Archaeology, Theory and the Middle Ages

In this important volume of collected essays John Moreland demonstrates the ways in which a theoretically informed archaeology significantly enhances our understanding of the early Middle Ages, and indeed of the past more generally. Beginning from the premise that theory must be worked through in data (since abstract theorising conjures up only a historical pictures of the past), he applies a consistent and contemporary body of theory, broadly characterised as 'post-processual', in a series of case-studies. The essays are enhanced by extensive notes and commentary, updating theoretical perspectives on, and data pertaining to, some of the key issues in contemporary archaeology - the role of theory, identities, the appropriation/destruction of the past, gift exchange, object biographies, the influence of our present on the construction of the past, the impact of texts on past societies etc. The result will be of interest not just to scholars and students of the early Middle Ages, but to archaeologists and historians more generally.