Just back from Thanksgiving and while I have half of another Kalamazoo post written and an idea for something I think is interesting about Early Christianity, I won’t have time to finish those today. Instead I want to post a summary of some interesting stuff from other blogs, something I haven’t done in a while.
Jonathan Jarrett has a post I find very interesting about the spread of the three-field agricultural system in Western Europe. This is something of a “state of the question” post discussing some of the sources and problems with figuring out how and why this major change came about. There’s also a very nice image of the three-field system.
Katy Meyers’ Bones Don’t Lie Blog has become one of my very favorites. She’s a very active blogger and her posts are filled with information. I highly recommend you start following her blog if you’re interested in archaeology, particularly mortuary archaeology. Her recent post on a study of two medieval Irish cemeteries and the wounds found on remains is a nice example of why I enjoy her blog so much.
I often mention posts from Heavenfield but this time I’ll point to one from Michelle Ziegler’s other blog, Contagions. She discusses a study of Leprosy in Medieval Scandinavia including the finding of an Asian strain which raises a bunch of questions of transmission paths.
Esmeralda’s Cumbrian History and Folklore has a recent post about spoons found dating from the iron age in England. These spoons do not seem to be suitable for eating which hints at some sort of ritual use.
Magistra et Mater has started posted her Leeds reports. Her opening day report discusses monasticism, medieval hygiene, and gender studies. They’ve moved the date of Leeds (this is the International Medieval Congress) a week earlier which greatly enhances my chances of making it before I retire, though I’m almost certain this won’t be in 2013.
Viqueen recently provided a post on Norwegian Churches which I enjoyed a great deal. What was interesting to me was her mention of the inscriptions found on a chair in Heddal depicting a scene from a Norwegian legend, one which seems to me to be very non-Christian.
Through a post by Tim Clarkson on his blog, Senchus, I’ve now discovered his Heart of the Kingdom Blog about early medieval Govan (a section of Glasgow). The post in question is a detailed (for a blog post) discussion of the Barochan Cross, an early medieval free-standing cross, which were likely once fairly common along roads in Scotland.
I always enjoy Gabriele’s The Lost Fort. Even when the topic doesn’t particularly interest me, she posts great pictures. She recently posted about Castle Reichenbach, built in the later 11th century in (modern) Germany. She posts a lot of details about the various conflicts that took place in and around this castle during the medieval period but I have to confess that it’s her first footnote which will probably stay with me the longest.
Though it’s not in my period I enjoy Kathleen Neal’s In Thirteenth Century England a great deal. She recently put up a post about the Reformation (more properly, about how it had its roots in the Medieval Period) which includes a great flowchart she developed. I saved it using her name for the filename so hopefully I remember to ask her permission should I ever use it for something.
That’s it for now. I’m afraid I haven’t been a very good participant in National Blog Posting Month. This is getting to be an old refrain but I do intend to get back to more regular posting at some point. But for the rest of today I need to prep for a regional Drought Conference in Ohio on Tuesday.
Medieval History Geek 