Overview
This volume is the first comprehensive study of the material imprint of slavery in early medieval Europe. While written sources attest to the ubiquity of slavery and slave trade in early medieval British Isles, Scandinavia and Slavic lands, it is still difficult to find material traces of this reality, other than the hundreds of thousands of Islamic coins paid in exchange for the northern European slaves. This volume offers the first structured reflection on how to bridge this gap. It reviews the types of material evidence that can be associated with the institution of slavery and the slave trade in early medieval northern Europe, from individual objects (such as e.g. shackles) to more comprehensive landscape approaches. The book is divided into four sections. The first presents the analytical tools developed in Africa and prehistoric Europe to identify and describe social phenomena associated with slavery and the slave trade. The following three section reviewthe three main cultural zones of early medieval northern Europe: the British Isles, Scandinavia, and Slavic central Europe. The contributions offer methodological reflections on the concept of the archaeology of slavery. They emphasize that the material record, by its nature, admits multiple interpretations. More broadly, this book comes at a time when the history of slavery is being integrated into academic syllabi in most western countries. The collection of studies contributes to a more nuanced perspective on this important and controversial topic. This volume appeals to multiple audiences interested in comparative and global studies of slavery, and will constitute the point of reference for future debates.
Full Product Details
Author: Felix Biermann ,
Marek Jankowiak
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Imprint: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Edition: 1st ed. 2021
Weight: 0.611kg
ISBN: 9783030732936
ISBN 10: 3030732932
Pages: 191
Publication Date: 20 November 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
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Reviews
In this thought-provoking volume, Felix Biermann and Marek Jankowiak bring together contributions from a number of scholars who are currently engaged in the study of early-medieval slaving practices. ... the volume's contributions represent a valuable resource ... . The volume will surely be of key interest to a range of scholars, and essential reading for medievalists and other researchers seeking to explore slavery in both regional and global contexts. (Ben Raffield, Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 66 (2), December, 2022)
Author Information
Felix Biermann is an Associate Professor of early medieval archaeology at the University of Szczecin, Poland. His research interests include the archaeology and history of the Baltic Sea area, Middle and Eastern Europe from c. 500-1500, with special emphasis on social and economic structures, interregional contacts and the archaeology of fortified settlements. Marek Jankowiak is an Associate Professor of Byzantine history at the University of Oxford. In addition to his interests in Byzantine social and economic history, he works on the slave trade system that connected the Islamic world and northern Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries. He was the co-investigator of the AHRC project “Dirhams for Slaves” and co-edited “Viking-Age Trade: Silver, Slaves and Gotland” (2020).
