From The Guardian: Medieval villagers mutilated the dead to stop them rising, study finds. A study by archaeologists has revealed certain people in medieval Yorkshire were so afraid of the dead they chopped, smashed and burned their skeletons to make … Continue reading
From good.is: The Face Of A Man Who Died 700 Years Ago Is Revealing How The Poor Lived In Medieval England. As a collective civilization, we’ve made some strides in how we care for the poor and frail but, even … Continue reading
From the Siberian Times: Medieval burials on Yamal peninsula may have been ritualistic sacrifices. The find of four graves from the 11th century site Yur-Yakha III are unlike anything else seen from this era in Yamal, say scientists. Two of … Continue reading
Did you get up and light the fire this morning? Is there snow all about? You might like to read No Tech Magazine’s article on a medieval heating system that lives on in Spain. In the early middle ages, the … Continue reading
From The Conversation: The discovery of medieval Trellech and the plucky amateurs of archaeology . The tale of how an amateur archaeologist’s hunch led him to uncover a lost medieval town and spend £32,000 of his own money to buy … Continue reading
Medieval city? In North America?? Yet another thing I didn’t know about. From Ars Technica: Finding North America’s lost medieval city. A thousand years ago, huge pyramids and earthen mounds stood where East St. Louis sprawls today in Southern Illinois. … Continue reading
If you have the slightest interest in medical history, medieval images, or just plain cool and fascinating stuff, go read The Many Lives of the Medieval Wound Man at The Public Domain Review. Article summary: Sliced, stabbed, punctured, bleeding, harassed … Continue reading
From medievalbooks.nl: Chain, Chest, Curse: Combating Book Theft in Medieval Times. Considering these two practical theft-prevention techniques – chaining your books to something unmovable or putting them into a safe – the third seems kind of odd: to write a … Continue reading
Now this is a treasure of a thing. Settle down and read Caitlin Green’s article, The medieval ‘New England’: a forgotten Anglo-Saxon colony on the north-eastern Black Sea coast. It begins: Although the name ‘New England’ is now firmly associated … Continue reading
From Media-Newswire.com: Medieval music brought back to life. Music from a medieval manuscript that has not been heard since the 15th century has been brought back to life, thanks to researchers at The University of Nottingham. The project, involving collaboration … Continue reading
From Neatorama: Negative Campaigning in Medieval Time: Negative political campaigns and mudslinging aren’t anything new – in fact, the practice harks back to medieval time. [continue, see image of mural, oh my.]
From the BBC: Clue to medieval church uncovered. Archaeologists have found a carved sandstone fragment believed to be part of a medieval church in Ross-shire. Highland Archaeological Services said the piece provided a link between an 8th Century monastery and … Continue reading
I happened to notice this in one of our cookbooks, A Mediterranean Feast. A medieval instrument for forming macaroni is still used today in Calabria. Ferrassoli or ferrazzuoli is a kind of pasta made with a device called a ferreti, … Continue reading
From the BBC: Medieval canals spotted from air. Archaeologists have found what they have described as a "breathtaking engineering project" in Lincolnshire. Almost 60 miles of medieval canals, possibly built by monks to ferry stone, have been identified in the … Continue reading
From Information Week: Solar-Powered Nanotech-Purified Air In Medieval Churches. The glaziers who created gold-painted stained glass windows for medieval churches in Europe inadvertently developed a solar-powered nanotech air-purification system. According to Zhu Huai Yong, an associate professor at Queensland University … Continue reading
From UKTV: Remains of medieval bishops identified. Archaeologists have identified the remains of medieval bishops buried at Whithorn Priory in Galloway, Scotland, 600 years ago. The bones of the six bishops were discovered [continue] The Withorn Priory and Museum website … Continue reading
Oh my. From the Guardian: Carpet of stone: medieval mosaic pavement revealed. The wraps have come off one of Westminster Abbey’s least known treasures, a medieval marble pavement foretelling the end of the world, while conservation experts consider how to … Continue reading
From the BBC: Castle unveils medieval tapestry. A tapestry that recreates part of a priceless Renaissance work of art has been unveiled at Stirling Castle. The intricate 12ft by 14ft tapestry, entitled The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the … Continue reading
From AlphaGalileo: From Rags to Riches, Or How Undergarments Improved Medieval Literacy. Thought the invention of the printing press led to an upsurge in literacy rates in the later Middle Ages? Wrong, according to some historians of communication, who believe … Continue reading
From Wonders and Marvels: Risk Insurance in the Eighteenth Century. Travelers to distant lands have always known that risk is an inevitable part of the adventure. And from ancient times they invented ways to mitigate that risk. Medieval English guilds … Continue reading
From the Beeb: Rabbit hole in farmer’s field leads to ‘mystery caves’. An apparently ordinary rabbit’s hole in a farmer’s field leads to an underground sanctuary said to have been used by devotees of a medieval religious order – but … Continue reading
You need something good to read, and Smithsonian Magazine has come to the rescue, with this: Why Did Greenland’s Vikings Vanish? It begins: On the grassy slope of a fjord near the southernmost tip of Greenland stand the ruins of … Continue reading
I am inordinately fond of red, so I did take notice when I found that somebody has written a history of the colour. The somebody is Michel Pastoureau, and the book is Red: The History of a Color. The Paris … Continue reading
From Wonders and Marvels: Siegfried and the Dragon Legend Linked to Dinosaur Footprints? A fearsome dragon was featured in medieval Scandinavian and Germanic legends about the hero Sigurd/Siegfried. The story is the centerpiece in the epic saga Niebelungenlied, in which … Continue reading
From NPR: How Snobbery Helped Take The Spice Out Of European Cooking. In medieval Europe, those who could afford to do so would generously season their stews with saffron, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Sugar was ubiquitous in savory dishes. And … Continue reading