Social complexity in early medieval rural communities

The north-western Iberia archaeological record

Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo

• Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781784915087
• eBook ISBN: 9781784915094
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book presents an overview of the results of the research project DESPAMED funded by the Spanish Minister of Economy and Competitiveness. The aim of the book is to discuss the theoretical challenges posed by the study of social inequality and social complexity in early medieval peasant communities in North-western Iberia. Traditional approaches have defined these communities as poor, simple and even nomadic, in the framework of a self-sufficient economy that prioritised animal husbandry over agriculture. This picture has radically changed over the last couple of decades as a result of important research on the archaeology of peasantry and the critical analysis of ninthand tenth-century documentary evidence that show the complexity of these rural societies. These new records are discussed in the light of a new research agenda centred on the analysis of the emergence of villages, the formation of local elites, the creation of socio-political networks and the role of identities in the legitimation of local inequalities. The nine chapters of this book explore the potential and the limits of the archaeological record to tackle social inequality in rural communities. Those considerations have a wider theoretical and methodological potential and are applicable to other regions and chronologies. The different chapters explore local societies through different methodologies and approaches such as food, settlement patterns, social exclusion, consumption patterns and social practices. In addition, the book introduces some of the most relevant topics studied currently by Iberian Medieval archaeologists, which are not always accessible to an international audience.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Authors
• Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo
• Preface
• Inequality and social complexity in peasant societies. Some approaches to early medieval north-western Iberia
• Inequality and social complexity in peasant societies. Some approaches to early medieval north-western Iberia
• Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo1
• Figure 1. Map with sites mentioned in the book.
• Carlos Tejerizo García (Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea)1
• Settlement patterns and social inequality: The Duero Basin in Early Middle Ages (4th-8th centuries)
• Settlement patterns and social inequality: The Duero Basin in Early Middle Ages (4th-8th centuries)
• Figure 1. Distribution of Visigothic necropolis according to P. Palol.
• Figure 2. The site of Flixborough according to C. Loveluck and D. Atkins.
• Figure 3. Sites mentioned in the text.
• Figure 4. Hilltop occupations in the territory between the valleys of the river Eresma and Voltoya.
• Figure 5. Early medieval sites between the valleys of the rivers Eresma and Voltoya.
• Figure 6. The site of La Mata del Palomar.
• Figure 7. Main churches in the central part of the Duero basin (6th-8th centuries).
• Catarina Tente1
• Social inequality in Early Medieval rural settlements: The case of central-northern Portugal in the 10th century
• Social inequality in Early Medieval rural settlements: The case of central-northern Portugal in the 10th century
• Figure 1. Map with sites and territories mentioned in text.
• Figure 2. Topographic plan of the São Gens archaeological complex.
• Figure 3. Penedo dos Mouros (3A) and Senhora do Barrocal (3B).
• Figure 4. Potsherd of an Islamic green and manganese decorated bowl from Senhora do Barrocal.
• Figure 5. Architectonic element with a Latin inscription from Senhora do Barrocal.
• Figure 6. Rock-cut necropolises and total number of graves by municipality. Box indicates the three modern municipalities of the former Lafões territory.
• Faunal remains and social inequality in the Basque Country during the Early Middle Ages
• Faunal remains and social inequality in the Basque Country during the Early Middle Ages
• Idoia Grau-Sologestoa1
• Figure 1. Relative frequency (% by NISP) of the three main domesticates at the period-assemblages with over 100 NISP (sheep/goat+cattle+pig).
• Table 2. NISP of faunal remains classified as ‘others’ in Table 1 at sites where they were present. x: present, but not quantiied. CAF: Canis familiaris, FEC: Felis catus, URA: Ursus arctos, CEE: Cervus elaphus, CAC: Capreolus capreolus, ORC: Oryctolagus
• Table 3. Use of the main domesticates in the largest assemblages, according to the interpretation given by each author. (-): not enough evidence.
• Food consumption patterns and social inequality in an early medieval rural community in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula
• Food consumption patterns and social inequality in an early medieval rural community in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula
• Maite Iris García-Collado1
• Figure 1. Materials. (A) The village of Gózquez (source: Vigil-Escalera 2013: 158). (B) The cemetery of Gózquez. (C) Storage pit SU 5831 containing human deposit SU 6150 (source: Vigil-Escalera no date: 276). (D) Storage pit SU 6640 containing human depos
• Figure 3. Plot of δ13C and δ15N values of human and fauna samples from Gózquez, the latter separated by taxa.
• Figure 4. Plot of δ13C and δ15N values of humans from Gózquez, separated by (A) ages, (B) sex, (C) presence or absence of grave goods, and (D) location of the inhumation.
• David Larreina García1
• Technology and social complexity: iron tools and peasant communities in the Medieval period
• Technology and social complexity: iron tools and peasant communities in the Medieval period
• Figure 1. Chaîne opératoire conceptual framework. Chaîne opératoire theoretical model applied to copper production and working (after Ottaway 2001, Fig. 1), and Chaîne opératoire reconstructing the technology live-history of a medieval knife (after Blak
• Figure 2. Occupational phases in Zaballa, 6th-15th centuries. After Quirós Castillo ed. (2012, Fig, 7.1, 7.3, 7.5 and 7.12).⤀
• Figure 3. Selected agricultural implements found in Zaballa analysed by metallography.
• Table 1. Microstructure and carbon contain of the sampled tools. The knife 244 presents very severe corrosion and is not possible to identify the manufacture techniques.
• Francesca Grassi1 (Marie Curie Fellow – UPV/EHU)
• Production, consumption and political complexity: early medieval pottery in Castile and Southern Tuscany (7th-10th centuries)
• Production, consumption and political complexity: early medieval pottery in Castile and Southern Tuscany (7th-10th centuries)
• Figure 1. Map with ten sites of Earmedcastile project.
• Figure 2. Complete pottery assemblages from La Peña Mazo, El Pópilo, Tejuela, Zornoztegi, 6th-10th centuries (number of sherds, weight, number of vessels represented).
• Figure 3. Map of pottery workshop in the North of Iberian Peninsula.
• Figure 4. Number of Red Painted pottery from Solaun Bustinza 2005 and Azkarate Garai-Olaun, Solaun Bustinza, 2016 (number of vessels represented).
• Figure 6. Red Painted pottery distribution.
• Figure 7. Pottery assemblage from Zornoztegi and presence of different way of production, 8th-10th centuries.
• Figure 8. Ubication of village of Rocchette Pannocchieschi (Tuscany, Italy) from Grassi 2013.
• Figure 9. Aerial view of Rocchette Pannocchieschi (Lap&Lab, University of Siena).
• Figure 10. Chronological sequence reconstructed from the stratigraphicals evidences in the early medieval village of Rocchette from Grassi 2013.
• Figure 11. Complete pottery assemblage from early medieval village of Rocchette, Period I, 8th-10th centuries, (elaborated f om Grassi 2013).
• Figure 12. Domestic furniture of Rocchette Pannocchieschi: the pottery from Grassi 2013.
• Figure 13. Map of distribution of workshops that produced fine ware and coated ware recovered in the early medieval village of Rocchette (elaborated from Grassi 2010).
• Figure 14. Domestic furniture of Rocchette Pannocchieschi: the glass from Mendera 2013.
• Figure 15. Domestic furniture of Rocchette Pannocchieschi: metal artefacts from Belli 2013.
• Figure 16. Comparison between total extension of sites, percentage of excavations and pottery recovered between Spain and Italy.
• Alfonso Vigil-Escalera Guirado1
• Invisible social inequalities in early medieval communities: the bare bones of household slavery
• Invisible social inequalities in early medieval communities: the bare bones of household slavery
• Figure 1. Types of inhumation modes in the westernmost areas of the site El Pelícano (Arroyomolinos, Madrid): the cemetery, several isolated graves and a multiple interment in a storage pit.
• Figure 2. Distribution map of sites with non-burials (modified from Vigil-Escalera 2013.
• Figure 3. At least 14 individuals were successively buried in the same grave in the cemetery of Acedinos (Getafe, Madrid).
• Figure 4. Various atypical gestures match in this context from Berrocales (Vicálvaro, Madrid). A modification of the profile of the pit to house the first body in extended position, the reuse of the same structure for successive inhumations, and the caref
• Igor Santos Salazar1
• Words, goods and social inequality: the village of Torrentejo
• Words, goods and social inequality: the village of Torrentejo
• Figure 1. Location of Torrentejo in the Ebro Valley.
• Figure 2. Sancho IV donations in the Ebro Valley, 1073-1089.