Settlement Patterns and Morphology Flashcards
What does morphology mean here?
Shape on the ground
The english landscape didnt see nucleated villages until…
…around the 9th-10thCE
What is the most common settlement type excavated so far?
Those comprised of dwellings for 2-3 families (maybe co-heirs, brothers or cousins etc.)
Which building types are hard to distinguish between each other?
A lot of high-status secular households and early monasteries
Double-houses eg?
What are some difficulties for archaeologists?
- Many EME sites ‘clean’ (few finds exept some pottery and bone)
- Lack of datable finds making dating occupation layers difficult
- Lack of focal point or clear ‘edges’
- Few finds inside means hard to know which were lived in and which were barns and that
Where was a common location for EME settlements to be established?
On top of Romano-British farmland
What was seen in most parts of post-Roman Britain?
“a marked decline of population at the end of the Roman Period…” (Hamerow)
Where was an exception to post-RB decline?
Vale of Pickering - densely populated area 4th-6thCE?
Where is an example of re-use and maintenance of RB enclosures?
West Heslerton
What is one of the most contentious issues regarding EME settlement pattern?
Who and how much the European mainland was responsible for the distinctive character of EME settlements
What are the dimensions of the house in comparison to longhouses on the continent?
Smaller and less complex
Avg 8-10m x 4-5m - no byre or roof-beam supports (walls only)
What are the two rare but “distinctively ‘English’” feature of houses in later period? (Hamerow)
- Double plank construction
2. annexes at the gable ends of buildings
What does Hamerow think is the likely explanation for the unique EME building style?
Its likely the “combine impact of migration and acculturation, and changes in the composition and economy of the household”
Not an ethnic thing
What were some features of houses common in the 7thCE?
Smaller buildings less than 6m length, 1/3 (found) aligned N-S rather than E-W
Why was standardisation only apparent for a small number of 5th-7thCE buildings?
Standardised buildings would have “required access to relatively straight timbers” Hamerow - better timber spenny
Where did the Warendorf type house spread?
Across N. Europe and Scandinavia but not EME
When were post-in-trench and plank-in-trench foundations used from?
600’s onwards
Why was post-in-trench and plank-in-trench building type chosen over the other and vice verse?
Its not clear
How might a high-status house be built?
With certain walls more intricate build style (eg stave built) - only seems to be on one or two of the walls
What has a recent study suggested as to how building were erected?
Late Saxon -“erected as a series of trusses laid out and preassembled on the ground, then raised and positioned into postholes” Hamerow
Easier (required fewer people until the final stage)
What was one method for a foundation trench?
One vertical side and one sloped side (see book) so a prefab wall could slide into the trench
Possibly 7thCE but definitely later
How does regional diversity evolve?
A lot of uniformity in the building tradition across much of England from 5th-7thCE - in the later period we see more regional diversity
Although few upland buildings can be dated to this period…
…generally made of stone and timber rather than just timber
Probs availability of resources
“farmsteads of this period regularly changed location” Hamerow
Yes
