Martin Carver

On archaeological value

The present system of English resource management relies on legal protected status given to a pre-designated group of monuments. When it is replaced by an adversarial debate between social values, hosted by the planning system, archaeology will need to arm itself with a definition of ‘archaeological value’. The new management system would favour research rather than monumentality as the principal asset of the heritage.

Sutton Hoo : burial ground of kings?

The Sutton Hoo site is one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made in Britain, and arguably the world. Since the initial discovery of the ship burial in 1938, when newspaper reports with banner headlines kept the British public informed about the event, the mound burials and surrounding cemetery have yielded a wealth of archaeological evidence as well as glittering treasures. Martin Carver draws on the full range of research undertaken at the site, which was still being excavated in 1993, to present a story of the archaeological discovery. Beginning with the excavations, he goes on to tell the story of the site itself.

Digging for ideas

An inaugural lecture is often the occasion to stand back from the specifics and the technicalities, to see the place of our subject in a larger order of things, and to look forward to its proper future. This is what Martin Carver, the second Professor of Archaeology in the University of York, looked at and saw in his inaugural last year.

An Iona of the East: The Early-medieval Monastery at Portmahomack, Tarbat Ness

Abstract A new research programme located on the Tarbat peninsula in north-east Scotland offers the first large-scale exposure of a monastery in the land of the Picts. A case is argued that the settlement at Portmahomack was founded in the 6th century, possibly by Columba himself, and by the 8th century had developed into an important political and industrial centre comparable with Iona. Signs of the monasterys former prominence survive in workshops producing liturgical objects, possibly including books, and in the brilliant art of the Tarbat cross-slabs at Portmahomack, Nigg, Shandwick and Hilton of Cadboll. The monastic institution, which had contacts with Northumbria and beyond, seems to have been expunged by the 11th century, probably in the context of political struggles between Scandinavian, Pictish and Scottish interests.

Three Saxo-Norman Tenements in Durham City

A WELL-PRESERVED SEQUENCE of craftsmens premises and their associated refuse was found in three tenements off Saddler Street in Durham City. The earliest occupation took place in the second half of the 10th century and a tenement area had been defined within a few decades. The destruction of the occupied tenement by fire took place sometime in the second half of the 11th century and was contemporary with the collapse of the local late Saxon pottery trade. This was followed by the development of the two adjacent properties and the fencing of the boundaries between them. The tenements were occupied by shoemakers and cobblers from their earliest days and their economic interdependence with the community is shown to be high. There was no special evidence for Scandinavian influence in a culture that otherwise resembled in many respects that of Anglo-Scandinavian York. The recorded sequence ended in the early 13th century.

Stable Isotope Evidence for Dietary Contrast Between Pictish and Medieval Populations at Portmahomack, Scotland

Abstract THE PICTISH AND MEDIEVAL SITE at Portmahomack contained four skeletal populations belonging respectively to the late Iron-Age/early Pictish period (6th/7th century), to a monastery of the late Pictish/early medieval period (8th century), to a Norse and Scottish trading place (9th to 11th century) and to a late medieval parish (15th century). Carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone and tooth root collagen from sample individuals from each period were measured for dietary reconstruction. Faunal bone collagen was also assessed to provide dietary comparisons. The results demonstrate a marked change in diet between the early and late medieval communities at Portmahomack. Faunal data also presented dietary differences between the early and later medieval periods, perhaps related to a change in husbandry practices. Due to the dearth of carbon and nitrogen isotope studies on medieval skeletal collections in many areas of Britain and Ireland, this study provides valuable data to enhance our knowledge of food consumption and subsistence in the medieval period. Abstract Mise en évidence aux isotopes stables des différences de régime alimentaire entre les populations pictes et médiévales de Portmahomack, Écosse par Shirley Curtis-Summers, Janet Montgomery et Martin Carver Le site picte et médiéval de Portmahomack renfermait quatre populations de squelettes appartenant respectivement à la fin de l’Âge du fer/début de la période picte (6ème/7ème siècles), à un monastère de la fin de la période picte/du début de la période médiévale (8ème siècle), à un centre marchand norvégien et écossais (9ème–11ème siècle) et à une paroisse de la fin du Moyen Âge (15ème siècle). Les analyses aux isotopes de carbone et d’azote réalisées sur le collagène d’ossements humains et de racines de dent prélevés sur des squelettes de chaque période ont permis de reconstituer le régime alimentaire. Le collagène d’ossements animaux a également été analysé pour pouvoir faire des comparaisons. Les résultats ont montré un changement marqué de régime alimentaire entre les communautés du début et de la fin de l’époque médiévale à Portmahomack. Dans les données animales, on a mis également en évidence des différences de régime alimentaire entre le début et la fin du Moyen Âge, ce qui pourrait correspondre à l’évolution des pratiques d’élevage. Vu les rares études aux isotopes de carbone et d’azote réalisées dans les collections de squelettes d’époque médiévale provenant de nombreuses régions de Grande-Bretagne et d’Irlande, cette étude apporte des données précieuses qui viennent enrichir nos connaissances sur la consommation d’aliments et les moyens de subsistance à l’époque médiévale. Abstract Nachweis von Ernährungsunterschieden zwischen der piktischen und mittelalterlichen Bevölkerung in Portmahomack, Schottland, mit Hilfe stabiler Isotope von Shirley Curtis-Summers, Janet Montgomery und Martin Carver Die piktischen und mittelalterlichen Fundstätten in Portmahomack umfassen vier Populationen von Skeletten, die aus der späten Eisenzeit /frühen piktischen Zeit (6/7 Jh), aus einem Kloster der späten piktischen/frühmittelalterlichen Zeit (8 Jh), aus einem nordischen und schottischen Handelsort (9–11 Jh), beziehungsweise einer spätmittelalterlichen Kirchengemeinde (15 Jh) stammen. Die Analyse von Kohlenstoff- und Stickstoffisotopen in Knochen und dem Collagen der Zahnwurzeln verschiedener ausgewählter Individuen aus den jeweiligen Zeitaltern wurden gemessen, um einen Rückschluss auf deren Ernährung zu erhalten. Ebenfalls wurde das Collagen von Tieren untersucht, um einen Ernährungsvergleich zu bekommen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eine merkliche Veränderung in der Ernährung zwischen den früh- und spätmittelalterlichen Gemeinden in Portmahomack. Die Tierdaten wiesen ebenfalls einen Unterschied in der Ernährung zwischen der frühmittelalterlichen und der spätmittelalterlichen Zeit auf, der vielleicht auf Veränderungen in der Tierhaltung zurückgeht. Wegen des Mangels an Untersuchungen von Kohlenstoff- und Stickstoffisotopen an Sammlungen mittelalterlicher Skelette in vielen Gegenden Großbritanniens und Irlands bietet diese Untersuchung wertvolle Daten, die unser Wissen über Nahrungsaufnahme und Ernährung im Mittelalter erweitern. Abstract La diversità di dieta tra popolazioni Pitte e medievali a Portmahomack in Scozia emersa dalle analisi con isotopi stabili di Shirley Curtis-Summers, Janet Montgomery e Martin Carver Nel sito Pitto e medievale di Portmahomack si sono rinvenuti scheletri di quattro diverse popolazioni appartenenti rispettivamente alla tarda età del ferro / primo periodo Pitto (VI / VII sec), a un monastero del tardo periodo Pitto / altomedievale (VIII sec), a una località di scambi commerciali norrena e scozzese (dal IX all’ XI secolo) e a una parrocchia tardomedievale (XV secolo). Per la ricostruzione della dieta si sono eseguite le misurazioni delle analisi isotopiche del carbonio e dell’azoto sul collagene osseo e dentale di alcuni individui campione di ciascun periodo e, a scopo comparativo, si è inoltre analizzato il collagene osseo faunistico. I risultati dimostrano una netta differenza di dieta tra le popolazioni altomedievali e tardomedievali di Portmahomack. Anche i dati faunistici hanno presentato differenze tra il periodo altomedievale e quello tardomedievale, forse attribuibili a un cambiamento nelle pratiche agricole. Poiché c’è una carenza di studi con isotopi del carbonio e dell’azoto su collezioni di scheletri medievali di molte zone della Gran Bretagna e dell’Irlanda, questa ricerca fornisce dati preziosi per accrescere la nostra conoscenza sul consumo di cibo e sulla sussistenza durante il Medioevo.

The York Gospels: a 1000-year biological palimpsest

Medieval manuscripts, carefully curated and conserved, represent not only an irreplaceable documentary record but also a remarkable reservoir of biological information. Palaeographic and codicological investigation can often locate and date these documents with remarkable precision. The York Gospels (York Minster Ms. Add. 1) is one such codex, one of only a small collection of pre-conquest Gospel books to have survived the Reformation. By extending the non-invasive triboelectric (eraser-based) sampling technique eZooMS, to include the analysis of DNA, we report a cost-effective and simple-to-use biomolecular sampling technique for parchment. We apply this combined methodology to document for the first time a rich palimpsest of biological information contained within the York Gospels, which has accumulated over the 1000-year lifespan of this cherished object that remains an active participant in the life of York Minster. These biological data provide insights into the decisions made in the selection of materials, the construction of the codex and the use history of the object.

Making Archaeology Happen : Design versus Dogma

The subtitle, Design versus Dogma, gets to the heart of this book. In this contribution to archaeological thought, Martin Carver jovially and controversially advocates a more holistic and flexible approach to the central craft of archaeology: discovering new knowledge about the human past from landscapes, sites, features, contexts, artifacts, sediments, and, increasingly, from molecules and atoms. Carver is dissatisfied with the current state of the discipline, particularly with the way in which field projects are done: “practice ... unduly fossilized ... procedures are unambitious, unquestioning, standardized, resigned to a low quality and wedded to default systems”––the “Dogma” of the title. Archaeologists are all taken to task: cultural resource management (CRM) (“the wrong job [done] in the wrong way,” “paid to record sites rather than research them”), and academic archaeology (“[work] often of low standard done without recognition of ... obligations to CRM ... not making enough use of the professional sector”). Carver is a British pragmatist whose treatment of archaeological theory from Binford to the present is concise (three pages) but unenthusiastic and mildly sardonic. He is much more interested in the how and the why of archaeological research in its widest sense and in archaeologists’ role in society than in the virtues or vices of, for example, postprocessualism. In chapter 1, “A Visit to the Ancestors,” archaeologists are shown what dogmatists they all are. Carver adroitly kicks Sir Mortimer Wheeler, a British archaeological icon, off his pedestal. He exposes Wheeler as an overly rigid practitioner, convinced of his own rectitude and of everyone else’s folly, especially his benighted archaeological rivals of the Middle East. Carver turns Wheeler’s dogma on its head and argues that the supposed inadequacies and chaos Wheeler saw in Middle Eastern archaeology were nothing of the kind. Archaeologists in that region, l ike archaeologists everywhere, worked to develop an effective methodological (or “Design”) response to three key factors: terrain, objectives, and social context. The skill of archaeological design, as Carver uses the word here, is to integrate these three factors in such a way as to maximize the recovery of new knowledge from the earth. By terrain, he means all the physical and environmental factors that influence archaeological resources at a particular location. Objectives are just that: what do archaeologists want to discover? Social context is the social, economic, and political environment within which archaeologists work and are a part. Carver stands back from testing and recording systems and shows how dogmatic and “cultural” these are too. This reviewer now realizes that he has been one of those who has promoted the British “context and open-area excavation” system with “an almost religious fervor” (p. 21). The wearer of such ideological blinkers fails to give credence to other valid systems developed for other types of “terrain” and moderated by objectives and social context. Carver’s examples of the New World test-pits culture and the North European schnitten complex are interestingly plotted in perhaps the first-published distribution map of different archaeological testing philosophies (fig. 4.8). Pragmatism is once again the message here. Having introduced his three concepts, Carver gives two of them––the terrain and the social context––their own chapters. Along the way he manages to give an informative summary of emerging archaeological analysis tools, presents case studies of social context and archaeology (including New York City’s African Burial Ground saga), and then plunges into the world of archaeological sociopolitics. What social and political circumstances make

Early Scottish Monasteries and Prehistory: A Preliminary Dialogue

Reflecting on the diversity of monastic attributes found in the east and west of Britain, the author proposes that prehistoric ritual practice was influential on monastic form. An argument is advanced that this was not based solely on inspiration from the landscape, nor on conservative tradition, but on the intellectual reconciliation of Christian and non-Christian ideas, with disparate results that account for the differences in monumentality. Among more general matters tentatively credited with a prehistoric root are the cult of relics, the tonsure and the date of Easter.

S. Maria foris portas at Castel Seprio: A famous church in a new context

Abstract The church of S. Maria foris portas at Castel Seprio was recently the subject of extensive excavations by the author and G.‐P. Brogiolo in advance of renewed attempts to conserve its world famous frescos. The church, which provided the inspiration and point of departure for Bognettis great work on the ecclesiastical history of the Lombards, is now seen as playing an important role in the period of Frankish domination — perhaps as a seigneurial church or palatine chapel belonging to the Archbishop of Milan. Such speculations are still possible while the wider ecclesiastical geography of the abandoned town at Castel Seprio, which has great potential, remains largely unknown.