Social and economic complexity in early medieval England: a central place complex of the East Anglian kingdom at Rendlesham, Suffolk

Abstract

Abstract

Mead-Halls of theOiscingas: A New Kentish Perspective on the Anglo-Saxon Great Hall Complex Phenomenon

“…19 Hamerow et al 2007;Hamerow and Brennan 2015. 20 Scull et al 2016. 21 McBride 2016 For wider discussion of this theme see essays in Dickinson and Griffiths 1999;Webster 2000;Maddicott 2003;Reynolds 2003;Carver 2011;Scull 2011;Loveluck 2013, 76-150;and Blair 2018.…”

Social Transformations and Resilience

“…In the seventh century, Christianity began to be practised across large parts of England (Scull 2015). Evidence of this transition from the pre-Christian to Christian era has been found for example in the recent excavations from Rendlesham in Suffolk, a central place or royal settlement of particular importance (Scull et al 2016). During the same period on the Continent, Franks and other Germanic peoples also accepted the new faith.…”

Practice, Power and Place: Southern British Perspectives on the Agency of Early Medieval Rulers’ Residences

“…At Rendlesham, metal-detecting, geophysics and trial excavation have defined an extensive polyfocal settlement in use from the early or middle fifth century (Fig. 2, Scull et al 2016, Scull 2019. There is an elite element to the material culture from the outset but this massively intensifies from the late sixth century and is accompanied by a spatial shift in the focus of activity.…”

“…This has given rise to the model of the 'central place complex', an aggregation of foci that intermesh to varying degrees settlement, elite residence, surplus extraction, jurisdiction, craft production, exchange and cult activity. Such phenomena can be identified at a range of scales and the model has been applied in England both to circumscribed places (Scull et al 2016) and to locales displaying unusual concentrations of wealth and elite investment in funerary displays and other dimensions of the cultural landscape (Dickinson et al 2011, Noble et al 2013, Behr et al 2014.…”