AEB_A15g Medieval Archaeology - Seminar

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jana Mazáčková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Petr Hrubý, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Jana Mazáčková, Ph.D.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Šibíčková
Supplier department: Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 18:00–19:40 M21, except Mon 18. 11. to Sun 24. 11.
Prerequisites
AEB_A14g Middle Ages in Central Europe || NOW( AEB_A14g Middle Ages in Central Europe )
At least passive ability to cope with a specialized (archaeological, historical) text in English and German language.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 29/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 9 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The seminar is focused on special issues enhancing the topics of the lectures which are primarily aimed at the methodology of the discipline, specifics of the field practice, and cooperation with other social sciences, inclusive of prospecting and dating methods.
Learning outcomes
After completion of the course, student will be able to:
- formulate the knowledge acquired during study of recommended literature on the given topic, and set the results of this study into wider context;
- present the selected topic to colleagues in the form of a pictorial presentation;
- compare scholarly opinions about the selected problem of Middle Ages;
- hold a discussion about a medieval research topic and give reasonable arguments;
- offer to the colleagues a short written paper about the selected topic (inquiry, theses) including bibliography.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction, definition, chronological approach to the High and Late Middle Ages:
  • a. principal stages of European historiography from antiquity to the 20th century
  • b. time definition, periodisation of the European Middle Ages. The main features of society, economy, political development, the concept of feudalism; Written sources, iconography.
  • 2. Archaeology of the High and Late Middle Ages: development of the sub-discipline, main figures
  • a. concept of high and late medieval archaeology (1200–1500)
  • b. development of methodological approaches, significant personalities with emphasis on the Czech lands
  • c. institutionalisation
  • d. key periodicals
  • e. importance of rescue excavations for the development of medieval archaeology, relationship to so-called exploratory excavation
  • 3. Present-day research methods and instruments, specifics of high and late medieval studies, written and other sources, the limits of research methods and instruments
  • a. interdisciplinary cooperation in medieval studies
  • b. remote versus direct field survey
  • c. work with cartographic sources, aerial photography and landscape relief
  • d. written sources vs. landscape, settlements
  • e. geophysical prospecting on medieval sites
  • f. methods of research on changes and dynamics of medieval landscape
  • g. criticism and limits of current methods of field research
  • 4. Settlement structure at the end of Early Middle Ages and the onset of High Middle Ages
  • a. characteristic of society and economy in later stage of the Early Middle Ages (11th and 12th century) in Central European context
  • b. the scope and structure of the main features of settlement (rural settlements, market villages, castles, settlement agglomerations of central importance)
  • c. material culture, manifestation of social elite
  • d. development of exchange
  • e. spiritual life, development of the Church
  • f. the symptoms of social change in the 12th century
  • 5. High and late medieval settlement structure and landscape, their transformations, dynamics, changes in land holdings, colonization
  • a. landscape: highlands vs. lowlands, forests, watercourses, the importance of climate and vegetation, the importance of soil quality
  • b. transformation of natural environment in the Middle Ages: forest and deforestation, erosion, grazing, fields, water resources, pollution and the depletion of landscape
  • c. briefly on the settlement structure: rural settlements, feudal residences, manors, monastic complexes, churches, towns, roads, fords
  • d. What is medieval colonization: perspectives and examples of the colonization initiators (the Church and monasteries, sovereign, secular landlords)
  • 6. Soil, ploughland, village and farmstead
  • a. development of villages and rural settlements from 13th to 15th century
  • b. appearance and typology of village ground-plans
  • c. village plot allotment
  • c. distribution of features in one rural plot
  • d. typology of farmhouses and their layouts (hearth, equipment)
  • e. economic hinterland of a village (agriculture, exploitation of materials (clay, wood, stone etc.)
  • f. typology of fields and their carrying capacity
  • g. character of medieval agriculture
  • 7. Church administration and ecclesiastical buildings, proprietary and parish churches, monasteries and their world. Burials in the High and Late Middle Ages
  • a. burial practices or specific ways of dealing with human remains: funerals variability (e.g. mass graves - epidemics, war mass graves), design of grave pits
  • b. location of cemeteries and their relation to churches
  • c. special handling of deceased: building sacrifices, revenants, vampires, executed etc.
  • d. emergence of parish organization, archaeology of rural churches
  • e. rural monasteries
  • f. convents of ecclesiastical orders (mendicants) in towns
  • 8. Medieval towns
  • a. emergence of medieval towns in relation to older market villages. Problem of new towns founded on a greenfield site
  • b. the legal status of townspeople
  • c. spatial components of medieval towns and the importance of archaeology in their exploration
  • d. water supply and the problem of waste in medieval towns
  • e. development of urban landscape in the Middle Ages
  • 9. Fortified residences of elites, stone castles, timber-and-earth castles, fortified houses and manors
  • a. development of the stone castle architecture from the 12th to the end of the 15th century
  • b. fortified residence in the landscape and settlement structure
  • c. Stone castle/timber-and-earth castle/fortified house/manor and their hinterland, the size of the estate
  • d. Castles: royal, aristocratic and ecclesiastical
  • e. types and arrangement of buildings in a stone castle/fortified house/timber-and earth castle
  • f. typology of castle layouts
  • g. typology of timber-and-earth castles and fortified houses
  • h. development of fortification elements
  • ch. economic component of a stone castle/fortified house/timber-and-earth castle
  • i. residential component of a stone castle/fortified house/timber-and-earth castle (heating, floors, equipment etc.)
  • 10. Trade and trade routes, archaeology of roads, selected problems of medieval economy, mining towns
  • a. trade, trade routes: commodities and goods (salt, honey, wax, spices, silk, textiles, furs, weapons, glass, grain, fish, cattle, horses, slaves and prisoners, steel/iron, lead, copper, silver, amber, gold). Nordic trade and Central Asia, so-called Silk Route and Amber Road.
  • b. concepts: exchange and coining economy, royal privileges, land routes, land gates, duties and penalties, knight orders vs. long-distance path, robbers, town mile law
  • c. centres of production, distribution, trade and consumption: early medieval trade centres vs. periodic market places. Monastic complexes, e.g. Corvey – Höxter.
  • d. trade in the world of high medieval towns: Mediterranean and Veneto, Baltic, North Sea and Hanseatic League, inland transit in Western Europe vs. Czech lands. Traders, craftsmen and townspeople. Right to store, weekly or annual fair, specialized markets.
  • e. archaeology of old paths and routes: special AH volume, an example of the Golden Path.
  • f. archaeology of trade and exchange: coins, hoards, market places, sterling silver, lead and other metals, scales and weights in the Czech Middle Ages, the so-called touchstone.
  • g. raw material economy in the Middle Ages: exploitation of gold, iron production, production vs. import of precious metals. Metallurgical production at urban centres, mining towns, mining and metallurgical centres.
  • 11. Crafts and production in different social settings
  • a. types of medieval crafts according to archaeological and written sources
  • b. examples of manufacturing features and production sites
  • c. specialization
  • d. relation between crafts and landscape or settlements
  • e. concentration of craft production
  • f. crafts: in towns, villages, castles and monasteries
Literature
    required literature
  • LE GOFF, Jacques. Kultura středověké Evropy. Vyd. 2., Ve Vyšehradu 1. Praha: Vyšehrad, 2005, 702 s. ISBN 8070218088. info
  • SMETÁNKA, Zdeněk. Legenda o Ostojovi : archeologie obyčejného života. Vyd. 1. Praha: Lidové nakladatelství, 2004, 347 s. ISBN 8071066613. info
  • PLAČEK, Miroslav. Ilustrovaná encyklopedie moravských hradů, hrádků a tvrzí. 1. vyd. Praha: Libri, 2001, 768 s. ISBN 8072770462. info
  • DURDÍK, Tomáš. Encyklopedie českých hradů. 2. vyd. Praha: Libri, 1996, 365 s. ISBN 80-85983-03-6. info
  • KLÁPŠTĚ, Jan. Paměť krajiny středověkého Mostecka. Praha: Archeologický ústav AV ČR, 1994, 231 s. ISBN 80-85115-48-4. info
    recommended literature
  • PROCHÁZKA, Rudolf. Moravská keramika kolem roku 1000 – otázka kontinuity a změny. (Moravian pottery about 1000 -the question of the continuity and change). In Spotkania bytomskie VI,. Wroclaw, 2009, p. 151 - 186. info
  • NEKUDA, Vladimír. Mstěnice : zaniklá středověká ves u Hrotovic. Vydání první. Brno: Muzejní a vlastivědná společnost v Brně, 2000, 388 stran. ISBN 8072750046. info
  • NEKUDA, Vladimír. Mstěnice :zaniklá středověká ves u Hrotovic. Vyd. 1. V Brně: Muzejní a vlastivědná společnost, 2000, 388 s. ISBN 80-7275-004-6. info
  • NEKUDA, Rostislav and Vladimír NEKUDA. Mstěnice : zaniklá středověká ves u Hrotovic. Brno: Moravské zemské muzeum, 1997, 132 s. ISBN 28085048663. info
  • SOUKUPOVÁ, Helena. Anežský klášter v Praze. Vyd. 1. Praha: Odeon, 1989, 404 s. ISBN 8020700463. info
Teaching methods
Working with scientific literature and other information sources, presentations of papers by students, class discussion about the topic.
Assessment methods
Attendance at the seminar, active participation in seminar, presentation
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
Information on completion of the course: Ke získání kolokvia je třeba dostatečná a aktivní účast a splnění zadaných referátů.
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2020, Autumn 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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