B5163 - Medieval Settlements and Settlement System (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be familiar with the methodologies of investigation and interdisciplinary and thematic approaches to the study of associated life, through the interactions between historical phenomena and spatial definitions, and will be able to make appropriate use of different types of sources and tools; they will have a specific and interdisciplinary knowledge of the evolution of settlement systems and their material reality, including the ability to analyse and classify the products of material culture; they will be able to plan and implement an effective communication of specific content also within heterogeneous work groups and cultural contexts. They will be able to evaluate the connections between historical studies and social sciences and to use of different types of knowledge related to society and the territory for professional purposes, consciously working to produce quality content that can be used through the various channels of dissemination and diffusion of science and culture, including teaching, thereby enhancing the specific contribution of historical studies.

Course contents

The course explores the dynamic relationship linking settlements, landscape, climate, and environment in medieval Europe from an archaeological perspective.

It addresses key themes in the archaeology of medieval settlements (towns, villages, castles, dispersed sites, etc.) and examines issues related to the construction, negotiation, and transformation of ecosystems, understood as a complex synthesis of social, environmental, climatic, and political dynamics.

Topics covered include:

• The transformation of settlement networks and the environment in Late Antiquity, the Early Middle Ages, and the Late Middle Ages
• ‘Frontier’ settlements in the medieval period
• Typologies, materials, and techniques of urban and rural architecture
• Medieval fields and forests: carpological and anthracological analysis
• Archaeozoological datasets and the animal world of the Middle Ages
• Climate in the medieval period: stalagmites, peat bogs, ice cores
• Cultural ecology, historical ecology, political ecology: castle-building and resource exploitation in feudal Europe
• Archaeology of medieval disasters: floods, marshes, and land reclamation
• Archaeology of medieval mining landscapes

Readings/Bibliography

Required readings for attending students:

• Lecture materials and power-point slides
• A. AUGENTI, Archeologia dell’Italia Medievale, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2016 (chapters 1-4, 7)

One of the following volumes (selected chapters only):

• P. GALETTI, Uomini e case nel Medioevo tra Occidente e Oriente, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2020 (Cap. 1-4)
• R. RAO, I paesaggi dell'Italia medievale, Roma, Carocci, 2015 (Cap. 4-7)

Two articles from the SELECTED READINGS (see below)

Required readings for non-attending students:

• A. AUGENTI, Archeologia dell’Italia Medievale, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2016

One of the following volumes:

• P. GALETTI, Uomini e case nel Medioevo tra Occidente e Oriente, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2020
  
• R. RAO, I paesaggi dell'Italia medievale, Roma, Carocci, 2015

• Four articles from the SELECTED READINGS (see below)

LIST OF THE SELECTED READINGS (to be arranged with the lecturer):

• P. FORLIN, The Medieval Alps. Landscape, people and power in eastern Trentino, BAR Publishing, 2024, (Cap. 7, 8, 9)
• M.VALENTI (a cura di). Miranduolo in alta Val di Merse (Chiusdino-Si): archeologia su un sito di potere del Medioevo toscano, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2008: Capitoli 3.2. M. PUTTI Lo studio del paesaggio: analisi storiche e geoarcheologiche; 3.3 G. DI PASQUALE et al. (Analisi archeobotaniche); 3.4 F. SALVADORI (Analisi archeozoologiche).
• G. BIANCHI, R. HODGES (a cura di), The nEU-Med project: Vetricella, an Early Medieval royal property on Tuscany’s Mediterranean, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2020: capitoli di V. ANICETI (The zooarchaeological analyses); M.P BUONINCONTRI et al. (Medieval forest use and management)
• F. SAGGIORO (a cura di), Nogara. Archeologia e storia di un villaggio medievale (Scavi 2003-2008): capitoli P. Baker (Assessment of animal bones); E. Castiglioni, M. Rottoli (Coltivazione, alimentazione e ambiente)
• T. LEWIT, ‘Pigs, presses and pastoralism: farming in the fifth to sixth centuries AD’, Early Medieval Europe 17(1), 77–91 (2009)
• P. SQUATRITI, Rye’s Rise and Rome’s Fall: Agriculture and Climate in Europe during Late Antiquity. Late Antique Archaeology, 12(1), 160-169. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1163/22134522-12340072
• F.L. CHEYETTE, ‘The disappearance of the ancient landscape and the climate anomaly of the early Middle Ages: a question to be pursued’, Early medieval Europe 16(2), 127–165, (2008)
• M. VAN DER VEEN et al. ‘The Archaeobotany of Medieval Britain (450–1500): Identifying Research Priorities for the 21st Century’, Medieval Archaeology, 57(1), 151–182 (2013) https://doi-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/10.1179/0076609713Z.00000000018n/a
  

Suggested further readings (optional):

Towns:

• A. AUGENTI, Città e porti dall’Antichità al Medioevo, Roma, 2010
• G.P. BROGIOLO, S. GELICHI, La città nell’alto medioevo italiano. Archeologia e Storia, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 1998
• H. ANDERSSON, ‘The development of medieval towns’, in M. CARVER, J. KLÁPŠTĚ, The Archaeology of Medieval Europe. Vol. 2: Twelfth to Sixteen Centuries, Aarhus, Aarhus University Press, 370-378
• SCHOLKMANN, ‘The anatomy of medieval towns’, in M. CARVER, J. KLÁPŠTĚ, The Archaeology of Medieval Europe. Vol. 2: Twelfth to Sixteen Centuries, Aarhus, Aarhus University Press, 379-408

Villages and rural settlements:

• P.GALETTI, Paesaggi, comunità, villaggi nell'Europa medievale, in P.GALETTI (a cura di), Paesaggi, comunità, villaggi medievali, Spoleto, CISAM, 2012, pp.1-22

• C. GERRARD, M. ASTON, Interpreting the English Village: Landscape and Community at Shapwick, Somerset, Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2013.
• J. FERNÁNDEZ FERNÁNDEZ, M.FERNÁNDEZ MIER, (eds), The Archaeology of Medieval Villages Currently Inhabited in Europe, BAR International, Oxford, 2019
• J. CHAPELOT, R. FOSSIER, Le Village et la maison au Moyen âge, Hachette, Paris, 1980
• F. SAGGIORO (a cura di), Nogara. Archeologia e storia di un villaggio medievale (Scavi 2003-2008): capitolo di F. Saggioro (L’area e la sequenza di scavo)

Castles:

• A.A. SETTIA, Castelli medievali, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2021
• I saggi di A.A. SETTIA e A. AUGENTI in A. AUGENTI, P. GALETTI (a cura di), L'incastellamento: storia e archeologia. A quarant'anni da Les structures di Pierre Toubert, Spoleto, CISAM, pp.3-35.
• R. FRANCOVICH, R. HODGES Villa to village: The transformation of the Roman countryside. London, Bristol Classical Press, 2003.
• M. JOHNSON (ed), Lived Experience in the Later Middle Ages: Studies of Bodiam and Other Elite Landscapes in South-Eastern England, The Highfield Press, Southampton, 2017
• M.VALENTI (a cura di). Miranduolo in alta Val di Merse (Chiusdino-Si): archeologia su un sito di potere del Medioevo toscano, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2008 (Cap. 2 sulla sequenza archeologica)

'Frontier' settlements:

• P. FORLIN, The Medieval Alps. Landscape, people and power in eastern Trentino, BAR Publishing, Oxford, 2024
• D. CURTIS, M. CAMPOPIANO, ‘Medieval land reclamation and the creation of new societies: comparing Holland and the Po Valley, c.800–c.1500’, Journal of Historical Geography 44: 93–108, 2014
• E. COSTELLO, ‘The colonisation of uplands in medieval Britain and Ireland: climate, agriculture and environmental adaptation’, Medieval Archaeology

65(1), 151–179. DOI:10.1080/00766097.2020.1826123, 2021

• A. PLUSKOWSKI, A.J. BOAS and C. GERRARD ‘The Ecology of Crusading: Investigating the Environmental Impact of Holy War and Colonisation at the Frontiers of Medieval Europe’, Medieval Archaeology, 55, 2011

Settlements and disasters:

• F. SAGGIORO, 2023 ‘Montagna, sistemi e dinamiche tra la valle e le alte quote: scavi e ricerche presso il sito di Piuro’ (SO), in DE Angelucci, E, Croce, M, Migliavacca and F Saggioro (eds), Montagne e archeologia, All’Insegna del Giglio, Firenze, 31–40.
• D. GRIFFITHS, ‘Medieval Coastal Sand Inundation in Britain and Ireland’, Medieval Archaeology 59, 2015
• C.M. GERRARD, P.FORLIN, A. GUTIERREZ et Al. ‘The archaeology of a landslide. Unravelling the Azores earthquake disaster of 1522 and its consequences’, European Journal of Archaeology 24(3), 388-411. doi:10.1017/eaa.2021.4 2021

 

 

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminar-based discussions on readings that will be agreed upon during the course.

Assessment methods

Students are considered to be attending if they participate in at least 75% of the classes. Assessment will be based on an oral exam, which will evaluate the student’s knowledge of the general content covered during the course, the textbooks and readings listed in the syllabus, and the seminar-based discussions.

This 6 CFU course can be chosen as a part of the 12 CFU Integrated Course “PAESAGGIO E AMBIENTE NEL MEDIOEVO (C.I.) (LM)". If the student has the Integrated Course (12 CFU) in his/her study plan, the final grade will result from the arithmetic average of the marks obtained in the two parts (“INSEDIAMENTI E SISTEMI INSEDIATIVI MEDIEVALI (1) (LM)" and “STORIA AMBIENTALE DEL MEDIOEVO (1) (LM) (1) (LM)").

Assessment Criteria:

The evaluation will focus in particular on the student’s ability to navigate the course materials in order to extract relevant information, illustrate key topics and issues, and meaningfully connect them.

The following aspects will be assessed:

• Mastery of the content;

• Ability to summarize and analyze key topics and concepts;

• Ability to express oneself clearly, using language appropriate to the subject.

Students who demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the topics discussed in class, combined with critical thinking, strong verbal skills, and appropriate use of disciplinary language, will receive top marks.

Students with a more rote-based knowledge of the material, along with a fair ability to synthesize and analyze using generally correct, though not always precise, language, will receive good to satisfactory marks.

Gaps in content knowledge and/or inappropriate language use – even within a context of basic understanding – will result in a passing but low grade.

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching tools

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Forlin