Historic-archaeological research on the Alamanni, an early medieval population in the periphery of the Frankish Empire, primarily focuses on themes such as their military character or issues of ethnicity, while the actual functioning of Alamannic societies remains conjectural. Aiming at presenting an integrated approach to the concepts of social organisation and social identities in Alamannic populations, this study examines and defines Alamannic identity and society by creating a dialogue between the disciplines of archaeology, biological anthropology and socio-cultural sciences. A bioarchaeology of identity explores the Alamanni of Pleidelsheim and Neresheim via their funerary and skeletal evidence, allowing for the factor of different environments that influence the interactions of a community. A key theme is the investigation of indicators for biological and social "status" by direct association of bioanthropological with funerary archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus. The results are interpreted in terms of social status and the perception of certain social parameters, exploring interrelations between factors such as sex and gender, age, status and activity for the entirety of a society. This research offers new perspectives on Alamannic societies and helps to comprehend Alamannic social organisation as a multi-layered phenomenon, emphasizing the importance of a biocultural approach. Beyond common perceptions, this study forms the basis for a new understanding of the Alamanni, as the results reveal a society that was complex and diverse, displaying its own characteristics in the Merovingian world. / AHRC. British Archaeological Association

Esta dissertação apresenta uma investigação cujo objetivo é examinar criticamente a historiografia sobre Gregório de Tours nos séculos XIX e XX. Busca-se tal objetivo através da análise de autores, principalmente da tradição germânica, que estudaram Gregório de Tours como historiador dos francos, historiador nacional ou como historiador da sociedade cristã (historiador da Igreja). Mapeando o século VI, a biografia de Gregório de Tours e sua obra Decem Libri Historiarum na historiografia, pretende-se identificar e analisar essa mudança de enfoque sobre a obra do principal historiador do período merovíngio. / This work consists of an investigation which aims to critically examine the historiography about Gregory of Tours in XIX and XX centuries through the study of authors, specially of the germanic tradition, which studied Gregory of Tours as historian of the franks, national historian or as historian of the church and historian of christian society. Analyzing the VI century, Gregory of Tours biography and his work Decem libri Historiarum, it is intended to identify and analyze the change of focus on the work of the most important Merovingian historian.

Historic-archaeological research on the Alamanni, an early medieval population in the periphery of the Frankish Empire, primarily focuses on themes such as their military character or issues of ethnicity, while the actual functioning of Alamannic societies remains conjectural. Aiming at presenting an integrated approach to the concepts of social organisation and social identities in Alamannic populations, this study examines and defines Alamannic identity and society by creating a dialogue between the disciplines of archaeology, biological anthropology and socio-cultural sciences. A bioarchaeology of identity explores the Alamanni of Pleidelsheim and Neresheim via their funerary and skeletal evidence, allowing for the factor of different environments that influence the interactions of a community. A key theme is the investigation of indicators for biological and social 'status', by direct association of bioanthropological with funerary archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus. The results are interpreted in terms of social status and the perception of certain social parameters, exploring interrelations between factors such as sex and gender, age, status and activity for the entirety of a society. This research offers new perspectives on Alamannic societies and helps to comprehend Alamannic social organisation as a multi-layered phenomenon, emphasizing the importance of a biocultural approach. Beyond common perceptions, this study forms the basis for a new understanding of the Alamanni, as the results reveal a society that was complex and diverse, displaying its own characteristics in the Merovingian world.

The religious tribulations which occurred in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, are often interpreted as beneficiary for the development of religious architecture and monasticism of this northern kingdom. This phenomena is often understood as an answer to the confrontation of two factions, the Celt and the Roman Churches. The resuit of this confrontation being apparently the existence of two unquestionably different architectural types and monastery planning. The present study explores this interpretation's rightfulness and examine possibilities for new models and inspirational sources leading to the creation of the particular types of monastic architecture found in Northumbria.

Esta dissertação apresenta uma investigação cujo objetivo é examinar criticamente a historiografia sobre Gregório de Tours nos séculos XIX e XX. Busca-se tal objetivo através da análise de autores, principalmente da tradição germânica, que estudaram Gregório de Tours como historiador dos francos, historiador nacional ou como historiador da sociedade cristã (historiador da Igreja). Mapeando o século VI, a biografia de Gregório de Tours e sua obra Decem Libri Historiarum na historiografia, pretende-se identificar e analisar essa mudança de enfoque sobre a obra do principal historiador do período merovíngio. / This work consists of an investigation which aims to critically examine the historiography about Gregory of Tours in XIX and XX centuries through the study of authors, specially of the germanic tradition, which studied Gregory of Tours as historian of the franks, national historian or as historian of the church and historian of christian society. Analyzing the VI century, Gregory of Tours biography and his work Decem libri Historiarum, it is intended to identify and analyze the change of focus on the work of the most important Merovingian historian.

Discuter de la pratique équestre des populations archéologiques occidentales aboutit bien souvent à la question : avec ou sans étriers ? Cette réflexion à propos de l’absence ou de la présence de l’étrier dans les techniques de monte des périodes anciennes est indissociable de la pensée de L. T. White à propos de son introduction en Occident. Ce dernier qualifie le caractère de cet objet équestre comme « révolutionnaire ». Pourtant, ce dernier élément de l’équipement équestre du cheval de monte ne favorise pas une meilleure maîtrise de l’animal de la part du cavalier. On peut être un excellent cavalier sans étriers à l’instar des amérindiens d’Amérique du Nord de la période coloniale. En revanche, l’étrier ou les étriers offrent de nouveaux points d’appuis au cavalier et modifient indéniablement sa posture sur sa monture. La posture du cavalier a fait l’objet de nombreuses attentions comme en témoignent les traités équestres antiques, modernes et actuels. Un large ensemble de marqueurs osseux réunis sous un seul et même terme « le syndrome du cavalier », par les études anthropologiques, permettrait de reconnaitre sur l’os sec des lésions osseuses liées à cette activité équestre. Or le changement de position du cavalier sur son cheval, notamment lors de l’introduction de nouveaux équipements équestres tel que l’étrier, remet en cause l’universalité de ce syndrome et ce quelle que soit la période chronologique étudiée : un cavalier grec ne possède pas le même équipement équestre qu’un cavalier du XVIIIe siècle. Par conséquent, tous deux ne se positionnent pas de la même manière sur leur partenaire équin. La révision de ce syndrome du cavalier a contribué à souligner l’importance de mener une recherche interdisciplinaire (archéologie du cheval, anthropologie biologique et données de la médecine du sport équestre) pour pouvoir discuter de manière rigoureuse de l’impact lésionnel de cette activité sur le corps du cavalier ainsi que de l’influence du type d’équipement utilisé sur ce dernier. La période mérovingienne offre un contexte archéologique idéal d’étude, par la présence d’objets équestres dans les tombes et celle de l’étrier à partir de la fin du VIe siècle, pour définir un ensemble pertinent d’indices d’activité équestre permettant l’identification de la pratique équestre, et de cavaliers, au sein des groupes funéraires mérovingiens. / The topic of the equestrian practice of Western archaeological populations often leads to the question of the use of stirrups or not ? This question on the absence or presence of the stirrup in the ancient times is closely related to L. T. White's thought about his introduction to the West. He qualifies the character of this equestrian object as "revolutionary". This element of the equestrian equipment does not favor a better control of the animal, as you can be an excellent rider without stirrups like North American Indians during the colonial period. The stirrup or the stirrups offer new points of support to the rider and undeniably modify his posture on the horse. The posture of the rider has been the subject of many attentions as shown by the ancient, modern and current equestrian treaties. A large group of occupational stress markers described, by anthropological studies, and known with the term "horse-riding syndrome" would make it possible to recognize bone lesions associated with this equestrian activity. The rider’s change of position on the horse, especially during the introduction of new equestrian equipment such as the stirrup, raises the question of the universality of this syndrome regardless of the chronological period studied : a Greek rider does not have the same equestrian equipment as a rider of the 18th century. Therefore, both do not position themselves in the same way on their equine partner. The new study of this syndrome has helped to emphasizing the importance of conducting interdisciplinary research (using horse archeology, biological anthropology and equestrian sport medicine data) in order to rigorously discuss the injury impact of this activity on the rider's body as well as the influence of the equipment used. The Merovingian period offers an ideal archaeological context for such a study because of the presence of both equestrian artifacts and stirrup from the end of the 6th century in the burials, helping in defining occupational stress markers of this equestrian activity, and identifying riders, within the Merovingian funerary groups.

The aim of this work was to characterize the diet of a Merovingian population sample and examine if apparent differences in grave good assemblages of Merovingian burials and transfromation of this funerary rite during 6th and 7th centuries were reflected in diet. Dietary composition was assessed using a carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of 74 bone collagen samples from adults buried at an early medieval cemetery of le-Norroy-le-Veneur, France. Results showed diet based primarily on C3 plants, supplemented with animal protein in a range similar to other contemporary sites. No significant contribution of C4 plants (e.g. millet) or marine-derived protein has been detected and neither has δ15 N dependency on status, sex or datation been found. However, persons with rich grave good assemblages had significantly higher δ13 C than low-ranking individuals. Also, during the time of use of the cemetery there has been a population-wide decrease of 0,33 ‰ in mean value of δ13 C, independent of social status or sex. Results indicate that dietary differentiation steaming from social stratification was only in its early phase of formation, slowly following a progressive rise in power of the Merovingian nobility, and the general subsistence was affected by another independent change in society, most...

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This thesis assesses the sixth-/early seventh-century socio-economic roots of the eighth-century transmarine system connecting England and the Continent through major coastal trading sites (emporia). Part 1 discusses socio-economic developments in the coastal areas of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and the Pas-de-Calais, through a close investigation of fifth- to early seventh-century archaeological evidence. The inclusion of later written sources has been fundamental to recognise that the two shores of the Channel were connected in a more complex network than previously assumed, beyond the major emporia. These areas are then considered comparatively: after challenging substantivist approaches that assume an overwhelming importance of gift-exchange in sixth-century England, Part 2 stresses the role of transmarine traffic and exploitation of natural resources in the socio-economic development of coastal areas. The examination of sixth-century written sources has also proved rewarding to reconsider the sixth-century political relationships between Franks and Anglo-Saxons. The role of kings, churches and laymen in the later transmarine network (seventh/eighth centuries) is then discussed by including the Thames Valley, the estuaries of the rivers Seine and Loire, and the Rhine Delta, examined through the written sources. One crucial question is the role of political actors in the development of a cross-Channel system of exchange. In this regard, scholars have mainly focused on the period when this system was already in place, pointing to a pivotal role of kings and political institutions for its establishment, or to the later appropriation by elites of a coastal area already integrated in the maritime network, but detached from political power. This thesis argues that a close link existed between elites and coastal areas before the emporia; thus, although kings were not the driving stimulus for the establishment of trading sites, the transmarine traffic fostered the socio-economic development of the coastal communities.

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