Global ETD Search

1	Comparative study of archaeological contexts of silver hoards c.800-1050 in northern and central Europe Gruszczynski, Jacek January 2016 (has links) The dissertation deals with the archaeological context of Baltic-zone silver hoards deposited in the Viking Age. Its main objective is to investigate the hoards and the context of their deposition to determine how hundreds of thousands of silver artefacts, mainly Oriental dirhams, arrived in Northern Europe, why they were put in the ground and never retrieved. The review of the published sources on hoards was undertaken in three case studies: Gotland, Pomerania and Svealand. The data on hoards, archaeological sites, geology and topography was collected in geodatabases, and analysed in detail by applying descriptive and advanced statistical methods: regression modelling and GIS-based spatial analysis. The results were presented in the historical context depicted in contemporary literary sources. Hoard deposition was most pronounced near sites which afforded conditions suitable for mercantile exchange and facilitated the flow of silver: the network of emporia, regional trade hubs, local power centres, and harbours, generally situated near major communication routes and within populated areas. However, exchange networks needn't have been strictly hierarchical, and emporium-scale sites were not indispensable for a fair share of silver influx, and trade, to occur. Chronological changes in hoard distributions, their composition and fragmentation of objects indicate how these networks operated and meshed with economic and political conditions in c. 900 and c. 980. A method, which uses the information about the presence/absence of a container, crossreferenced with the weight of silver, was devised to provide an indication as to whether particular hoards were deposited with the aim of retrieval - as savings accessed periodically, or for protection in the face of danger - or whether they were meant to be permanent ritual or symbolic offerings. Ritual behaviour took a variety of forms, but the most widespread were the depositions in recently occupied land in marginal soils, where they were aimed at forging a personal bond between the land and the owner. 737.494
2	Casting no shadow : overlapping soilscapes of European-Indigenous interaction in northern Sweden Green, Heather F. January 2012 (has links) The Sámi’s past activities have been documented historically from a European perspective, and more recently from an anthropological viewpoint, giving a generalised observation of the Sámi, during the study period of AD200-AD1800, as semi-nomadic hunter gatherers, with several theories suggesting that interaction with Europeans, through trade, led to the adoption of European activities by certain groups of the Sámi (Eiermann, 1923; Paine, 1957; Manker and Vorren, 1962; Bratrein, 1981; Mathiesen et al, 1981; Meriot, 1984). However, there is almost no information on the impact the Sámi had on the landscape, either before or after any adoption of European activities, and none investigating what cultural footprint or indicators would remain from Sámi or European occupation and/or activity within the typically podzolic soils of Northern Sweden. Consequently the thesis aims to contribute to the gap in knowledge through the formation of a podzol model identifying the links between anthropogenic activity and the alteration of podzol soils, and through the creation of soils based models which identify the cultural indicators associated with both Sámi and European activity; formed from the identification of cultural indicators retained within known Sámi and European sites. The methods used to obtain the information needed to achieve this were the pH and magnetic susceptibility from bulk soil samples and micromorphological and chemical analysis of thin section slides through the use of standard microscopy and X-ray fluorescence from a scanning electron microscope. The analysis revealed that the Sámi had an extremely low impact on the landscape, leaving hard to detect cultural indicators related to reindeer herding in the form of reindeer faecal material with corresponding phosphorous peaks in the thin section slides. The European footprint however, was markedly different and very visible even within the acidic soil environment. The European indicators were cultivation based and included phosphorous and aluminium peaks as well as a deepened, highly homogenised plaggen style anthropogenic topsoil rich in ‘added’ materials. An abandoned European site which visibly and chemically shows the formation of a secondary albic horizon within the anthropogenic topsoil also provides an insight into the delicate balance of cultivated soil in northern Sweden, whilst reinforcing the outputs identified in the podzol model. Due to the almost invisible Sámi footprint on the landscape, areas of overlap were impossible to identify however, there was no evidence of the adoption of European cultivation activities at any of the Sámi sites investigated. The only known area of interaction between the two cultures was an official market place which had been a Sámi winter settlement prior to its use as a market site. This site showed none of the reindeer based Sámi indicators or the cultivation based European indicators, but did contain pottery fragments which could be linked to trade or occupation. Overall, the thesis reinforces the low impact expected of the semi-nomadic Sámi and sheds light on the underlying podzolic processes influencing the anthropogenically modified soils of Northern Sweden. The podzol model is reinforced by several findings throughout the thesis and the soils based cultural indicator models for both Sámi and European activity have been successfully tested against independent entomological and palynological data and therefore provide reliable reference material for future studies. 570
3	Political Atheism vs. The Divine Right of Kings: Understanding 'The Fairy of the Lake' (1801) Post, Andy 30 April 2014 (has links) In 'Political Atheism vs. The Divine Right of Kings,' I build on Thompson and Scrivener’s work analysing John Thelwall’s play 'The Fairy of the Lake' as a political allegory, arguing all religious symbolism in 'FL' to advance the traditionally Revolutionary thesis that “the King is not a God.” My first chapter contextualises Thelwall’s revival of 17th century radicalism during the French Revolution and its failure. My second chapter examines how Thelwall’s use of fire as a symbol discrediting the Saxons’ pagan notion of divine monarchy, also emphasises the idolatrous apotheosis of King Arthur. My third chapter deconstructs the Fairy of the Lake’s water and characterisation, and concludes her sole purpose to be to justify a Revolution beyond moral reproach. My fourth chapter traces how beer satirises Communion wine, among both pagans and Christians, in order to undermine any religion that could reinforce either divinity or the Divine Right of Kings. / A close reading of an all-but-forgotten Arthurian play as an allegory against the Divine Right of Kings. John Thelwall (1764-1834) Romanticism Romantic literature Romantic poetry Romantic nationalism Romantic medievalism Romantic antequarianism Saxon antequarianism Norse/Viking antequarianism Celtic antequarianism Whig history Jacobinism political allegory closet drama Early Modern Christianity Church of England Anglicanism Loyalism Germanic paganism Anglo-Saxon England Britain Wales French Revolution Glorious Revolution English Civil War King James I &VI John Milton Algernon Sidney Samuel Taylor Coleridge William Wordsworth Robert Southey Edmund Burke Simon Cottle Torquato Tasso Edda Northern Antiquities King Arthur Arthurian Sir Walter Scott Classical republicanism republicanism radicalism anti-monarchism fire water beer cwrw wassail Eucharist Communion Gothic Divine Right of Kings Political atheism Judith Thompson Michael Scrivener

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