Pottery and Social Life in Medieval England

Ben Jervis author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxbow Books

Published:1st Jul '14

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Pottery and Social Life in Medieval England cover

How can pottery studies contribute to the study of medieval archaeology? How do pots relate to documents, landscapes and identities? These are the questions addressed in this book which develops a new approach to the study of pottery in medieval archaeology. Utilising an interpretive framework which focuses upon the relationships between people, places and things, the effect of the production, consumption and discard of pottery is considered, to see pottery not as reflecting medieval life, but as one factor which contributed to the development of multiple experiences and realities in medieval England. By focussing on relationships we move away from viewing pottery simply as an object of study in its own right, to see it as a central component to developing understandings of medieval society. The case studies presented explore how we might use relational approaches to re-consider our approaches to medieval landscapes, overcome the methodological and theoretical divisions between documents and material culture and explore how the use of objects could have multiple implications for the formation and maintenance of identities. The use of this approach makes this book not only of interest to pottery specialists, but also to any archaeologist seeking to develop new interpretive approaches to medieval archaeology and the archaeological study of material culture.

It is probably time for all medieval archaeologists to take note. Jervis presents the approach of 'relational archaeology' as one by which we will enrich our understanding of medieval society as vibrant and dynamic rather than static and prescribed. This is a challenging read but it is well worth the challenge. It is probably time for all medieval archaeologists to take note. Jervis presents the approach of 'relational archaeology' as one by which we will enrich our understanding of medieval society as vibrant and dynamic rather than static and prescribed. This is a challenging read but it is well worth the challenge. * Medieval Archaeology *

ISBN: 9781782976592

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

160 pages