Author: Mark McKerracher. Paperback; 203x276mm; viii+204 pages; 53 figures, 33 tables (4 plates in colour). (Print RRP £35.00). 85 2019. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781789691924. Epublication ISBN 9781789691931. |
There is a growing recognition within Anglo-Saxon archaeology that farming practices underwent momentous transformations in the Mid Saxon period, between the seventh and ninth centuries AD: transformations which underpinned the growth of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and, arguably, set the trajectory for English agricultural development for centuries to come. Meanwhile, in the field of archaeobotany, a growing set of quantitative methods has been developed to facilitate the systematic investigation of agricultural change through the study of charred plant remains. This study applies a standardised set of repeatable quantitative analyses to the charred remains of Anglo-Saxon crops and weeds, to shed light on crucial developments in crop husbandry between the seventh and ninth centuries. The analyses demonstrate the significance of the Anglo-Saxon archaeobotanical record in elucidating how greater crop surpluses were attained through ecologically-sensitive diversification and specialisation strategies in this period. At the same time, assumptions, variables and key parameters are presented fully and explicitly to facilitate repetition of the work, thus also enabling the book to be used as a source of comparative data and a methodological handbook for similar research in other periods and places. It constitutes a specialist, data-driven companion volume to the author’s more general narrative account published as Farming Transformed in Anglo-Saxon England (Windgather, 2018).
About the Author
MARK MCKERRACHER is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, where he completed his DPhil – studying Mid Saxon agriculture – in 2014. After working in museum archiving, software development and freelance archaeobotany, he is currently researching medieval farming practices as part of the ERC-funded Feeding Anglo-Saxon England project (FeedSax). His interests include archaeobotany, database development, agricultural production and Anglo-Saxon archaeology, and he writes a popular blog – The Corn Lore – which explores the science, culture, economy, history and archaeology of cereals (www.mjmckerracher.co.uk).
(including academics purchasing for personal use):
Printed Price £35.00 (No VAT).
|Libraries & Institutional customers:|
Printed Price £35.00 (No VAT).
By purchasing an EPublication you are agreeing to our standard single-user eBook licence available to read in full here
. Please note this does not affect your statutory rights.
All EPublications purchased via www.archaeopress.com grant permanent access to a PDF file for self-hosting. Our multi-user licence grants limitless downloads with no restriction to concurrent users. Restrictions may apply to printing, copy/paste etc., please contact email@example.com
By purchasing an EPublication you are agreeing to our standard multi-user licence available to read in full here
For help and information please email firstname.lastname@example.org