AEA_58 Material Culture of early Middle Age

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2007
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Petr Dresler, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Měřínský, CSc.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Dobešová
Timetable
Tue 13:20–14:55 C42
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 50 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/50, only registered: 0/50
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The goal of the seminar is to familiarize the students with the typical inventory of Early Middle Ages from the 6th to 10th century. Examples of finds will be demonstrated in the chronological order to illustrate either the sequence of development or discontinuity of the early medieval material culture. In the seminars the student will acquire knowledge of the individual “functional” groups of material culture (personal ornament, items of garment, weapons and fighter's equipment, vessels, manufacturing tools etc.), and within each group a detailed overview of the concrete types and variants of items. Students will learn the specialist terms used for denomination of the items and their parts; typological classification of the items, their chronological classification, construction etc. properties of the items, the substance of the manufacturing technologies applied etc. Students should acquire an orientation in the basic specialist literature and an ability to apply the findings from the literature in their own work with artefacts.
Syllabus
  • The definition of “material culture”. Periodizations in use. Early medieval personal ornament: earrings, hair-rings, beads, pendants, bracelets, neck-rings, finger-rings, sheet buttons. Decoration techniques: granulation, filigree, notching, niello, tausing. Armour: swords, sabers, axes, spears, bow and arrow. Fighter's equipment: spurs, protective armour. Straps, belt loops and strap ends: belt fittings, mounts for fastening of sword. Parts of horse harness: stirrups, rein, strap mounts, saddle. Tools for daily use: knives, grind stones, sharpening irons, flints, needle cases, needles and bodkins, whorls. Agricultural tools: reaping hooks, scythes, blades, coulters. Pottery: Prague type, Danubian type, nomadic pottery, Great Moravian pottery circles (Blučina, Morava river area, Mikulčice, Dolní Věstonice); antique-shape pottery; graphite tempered pottery; pottery of the early fortified settlement period. Items made of organic materials (wood, leather, antler, bone).
Literature
  • MĚŘÍNSKÝ, Zdeněk. České země od příchodu Slovanů II (Czech lands after arrival of the Slavs). 1st ed. Praha: Libri, 2006, 967 pp. ISBN 80-7277-105-1. info
  • MĚŘÍNSKÝ, Zdeněk. České země od příchodu Slovanů po Velkou Moravu I (Czech lands from the comming the Slavs to the Great Moravia I). Praha: LIBRI, 2002, 564 pp. LIBRI, I. ISBN 80-7277-104-3. info
Assessment methods
Requirements for the course-unit credit: active participation at the seminar; masterful knowledge of the basic sources of material culture; orientation in the early medieval development trends.
Language of instruction
Czech
Follow-Up Courses
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
Information on completion of the course: Informace o ukončení viz sylabus.
The course is taught annually.
General note: Dvě seminární skupiny po max. 25 studentech.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2002, Autumn 2003, Autumn 2004, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2007, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2007/AEA_58