This thesis examines the political functions of the performance of skaldic poetry during the Viking Age. It aims to establish the vital role that skaldic verse plays in the establishment and maintenance of power, as well as the importance of skaldic performance in the negotiation of that power in the inter-community relations between various courts both within and outside of Viking Age Scandinavia. The first chapter provides a contextual understanding of Viking Age power structures by considering the central ideological constructs surrounding the concept of óðal (ancestral property). Óðal-derived power, it will be shown, is based on ruler-presence (which extends to ancestral presence) in the landscape, which is perceived as a crucial element in the legitimisation of authority and power. My second chapter will consider the political significance of skaldic performance within the context of ruler itinerancy, which develops in response to political practices based on the importance of óðal-derived legitimacy. Of particular importance in this respect, will be the use of 'presencing' proper- and praise-names in skaldic poetry that effect both spatial and temporal itinerancies in a highly distributable format. My third chapter will establish the representational features of skaldic performance and elaborate on the definition of Performance not only as action (in the Austinian sense), but also as a type of action that is defined by its artifice, its temporal continuity and its emergent dialogism. This will provide the theoretical context for my fourth and final chapter which will aim to examine the employment of skaldic Performance in Viking Age diplomatic praxes. Here the phenomenologically perceived 'binding' of the Self through the dialogic rhythmicity that arises out of skaldic ambiguity and crypticism will be of central importance.

abstract: In this dissertation I argue that medieval peoples used a different style of identity from those applied to them by later scholarship and question the relevance of applying modern terms for identity groups (e.g., ethnicity or nationality) to the description of medieval social units. I propose we think of identity as a social construct comprised of three articulating facets, which I call: form, aspect, and definition. The form of identity is its manifestation in behavior and symbolic markers; its aspect is the perception of these forms by people; and its definition is the combination of these perceptions into a social category. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, I examine each facet individually before synthesizing the results. I study the form of identity through an analysis of styles in material culture using a consensus analysis to determine how well objects decorated with the same motif do communicating a shared idea to members of a social group. I explore the aspect of identity through a whole-corpus linguistics approach to Old English, in which I study the co-occurrence of words for "a people" and other semantic fields to refine our understanding of Old English perceptions of social identity. Finally, I investigate the definition of identity by comparing narrations of identity in Old English verse and prose in order to see how authors were able to use vocabulary and imagery to describe the identity of their subjects. In my conclusion I demonstrate that the people of Medieval England had a concept of identity based on the metaphor of a village meeting or a feast, in which smaller, innate groups were thought to aggregate into new heterogeneous wholes. The nature and scale of these groups changed over the course of the Anglo-Saxon period but some of the names used to refer to these units remained constant. Thus, I suggest scholars need to apply a culturally relevant concept of identity when describing the people who lived in Medieval Britain, one that might not match contemporary models, and be cognizant of the fact that medieval groups were not the same as their modern descendants. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2013

Cette étude porte sur les choix d'implantation des espaces funéraires dans les paysages naturels, construits et anciens, par les populations du haut Moyen Age, entre le Ve et le début du VIIIe siècle, dans le Nord de l'Angleterre et l'Est de l'Écosse. Selon les contextes culturels, différentes communautés et leurs élites ont utilisé des caractéristiques naturelles et culturelles dans des mises en scène symboliques de paysages. Entre le Ve et le VIIIe siècle, la région Tyne-Forth devient un carrefour de royaumes bretons et anglo-saxons à partir duquel émerge un des royaumes les plus importants de Grande-Bretagne, la Northumbrie. Cette zone offre la possibilité de comparer l'affichage identitaire de sociétés anciennes de différents royaumes qui se croisent et s'influencent Les pratiques funéraires subissent deux mutations importantes sous l'effet de la christianisation et de la formation de royaume de plus en plus large. Elles sont étudiées afin d'établir si leurs dynamiques temporelles peuvent être interprétées comme les indices d'une évolution des identités culturelles, sociales ou religieuses. On s'interroge sur l'éventuel rôle de traditions relatives à la disposition des morts, dans la création d'identités locales ou régionales. L'analyse du paysage sert aussi à mettre en évidence l'utilisation du paysage naturel et construit pour approcher ces identités. Elle sert également à identifier les réoccupations funéraires de monuments anciens et de le comparer avec celles du reste de la Grande-Bretagne et l'Europe du Nord-Ouest. L'intérêt de cette étude est de mettre en avant les éventuelles pratiques, sociales et symboliques, dissimulées derrière ces réoccupations. / The present thesis focuses on the use of the landscape in early medieval North East England and South East Scotland in the 5th to the 8th centuries -a region recognised as an emerging component of the Northumbrian Kingdom. By the 7th century, Northumbria had become a major political and ecclesiastical power. The chronological frame of this research allows for consideration of the deep political and religious changes that began in the 4th/5th centuries with the departure of the Roman army. The emergence of large kingdoms followed along with the conversion to Christianity and the acceptance and unification of the Christian Faith in the 8th century AD. We here explore the experience of the people who dwelled within this region in the early medieval period from the 5th-8th centuries. li does so by focussing on their funerary rites and practices and how they used their surroundings within funerary ritual to emphasise and signal their collection to place and their identities. Early medieval communities had at their disposal a complex landscape within which they constructed and signalled affiliations by means of interaction with natural and human altered features. Such processes have been argued by many researchers as evidence of the use of the natural landscape and world in the processes of identity creation, with funerary ritual signalling the social and political transformations underway in the organisation of early medieval societies.

In Central Europe, an early medieval architectural complex, in which palatial remnants have been either unearthed or expected on the basis of historical writing, is often classified as a royal/princely seat. Thus, the architectural criteria are used to define the residential areas. Alas, in most studies the interpreted architectural remnants are simply juxtaposed without taking into account their terresial and landscape context. I demonstrate that in some cases landscape significance of royal seats was constructed without taking into account any spatial evidence. Secondly, I illustrate that by isolating a single building within the royal seat from its landscape and textual context, the spatial aspects of the structure were misinterpreted. However, our understanding of the local environment is essential to identify the role of architectural "quotation" in the semantic creation of space of the royal seats in the past. Thus, based on a textual approach to architecture and landscape, my thesis aims to deconstruct the meaning of early medieval royal seats, and to demythologize the interpretation of early medieval royal seats in Central Europe. In addition, I present that both textual (historic writing) and physical (environmental) aspects of the reality creates a historic spatiality that is polarized...

This master's thesis summarizes the results of analytical surface collections and large-scale geophysical survey of early medieval settlement Havraň, cadastral municipality Vestec nad Mrlinou, district Nymburk. The Mrlina river basin was chosen as a model region, as it is an area of continuous archaeological interest with a complete record of High Middle Ages settlement. Havraň seems to be a site with the greatest study potential, the site is also a historically significant place. According to written sources, the settlement Havraň was an administrative centre of a lower order in the Early Middle Ages. There was a motte and bailey with a farmyard and several homesteads in the High Middle Ages. The site was newly researched using analytical surface collections and large-scale geophysical surveys. The aim of non-destructive archaeological research was primarily to understand the form and disposition of early medieval settlement and its changes in the High Middle Ages. A substantial part of the work is the analysis of the ceramic assemblage from the surface collections, evaluation the data in GIS, and correlation with the results of the geophysical survey. During the interpretation of the results, the graduate focused mainly on the basic idea of (1) the chronology of settlement, (2) the spatial extent...

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a spondyloarthropathy traditionally defined as having spinal and extra-spinal manifestations. However its diagnostic criteria only allow the identification of advanced DISH and there is little consensus regarding the extra-spinal enthesopathies. In this project, individuals with DISH from the WM Bass Donated Skeletal Collection were analysed to investigate the pathogenesis of DISH and archaeological English and Catalan samples (3rd–18th century AD) were studied to investigate how diet might have influenced the development of DISH. From the individuals from the Bass Collection, isolated vertical lesions representing the early stages of DISH (‘early DISH’) were identified. Both sample sets showed that the presence of extra-spinal manifestations varies significantly between individuals and that discarthrosis and DISH can co-exist in the same individual. In all archaeological samples, the prevalence of DISH was significantly higher in males and older individuals showed a higher prevalence of DISH. In both regions, the prevalence of DISH was the lowest in the Roman samples, the highest in the early medieval ones and intermediate in the late medieval samples. While when using documentary resources and archaeological data, it was hypothesised that the prevalence of DISH in the English and Catalan samples might have been different, the results show no significant differences even if English samples tend to show higher prevalence of DISH than the Catalan samples. This possibly suggests that the development of DISH depends on a combination of dietary habits and, possibly, genetic predisposition might influence the development of DISH. The individuals from the Bass Collection showed high prevalence of metabolic and cardiovascular conditions. In contrast, no association was found between DISH and rich-diet associated conditions (e.g. carious lesions and gout) or deficiency-related conditions (e.g. scurvy, healed rickets). / Institute of Life Sciences Research from the University of Bradford

La conversion au christianisme des îles Britanniques et de l’Irlande est un sujet qui a donné lieu à de nombreux écrits, principalement historiques ou archéologiques, mais peu mentionnent l’utilisation des productions visuelles dans cette progressive christianisation. Pourtant, les images produites par les humains ne sont pas dépourvues d’agentivité, elles agissent dans la société à travers laquelle elles évoluent. Si ces images servaient à éduquer sur l’histoire biblique et les concepts chrétiens, elles étaient aussi des représentations du monde et de la société, et pouvaient donc avoir des effets bien plus importants de par la perception qu’en avaient les spectateurs. Il parait donc essentiel d’étudier comment ces productions, en tant qu’agents sociaux, ont pu influencer les mentalités et les pratiques durant le processus de christianisation. Une approche anthropologique sera de vigueur, puisque les productions matérielles étudiées sont le produit de systèmes culturels différents qui, même passés, ne devraient pas être étudiés selon une idée ‘continue’ de la culture. L’arrivée des missionnaires en Irlande et dans les îles Britanniques a apporté de nouvelles pratiques et traditions visuelles, comme le culte des reliques et les icônes, qui ont contribué à affirmer l’autorité de l’Église sur ces territoires. Pour autant, les missions n’auraient pas pu avoir le même impact sans le soutien des aristocraties locales. Pour promouvoir ce soutien, l'iconographie et les thèmes chrétiens ont été intégrés et traduits dans la culture visuelle existante, comme les broches, qui sont devenues des objets actifs dans la diffusion du christianisme. Parallèlement, les sculptures appuyaient cette utilisation des broches et éduquaient les populations en affirmant l’autorité ecclésiale dans le paysage. Dans ce contexte, l’utilisation d’un langage adaptatif à travers ces productions était essentielle pour affecter l’audience, puisqu’elle permettait de familiariser celle-ci à la doctrine chrétienne et, plus largement, de changer l’imaginaire collectif. / The Christian conversion of the British Isles and Ireland is a subject that has generated numerous studies, mainly historical or archaeological, but few mention the role of visual culture in the progressive Christianization of the local population. Yet, images produced by humans are not devoid of agency, they act in the society through which they evolve. If these images served to educate about biblical history and Christian concepts, they were also representations of the world and society in which they were made, and thus could have far more significant impacts upon viewer perception. Thus, it is essential to study how these objects, as social agents, influenced mentalities and practices during the process of Christianization. An anthropological approach will be used, because the material productions under study are the product of different cultural systems which, even if ancient, should not be studied according to a “continuous” idea of culture. The arrival of missionaries in Ireland and the British Isles brought new practices and visual traditions, such as the cult of relics and icons, which helped to affirm the authority of the Church in these territories. These missions, however, could not have had the same impact without the support of the local aristocracy. To promote this support, Christian iconography and themes were integrated and translated into existing visual culture, such as brooches, and became active objects in Christian diffusion. Monumental sculptures were also deployed to work in concert with the brooches to educate people and to assert ecclesial authority within the landscape. In this context, the use of an adaptive language through these productions was essential to affect the audience, because it allowed the local population to become familiar with Christian doctrine and, more broadly, to transform the local collective imagination.

No / Considerable debate persists concerning the origins of those involved in the adventus Saxonum: the arrival of Germanic peoples in Britain during the fifth century AD. This question was investigated using oxygen and strontium isotope ratios obtained from archaeological dental samples from individuals in the ¿Migration Period¿ cemetery, Ringlemere, Kent (n = 7) and three continental European sites (n = 17). Results demonstrated that strontium alone is unable to distinguish between individuals from south-eastern England and north-western Europe. Although 87Sr/86Sr values from Ringlemere fell within local biosphere parameters and suggest a spatially and temporally related group, ¿18O values were inconsistent with origins in eastern England or on the North German plain. Results from the European sites negate past climate change as an explanation. It is possible that culturally mediated behaviour has obscured geographical relationships. Further work to characterize water sources and human ¿18O values in the putative European homelands is required. / NERC

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tatiana Machado Boulhosa.pdf: 48351953 bytes, checksum: c6c016c8c770ab83ce09418f74269361 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The fourth, fifth and sixth centuries are known, in the History of the Celtic-speaking countries as the Age of Saints . Throughout these three hundred years or so, Christianity went from a relatively unknown religion to the main form of adoration in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. First, there were missionaries from the continent, and then there were monks and monasteries in the islands. Later, there were missionaries from the islands and monasteries in the continent. When these missionaries arrived, they brought with them the Gospel as it was preached and lived in Rome; when they departed, they were preaching like the Celts, living like the Celts and believing like the Celts. For a while, it seemed like there would be two Churches. Then the world changed: the Middle Ages arrived and the Celts were Romanized. However, some of what they preached, lived and believed came thru, modified, adapted and ready to face whatever challenges this new world might impose them. That is the reason why this dissertation aims at showing how was it that Celtic-speaking people lived before Christianity, how were them converted, how did they comprehend Christianity and what happened after that. In order to do that, the text articulates itself around the image of some of the most important founders of monasteries, men who later became saints: Patricius, Columba and Columbanus. Moreover, its main goal is to show that, during the time frame in question, Celtic monasteries functioned not only as an expression of faith or religion as an institution but also a geographical space of historical liminarity; the very essence of time-space transition / Os séculos V, VI e VII são conhecidos, dentro da história dos países de língua celta como a Era dos Santos . Durante esses cerca de trezentos anos, o Cristianismo deixou de ser uma religião relativamente desconhecida e se tornou a principal forma de adoração na Irlanda, na Escócia, na Inglaterra e em Gales. Primeiro vieram os missionários do continente e então os monges e os monastérios nas ilhas. Depois, foi a vez dos missionários das ilhas e dos monastérios no continente. Quando esses missionários chegaram, levaram consigo o Evangelho como ele era pregado em Roma; quando eles partiram, eles pregavam, viviam e criam como os celtas. Por um tempo, parecia que haveria duas Igrejas. Então o mundo mudou: a Idade Média chegou e os celtas foram romanizados. Contudo, alguma coisa do que eles pregavam, viviam e criam, sobreviveu modificado, adaptado e pronto para enfrentar quaisquer desafios que o novo mundo lhe impusesse. É por isso que essa tese pretende mostrar como os celtas viviam antes do Cristianismo, como eles foram convertidos, como eles compreenderam a religião e o que aconteceu depois disso. Para tanto, o texto se articula ao redor da imagem de alguns dos mais importantes fundadores de monastérios; homens que depois viriam a ser santos: Patricius, Columba e Columbanus. Além disso, o principal objeto desse trabalho é mostrar que, durante a baliza cronológica em questão, os monastérios celtas funcionaram não apenas como expressões de fé ou de religião enquanto instituição, mas também como o espaço geográfico da liminaridade histórica, a própria essência da transição espaço-tempo

This thesis describes and contextualises the Population & Cemetery Simulator (PCS), which represents agent-based demographic modelling software that can be used to model living populations based on archaeological and historical data as well as their cemeteries. The data used by the PCS are demographic in nature, e.g. age and sex data generated by osteoarchaeologists from excavated cemeteries or historical demographic data. This thesis seeks to provide a methodological foundation for modelling the demographics of archaeological populations. It focusses on case studies using data from early medieval Anglo-Saxon (South England) and Alamannic (South Germany) cemeteries, although excursions into neighbouring periods and regions are included as validation studies. The case studies show how the PCS can be used in archaeological research and the software is presented as a solution to various problems caused by the difference between the living population and the 'dead' cemetery data in archaeology.