Cultural Studies - Prehistoric Britain PDF

Cultural Studies Prepared by Loubna Youssef Abeer Omar Atteya Faculty of Arts Cairo University 2019 2 Cultural Studies (1205) 2 Cultural Studies Copyrights Reserved 2019...

Cultural Studies Prepared by Loubna Youssef Abeer Omar Atteya Faculty of Arts Cairo University 2019 2 Cultural Studies (1205) 2 Cultural Studies Copyrights Reserved 2019 Designing & Formatting by Book Production Department E-mail: [email protected] Cultural Studies 3 Table of Contents Subjects Page Introduction …………...………...……….…..………… 5 To the Students………………………………………… 8 Course Goals…………………………………………… 9 Educational Objectives………………………………… 10 Learning Outcomes……………………………………… 12 Unit One: Prehistoric Britain" The Stone Age"………. 15 Unit Two: Prehistoric Britain" The Bronze Age"…….. 25 Unit Three: Prehistoric Britain "The Iron Age"……… 41 Unit Four: Roman Britain" Discovering Roman 55 Technology"……………………………….. Unit Five: The Northern Invaders" Part I, Part II"….. 77 Unit Six: The Anglo Saxon Viking Age………………… 111 Extra Exercises with Answer Key……………………… 135 4 Cultural Studies Cultural Studies 5 Introduction The Study of Culture The study of Culture constitutes a relatively new field of academic enquiry, commonly referred to as Culture Studies. Students of culture seek to understand societies, both past and present, through careful study and observation of the physical or material achievements generated by those societies. The source material for study is exceptionally wide, including not just human-made artifacts but also natural objects and even preserved body. 6 Cultural Studies Some specialists in the field of culture have made bold claims for its pre-eminence. In certain disciplines, it reigns supreme. It plays a critical role in archaeology, for example, especially in circumstances where written evidence is either patchy or non-existent. In such cases, objects are all scholars have to rely on in forming an understanding of ancient peoples. Even where written documents survive, the physical remains of literate cultures often help to provide new and interesting insights into how people once lived and thought, as in the case of medieval and post-medieval archaeology. Cultural Studies 7 In analyzing the physical remains of societies, both past and present, historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and others have been careful to remind us that objects mean different things to different people. A Roman Catholic or Buddhist would view a relic of their faith in a very different light from either a Protestant or an atheist. What our ancestors once worshipped, we might discard or disdain. One great advantage of adopting such a relativist pose (where meaning is relative to the culture or individual that produced it) is that it ought to promote greater sensitivity to the multicultural nature of our modern world. We may not agree with those of other faiths and beliefs, but we can at least begin to understand why they think the way they do. Words, of course, can also accomplish these ends, but objects seem to play a special role in human societies in forging a sense of understanding, identity and belonging. 8 Cultural Studies To the Students Course Goal, Objectives, and Outcomes   Goals are where you want to go.  Objectives are how you get there.  Outcomes are proof that you have arrived. Cultural Studies 9 Course's Goal 1. To provide the students with an outline history of the British Isles 2. To let the students acquire a rich Historical and Cultural Knowledge about Great Britain. 3. To show the students how a Nation was formed and developed. 4. To trace the changes in life aspects that occurred in Britain that shaped its identity. 5. Students will be competent in critical questioning and analysis. 6. Students will have an appreciation of the events they read about and search. 7. Students will know how to make connections among apparently disparate forms of knowledge. 10 Cultural Studies Educational Objectives Definition: An educational objective states what the student will learn and be able to accomplish by the end of course. It describes a specific behavior which will lead to the desired goal. It is specific and measurable. It has three major components: 1. What the student will be able to do. 2. Conditions needed for the student to accomplish the task. 3. Norm for evaluating the student performance. Learning Objectives emphasize: 1. students’ performance 2. the end product 3. what students learn Cultural Studies 11 The course focuses on: 1. Performance: Read about the birth of a nation and Understand how it developed through time and invasions 2. Norm: Know the roots and Understand the circumstances that led to the multicultural identity of Britain. 3. Settings: Learners are to Read the Textbook, Watch the audio visual lectures as well as the suggested sources and online material to be able to form an opinion to judge the history of Britain. 12 Cultural Studies Learning Outcomes Definition: Learning outcomes are statements of what a student will be able to do as a result of a learning activity. They are specific, measurable, clear, and assessable statements that define what a student is able to do at the end of a course. These outcomes may involve: 1. Knowledge (cognitive). 2. Skills (behavioral). 3. Attitudes (affective behavior) All three above statements must show evidence that learning has occurred. Cultural Studies 13 NOTE: 1. Focus on what the student can do. 2. Address the observable outcomes, not what was taught. 3. Use active verbs since they are easier to measure. 4. Have clear defined expectations concerning the criteria related to the outcome. a. Including specific examples of i.e. images, software, tools etc… b. Think of the student after they have used or read an artifact, what they should be able to do as a result of using the tools presented for each specific activity. 1: At the end of the course students will be able to answer questions about different stages in the History and different Cultures that the Isles were exposed to. 2: At the end of the course the students will be able to write short accounts on different achievements in different eras. 14 Cultural Studies Cultural Studies 15 Unit One Prehistoric Britain The Stone Age Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit, students should be able to: 1- Understand the importance of the prehistoric stage of human culture. 2- Identify the three-age classification of the Stone Age. 3- Examine the major characteristics of these times and the life style of the Early inhabitants. Paleolithic Britain (Paleo: old, Lithic: stone i.e. The Old Stone Age) 16 Cultural Studies We do not know much about the first people who lived on the British Isles. There were no records found referring to the pre- historical era. However, the archaeological findings are the only resources left to identify the first human existence during the Paleolithic Britain. 1- Occupations: Inhabitants during those times were sort of hunters or food gatherers following herds of animals in search for meat/food which was the only source and they explored the whole of northern Europe. Cultural Studies 17 2- Housing: They made houses, boats, or snow-houses depending upon where they were located and painted and sculpted them. 3- Food Preservation 18 Cultural Studies They used food preservation techniques like freezing, drying or locking them up. 4- Tools: Being in the Stone Age, they used tools built of stone, stone artifacts, wood, clay, animal bones etc. 5- Weapons: As weapons they used bows and arrows, knives, axes, hammers, needles, harpoons, spears, blowguns etc. Cultural Studies 19 6- Early Religion Many anthropologists believe that Old Stone Age people developed the earliest forms of religion. Anthropologists are not sure why religions began. One theory is that religions began as a way for people to explain things they feared or did not understand. Some of those things were events in nature, such as lightning, floods, and earthquakes. Others were human events, such as birth and death. People believed such events were under the control of spirits, or powers greater than humankind. Some people began to worship spirits they believed controlled the wind, rain, and other forces. Other people worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. Religion practiced during that time was involving sympathetic magic. Among many early peoples, shamans, or priests, became important. People believed that shamans had a special relationship 20 Cultural Studies with the spirits. Shamans could speak to the spirits. And their songs, chants, and dances could influence or please the spirits. Among some groups, for example, the shaman often danced before a hunt. The people believed the shaman's dance pleased the spirits, who rewarded the people with a successful hunt. 7- Art: Settled life enabled the development of pottery and permanent architecture, spurring painters to shift their attention away from caves to the surfaces of pottery and the walls of buildings. However, Hunting was the only art form that seemed to take high levels after Paleolithic period (3500 BC). 8- Farming: The premature technologies of farming had found its way from the Channels into the heart of England. Soon enough, the whole Cultural Studies 21 British Isles started to plant and make a living through the earth. The most common crops planted were barley and wheat. And because the precise technology of farming was yet to be discovered, people had to move out of their communities after 10 to 20 years. During which time, the land they tilled became barren and did not have the ability to support new crops any longer. When that happened, the whole community would pack up and look for a more suitable land to plant on. They also built rectangular cabins made of logs to live in on the area they choose to settle on. 9- Animal Domestication: The British people were also starting to learn how to domesticate animals. Pigs, cattle, and sheep were slowly being raised in herds. While some people continued to hunt, they mostly did it only as a supplement to farming. But the more notable breakthrough is that people had learned how to use small dogs to assist in hunting. 22 Cultural Studies Glossary Records: written material. Era: period of time. Archaeological findings: what is searched and found from old times. Herds: groups of animals. Inhabitants: population. Sculpted. Food preservation techniques. Clay. Weapons. Bows and arrows. Axes. Harpoon. Spears. Premature. Barley. Tilled. Barren. Domesticate. Cultural Studies 23 Questions Answer the Following Questions: 1- What is the main characteristic of the Stone Age? 2- Why did they need to preserve food? How was food preserved during this era? 3- Give examples of tools that were used in the Old Stone Age. 4- Give examples of weapons that were used in the Old Stone Age. 5- Find words in the passage that mean the same as the following: Written material –fossils- discovered- objects made by human- weapon similar to a spear. 6- Discuss Farming during the Stone Age. 24 Cultural Studies Activities 1- Life was very difficult for these early people, because in Britain in winter there is often rain, snow and ice, cold winds and long dark nights. Search for Climate Conditions. 2- The Paleolithic Age falls into three eras, these are; the lower Paleolithic era, the middle Paleolithic era and the higher Paleolithic era. During the last era, 3,ooo years ago, a new people different from the Stone Age men, began to discover the island. These new people went there from the hot coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. They sailed in small boats northwards, round the coasts of Spain and France, and across the water which is now called the English Channel. Search to Know more about these Men. 3- When these men arrived they found wealth beneath the ground in the form of copper and tin. From these two metals they made bronze. Hence a new age started; that is the Bronze Age. Search for the Bronze Age. Cultural Studies 25 Unit Two Prehistoric Britain The Bronze Age Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit, students are able to: 1- Understand the development that took place during the following years; the Bronze Age. 2- Examine the changes that occurred on the British Isles and how life was affected then. 3- Identify the characteristics that distinguish between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. Britain during the Bronze Age: It has been believed by the archaeologists that the Bronze Age was brought to Britain by the immigrants arriving from central Europe, most probably from Spain and Portugal. They brought the Beaker techniques which enhanced Britons’ skills of refining metal (which was copper then). 26 Cultural Studies Eventually they required a harder material than copper and with the discovery of Bronze (by mixing copper with tin) the Bronze Age arrived in Britain. Cultural Studies 27 Copper: Initially copper was used without any additives to create tools, in an earlier phase before it was discovered that adding elements like tin to copper formed the harder bronze. (roughly between about 4500 and 3500 BCE). Copper is a ductile metal that is soft and a freshly exposed surface has a reddish-orange colour. It is one of the few that can appear in pure or native state (right) and was easily available during prehistoric times; in Cyprus or Crete, it was simply picked it up from the ground. Native Copper With natural reserves located in northwest Britain, tin mining began which brought trade from other areas for Bronze (which was then used for making tools and weapons). 28 Cultural Studies 1- Bronze Age Tools: Metal: There were a variety of tools that were made including flanged axes, daggers and halberds. Later swords appeared along with developments in axe design, razors, personal adornments in metal and shields. Various Bronze Age tools and implements: As well as metal, other crafts continued on from the Stone Age including flint knapping, basketry, bone working, woodworking leather tanning and more. The use of stone tools was more common in the early Bronze Age as not everyone Cultural Studies 29 could afford metal objects, but this did not compromise the quality of the flint work from the Bronze Age. Specialist flint knappers were able to produce high quality arrowheads and beaker daggers that would have still be considered high status goods.. Flint work generally starts to disappear towards the end of the middle Bronze Age as metal becomes more affordable. 2- Bronze Age Innovations: Based on evidence from Denmark where a bronze chariot figurine with horses was discovered in 1902, it is likely that sun worshipping would have been key within Bronze Age belief systems. It probably represents the sun and the chariot pulling it across the sky. The Nebra Sky Disc was discovered in the summer of 1999.The disc has a blue. green patina and inlaid with gold symbols which are generally interpreted as a sun, a lunar crescent, and stars. It is thought that the purpose of the Sky Disc was to help determine when to sow grain or harvest crops. (https://www.ancientcraft.co.uk/Archaeology/bronze- age/bronzeage-tech.html) 30 Cultural Studies Some of the examples of the materials and weapons used during those times are the arrows, swords, spikes etc. Pottery tools like pottery jars, buckles, and brooches made from gold, bronze cups, daggers, adornments made from stones, necklaces made from precious material etc. 3- Burial Barrow, in England, is ancient burial place covered with a large mound of earth. In Scotland, Ireland, and Wales Cultural Studies 31 the equivalent term is cairn. Barrows were constructed in England from Neolithic (c. 4000 BC) until late pre-Christian (c. AD 600) times. Barrows of the Neolithic Period were long and contained the various members of a family or clan, often with a beaker alongside the body. While those of the Early Bronze Age (c. 1900 BC) were round in shape and were used to bury a single important individual, perhaps a chief or clan leader. The bodies were placed in stone or wooden vaults, over which large mounds of soil were heaped. Both types of barrows continued to be used in England until the advent of Christianity. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/barrow-burial-mound) It's been said that beaker people were also responsible for building great prehistoric sites like the Stonehenge and Seahenge etc. The question is very obvious “'where did these beaker people actually come from?” No one knows still to this day. Archaeologists have several different presumptions and one of which most believe says, most likely beaker is a kind of trade that happened across Europe and which introduced many different cultures to Britons and increased the general knowledge about the cultural aspects thereby modernizing their faiths and beliefs. The native locals blended quite well with all sorts of people who caused the original culture to be lost forever. The beaker population now had a major influence on the native local population at some level. 32 Cultural Studies 4- Life Style: Life changed, people learned to live with better living standards in the Bronze Age and the community that existed at the beginning of the Neolithic age became extinct as the society became more modern. The group was controlled by leaders and the rest to work under them probably as slaves. A Bronze Age human was a war ready animal and wherever it was necessary battles were fought for money, resources and land. This was confirmed through the remains of skeletons with spearheads and knives still in them. 5- Farming : The Bronze Age was perhaps the most exciting time. Cultural Studies 33 In agriculture since farming was first invented thousands of years earlier. The development of metalwork and experimentation with alloys- combining two metals under extreme heat to form a new substance, produced bronze from a mixture of 90% copper and 10% tin- made farming better. This hard metal could tackle forces greater than its composite materials and was not subject to the problems faced by stone tools, namely brittleness and breakage along weak points. So how was this new metal used and how did it lead to other farming innovations? 34 Cultural Studies The Plow : The next innovation to farming in the Bronze Age was the widespread use of bronze plows. While the plow was invented before the Bronze Age, early farmers made their plow blades out of stone or wood. The stone blades often shattered when hitting hard objects and the wooden blades wore down too quickly. The bronze plow could take hard impacts and kept its edge for much longer than a wooden plow could last. Suddenly, farmers could till large fields cleared by bronze axes. This allowed for food surpluses, grain trading, and the accumulation of wealth. (https://study.com/academy/lesson/bronze-age-farms-arming- tools.html) In 12th century BC, there is concrete evidence of a large scale population arriving into southern Britain, most probably Cultural Studies 35 an invasion, as there were drastic cultural changes as believed by archaeologists. This disruption left a wave which made man ever greedier and a change into culture was felt far beyond Britain, some of which was even beyond Europe, which shook every empires foundation causing an ultimate collapse as a hunt for money grew gradually. 36 Cultural Studies Pirates came into the picture. They were only interested in capturing any ship full of resources, which was documented and written into many books. We have finally arrived at what we know 'The Great Britain'. Cultural Studies 37 Glossary Immigrants: People who leave their homelands and settle in other lands. Techniques: Ways/Styles/methods. Enhanced: improved. Skills: abilities. Natural reserves: Treasuries. Spikes. Round Barrows. Pottery tools. Buckles. Brooches. Daggers. Adornments. Necklaces. Beaker. Modernizing. Native locals. Blended. Extinct. Spearheads. Drastic. Disruption. Ultimate collapse. 38 Cultural Studies Questions Answer the Following Questions: 1-When did the Bronze Age start? 2-Why was bronze considered better than stone? 3-Can you give examples of the materials and weapons used during that time? 4-How did life change in Britain during the Bronze Age? 5- Who are the Beakers? 6- Write a brief account on the Burial rituals in old times? 7- What were the materials used for making weapons? 8- How could you describe life then? 9- Discuss Farming. 10- What has finally become of man? Cultural Studies 39 Activities 1- Journal Writing Write a short paragraph that tells how the agricultural revolution changed the lives of Bronze Age people. 2- Thinking Deeper: Why do you think many sites are buried deep underground? 3- Make a Research Notebook: What do you wonder about the world’s early people and how they were able to adapt to their environments? Scientists often use research notebooks during their studies. Like a scientist, create your own research notebook, filling it with ideas, information, and any questions you may have. Be sure to illustrate your notebook with drawings and maps. 40 Cultural Studies Cultural Studies 41 Unit Three Prehistoric Britain The Iron Age Learning Outcomes: Students can now: - give a brief account on the previously discussed prehistoric ages; the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. - write about life on the British Isles and how the inhabitants managed living in these early times and exploited nature for their own benefit. By the end of this unit, they will be able to: 1-Examine the last prehistoric era; the Iron Age. 2-Identify the new comers. 3-Understand the reason for their settling on the British Isles. 4-Examine their life style. 3-Understand the reason for their settling on the British Isles. 4-Examine their life style. 42 Cultural Studies Prehistoric Britain The Iron Age The Celts on the British Isles Cultural Studies 43 People evolve from anywhere in the world. Evolution is the process of changing from one stage to another, the coming out from one place to another leaving the old practice and situation to a new and current one. This is what Britain was, before it became the United Kingdom. Before the so called Iron Age, Britain had been a product of prehistoric periods over many years ago. Following the prehistoric periods, came the Iberian Beaker culture. The skill of refining a metal, discoveries of copper and tin gave them the chance to replace the stone into bronze. Later, the disruption of Bronze culture collapsed indicating invasion throughout the entire Mediterranean. There was an attempt to adopt the Iron Age in Britain. 44 Cultural Studies After several hundred years a fresh wave of people came from the east of Europe. They found, under the ground, a new and harder metal: iron. These eastern peoples arrived in Britain in little boats cut hollow from trees. Cultural Studies 45 They moved slowly up the rivers and the valleys, digging for iron and making iron swords and spears with which they pushed back the men with bronze. They became proper farmers, turning the earth instead of only scratching it. Although they ploughed the valleys, some of these people learned how to make clothes of wool. Rough pots and plates and bowls were also made. They were shaped with hand, not with the wheel that potters use today. 46 Cultural Studies The pots were for milk and water. Sometimes the men drank mead, a strong mixture made from grain and honey. Weights of iron were used for money, in the same way that coins are used today. Cultural Studies 47 There were wooden carts pulled by oxen for farming and for taking things to the next village to sell. Other carts, pulled by horses, were used in war. Before going to battle, men colored their bodies blue, with the juice of 48 Cultural Studies a special kind of plant, called' woad', to make themselves appear more frightening. The people of the later Iron Age are called Celts. They brought about knowledge on land exploitation and settlements, building of structures and indication of borders to protect owned areas. Besides, new weapons had been developed and traders were getting wiser so that they would start visiting Britain to look for minerals in exchange for Mediterranean products. The changes in climate triggered the people to concentrate on land farming, settling permanently, and making the nation more modernized. Cultural Studies 49 Reportedly, there were discoveries of swords and weapons that were traditionally marked as British, giving symbols for the native people. The Celts had put up great stones, several times their own height, to form circles. 50 Cultural Studies They used these stone circles, which were without roofs, as temples in which to pray to the sun and stars. One of these stone circles can still be seen today. It is called Stonehenge. Hill forts are among the impressive structures made by the people during the Iron Age. Cultural Studies 51 Glossary Evolve: Develop/Grow. Product: Outcome/Good. Beaker: Cup makers. Refine: Purify/Filter. Hollow: Empty/Evacuated. Turn the earth: Till. Pots. Plates. Bowls. Cart. Exploitation. Settlements. Minerals. Exchange. 52 Cultural Studies Questions Answer the Following Questions: 1-How did the eastern peoples arrive to Britain? 2-What did they do then? 3-Did they make use of their sheep wool? 4-Did they stop using clay? Justify your answer. 5-How did they move their carts while farming? 6-What is the name by which the people of the later Iron Age are known? 7-What do you know about Stonehenge? Write a brief account. Cultural Studies 53 Activities 1- Search for … The Celts. Living in the Iron Age. 2- Make a table to trace the evolution of the following in all Prehistoric Ages in Britain: Farming. Tools and Weapons. Establishments. Burial. Clothing. Food and Food Preservation Techniques. Occupations. 54 Cultural Studies Cultural Studies 55 Unit Four Roman Britain Discovering Roman Technology Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit students will be able to 1-Acknowledge that we are the product of our ancestors and what they left on us. 2-Examine the newcomers. 3-Observe the Romans' great impact on the world and on Britain in particular. 4-Answer the question posed by a British citizen 'What did the Romans ever do for us?' 1-Military Might: Catapult When the Roman army invaded Britain in force in the spring of AD 43, they brought with them technology that must have astonished the native Celts. To begin with, the Roman weapons 56 Cultural Studies were far better - they had good swords, spears, and several machines to throw missiles. The Manu ballista The Manu ballista was a hand-cranked catapult that could hurl a bolt with an iron tip. This bolt whistled through the air at some 50 meters per second, and carried a terrifying punch; it would go through armor, and cause instant death. The onager (named after a wild ass) hurled great rocks, which could demolish wooden buildings. Cultural Studies 57 The Roman Armour Besides the Manu ballista the Roman armour was also superior; they had both chain mail, which might have been worn by the auxiliaries, though no one is quite sure, and also heavy armour made of overlapping iron plates that would stop anything short of a ballista bolt. Roman Fort Wall 58 Cultural Studies The Romans brought with them prefabricated forts. There is a reconstructed example at Lunt Fort near Coventry, complete with dovetail and cross-halving joints, cut elsewhere and simply fitted together on site for instant defense. 2- Roads and surveying: Blackstone Edge Roman road In order to move the army quickly across the country, the Romans built tremendous roads. The road goes in a dead straight line for miles over the rolling hills. The Romans built their roads up and down steep hills. Building roads in a straight line is not difficult however, what was really impressive was how they managed to set off in the right direction. For example, when the Romans wanted to build a road from London to Chichester, they knew exactly where to head for, even though the distance is 65 miles, there are several hills in the way and they had neither maps nor compasses. How was this done then? Cultural Studies 59 1st Century Groma The groma was the standard Roman surveyor's instrument. It's an upright stick with a couple of bits of wood fixed to the top to make a cross. From each end of the cross hangs a little weight on a string. When the groma is stuck in the ground you stand behind it and twist it until you can sight along two of the strings to the starting point. Then you walk around the groma and sight the other way, to the second beacon. If the strings do not line up with the beacon then you move the beacon beside you in order to get more in line. Plant the beacon, plant the groma, and try again, until the strings line up with the start point in one direction and with the second beacon in the other. Then you know that the start point and the first two beacons are all in one line. 60 Cultural Studies Repeat the whole process with the second beacon, then with the first again, and the second again, until the start point, the finish point, and both beacons are in the same line. This process would be much more efficient if one surveyor were standing at each beacon, ready to move it.(Consider "Belisha beacon" which means one of two posts with a round flashing orange light on the top that stand by some road crossings in Britain) 3- Codes and signal: Two groups of five signal flags The Romans had clever signaling systems. On Hadrian's Wall an alphabetic system was used based on two groups of five flags, which allowed them to send messages letter by letter, and was similar to the system developed in England at the end of the eighteenth century. (The Irishman Richard Lovell Edgeworth is supposed to have invented a telegraph system in order to get the racing results from Newmarket before his bookmaker - but he never developed it!). Cultural Studies 61 A List of Codes The Romans also had a coded system, with which they could send only one of a dozen fixed messages, depending on the time for which they showed a flag. The sender and receiver would have the same code book and identical water clocks, marked perhaps with numbers. To send message VI in the book, raise your flag (or flaming torch at night), wait until the receiver raises a flag to acknowledge, then lower your flag, and raise it again, starting your clock as you raise the flag. When your flag points to VI; lower your flag again. The receiver should have started the clock when the flag went up for the second time, and stopped it when the flag went down; the number VI will reveal the message. 62 Cultural Studies The idea of using codes like this was taken up by the French, also at the end of the eighteenth century. 4- Food : Roman Food However, Roman technology was not entirely concerned with military action. The Romans brought with them a whole way of life that in due course the Britons adopted with enthusiasm. Celtic cooking had probably been a one-pot affair, such as a mess to be shared by the household, but the Romans introduced the three-course meal. Celtic One-pot Meal Cultural Studies 63 Roman Three-course Meal A Pudding made with Fish sauce They cooked meat, fish and eggs and brought with them apples, pears, apricots, turnips, carrots, coriander and asparagus. They brought recipes too. 64 Cultural Studies 5- Bathes: Ancient Roman Bath The Romans were keen on bathing, but bathing was for pleasure and recreation, rather than for keeping clean. To clean off the dirt they went through a hot room in the baths, like a sauna or a Turkish bath, and then rubbed oil on their skin, and scraped off the mucky mixture of oil, sweat, and dirt, using a curved metal scraper called a strigil. A Strigil Cultural Studies 65 Moreover, there are still the remains of the flushing lavatories that the Roman soldiers used at Housesteads on Hadrian's Wall, and at Bath you can still see a lead pipe that seems to have carried water under pressure to a sort of whirlpool bath. The word plumbing comes from the Latin word plumbum, meaning lead. The Romans may have been one of the first civilizations to have indoor plumbing, but it seems that claims to their effectiveness have been greatly exaggerated.... The sanitation system in Rome, including plumbing and aqueducts to carry away dirty water, feces, and urine, was built to prevent common parasites Ancient Roman Toilet To modern readers, this can sound rather shocking as for us, going to the toilet is most definitely a private matter. However, public latrines were perfectly acceptable in Ancient Rome. 66 Cultural Studies Toilets are to be found at many archaeological sites. They vary in sizes and shapes from the large semi-circular or rectangular ones to the smaller private ones with up to 10 seats. 6- The Romans in Britain: Agriculture: For the Celts, and later during the Roman occupation, agriculture was essential. It provided them with one of the basic necessities of life – food. If they were fortunate, they might be able to sell or trade some surplus food in exchange for manufactured goods. Pre-Roman Agriculture: Virtually all Celts, with the exception of the aristocracy, were involved in agriculture. The Celts generally practiced mixed agriculture, so on their land they would have both livestock and crops. It was mostly subsistence farming but it is likely that some of their products would have to be given to tribal leaders, who may have traded it on the continent for manufactured goods. However, there were no Celtic 'towns' in the modern or Roman sense of the word and few imported goods have been found in the poor farmsteads. The climate made it difficult to store food, which would have made trade troublesome and also meant that what trade existed was much localized. The Celts used rectangular fields and may have used a field rotation system, whereby one of the farmer's fields would be left Cultural Studies 67 fallow for a year and nothing would be planted there. Instead, the farmer's livestock would graze it, keeping the weeds in check and fertilizing the field. The field that was left fallow would change every year to allow them to recover the vital nutrients lost by farming. The size of the fields was limited by the amount of land that a single man could plough in one day. In his book Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar lists livestock which he says the Britons kept for pleasure and did not eat - this is in fact highly unlikely, especially as bones of pigs, goats, cattle and sheep have been found from this period. The Britons used a type of plough, probably drawn by oxen, which could only cut a shallow and narrow furrow. However, the Britons did make some advances in agriculture. They began the process of creating more land for food production and they also began digging drainage ditches to water their fields. Roman Agriculture: The Romans were forced to adjust to the British climate. It was not generally suitable for growing crops such as olives, which were such a staple of the Mediterranean diet. There is, however, evidence that vines (and hence, grapes) were grown in some areas in the South of England. The Romans were forced to try to increase food production in order to support the increased population brought by the conquest. They introduced a tax, the annona militaris, which 68 Cultural Studies was paid as a percentage of the farmer's produce. They cleared forests and other land to make it suitable for agriculture, a process the Britons had already begun. They also made alterations to tools. They introduced ironclad tools such as spades and iron machinery, which made it easier to plough heavy soils such as clay soils. They altered the plough, adding a device that enabled the loose soil to be turned to one side and also cut deeper furrows. (However, both some modern historians and contemporary commentators, including Pliny, believe that the Celtic plough was in fact far superior to the Roman type which replaced it). The Romans introduced two- handed scythes, making harvesting more efficient, a new type of sickle and rakes. The Romans revolutionized storage by replacing storage pits (in which the climate sometimes caused the crops to rot) with granaries, which kept them off the ground and well ventilated. It is also possible that a machine called a vallus, was introduced to Britain. It was used for harvesting corn and was basically a wooden, wheeled box with sharp points at one end, for ripping the ears off corn. The Romans introduced a new type of wheat called spelt, which grew well in Britain's climate. It could be sown twice a year, increasing productivity significantly. They introduced vegetables such as cabbages, peas, celery, onions, parsnips, leeks, turnips, cucumbers, radishes, carrots and asparagus to the province as well as fruit, including plums, pears, grapes, apples and cherries and nuts such as walnuts. Cultural Studies 69 Animals introduced by the Romans included peacocks, guinea fowl, pheasants, domestic cats and possibly fallow deer. In addition, they brought over lilies, violets, pansies, poppies and the (somewhat less pleasant) stinging nettle! Along with existing foods such as rye and oats, the new root vegetables - turnips, carrots and parsnips - could be used to feed not only the farmer and his family but also their animals. (https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A3436616) 6- The Wonderful Wheel: The Roman Waterwheel A waterwheel was built by Henry and John Russell in an attempt to copy the remains of a wheel at Dolaucothi in Wales, which appears to have been used to pump water out of the gold mine. 70 Cultural Studies The reconstructed wheel was twelve feet high and one foot wide. According to the experts this is about twice the amount the Romans would have lifted. Wooden Chariot Wheel A Roman Odometer Another strange but great Roman wheel innovation is the odometer, to measure the distance traveled along a road. Each time the four-foot wheel turned, it engaged once with a cogwheel carrying 400 teeth. This meant that the big cogwheel rotated Cultural Studies 71 exactly once every Roman mile, and at this point a small stone - a calculus - dropped into a box. So at the end of the trip count the calculi and you know how many miles you have covered! Surprisingly the Romans were efficient as engineers and organizers. The might of the Roman Empire stemmed from the brilliant use they made of the technology they brought with them. 72 Cultural Studies Glossary Military might: Military Strength. Handcranked: Catapult: Hurl/Shoot/Fling. Hurl: Shoot. Bolt: Lock. Tip: Incline. Whistled: To produce a clear musical sound by forcing air through the teeth or through an aperture formed by pursing the lips. Punch: Blow. Demolish: Knock down/Destroy. Armour. Chain mail. Auxiliary. Prefabricated. Fort. Surveying. Beacon. Codes. Adopted. Lavatories. Pipe. Plumbing. Mucky. Scraper. Lifted. Latrine. Cultural Studies 73 Questions Answer the Following Questions: 1-When did the Romans come to Britain? 2-Why did they come to Britain? 3-What did they bring with them? 4-Can you give examples of Roman weapons that surpassed the Celtic ones and formed their military force? 5-How did the Romans move their army force across the hills and mountains of Britain? 6-The Romans were smart and intelligent. How did they send messages to far areas? 7-Was the Roman technology entirely concerned with military action? Explain why. 8-Were the Britons happy about this? 9-Explain the difference between the Celts and the Romans in taking their daily meals. 10-Why were the Romans keen on bathing? 11-What did they use in bathing? 12- Give examples of Roman wheels. 13- Write a brief account on Farming under the Roman rule. 74 Cultural Studies Activities Cultural Studies 75 76 Cultural Studies Cultural Studies 77 Unit Five The Northern Invaders Discovering their Technology Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit the students will be able to: 1- Study the newcomers. 2- Examine the technology they brought. 3- Differentiate between the newly brought technology and the previous ones. 78 Cultural Studies Part I The Anglo-Saxons in Britain The Saxons ruled England for 600 years, forming the basis of its culture, language and borders. Cultural Studies 79 80 Cultural Studies The early settlers kept to small tribal groups, forming kingdoms and sub-kingdoms. By the ninth century, the country was divided into four kingdoms - Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia and Wessex.  The term Anglo-Saxon is a relatively modern one. It refers to settlers from the German regions of Angela and Saxony, who made their way over to Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire around AD 410. The Roman armies withdrew from Britain early in the fifth century because they were needed back home to defend the crumbling centre of the Empire. Britain was considered a far outpost of little value. At this time, the Jutes and the Frisians from Denmark were also settling in the British Isles, but the Anglo-Saxon settlers were effectively their own masters in a new land and they did little to keep the legacy of the Romans alive. They replaced the Roman stone buildings with their own wooden ones, and spoke their own language (the Old English), which gave rise to the English spoken today. The Anglo-Saxons also brought their own religious beliefs, but the arrival of Saint Augustine in 597 converted most of the country to Christianity. The Anglo-Saxon period lasted for 600 years, from 410 to 1066, and in that time Britain's political landscape underwent many changes. Cultural Studies 81 Most of the information we have about the Anglo-Saxons comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a year-by-year account of all the major events of the time. It is worth noticing that this account was ordered by king Alfred The Great. Among other things it describes the rise and fall of the bishops and kings and the important battles of the period. It begins with the story of Hengist and Horsa in AD 449. We can survey the changes that the Anglo Saxons made on the British Isles and compare their impact to the already affected life style by the previous peoples who came to the Isles. 82 Cultural Studies Anglo-Saxon Life Life and Religion: It is difficult to generalize about an era as lengthy as the Dark Ages, but we'll do it anyway. The Anglo-Saxons were pagans when they came to Britain. They worshipped gods of nature and held springs, wells, rocks, and trees in reverence. Religion was not a source of spiritual revelation; it was a means of ensuring success in material things. For example, you might pray to a particular goddess for a successful harvest, or for victory in battle. A few of the main Anglo-Saxon gods were Tiw, Wodin (Odin), Thor, and Friya, whose names are, remembered in our days of the week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Religious observance consisted of invocations and charms to ensure the gods' help in securing a desired outcome in the material world, though the presence of grave goods indicates a belief in an afterlife. There is a possibility that female slaves may have been sacrificed on the death of a male owner and included in the grave to accompany him in the next world. Cultural Studies 83 Society: We know little about how most people lived, for so little remains. The richer lords lived on estates, with a main rectangular hall surrounded by outlying buildings for various living, working, and storage purposes. Inside the hall a lord might mark his prestige by expensive wall hangings or even paintings. The hall was the scene of feasts for the lord's followers, and a lord was expected to be a lavish host. 84 Cultural Studies A- Society was divided into several social classes, which might vary from place to place. At the top was the king. He was essentially a war leader. He was expected to provide opportunities for plunder and glory for his followers. The king who did not provide land, slaves, or plunder might wake up dead one fine morning. Below the king there were two levels of freemen, the upper class thanes and the lower class ceorls (churls). The division between the two was strictly in terms of land owned. A man could only be a thane if he owned at least five hides of land (a hide was defined as the amount of land necessary to provide a living for one family). Aside from the ownership of land, a ceorl could actually be a richer man than the thane. Below the thanes and ceorls were the slaves. Slavery was one of the biggest commercial enterprises of Dark Age life, and much depended on this involuntary labour force. Cultural Studies 85 B- Slavery : - the way in... How did one become a slave? You could have the bad luck to be born a slave, of course. Beyond that, war was the most frequent source of slaves. Many conquered Celtic Britons would have become slaves. People could also become slaves if they were unable to pay a fine. In some cases a family would sell a child into slavery in time of famine to ensure the child's survival....and the way out: Slavery was not necessarily a lifetime sentence, however. A slave could be ransomed by his or her relatives or granted freedom in an owner's will. If a person became a slave because they were unable to pay a debt, they might be freed when the value of their labour reached the value of the original debt. 86 Cultural Studies Clothing: The robe or tunic gathered at the waist was the common garment for a man, completed by hose and soft shoes. For a woman the robe or dress extended to the feet. The usual materials were linen and woolens, the more expensive outfits being marked by colourful dyes and exotic borders. Brooches were used to fix clothing by rich and poor, and amulets of stones were worn for luck. Cultural Studies 87 Weapons: In war the common weapon was the spear made with a seven foot long ash shaft and an iron head. It was both thrown and used to jab. Shields were round, made of wood covered with leather, and had an iron boss in the centre. Only the nobility used swords, which were about thirty inches long, made of iron with steel edges. The hilt was often elaborately carved and jeweled, and could be inscribed with good luck symbols and the names of gods. 88 Cultural Studies Leisure: When they weren't fighting (one wonders when that was) the favourite pastimes of the Dark Ages were dice and board games such as chess. Elaborate riddles were popular, as was horse racing and hunting. At feasts the most common entertainment was the harp, which was also used in church music. In addition to the harp, scenes of juggling balls and knives have been found illustrating books of the period. Farming : In the countryside the vast majority of the people lived by farming. At first most of the farms were owned outright. The ceorls worked co-operatively, sharing the expense of a team of oxen to plough the large common fields in narrow strips that were shared out alternately so that each farmer had an equal share of good and bad land. Later much of this land was consolidated into the large estates of wealthy nobles. Ceorls might work the land in return for Cultural Studies 89 service or produce, or they might work the lord's land a given number of days per year. As time went on more and more of these large estates were established as integrated commercial enterprises, complete with water mill to grind the grain. Food: Saxon Dining The crops most frequently grown were wheat, oats, rye, and barley (both as a cereal and as the base for beer). Peas, beans, and lentils were also common. Honey was the only sweetener in use, and it was used to make the alcoholic beverage mead. Pigs were a major food animal, as were cattle, goats, and sheep. Horses and oxen were raised for heavy farm labour and transportation, though the stirrup had yet to make an appearance from the Far East. 90 Cultural Studies Pottery: Early Saxon pottery sees a return to pre-Roman technology, in that the potters' wheel is largely abandoned in favour of hand building techniques and the kiln seems to give way to open firing. People tend to make pots for their own use, the low density of population making large scale manufacture of potter uneconomic. When only a few pots are required every few weeks it is not viable to keep, or learn to use, a wheel. It is only in the later Saxon period with the growth of the monasteries, with the settlements that accompany them that industrial pottery production starts to make a come-back. Cultural Studies 91 Glossary Tribal: Ethnic/ Ancestral. Withdrew: Subsided/ Draw back. Belief: Faith/ Principle. Pagans: Nonbelievers/ Atheists. Ensuring: Secure. Invocations: The act of invoking or calling upon a deity, spirit, etc., for aid, protection, inspiration, or the like; supplication. Charm. Estate. Slavery. Ransomed. Pastimes. Integrated. Kiln. 92 Cultural Studies Part II The Vikings and the British Isles: 9th - 10th century AD Many Viking raiders settled, slowly becoming part of the local community. Pagan graves reveal their secrets as everyday objects buried within help build a picture of the Viking past. Cultural Studies 93 The Vikings' homeland was Scandinavia: modern Norway, Sweden and Denmark. From there they travelled great distances, mainly by sea and river. We know about them through archaeology, poetry, sagas and proverbs, treaties, and the writings of people whom they encountered. They left very little written evidence themselves. As well as warriors, they were skilled craftsmen and boat- builders, adventurous explorers and wide-ranging traders. What is called the Viking Age, and their relationship with England, lasted from approximately 800 to 1150 AD – though Scandinavian adventurers, merchants and mercenaries were of course active before and after this period. Their expansion during the Viking Age took the form of warfare, exploration, settlement and trade. During this period, around 200,000 people left Scandinavia to settle in other lands, England is one (where they became the Normans). They traded extensively with the Muslim world and fought as mercenaries. The Vikings invaded eastern Britain and northwest France, and eventually settled in both regions, they came mainly from Denmark. Soon all the Scottish islands and the Isle of Man are in Viking hands and the intruders even seized territory on the mainland of both Britain and Ireland. 94 Cultural Studies These ruthless pirates continued to make regular raids around the coasts of England, looting treasure and other goods, and capturing people as slaves. Monasteries were often targeted, for their precious silver or gold chalices, plates, bowls and crucifixes. Achievements in Britain: Despite their barbaric reputation, Vikings left a legacy of achievements that forever changed the way of life in Britain. 1- Sailing: Perhaps the most striking of Viking achievements was their state-of-the-art shipbuilding technology, which allowed them to travel greater distances than anyone before them. Their signature longboats—sleek wooden vessels with shallow hulls and rows of oars along the side—were faster, lighter, more flexible and more easily maneuverable than other ships of the time. Cultural Studies 95 2- Navigation: But the Vikings’ exploring prowess also owed a great deal to their skill as navigators. They relied on simple but sophisticated tools like the sun compass, which utilized calcite crystals known as ―sunstones‖ to identify the position of the sun even after sunset or on overcast days. 3- Bathing and Grooming: Though their enemies considered them barbarians, Vikings actually bathed more frequently than other Europeans of the day, taking a dip at least once a week — preferably in a hot spring. 96 Cultural Studies Bristled combs, often made from the antlers of red deer or other animals they killed, are one of the objects most commonly found in Viking graves. In fact, though comb-like devices existed in other cultures around the world, Vikings are often given credit for inventing the comb as the Western world knows it today. Tweezers, razors and ear spoons (for scooping out wax) are among the other grooming objects turned up in excavations of Viking burial sites, proving that even longhaired, bearded Viking warriors took their personal grooming very seriously. 3- Weapons: They had advanced weaponry for their day, importing metals from the middle east and forging them to a high degree of strength. Cultural Studies 97 They were also masters of the art of weapon forging and weapon embellishment who were able to create swords, spears, javelins, battle-axes, knives, bows, arrows, shields, and body armor with complex designs. 4- Fighting Strategy: They conquered towns using very clever deceptions and strategies. 5- Religion and After Death: The Vikings had a strong religious attachment to the Norse god Odin, the "Father of Victories" who was the Norse patron god of war, poetry, and they believed that warriors who fell in battle could expect to be ushered into Valhalla, Odin's palatial hall in Asgard, by Valkyries. In Valhalla, they would feast and 98 Cultural Studies train for the ultimate battle, Ragnaok, where the entirety of the cosmos would be destroyed and pave the way for the generation of a new universe. The Viking religion was very prominent in their burial customs. The funeral was an event that required of a significant amount of preparation to transfer the dead from the community of the living to the community of the deceased. Before a chieftain was cremated on a funeral pyre, he was placed in a grave with a roof for ten days while they prepared for his burial. Like the ancient Egyptian kings, a chieftain was buried in the finest attire with a significant portion of his possessions, food, animals, and his wife. Once the chieftain and all of his possessions were ceremoniously placed on the ship, it was set ablaze. Their beliefs and rituals were so strong that they would not be eclipsed by the later embrace of Christianity, which started when Harold II Bluetooth, the ruler of Denmark, converted to Christianity in 960. It would live on in the development of syncretistic traditions in religion and art. For example, the Christmas tree is a cultural reflex of the Norse yggdrasil, an immense ash tree that is considered to be holy, and much of its ancient lore and rituals have been reclaimed by pagans who have used them as the foundations for few neopagan spiritualities. Cultural Studies 99 6- Construction and Architecture: They were also technologically advanced in construction techniques for their time. The excavations of the Viking city of Jorvik, which was rebuilt on the ruins of York by the tenth century after the Vikings conquered it in 866, yielded the remains of wooden and thatched and daubed houses, workshops, warehouses, and shops. Their craftsmen were highly skilled and capable of producing pine blades, sometimes pattern-welded, that were designed for long use. Their fortresses were known for their symmetry and precision as well as their advanced construction techniques as previously mentioned. Consider recent excavations of Fyrkat, a Viking-Age circular fortress of the Trelleborg-type close to Hobro, North Jutland, Denmark. Fyrkat consists of a circular rampart with an internal diameter of 120 meters and a width of almost 12 meters. It was built as an earth-filled timber structure with inner and outer faces and with four gates at the four points of the compass. Concentric with the rampart are two smaller parts of a dry ditch with a V-shaped section at a depth of about 2 meters. The interior of the fortress was divided into four sections by two linear streets connecting the four gates. In each section, there were four timber-built long houses, lying close to one another around a courtyard. Inside the courtyard was a rectangular house measuring about 5 meters by 10 meters. 100 Cultural Studies The long houses had slightly bowed walls with almost straight gables. Their length was just over 28 meters, with a width at the centre of just over 7 meters, falling to 5 meters at the gables. 7- Farming and Domesticated Animals: They were careful settlers and dedicated farmers who brought energetic and innovative farming techniques to the regions they conquered and colonized. Vikings farmed rye, barley and emmer wheat that they supplemented with nuts, fish, cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, and eggs. The Vikings were not all bloodthirsty raiders. Some came to fight, but others came to Britain to live peacefully. Their long ships brought families who settled in villages. There were farmers, who kept animals and grew crops, and skilful craft workers, who made beautiful metalwork and wooden carvings. Danes in England: from AD 865: Thirty years of Danish raids on the east coast of England preceded the arrival, in 865, of a 'Great Army' equipped for conquest rather than quick booty. The Danish invaders now consolidated each year's gains by establishing a secure base from which they could continue a campaign of harassment - which invariably ended with the settled English buying peace from their footloose tormentors. York was taken in 866 (and became, as Yorvik, the Danish capital in England). Nottingham fell in 867, Thetford in 869. By Cultural Studies 101 now the kings of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia made terms with the invaders. Next in line was Wessex. In 870 the Danes advanced into Wessex. Wessex, like the other English kingdoms, made peace with the Danes - who withdrew to winter in London. The Wessex men were commanded that day by a 23-year-old prince of their ruling family - Alfred, brother of the king of Wessex. Alfred and the Danes: AD 871-899 In popular tradition the story of England, as opposed to Britain, begins with Alfred. And there is a valid basis for this heroic status. He is the first Anglo-Saxon ruler to be accepted as something akin to a national leader. The English saw him as such in those regions resisting Danish domination. With good cause he was the only king of England to be accorded the title 'the Great'. 102 Cultural Studies Alfred's Achievements: His authority derived from his successes against the Danes. His kingly virtues can also be seen, with hindsight, in his encouragement of learning. But his central achievement is the quarter-century of struggle which followed his victory over the Danes at Ashdown in 871. In that same year, 871, Alfred's elder brother died and he became the king of Wessex. One of his first acts was to establish the beginnings of an English fleet. The Danes drew much of their strength from their swift Viking long ships. It made sense for the Anglo-Saxon islanders to reply in kind. By 875 Alfred could claim a small naval victory which was nevertheless a significant beginning. Going to sea with his new fleet, he held his own Cultural Studies 103 against seven Danish ships and even captured one of them. On land he had similar successes, defeating Danish armies and forced them to agree to leave Wessex in peace. But the Danes regularly broke their word. In 878 a surprise Danish attack pushed Alfred west into the Somerset marshes. From a single fort at Athelney he organized local resistance. This was the lowest ebb of the English cause, the nearest that the Danes came to conquering Wessex and establishing their rule over the whole of England. Within a few months Alfred was strong enough to move east again and defeat the Danes at Edington in Wiltshire. The conclusion of this campaign was a two-week siege of Guthrum, the Danish king of East Anglia, who was encircled in his encampment. Guthrum secured his freedom by promising (once again) to leave Wessex. More significantly, he also agreed to be baptized a Christian. The ceremony of baptism took place on the river Parrett, with Alfred in the role of sponsor of the new convert. Then the two Christian kings went together to Wedmore (the year is still 878), where they spent twelve days in ceremony and feasting and in the agreement of a treaty which finally preserved Wessex from Danish intrusion. A Danish invasion of Kent in 885 gave Alfred the pretext for expansion eastwards. He drove back the invaders, and in 886 104 Cultural Studies occupied London. This success led to a new treaty with Guthrum. He and Alfred agreed a basis for coexistence between Anglo- Saxons in the south and west and Danes in the north and east of the country - the region which became known as Danelaw. Cultural Studies 105 Glossary Expansion: Spread/ Extension Traded: Exchanged Ruthless: Cruel/ Brutal Looting: Raiding Monasteries: Buildings or complexes of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone. Legacy Navigation Sophisticated Advanced Strategy Virtues 106 Cultural Studies Questions Answer the following questions: Give reasons for the following sentences. 1-The Roman armies withdrew from Britain. (Two reasons) 2-One became a slave in the Dark Ages. (Four reasons) 3-Slavery was not necessarily a lifetime sentence. (Three reasons) 4- Horses and oxen were raised in great numbers. (Two reasons) 5-Early Saxon pottery saw a return to pre roman technology. (One reason) 6-The Anglo-Saxon king Alfred was accorded the title "The Great". 7-An important act was to establish the beginnings of an English fleet. (One reason) 8-A"Great Army" of Danish fighters came after thirty years of Danish raids. (One reason) Write a brief account on… 1- The Anglo-Saxon chronicle. 2- King Alfred the Great. Cultural Studies 107 3- The difference between the Roman and the Anglo-Saxon pottery. 4- The coexistence between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes on the British Isles. 108 Cultural Studies Activities 1-A day in the life of the Anglo-Saxons Many Anglo-Saxon words are similar to words we use today. Can you guess what these Anglo-Saxon words mean, and match them to the English words? - Modor. - Faeder. - Brothor. - Swoster. - Brid. - Hund. - Swurd. - Scild. - Wudu. - Sword. - Bird. - Father. - Wood. - Mother. - Brother. - Dog. Cultural Studies 109 - Shield. - Sister. 2- Boys wore long-sleeved under-shirts and baggy trousers with wool tunics over the top. The tunic would be secured with a belt. Girls wore long-sleeved shifts with wool tunics over the top. The tunic was held in place by two brooches on the shoulders and by a belt around the waist. 110 Cultural Studies Both boys and girls would wear short knives on their belts: they used these for domestic chores. Both boys and girls would wear short knives on their belts: they used these for domestic chores. Find examples of knives, brooches and belt-buckles on the „Anglo-Saxon Discovery‟ website. Draw them on the picture of the boy and girl above. 3- in the evening... While the Anglo-Saxons ate and drank they would listen to people telling stories. Their favourite stories involved brave warriors and their adventures, for example the story of Beowulf, a heroic prince who killed many monsters. The story- teller would be accompanied by people playing music. Common instruments that the Anglo-Saxons played were the lyre and the horn flute. Circle-dancing was also a favourite activity of the Anglo- Saxons. Search the web for this information. Cultural Studies 111 Unit Six The Anglo-Saxon Viking Age Learning Outcomes: Now that we have studied the Northern Tribes that invaded the British Isles and saw how they had to live side by side after the signed peace treaty by both sides, it is obvious that an interrelated influence is expected. By the end of this unit, students will be able to: 1- Trace the Anglo-Saxon technology. 2- Trace the Viking-Danish technology. 3- Draw lines of similarities between both. 4- Point out differences between both. 5- Examine how both were united at times by the influence of religion. 1-The Coinage: Some foreign coins entered the region as a result of trading contacts both with Western Europe and the Islamic world to the east. However, except in major trading centres such as Hedeby and Ribe, in Denmark, the idea of coinage as such was unfamiliar. Coins were valued only for their weight in silver or gold, and 112 Cultural Studies circulated alongside many other forms of precious metal. Precious metals were also a symbol of wealth and power. Viking coin-weight from Wareham, with inset silver penny of Ethelred I of Wessex A- This is what is known as a bullion economy, in which the weight and the purity of the precious metal are what is important, not what form the metal takes. Far and away the most common metal in the economy was silver, although gold was also used. Silver circulated in the form of bars, or ingots, as well as in the form of jewellery and ornaments. Large pieces of jewellery were often chopped up into smaller pieces known as 'hack-silver' to make up the exact weight of silver required. Imported coins and fragments of coins were also used for the same purpose. Traders carried small scales which could measure weight very accurately, so it was possible to have a very precise system of trade and exchange even without a regular coinage. Cultural Studies 113 B- Precious metals were also a symbol of wealth and power. Like many peoples throughout history, the Vikings demonstrated their wealth and status by wearing beautiful jewellery, or by having expensively ornamented weapons. In many cases, imported coins were melted down as the raw material for arm- rings, neck-rings or brooches. In other cases, coins were even mounted as jewellery. The show of wealth was more important than the idea of a coin-based economy. The main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms each had their own coinage, and the wealth of Anglo-Saxon England was probably one of the main causes of the Viking expansion. East Anglia, Kent, Mercia and Wessex all had silver coinage, although the Kentish coinage disappeared after the kingdom was swallowed up by Wessex in the 820s. Northumbria also had a coinage, but unusually this was mostly made up of copper and bronze coins with a much lower value. These were apparently of very little interest to Viking raiders. NB Both in England and on the Continent, native rulers regularly paid Viking raiders to leave them in peace. C- The idea of 'Dane geld'(a land tax paid by landholders to the crown in late Anglo-Saxon and Norman times) is particularly associated today with the reign of Ethelred II (978-1016), whose policy of paying off the Vikings rather than fighting them was famously unsuccessful, and led to the conquest of England by 114 Cultural Studies Svein Forkbeard and Cnut. Such payments were also common in the ninth century, and both Anglo- Saxon and Frankish chronicles are full of references to rulers 'making peace' with the raiders. 'Making peace' was a polite expression for 'paying them to go away', and could involve large sums, such as the 7,000 pounds paid by the Frankish ruler Charles the Bald in 845. Even Alfred the Great, more famous for his military resistance, was forced to 'make peace' on occasion. A particular feature of late ninth-century England is the existence of small lead weights, with Anglo-Saxon coins set into the top. These were probably used by the Vikings to weigh out payments in coinage. The idea of coinage was not a difficult one to grasp, and once the Viking raiders began to settle in England in the late ninth century, they began to issue coins of their own. Today this might seem an obvious thing to do, because we are used to dealing with coins on a regular basis. However, even a single silver penny (the only common denomination in the period) was a valuable item, and poorer people probably never handled coinage at all. Coins might be very slightly more convenient than some other forms of silver, but payments continued to be primarily based on the total weight and quality of the silver.  Cultural Studies 115 The Vikings as Imitators: Most of the early Viking coin types were imitations of Anglo- Saxon ones. Silver penny of Athelstan / Guthrum, imitating Alfred's 'Two-line' type The reasons for adopting coinage were probably political and cultural as much as economic. Like many 'barbarian' invaders, the Vikings looked at the more 'civilised' peoples they had invaded, and wanted to be like them. Issuing coins was one of the established rights associated with Christian kingship in Europe in the early Middle Ages. The Anglo-Saxons themselves had adopted coinage as soon as they converted to Christianity, and the Vikings did just the same. Most of the early Viking coin types were imitations of more established coinage. This is fairly typical of societies that adopt the idea of coinage from their neighbours. 116 Cultural Studies Coinage on the British Islands: The link between issuing coins and Christian kingship is very clear in the coinage of Viking rulers in the British Isles. Some of the St Peter pennies carry the hammer of the pagan god Thor alongside the name of St Peter. It is also very noticeable that the coins of the Danelaw carry very Christian symbols. Many have the Christian cross, and some carry Christian inscriptions such as DOMINUS DEUS REX (Lord God and King) or MIRABILIA FECIT (He has done marvellous things). Coins were also issued in the name of St Peter at York, and St Martin at Lincoln. The designs were not all exclusively Christian, however, which suggests some religious toleration. A coin type attributed to Olaf Guthfrithsson of York (939-41) shows a bird that has often been identified as one of Odin's ravens. It could equally well be interpreted as an eagle, symbol of St John the Evangelist, and the image may have been chosen deliberately to appeal to Christian and pagan alike. It is worth notice that the Vikings weren't just raiders, but farmers, traders and settlers - and they took their families with them when they moved from Scandinavia. Cultural Studies 117 Viking Women in England: The St Paul's stone The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that a Viking army operating in the years 892-5 was accompanied by women and children, who had to be put in a place of safety while the army fought and harried. But this army arrived in England after raiding on the continent and at least some of the women may have come from there. The first Viking settlers who turned their swords into ploughshares are unlikely to have had Scandinavian wives. The most convincing explanation of the evidence is that there was a peaceful migration of Scandinavian families to parts of the north and east of England throughout the tenth century. Recent finds of large numbers of low-grade, Scandinavian- style female jewellery, particularly in Lincolnshire, have been taken to show the presence of Scandinavian women there in 118 Cultural Studies the tenth century. These finds correlate well with the distribution of Scandinavian place-names in the same region: taken together, the evidence does suggest a significant Scandinavian presence. An elderly woman of high-status was buried at Scar with her possessions Pagan graves provide plentiful archaeological evidence... Pagan graves provide plentiful archaeological evidence for early Scandinavian settlement in Scotland, and for female settlers. Two graves from Orkney show us two very different women: the young, stout and wealthy mother of newborn twins from Westness, and the high-status, elderly woman from Scar, buried in a boat along with a younger man and a child, a matriarch, perhaps even a priestess of Freya. Daily life: The mythological poem; Rígsþula, written down in medieval Iceland; accounts for the divine origin of the three main social classes. But it also gives us a snapshot of daily life in the Viking Cultural Studies 119 Age. The woman of the slave-class wears 'old-fashioned clothes' and serves bread that is 'heavy, thick, packed with bran... in the middle of a trencher', with 'broth in a basin'. The woman of the yeoman class wears a cap and a blouse, has a kerchief around her neck and 'brooches at her shoulders', and is busy with her spindle, 'ready for weaving'. The aristocratic woman is just busy preening herself: she wears a blouse of smooth linen, a spreading skirt with a blue bodice, a tall headdress and appropriate jewellery, and has very white skin. She serves silver dishes of pork and poultry on a white linen cloth, washed down with wine.... women were often buried in their best outfits... The archaeological evidence shows that women were often buried in their best outfits, including a pair of oval brooches of gilt bronze, which held up a woollen overdress worn with a linen under dress. Many spindle whorls have been found, as most women would have been engaged in spinning and other textile production much of the time. A Viking Age spindle whorl from L'Anse aux Meadows (in Newfoundland) is evidence that women also reached the New World. The standard Viking Age house was rectangular and had just one room, in which everything took place around a central hearth. This house type has been found from Sweden in the east to Newfoundland in the west, in both rural settlements and in towns such as York and Dublin. As in most traditional societies, 120 Cultural Studies women spent much of their time indoors in such houses, cooking, making clothing and caring for children and the elderly, but they would also have had responsibility for the dairy. Most women's lives were bounded by hearth and home, but they had great influence within this sphere. The keys with which many were buried symbolise their responsibility for, and control over, the distribution of food and clothing to the household. Some women made their mark through exceptional status or achievement. Food : a- Preservation Techniques: With no fridges or freezers our Viking family has to take special measures to stop their food going bad. Meat and fish can be smoked or rubbed with salt. Fruit can be dried; grains are made into bread or ale. Dairy produce such as milk is made into cheese. Cooking the meat will make it last a little longer, making sausages will make it last longer still. b- Eating and Drinking Tools: The Vikings had bowls and plates very similar to our own, but made more often from wood rather than pottery. They ate with a sharp pointed knife, which served as both a knife and a fork (the latter would not be invented for another century). Spoons were made from wood, horn or animal bone. They were often carved with delicate patterns of interlaced knot work and Cultural Studies 121 the heads of fabulous beasts. Drink was taken in horns, similarly decorated and sometimes with metal tips and rims. Viking Food: The stew itself... looks rather scary The day begins: The farmer helps himself to some of yesterday's left-over stew. It has been left in an iron cauldron. The stew itself also looks rather scary; a thin crust of fat has formed over a brown liquid which is made up of boiled lamb bones, beans, peas, carrots and turnips. The farmer breaks off a hunk of bread to dip into the stew. A rather stale crusty flat loaf, this bread was baked last week. The children of the household will spend the day helping their parents. Fortified with a breakfast of bread and buttermilk (similar to skimmed milk), a son will help his father in the fields. The remainder of the harvest has to be gathered in and a lamb needs to 122 Cultural Studies be slaughtered. The farmer uses an iron sickle to cut the corn, whilst the son uses a wooden rake to gather the cut corn into sheaths. Later these will be threshed to release the grains of wheat, rye and barley. A typical day: A simple midday meal A daughter will help her mother grind the corn into flour. The grains are dropped onto the millstones whilst the women take it in turns to tirelessly grind the mill first one way then the other. The flour is gathered and mixed with water to make bread. The dough is kneaded in small wooden trugs then placed in a large clay oven to bake or placed on a flat iron in the embers to make a flat cake of bread. A few wild chickens and some geese roam the farmyard; the daughter will collect the eggs for the evening meal. If they are very lucky there may be some fruit... For midday break father and son share some cottage cheese, unwrapped from a soggy piece of linen. If they are very lucky there may be some fruit, wild plums or a crab apple. A little Cultural Studies 123 butter and stale bread completes the meal. To drink they may find a fresh water stream; have the buttermilk left over from breakfast, or even some weak ale. A fisherman might bring fish for his family. Herring and cod fresh from the nets are handed over along with some shellfish. Salted bacon (home cured), and some venison - the remainder of last month's hunt could also be on table. Whilst the fisherman cuts and guts the fish, the children go into the woods to collect nuts and berries, which are just coming into season. They find raspberries, elderberries and some cherries, and nuts such as walnuts and hazelnuts. These will be left in their shells, cracked open only at mealtimes for greater freshness. Feast night: Mead, a drink made from honey With no fridges or freezers our Viking family has to take special measures to stop their food going bad. Meat and fish can be smoked or rubbed with salt. Fruit can be dried; grains are made into bread or ale. Dairy produce such as milk is made into cheese. Cooking the meat will make it last a little longer, making sausages will make it last longer still. 124 Cultural Studies At sunset the family gather together in the long house. The usual evening meal will be enlarged tonight because it is one of the three Viking feast nights. In their homelands a horse would have been sacrificed to the old gods. Horsemeat was spitted and roasted rather like a kebab. The family nominally follow the Christian faith, however, so although they celebrate the traditional feast, tonight they will dine on roast lamb. There will also be salted fish and pork, goat and plenty of fresh bread. For dessert the Vikings will eat fresh fruit and a little honey on buttered bread. Beer will be drunk as well as mead, a beverage made from honey. The Vikings had bowls and plates very similar to our own, but made more often from wood rather than pottery. They ate with a sharp pointed knife, which served as both a knife and a fork (the latter would not be invented for another century). Spoons were made from wood, horn or animal bone. They were often carved with delicate patterns of interlaced knot work and the heads of fabulous beasts. Drink was taken in horns, similarly decorated and sometimes with metal tips and rims. As the day ends on our Viking homestead, the children have gone to bed, wrapped in furs on cots built into the side of the house. They have listened to their father's stories of heroism and legend; how the God Thor once went fishing to catch the mighty Midguard Serpent. He fished from the back of a giant's boat with a rod and line and used an ox head for bait. Thor caught the serpent but the giant, fearing for the end of the world, cut the line. Cultural Studies 125 Night draws in on a house full of well fed Vikings, seemingly oblivious to the smoky atmosphere from the fire and the acrid smell of burning fat from the oil lamps. The everyday smells, a mixture of unwashed clothes, animal dung and curdled milk pass unnoticed. Bad weather may have meant they had to rely more on stored food... Many variants would have been encountered of course, depending on the season, the geographical location and of course how well off the farm was. Bad weather may have meant they had to rely more on stored food, whilst prime locations would have given access to 'exotic' food such as elk, bear, puffin, salmon and trout. Finally, we have to rely on the archaeologist whose painstaking work has revealed the remains of the Dark Age menu. People and daily life: Exquisite craftsmanship on a Viking strap-end History tells of events, places and important people. But for the details of everyday life, we depend on archaeological evidence from excavations. Pagan graves are particularly useful 126 Cultural Studies because the bodies were fully dressed and accompanied by personal belongings, some of which indicate important activities of the living. Women often had the iron sickles with which they harvested the flax for making linen; the toothed iron heckles or combs with which they straightened the fibres; and the stone discs or whorls that weighted the wooden spindle for spinning the fibres into thread. Very occasionally they had beautifully carved boards of whalebone on which they rubbed a high gloss on to the linen. Men were usually buried with their weapons (sword, shield, spear, arrows, and axe) and sometimes with blacksmith's tools such as iron tongs and hammers. An antler bone whorl used for spinning Farmhouses in the 9th and 10th centuries were long rectangular buildings with rounded corners, built of stone and turf or stone and timber with thatched roofs. Most consisted of a single room, 15-20 metres long, with a central long hearth and low benches lining the long walls. Cooking, eating, storytelling and sleeping all took place in this one room, along with weaving and carving bone pins and whatever else was needed. There were separate outhouses for the cattle. Houses in towns tended to be smaller and were usually built of wood and wattle. Wherever Cultural Studies 127 people lived, domestic rubbish accumulated and with it invaluable information about diet, hygiene, equipment and everyday activities. A Viking brooch: Two brooches attach the straps of a Viking woman's pinafore One of these everyday objects and something that is found wherever the Vikings settled is the oval brooch. This was a favourite item of jewellery in Scandinavia, and it is so standardised in design that it is instantly recognisable. This makes it very useful to the archaeologist as an indicator of Viking activities. It turns up in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, England, Scotland, Ireland and even as far away as Iceland and Russia. About 10-12 centimetres long; the oval brooch was mass- produced in hundreds in workshops throughout Scandinavia during the 9th and 10th centuries. It was cast in bronze (copper alloy) in a two-piece clay mould, and the decoration was often quite elaborate, with interlaced designs and sometimes settings for projecting bosses of amber or glass. Female dress was very conservative and the equivalent of a folk-costume was worn for 200 years, not just in the homelands 128 Cultural Studies but everywhere that the Vikings settled from Ireland in the west to Russia in the east. It consisted of a pinafore of wool or linen, which was worn over a long and sometimes pleated linen shift. The pinafore had shoulder straps that were fastened by a pair of oval brooches, one below each shoulder. Wealthy women might have a string of brightly coloured beads linking the two brooches across the chest. When pagan female graves are excavated, the textiles have normally rotted away but the two oval brooches will still be in place above the ribcage. We assume such burials to be those of Scandinavian women who came as colonists, but of course such brooches could equally well have been worn by local women married to Viking warriors. A walrus ivory dice excavated in York Typical Scandinavian artefacts like oval brooches, whalebone plaques and ornate swords can be found throughout the Viking world. Cultural Studies 129 Glossary Coinage: Currency. Bullion: Gold ingots. Hack-silver: Small pieces or cuts of silver. Symbol: Sign/Mark. Dane-Geld: Tax. Imitators: To imitate is to act like or follow a pattern or style set by another. Plentiful: Overflowing. Cauldron. Dough. 130 Cultural Studies Questions Answer the following questions: Give reasons for the following: 1-Some foreign coins came to the British Isles. 2-It was possible to have a precise system of trade and exchange even without a regular coinage. 3-Both in England and on the Continent, native rulers regularly paid the Viking raiders. 4-Adopting coinage on the British Isles is remarkable. 5-The Vikings took their families with them when they moved from Scandinavia. 6-The Viking women were not dressed alike. 7-The Scandinavian breakfast was discouraging. 8-The Viking Pagan graves are particularly useful to archeologists. Write a brief account on… 1- The Bullion Economy. 2- The Dane geld. 3- The link between issuing coins and Christian kingship. 4- The Viking food preservation techniques. 5- The Viking food and beverage tools. 6- The Viking styles of settlement. Cultural Studies 131 Activities 1- Mystery Objects: Draw a picture of a Viking artifact and let your partner complete the table. I think it is ________________________________________ I think this because _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ It looks like _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ I think it is made from _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ The Vikings would have used it for _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 132 Cultural Studies 2- Make a Viking Storyboard: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Cultural Studies 133 Works Cited 1. BBC - History : British History Timeline. 2 Apr. 2019, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/neolithic_timeline _noflash.shtml. 2. BBC - History - Ancient History in Depth: Iron Age Life. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/launch_ gms_ironage_life.shtml. Accessed 4 Feb. 2019. 3. BBC - History - Ancient History in Depth: Peoples of Britain. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/peoples _01.shtml. Accessed 4 Feb. 2019. 4. Blair, Peter. An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge University Press, 2003. 5. Chadwick, Hector M. Origin of the English Nation. London, 1907. 6. Chadwick, Nora K. The British Heroic Age: The Welsh and the Men of the North. Cardiff, 1976. 7. - - Celtic Britain: Ancient Peoples and Places. London, 1963. 8. Chrisp, Peter. Prehistory. 2008. 9. De Thoyras, Rapin. The History of England. 1743. 10. Ferguson, Robert. The Vikings. Penguin, 2009. 11. Freeman, Philip. War, Women, and Druids: Eyewitness Reports and Early Accounts of the Ancient Celts. United States of America, 2002. 12. Hindley, Geoffrey. A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons. Robinson, 2013. 13. History of the United Kingdom: Primary Documents - EuroDocs. https://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_the_United_Ki ngdom:_Primary_Documents. Accessed 4 Feb. 2019. 134 Cultural Studies 14. http://www.sourcinginnovation.com/archaeology/Arch07.htm. Accessed 4 Feb. 2019. 15. Jenkins, Simon. A Short History of Europe. Penguin UK, 2018. 16. Kitamura, Satoshi. Stone Age Boy. Candlewick, 2007. 17. Lamoureux, Michael G. The influence of Vikings on European Culture. March/April 2009. 18. Maciamco. A Brief History of England. March 2005. 19. Oliver, Neil. A History of Ancient Britain. London, 1911. 20. Pryor, Francis. Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans. London, 2013. 21. ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/jo