Scandinavian Place Names

We have mentioned place names several time in class, and archaeologists are always drawn to place name studies as a form of evidence for past settlement, particularly when tangible material remains are lacking! 

The University of Nottingham's Institute of Place Name Studies, holds a fantastic on-line resource in the form of searchable interactive maps of  place names of all ages and origins across England.  It is a spectacular resource, access it here.

On the subject of Scandinavian Place Name elements, usually taken as a sign of Norse settlement, the British Museum's Vikings Live initiative maintains an excellent interactive map of Scandinavian Place Names in Britain, which is here. 

The Ordnance Survey have a useful on-line glossary of Scandinavian Place Name elements (on their maps) - which is here - and a free e-book with more details of Scandinavian Place Names on OS mapping, which can be accessed from here.

Viking Winter Camps

There is an interesting discussion on looking for Viking winter camp locations in Lancashire on Stephen Lewis's Wild Peak blog, here.

It makes interesting reading as a wider context for the archaeologically documented winter camps from Mercia, at Repton and Torksey.

Assignment

The assignment for the next class, on Wednesday 4th March is focused on the Medieval countryside. Take a look at Carenza Lewis’s lengthy but excellent account of the Middle Ages in the East Midlands, download from here.

• What are the key themes for the countryside? (eg nucleation of settlement, open field origins, settlement desertion, etc).
• Identify one or two key sites that Carenza uses to illustrate one theme and find out as much as you can about those sites.  Do you agree with her ideas and analysis? Why/why not?

Class 4: A Disputed Land

The slides for Class 4: A Disputed Land: Angles, Saxons and Vikings in the East Midlands can be downloaded from here.

Half Term

Reminder that Wednesday 18th falls within Nottinghamshire half-term and so there is no class.  We resume on Wednesday 25th.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The complex collection of historical annals known collectively as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the Anglo-Saxon's own attempt to write history, both theirs and their place in the wider narrative of Christendom.  Here for example is the entry for AD 449, which contains the Anglo-Saxon origin myth.

"This year Marcian and Valentinian assumed the empire, and reigned seven winters. In their days Hengest and Horsa, invited by Wurtgern, king of the Britons to his assistance, landed in Britain in a place that is called Ipwinesfleet; first of all to support the Britons, but they afterwards fought against them. The king directed them to fight against the Picts; and they did so; and obtained the victory wheresoever they came. They then sent to the Angles, and desired them to send more assistance. They described the worthlessness of the Britons, and the richness of the land. They then sent them greater support. Then came the men from three powers of Germany; the Old Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes. From the Jutes are descended the men of Kent, the Wightwarians (that is, the tribe that now dwelleth in the Isle of Wight), and that kindred in Wessex that men yet call the kindred of the Jutes. From the Old Saxons came the people of Essex and Sussex and Wessex. From Anglia, which has ever since remained waste between the Jutes and the Saxons, came the East Angles, the Middle Angles, the Mercians, and all of those north of the Humber. Their leaders were two brothers, Hengest and Horsa; who were the sons of Wihtgils; Wihtgils was the son of Witta, Witta of Wecta, Wecta of Woden. From this Woden arose all our royal kindred, and that of the Southumbrians also."  

Originally compiled in Wessex, probably at about the time of Alfred the Great (849-899) multiple copies were distributed around English monasteries and independently updated. Nine manuscripts of varying historical value survive.

• You can read more about the Chronicle, its compilation and the various manuscripts here.
• An on-line translation is available here.

Assignment. Repton and the Vikings

This week's assignment, to be discussed at class on Wednesday 25th February, concerns the Vikings in Derbyshire.  There are three papers to read, browse all three or take your pick.

First off, Prof Martin Biddle's ground breaking excavations at St Wystan's Church, Repton, published in summary in Antiquity, back in 1992.

Second, Prof Julian Richards's excavation of the nearby Viking Age cremation cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby - published in the Antiquaries Journal in 2004.

Finally, Prof Richard's insightful discussion of stereotyping of the Vikings - and what may have been the reality of their English incursions.

We will discuss the evidence from Repton and Ingleby for the Vikings in the East Midlands, whether it allows us to draw any general conclusions about the nature of their presence and try and figure out what really went on when the Great Army arrived in Derbyshire in Winter 873AD.

Class 3: Iron Age to Dark Age

The slides for Class 3, Iron Age to Dark Age are available for download from here.

The Origins of Andesite

The primitive andesitic hand axes (called bifaces) such as those from the Bytham River gravels at Brooksby in Leicestershire are made from andesitic tuff, a kind of volcanic rock found only in the Lake District and North Wales.  Archaeologists speculate that hominins (early humans) may have carried such tools for a considerable while before they were lost or discarded - so they may have been brought into the region by nomadic groups from further north.  However, andesitic boulders are occasionally found in the river gravels of the Midlands, having arrived through natural processes of erosion and deposition associated with glaciation, and so it is not impossible that some of the hand axes may have been made locally from such material.  You can read more in John McNabb's authoritative The British Lower Palaeolithic: Stones in Contention.

Phil Harding Lecture

John was kind enough to point out tonight that Time Team's Phil Harding, a great expert on lithics and flint technology, is speaking in Nottingham soon. Phil's Lecture will be at the East Midlands Geological Society, on 18th April at 2.15pm.  The Society meet in the Biology building at the University of Nottingham and non-members are welcome.  Full details of Phil's talk and the venue are here.

Assignment

This week the assignment concerns the archaeology of the Anglo Saxon period in the East Midlands. Choose at least one of the county-based essays below and read to get a flavour of the period in that county.

• Lincolnshire
• Derbyshire
• Nottinghamshire
• Leicestershire

You will want to make some notes on the themes of evidence for settlement, burial and the broad changes that take place over the period (notionally c400-c850 AD).  We'll spend some time considering these themes in the session on Wednesday 12th February.

You might also want to look at Chapter 7 of the East Midlands Research Framework, the Anglo-Saxon Period, by the late Alan Vince, to get an overall flavour of the period in the East Midlands.

Class 2: Earlier Prehistory of the Midlands

The slides for Class 2: Earlier Prehistory in the Midlands are available to download from here.