In this book, the various structures and economic activities of medieval and post-medieval seasonal settlements all over Europe are presented.

11 essays from both historians and archaeologists achieve a re-reading of a the tenth century, which has been central to the interpretation of the historical development of Europe over the past decade.

This is an overview and synthesis of the extensive and rapidly growing body of archaeological evidence for early medieval buildings, settlements, farming, craft production, and trade among the rural communities of north-west Europe.

Reindeer have been an integral part of the lives of people in Northern Fennoscandia in prehistoric and historic times. Today, reindeer herding practices are changing fast due to climate change, land use pressures and new technologies. This book outlines recent advances in the archaeology of reindeer domestication and development of reindeer herding among the Sámi of Northern Fennoscandia, focusing especially on the identification and understanding of various reindeer herding tasks and practices through archaeological evidence and traditional knowledge of reindeer herders. Covering more than a thousand years of history of reindeer herding, the book explores how reindeer herding practices have always been dynamic and adapted to the changing social, economic and environmental pressures. While reindeer herding practices have changed, they have also retained memory and tradition. The continuity and adaptation of reindeer herding testifies of the resilience of reindeer herders and their animals, and the importance of their relationship in the changing Arctic. This book will be of interest to scholars interested in archaeology, anthropology, and history of the Arctic, as well as local communities and reindeer herders.

This book provides an overview of the driving theories, methodologies and main topics that have been addressed to date regarding agrarian archaeology. The text is presented as an introduction for students, a critical reading guide for other scholars, and an informative instrument aimed at a wide audience.

This fresh approach to the study of Islamization proposes an innovative conceptual framework that treats the subject as a particular case of cultural change. The aim of the volume is to make Islamization amenable to archaeological and historical analyses of changes in material conditions of life without forsaking the specific history of Islam. Islam and Islamization must be understood in their particular social context, but also in relation to the conditions that hold them together over large geographical and chronological expanses. Archaeologists and historians have considered Islamization from a range of different perspectives, from conversion to cultural change, though these studies have tended to be underpinned by a normativist conception of Islam. In contrast, José C. Carvajal López takes a hermeneutical stance, wherein Islam is the result of exploration, and adopts a New Materialist theoretical analysis to explore Islamization and its impact on identities, communities and their material culture. The consequences for the study of Islamization are examined through examples that include some of the author's own experiences. This innovative take on Islamization is not exclusively interested in the spread of the religion or of the polity, and therefore it overcomes the theoretical limits imposed by the concepts of religious conversion and ideological imposition. This book will appeal to scholars interested in associating cultural and religious change and, in particular, those working on Islam, whether within or outside the discipline of archaeology.