Prof Christopher Ramsey

Abstract:

Abstract As in the rest of Europe, the population of medieval England grew steeply, especially between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. This volume investigates how medieval farmers managed to produce sufficiently large harvests to sustain this growth—which in turn fuelled a major expansion of towns and markets—and the impact of this ‘cerealisation’ on the landscape. It presents new evidence recovered from hundreds of archaeological excavations for the development of the medieval farming regimes that shaped the English landscape in ways still visible today. Medieval farming is a contentious topic, not least because of the different approaches taken by historians, archaeologists, and geographers. No consensus has been reached about the cultivation regimes that underpinned the remarkable increase in cereal production seen in this period. A large-scale analysis of the excavated remains of medieval crops, weeds, livestock, and pollen has generated new evidence using a range of science-based methods. The results reveal the conditions in which medieval crops were grown and the way in which land use changed between the late Roman period and the Black Death. The authors relate the results to archaeological and written evidence for farms and farming, bringing an ecological perspective to the debate about the so-called medieval agricultural revolution. The ‘cerealisation’ of England emerges as a regionally variegated process lasting several centuries, whose overall impact can nevertheless be described as ‘revolutionary’.

Abstract:

Abstract As in the rest of Europe, the population of medieval England grew steeply, especially between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. This volume investigates how medieval farmers managed to produce sufficiently large harvests to sustain this growth—which in turn fuelled a major expansion of towns and markets—and the impact of this ‘cerealisation’ on the landscape. It presents new evidence recovered from hundreds of archaeological excavations for the development of the medieval farming regimes that shaped the English landscape in ways still visible today. Medieval farming is a contentious topic, not least because of the different approaches taken by historians, archaeologists, and geographers. No consensus has been reached about the cultivation regimes that underpinned the remarkable increase in cereal production seen in this period. A large-scale analysis of the excavated remains of medieval crops, weeds, livestock, and pollen has generated new evidence using a range of science-based methods. The results reveal the conditions in which medieval crops were grown and the way in which land use changed between the late Roman period and the Black Death. The authors relate the results to archaeological and written evidence for farms and farming, bringing an ecological perspective to the debate about the so-called medieval agricultural revolution. The ‘cerealisation’ of England emerges as a regionally variegated process lasting several centuries, whose overall impact can nevertheless be described as ‘revolutionary’.

Abstract:

Abstract As in the rest of Europe, the population of medieval England grew steeply, especially between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. This volume investigates how medieval farmers managed to produce sufficiently large harvests to sustain this growth—which in turn fuelled a major expansion of towns and markets—and the impact of this ‘cerealisation’ on the landscape. It presents new evidence recovered from hundreds of archaeological excavations for the development of the medieval farming regimes that shaped the English landscape in ways still visible today. Medieval farming is a contentious topic, not least because of the different approaches taken by historians, archaeologists, and geographers. No consensus has been reached about the cultivation regimes that underpinned the remarkable increase in cereal production seen in this period. A large-scale analysis of the excavated remains of medieval crops, weeds, livestock, and pollen has generated new evidence using a range of science-based methods. The results reveal the conditions in which medieval crops were grown and the way in which land use changed between the late Roman period and the Black Death. The authors relate the results to archaeological and written evidence for farms and farming, bringing an ecological perspective to the debate about the so-called medieval agricultural revolution. The ‘cerealisation’ of England emerges as a regionally variegated process lasting several centuries, whose overall impact can nevertheless be described as ‘revolutionary’.

Abstract:

Abstract Early medieval farmers expanded cereal production largely by adopting ‘low-input’ forms of farming. These involved increasing the area of land under cultivation while decreasing the amount of ‘input’—manure and human labour—per land unit. Weed flora vary according to soil fertility and tillage, and the seeds of arable weeds that grew among medieval crops and were preserved with them provide a valuable indicator of soil conditions. Analysis of weed flora is used here to distinguish crops grown in low-input (‘extensive’) conditions from those grown in higher input (more ‘intensive’, presumably smaller scale) conditions. This is complemented by an analysis of the stable isotope values of cereal grains to investigate how intensively crops were manured and whether cultivation expanded onto heavier, more productive soils. Finally, a national database of archaeobotanical remains is interrogated to establish what arable weeds reveal about the chronology and regional trajectory of arable ‘extensification’. The results reflect a shift to ‘low-input’ regimes beginning around the eighth century, indicating an expansion in the scale of arable farming.

Abstract:

Abstract The mouldboard plough is traditionally regarded as a key part of a technological package that boosted agricultural productivity north of the Alps. Chapter 5 reviews the evidence for the transition from ard to plough and considers when it changed from being a high-status implement used at a few elite sites to an essential piece of equipment for farmers wishing to implement an extensive cultivation regime. A study of cattle bones allows the changing emphasis on traction over time and regionally to be traced. The results, combined with an ecological study of arable weeds to gauge soil disturbance (reflecting the type and frequency of tillage), indicate that use of the plough increased from the eighth century, with a majority of settlements displaying a distinctive ‘draught cattle signature’ by the tenth and eleventh centuries.