BHR-61
Brit-Am Historical Reports
30 January 2011 25 Shevet 5771
Contents:
1. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator13.40.
2. Slaves in Anglo-Saxon England and Celtic Ireland. The Normans Ended slavery!
3. Climate and the demise of the Western Roman Empire.

rose
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1. Archaeology: Brit-Am version of Explorator 13.40

Relevance to Brit-Am:
General Historical studies.
Tree Rings indicate climate changes and the fall of Empires. In view of the claimed climate change occurring at present this could have significant implications.




From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
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explorator 13.40 January 23, 2011
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ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

On the antiquity of human presence in Syria (some strange dates in this
one):

http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201101178685/Travel/archaeologists-human-settlement-in-syria-dates-back-to-one-million-years.html

A feature on Eilat Mazar's work:

http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=7869.6484.0.0

Interview with Ami Mazar:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/2826

Another twist in that Noah's Ark 'confession':

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ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
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Ancient Transylvanians (a.k.a. the Dacians) were pretty well off (perhaps):

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110113-transylvanians-gold-bracelets-treasure-dracula-vampires-science/

How Romans made pottery in Britain:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-romans-pottery-britain.html
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/january/british-pottery-project-012011.html

Interesting series of essays on Plato's laws by Victor Nuovo:

http://www.addisonindependent.com/category/tags/plato-2010

... and here's another review of his Alexander book:

http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2011/01/18/alexander_the_great_bio_gives_a_human_look_to_a_classic_conqueror/

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EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
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Pondering bog bodies:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2011-01-16-bog-bodies_N.htm

Haven't had a facial reconstruction in a while ... here's some third millennium folk from the
Ural Mountains region:

http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/11421/

Reviewish sort of thing of *Viking DNA: The Wirral and West Lancashire
Project*:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-dna-viking-north-west.html

Archaeology in Europe Blog:

http://archaeology-in-europe.blogspot.com/

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NORTH AMERICA
================================================================

Project to see how humans affected landscapes prior to European contact:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-footprints-ancient-people-affect-modern.html


Interesting item on the restoration of a 1770 map of New York City:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/nyregion/17map.html

================================================================
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================

Studying 17th-century drawings of prehispanic sites around Mexico:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=44253

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
More on tree rings and the rise and fall of empires:

http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/53569-tree-rings-offer-glimpse-into-ancient-rome
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/science/stories/2011/01/16/climate-had-role-in-changing-cultures.html
http://green.yahoo.com/news/afp/20110114/sc_afp/climatescienceuseurope.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133143758&ps=cprs
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1348127/climate-change-blame-fall-Roman-Empire-say-scientists.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1347917/Was-climate-change-responsible-rise-fall-Roman-Empire.html

... and now they're getting monk's diaries in the climate-change research:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20110117/tsc-monk-s-diaries-help-weather-study-4b158bc.html

Pondering Iron-Age beer (I think we had this before):

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/iron-age-beer-celtic-brewery-110118.html
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-brewery-bc-reveals-secrets.html
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/01/17/Iron-Age-beer-making-analyzed-at-dig/UPI-30671295321286/

Revisionism about Galileo and the Church:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-revelations-galileo-bruno-aliens.html

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TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Tarquinia:

http://www.time.com/time/travel/article/0,31542,2043335,00.html
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BLOGS
================================================================
Taygete Atlantis excavations blogs aggregator:

http://planet.atlantides.org/taygete/

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NUMISMATICA
================================================================
An exhibition of Roman coins found in India:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/A-glimpse-of-rare-Roman-coins-at-Museum/articleshow/7315542.cms

A rare coin collection has been returned to its rightful heir:

http://www.tctimes.com/articles/2011/01/16/living/doc4d30fd1c27426019494826.txt

More on that coin of Antiochus:

http://earthsky.org/human-world/ancient-greek-coin-might-mark-blotting-out-of-jupiter-by-the-moon

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EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Lewis Chessmen:

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2102326

A History of the World (BM)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/explorerflash/

================================================================
PERFORMANCES AND THEATRE-RELATED
================================================================
The Odyssey:

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/onstage/114292534.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUg:oaEQDUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

================================================================
HUMOUR
================================================================
The Trojan ...

http://comics.com/free_range/2011-01-16/


2. Slaves in Anglo-Saxon England and Celtic Ireland. The Normans Ended slavery!

Relevance to Brit-Am:
Shows that (contrary to some opinions) Normans were actually more humane and civilized than the Anglo-Saxons and Celts they conquered.



The Saxon Slave-Market

http://www.buildinghistory.org/bristol/saxonslaves.shtml


Slaves were sold in the marketplace of Anglo-Saxon Bristol. Who were they? And what happened to them?

A coin of King Cnut made in Bristol. Anglo-Saxon coins were minted in market towns, where they fed trade of all kinds. (Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery)

The very name of Bristol is a clue to its origins. The Saxons knew it as Brycg stowe, meaning the settlement by the bridge. Some of the world's greatest cities have grown up around the lowest bridgeable point on a major river. At such a meeting of the ways a market can thrive. Bristol was well placed to trade with Ireland. Sad to say a major export was English slaves.

Slavery was deeply embedded in Anglo-Saxon society. The Normans took over an England where about 10 per cent of the population were slaves. The men mainly worked as agricultural labourers. The women had the tedious task of grinding corn, or were serving maids, wet-nurses, dairy maids, weavers and seamstresses.

War was probably the biggest source of slaves. As invading Angles and Saxons swept across the country many native Britons were taken captive. These would often be women and children, since enemy warriors were more likely to be killed if caught. Yet it was not only the Celts who were enslaved. Far from it. The Anglo-Saxons were not at all averse to enslaving their own kind. The Germanic tribes fought each other until England was unified under Alfred the Great. This constant strife would have been a rich source of slaves.

Bondage could also be a punishment for theft or other crimes. If the thief's wife and children were privy to the theft, the entire household could be enslaved. Sheer poverty drove some to sell themselves or their children into slavery. They would at least be fed by their owner. When times were hard in Durham one worthy woman took a number of slaves to keep them from starvation and later freed them for the love of God and for the need of her soul.

Though the Church encouraged such acts of charity, slavery itself was tolerated. The Church did object though to slaves being sold abroad, for fear that they would end up in heathen hands. Under the influence of Christianity, kings banned the sale of slaves overseas. Yet the trade went on. King Cnut forbade it, but his own sister made a fortune in the slave trade. She bought English slaves to ship to Denmark. Beautiful girls were especially sought after. We may guess what their buyers had in mind, though the Church frowned on illicit liaisons too. Cnut declared that if a married man had sexual relations with his own slave-woman, the slave was forfeit. Yet here was his sister apparently selling girls into concubinage.

Bristol was an outlet for English slaves for generations. Around the time of the Norman Conquest, we are told that slave-trading was a long-established custom of Bristolians, come down from their forefathers. It was the last Saxon bishop of Worcester who stopped it. Wulfstan became Bishop of Worcester just a few years before the upheaval of the Norman conquest. He remained in office until his death in 1095. This saintly man was appalled by sights he saw in Bristol.
They used to buy men from all over England and carry them to Ireland in the hope of gain; nay they even set forth for sale women whom they had themselves gotten with child. You might well groan to see the long rows of young men and maidens whose beauty and youth might move the pity of a savage, bound together with cords, and brought to market to be sold.

Why Ireland? The Vikings had founded ports there, such as Dublin. And the Vikings were the greatest slave traders of northern Europe at this time. So Dublin was a slave entrepot. English slaves shipped from Bristol could be bought for labour in Iceland, Scandinavia or even Arabic Spain.

St. Wulfstan worked on the Bristolians little by little. He knew them for a stiff-necked lot, hard to bend. So he would come to stay nearby, probably at at his estate at Westbury-on-Trym, for two or three months at a time. Each Sunday he would come to Bristol, and by his preaching sow the good seed, which in due time sprang up and and bore fruit ? so that not only did they forsake their sins, but were an example to all England.

Eventually William the Conqueror clamped down on that shameful trading whereby heretofore men used in England to be sold like brute beasts. He banned it altogether in 1102. But Norse-Irish traders were loath to give up their lucrative source of slaves. Even 20 years later they were notorious for inviting unsuspecting people aboard their ships in Bristol, whereupon they would suddenly up anchor and sell their unwilling guests in Ireland.

Revenge was at hand. Henry II conquered Ireland and the Church declared this God's punishment for its enslavement of Englishmen. English slaves throughout Ireland were restored to freedom. In a strange twist of fate, Dublin became a colony of Bristol. So the slave trade was broken. Yet centuries later Bristol was once again embroiled in that shameful trade.


3. Climate and the demise of the Western Roman Empire


Relevance to Brit-Am:
Discusses climate change and historical change. This may be pertinent to our time.



http://dienekes.blogspot.com/
This paper got a lot of attention, deservedly, in my opinion. Here is a high-level description of the research from the BBC:

A team of researchers based their findings on data from 9,000 wooden artifacts from the past 2,500 years.

They found that periods of warm, wet summers coincided with prosperity, while political turmoil occurred during times of climate instability.

There are theories a-plenty about the Western Roman Empire's demise, and prima facie this seems as good as any. It has a desirable property that, unlike more "historical process" explanations, there is no indeterminedness of whether something that occurred was a symptom of the decline, or its cause: tree rings are presumably oblivious to human societal organization.

I was recently reading a book on the subject, I believe it was the Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire but correct me if I'm wrong, which made the point that the eastern Empire should have been a better candidate for failure for several reasons, including the fact that it was partitioned across three continents, and faced more formidable foes. Did climate do the Western Romans in?

A good test of the theory would be to identify other instances (in space or time) where climate can be linked to social organization; obviously there are not that many candidates with a continuously recorded history that long, and the fact that climate may have unstabilized the Western Empire does not mean that every "collapse" can be traced to climate.

Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1197175

2500 Years of European Climate Variability and Human Susceptibility

Ulf B?tgen et al.

ABSTRACT

Climate variations have influenced the agricultural productivity, health risk, and conflict level of preindustrial societies. Discrimination between environmental and anthropogenic impacts on past civilizations, however, remains difficult because of the paucity of high-resolution palaeoclimatic evidence. Here, we present tree ring-based reconstructions of Central European summer precipitation and temperature variability over the past 2500 years. Recent warming is unprecedented, but modern hydroclimatic variations may have at times been exceeded in magnitude and duration. Wet and warm summers occurred during periods of Roman and medieval prosperity. Increased climate variability from ~AD 250 to 600 coincided with the demise of the Western Roman Empire and the turmoil of the Migration Period. Historical circumstances may challenge recent political and fiscal reluctance to mitigate projected climate change.



rose

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