For some time an international and interdisciplinary group of archaeologists, scientists, and historians have worked to uncover the minutiae of the Longobard invasion of Italy in AD 568. Genetic explorations are shedding extremely important new light on the linkage between genetics and cultural profiles.
Is a shift in “culture” the result of local evolutions or the meeting up of people? And how does such “meetings” play out culturally? Since the “invention” of new archaeology, this question has caused multiple controversies among archaeologists as well as historians. New aDNA studies lead the way to document the actual character of migratory movements.
From the fourth to the 7thcenturies, the Germanic Languages underwent a series of rapid shifts, when the language split into a number of dialects. A new study maps the geographical routes along which these dialects spread.
Cherven Towns was a fortified settlement located on the frontier between Lesser Poland and Rus (Ruthenia). Fought over since at least the late 10thcentury, archaeological explorations of the region was hampered by the two world wars. Only recently a more scientific exploration has been undertaken.
Was the plague brought to people by rats or human lice? How severely did the pestilence strike? What may we learn from modern epidemics? New research shed light on some old conundrums.
Network analysis of the Viking Age in Ireland as portrayed in Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh reveals the cultural difference between Vikings and the Irish
New studies of the levels of atmospheric lead as evidenced by icecores drilled from an Alpine Glacier lets scientists gauge the devastating effects of the Black Death on Economy and Society. It appears all ground to a halt.
Manuscripta Medievalia is a classic example of a digitisation project overrun by technological advances. A group of German medievalists will remedy this.
The chances of dying from violence in the Middle Age were seven times higher than it is today. It appears culture and state-formation plays important role.
What were the consequences of the Justinian Plague in the 6th century? How did people react to the pain and suffering, which by all accounts were just as devastating as those in the 14th century?
New studies of the use of the fluid landscape in the Early Medieval Fenlands point to a continuity in the settlement-structure from pre-Roman times
Rendelsham is located five km north-east of Sutton Hoo and known as an early Anglo-Saxon emporium. Recently a royal mead-hall was discovered there
Icelandic Viking horses are known for they ambling gait. Following the gene, scientists now suggest that the first Icelandic horses were in fact English
Bede used charters and other written documents while writing his histories. Careful sifting of the evidence reveals that he also used a now lost "Tribal Hidage".
Medieval charters are valuable resources for writing local histories of landscapes and lives. But they are also useful when studying networks through time
Salmon declined severely after 1400. New study demonstrates that the culprit was the explosion in vertical water mills and not overfishing or contamination