The Archaeology of Medieval Novgorod in its Wider Context: A Study of Centre/Periphery Relations

Novgorod is one of the most intensively and continuously studied urban sites in northern Europe. The excellent preservation of organic and inorganic material in its anaerobic soils, including the structural remains of streets, properties and buildings, has made it possible to study entire quarters of the town as well as the activities of its inhabitants. With deposits up to 8 m deep in places and with well-dated sequences from the early to mid-10th century, its importance to the study of both medieval Russia and the development of Europe cannot be over emphasized. This publication series presents some of the recent results obtained from international, multidisciplinary projects into the origins and development of the medieval town and its hinterland. Previous volumes have concerned the pottery (2006) and wood use (2007); a forthcoming volume will publish research into animals. The Archaeology of Medieval Novgorod in Context includes papers on aspects of the environmental and technological context of the relationship between urban center and rural hinterland. It begins by examining the environmental context for the settlement pattern that developed from the 9th to 15th centuries and examining the role that various natural resources had in contributing to that pattern. After a general paper on the natural environment based on a recent palynological study, it presents data from three study areas (the first in the Byeloozero area to the northeast of Novgorod; the second in the immediate hinterland of Novgorod and the third within Novgorod itself). It considers what, where and how certain natural resources were exploited during the medieval period in these areas. Where possible, it also attempts to explain the processes by which these resources were produced as commodities (via craft production, centralized workshops, household production, specialized settlements, etc.) and place the evidence from the three other volumes on ceramics, wood use and zooarchaeology into a wider context, concentrating on the exploitation, manufacture and consumption of these and other materials. Whilst not definitive, the collection aims to be a starting point for attempting to put Novgorod into a wider context of the medieval world.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Medieval Novgorod in its wider context (M. A. Brisbane, N. A. Makarov and E. N. Nosov)

The Environmental Context
2. Results of palynological investigations at archaeological sites in the Lake Ilmen (Novgorod) and Lake Kubenskoye (Byeloozero) regions (E. A. Spiridonova and A. S. Aleshinskaya)

The Periphery of Novgorod lands: a case study from Minino, Byeloozero
3. The Minino Archaeological Complex: The investigation of a group of medieval sites in the Byeloozero region of northern Russia (N. A. Makarov)
4. The archaeology of the buildings and structures of medieval Minino (S. D. Zakharov)
5. The manufacture of jewellery in rural settlements on the northern fringe of medieval Russia (I. E. Zaitseva)
6. Medieval pottery from Minino (M. L. Mokrushin)
7. Glass beads from Minino (S. D. Zakharov)

Novgorod’s hinterland includingg Ryurik Gorodishche
8. The central Lake Ilmen region in the late first millennium AD: The natural environment and settlement patterns (I. I. Yeremeyev)
9. Bronze working at Ryurik Gorodishche and other settlements in the region north of Lake Ilmen in the 9th and 10th centuries (N. V. Khvoshchinskaya)
10. Iron production sites within Novgorod’s hinterland (S. E. Toropov)
11. An analytical study of iron slag from the Novgorod hinterland(M. Martinon-Torres and T. Rehren)

The city of Novgorod the Great: case studies
12. Investigating social change in 12th and 13th century Novgorod using slag inclusions (D. Jeffrey and T. Rehren)
13. Metal melting crucibles from medieval Novgorod (N. Eniosova and T. Rehren)
14. Textile production in Novgorod from the 10th to 15th centuries (E. K. Kublo)
15. Varieties of timber used to make wooden artefacts in Novgorod (L. N. Solovyova)
16. Fair and Foul: An analysis of sub-fossil insect remains from Troitsky XI-XIII, Novgorod (E. Reilly)
17. Perspectives on non-wood plants in the sampled assemblage from the Troitsky excavations in medieval Novgorod (M. Monk and P. Johnston)

Centre and Periphery: integrative papers
18. The plant economy of northern medieval Russia (A. Alsleben)
19. From Alces to Zander: a summary of the zooarchaeological evidence from Novgorod, Ryurik Gorodishche and Minino (M. Maltby)
20. The fur trade in the economy of the Northern Borderlands of medieval Russia (N. A. Makarov)
21. Leather working in North West Russia (A. V. Kurbatov)

edited by Mark Brisbane, Nikolaj Makarov and Evgenie Nosov