 A.D.).
Some impacts of man on the environment by 500 AD.
Anglo-Saxon and Norse Invasions (fifth to ninth centuries AD).

Normans bring Feudalism:

The Norman Invasion (1066 AD).
The Domesday Book.
The Manorial economy.
Villages and agriculture

Beyond Early Modern: After 1500 AD.

Farming Systems and Landholding.
The rhythm and grind of agriculture.
Regional agriculture and prevalent obstacles to food production.
Enclosure and Engrossing.
Markets.
The ingredients of agricultural revolution.

Land Use in Britain (full version) – The Agricultural Revolution.

Land utilization in Britain: Agricultural Revolution in the five hundred years following 1500 AD.
Landholding, tenures, and estates.
Enclosure and Engrossing.
Markets.
Regional agriculture and prevalent obstacles to food production.
The rhythm and grind of agriculture.
British agricultural changes, 1500-1750.
The ingredients of agricultural revolution.
Footnotes.
Endnotes.

Land Use in Britain – Bibliography.

Early occupation:

Figure 1: An approximate correlation of climatic and technological trends

Date	Climatic trends & pollen zones (PZ)	Agricultural developments & vegetation trends.
43 AD	Rapid cooling Sub-Atlantic Warmer PZ VIII Marked cyclical deterioration Sub-Boreal Cooling PZ VIIb Very warm and humid with high rainfall Atlantic PZ VIIa Increasing wetness Boreal PZ VI Pronounced dryness PZ V Very rapid warming PZ IV	Ash, beech, birch, and hornbeam increasing. Roman invasion of England. Rapid population growth. Agricultural surplus and full landscape utilization. Iron tools. Increasing use of valleys and of wetlands. Retreat from the highlands. Peat increasing and maximum upland farming. Forest clearance. Husbandry. Permanent, allotted fields. Manure utilized. Bronze tools. Stonehenge. Increasing environmental impacts and expanded land utilization. “Elm decline” Extensive cultivation and grazing. Neolithic agricultural tools. First communal monuments. “Vegetational optimum” Immigrants introduce domesticated animals and cereal cultivation. Increased exploitation of favorable habitats. Mixed oak forest and alder. Relationship between hunters and herds developing. Mesolithic tools. Fire creates gaps in forest cover. Mixed oak forest, hazel and pine. Domestication of dog. Birch and pine. Upper Paleolithic tools.
0
1000 BC
2000 BC
3000 BC
4000 BC
5000 BC
6000 BC
7000 BC
8000 BC

back to Land Use in Britain – Stone Age to Iron Age : Stone Age.

Playlist Wild Food.

Playlists BBC Farm Series.

Bath Abbey Photogrammetry

Bath Abbey Photogrammetry > .

Bath Abbey Footprint Project: Including Romano-British tessellated floor, a rare Anglo-Saxon charcoal burial and part of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery, a 12th century corbel from the previous medieval cathedral, part of a 14th century tiled floor from the medieval cathedral and a 17th century plaster lion’s head.

Houndtor Deserted Medieval Village

Houndtor: A Contested Landscape > .

Living and Dying on Medieval Dartmoor > .

Houndtor Medieval Village is one of the most famous deserted medieval villages in England. This film, including new research and input from members of the Moor Medieval Study Group, tells the story of the medieval origin and abandonment of the site and celebrates the contribution of a pioneering female archaeologist to the understanding and conservation of Dartmoor’s heritage. Including interviews, medieval and 1960s re-enactment, this film explores the contested Houndtor landscape. Part of the Moor than meets the eye Scheme and made possible with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, special thanks goes to the many fantastic volunteers who took part, RAMM Exeter, Historic England, English Heritage and owners of Houndtor Down. This fascinating site is under the care of English Heritage. Find out more at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/v... .

Pages

Richard III

Ancient Technology

Worcester, Battle - 1651-9-3

BBC Farm Series

Dartmoor - Living and Dying on Medieval Dartmoor

Burial

Lathe, Plaster, Wood, Roofing - Traditional Building

Knitting, Nålebinding, Sprang

Leather tanning - Medieval to Edwardian

Peg Loom

Oven - cob, earthen

Blast Furnace

𝕸 Forest of Dean, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Severn

Land Use in Britain - Paleolithic to Agricultural Revolution

“Vegetational optimum”

Bath Abbey Photogrammetry

Houndtor Deserted Medieval Village

Archeology

Medieval Art

Archeology posts