Dossier

Trade and Craft

How did medieval people earn a living? What objects could they make or trade and how could they get their hands on exotic goods? From economics to the practical: this dossier covers how medieval people crafted and traded the goods they used in their (daily) lives.

Blogs

Archaeology

Of Donar and Mittens. The Leithon 'amulet' as nalbinding needle

According to the ‘First Law of Archaeology’, whenever archaeologists do not know what an object is, then it must be something religious. In this case, a Donar pendant may be simply a needle for nalbinding. But the story is no less exciting!

Jip Barreveld • 29-05-2026

Archaeology

Before bones became waste: the biography of reused bone tools

Reuse was not an unusual phenomenon in the early Middle Ages. While it is more commonly known that precious materials such as marble and metal have been reused, easily available and mundane materials such as bone have also been reused.

Cynthia Kromotaroeno • 12-07-2024

Archaeology

Living as a Roman Citizen in Byzantine Rome: The Archaeology of Exchange and Identity

The city of Rome went from inviting the Byzantine army in 536 to shoving aside Constantinople by declaring the Frankish king Charlemagne emperor in 800. How did this happen? Clues to the cause for this radical twist may be found in the archaeological record.

Kee-Lou Ooyman • 19-01-2024

Robots at a medieval court: The automata of tenth-century Baghdad and Constantinople

Moving and speaking statues – it sounds like something straight out of a science fiction novel, but they were central elements in the communication of power at the tenth-century Byzantine and Abbasid courts.

Ivo Wolsing • 15-09-2023

Archaeology

Mapping Medieval History with Broken Pots

Mapping ceramic sherds can help to explore medieval history and wide-ranging exchange networks in the Mediterranean and beyond.

Joanita Vroom • 27-01-2023

Archaeology

Wine trade from the Holy Land

Palestinian wines were praised and consumed across western Europe. Transport containers found in Jerusalem, likely used to carry these wines, are stored in the depot at the Faculty of Archaeology. What can these amphorae tell us about connectivity across the Mediterranean in the early Middle Ages?

Vera van Heel • 13-05-2022

Archaeology · Socio-Economic History

Tonnen en vaten: de zeecontainers van de late middeleeuwen

Wat hebben zeecontainers en middeleeuwse tonnen en vaten met elkaar gemeen? En welke rol spelen deze “verpakkingsmaterialen” in de ontwikkeling van de handelseconomie vanaf de middeleeuwen tot vandaag de dag?

Jeroen Oosterbaan • 13-04-2021

Archaeology

De hand van de Oldenzaalse glazenier

Tegen de kloostermuren van het Agnesklooster in Oldenzaal werd in 1996 een kuil aangetroffen die was gevuld met een kuub gebrandschilderd en onbeschilderd vlakglas uit de 14de - 17de eeuw. Het blijkt een kuil met productieafval van een glazenier.

Jacobine Melis • 13-11-2020

Archaeology

The Latin Aegean: crusade, colonialism, and commercialisation

Small, victimised, and on the fringe, though not over and done. How crusading shaped Late Byzantine socioeconomic life and how the Aegean world defied Latin dominance in times of conquest and exploitation. A story told from history and archaeology.

Mink van IJzendoorn • 26-06-2020