Time and Location
Mondays, 5:10-8:10
Keene-Flint Hall, Faculty Library
Historians of both the Middle Ages and the modern period integrate the material evidence with other source materials, particularly with written sources, which has implication for the theory, methods, and teaching of history. In that respect, the study of material culture is both inter- and transdisciplinary. Therefore, the goal of this course is not comprehensive coverage. Instead, a selection of relevant topics was made with the purpose of inviting discussion of the ways in which archaeology and material culture studies can be used for historical analysis.
Since the challenge for historians of the Middle Ages and of the modern period is to understand the subject of their studies through a multitude of sources, this course will offer a window into the realm of possibilities offered by the study of material culture. One way to do that is through historical archaeology, a form of historical inquiry in which genuinely archaeological sources (i.e., sources obtained through excavation) are tied up within a framework of parallel records, including written and pictorial sources. Although as an academic discipline, archaeology came into existence in several European countries and in the United States in the nineteenth century, historical archaeology (especially its sub-species known as medieval archaeology) is relatively new. Its beginnings are tied to research on one of the earliest Spanish settlements established in Florida in the late 16th century, St. Augustine. Today, no serious historian can ignore the great contributions of archaeology to the study of the Middle Ages or the early modern period without the risk of missing a fundamental category of sources. Meanwhile, historians of the modern age have become interested in “things” because commodities, luxuries, scientific tools, ethnographic specimens, or unique art objects, move across vast geographical areas, even continents. Such objects also embody “otherness”: the unknown, the different, and what is often inaccurately called “the exotic.” Scholars have thus turned to material culture (i.e., material sources not obtained through excavation) to understand the subtleties of historical change. Material artefacts are used to explain the connectivity of what has been called “the first global age.” American historians, for example, have noted that Early American furniture became the touchstone of a peculiarly American cultural identity, owing to an emphasis on its divergence from English models. Silver was treated similarly. Preservation bled into recreation, with such ambitious statements of cultural pride as the town of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, created from 1927 onward. A growth of interest in early American material culture in the later 19th and the first part of the 20th century was stimulated by nostalgia, a sense of republican virtue expressed by modesty, and cultural anxiety in comparison with Europe. However, much like in the case of historical archaeology, this interest in material culture arose from an emerging realization that knowledge of certain sectors of American society in history is only possible by means of artifacts, whether in combination with written sources, or without them.
The course has three objectives. The first is to introduce you to some of the major issues of materiality and history: agency and engagement; the relation between texts and archaeological evidence; memory and material culture; urban archaeology; zooarchaeology; mortuary archaeology; and ethnogenesis. These issues should provide a broad understanding of important trends in the study of material culture in the Middle Ages and the modern period, which will enable you to formulate more specialized research projects during graduate work in History. Such a broad understanding can also serve as the foundation for preparation in undergraduate teaching. The second objective is to present the continuing, often heated historiographic debates surrounding these issues. Students will read some “classic” texts, as well as more current literature, reflecting recent historical perspectives. The final objective will be to afford you an opportunity to develop and improve skills in bibliographic development and most important oral and written skills in the critical evaluation of historical texts.
As this is a graduate level course, I assume that everyone enrolled has a basic familiarity with the resources available in the library and is willing to use foreign language sources when appropriate. I also assume that everyone knows the mechanics of researching and writing a scholarly paper. By this, I mean the proper use and acknowledgment of sources as well as the fundamentals of compositions, (English) grammar, and spelling.
Requirements for the course include attendance at class meetings, participation in class discussion, and the timely completion of all assignments. The format of this course will be reading- and discussion-oriented. In lieu of written examinations, I will require a brief (3-5 page) essay on the readings for each week, due in class on the day that they are to be discussed. After we finish with the core set of required readings, I will expect you to locate and read sources on your own, then come to class prepared to discuss them. I have found this to be the most effective way to learn about a topic which is best examined through case studies.
You are also to complete a substantial research paper on a relevant topic. Within the first month of the course, you must consult with me on the selection of topic and bibliography for your research paper. That paper is due on December 5, at 2 pm.
All essays are worth 60 percent of your overall grade (5 percent for each one of them). The research paper is worth 30 percent of your overall grade. Your class participation covers the remaining 10 percent.
In writing papers, be certain to give proper credit whenever you use words, phrases, ideas, arguments, and conclusions drawn from someone else’s work. Failure to give credit by quoting and/or footnoting is plagiarism and is unacceptable. Please review the section on academic honesty below.
Required texts
- Robert Gilchrist. Medieval Life. Archaeology and the Life Course. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012. ISBN: 9781843837220 (available as e-book through UF libraries)
- Helena Hamerow. Early Medieval Settlements. The Archaeology of Rural Communities in Northwest Europe, 400-900. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN: 0199246971.
- Jan Klápště. The Czech Lands in Medieval Transformation. East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, 17. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
- Matthew Koval. Childhood in Medieval Poland (1050-1300). Constructions and Realities in a European Context. East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, 73 Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2021. ISBN: 9789004461062 (available as e-book through UF libraries).
- Peter N. Miller. History and its Objects. Antiquarianism and Material Culture Since 1500. Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press, 2017. ISBN: 9780801453700.
- John Moreland. Archaeology and Text. London: Duckworth, 2001. ISBN: 0715629980.
- Aleks Pluskowski, The Archaeology of the Prussian Crusade. Holy War and Colonisation. London: Routledge, 2013. ISBN: 97804156917170.
- Naomi Jane Sykes. The Norman Conquest. A Zoological Perspective. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2007. ISBN: 9781407300924.
- Ashli White. Revolutionary Things. Material Culture and Politics in the Late Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2023. ISBN: 9780300271843 (available as e-book through UF libraries).
- Howard Williams. Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780521840194 (available as e-book through UF libraries).
In addition, there are articles and book chapters in pdf format accessible from the “Files” tab in the Canvas course page (elearning.ufl.edu), as needed.
University honesty policy
University of Florida F students are bound by The Honor Pledge (https://teach.ufl.edu/resource-library/academic-integrity-at-uf). On all work submitted for credit by students at the University of Florida, the following pledge is either required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.” The Honor Code (https://policy.ufl.edu/regulation/4-040/) specifies several behaviors that are in violation of that code and the possible sanctions. Furthermore, you are obligated to report any condition that facilitates academic misconduct to appropriate personnel.