Lithic production at the site shows evidence of highly skilled craftsmen in the manufacture of flaked stone implements. In addition to lithics, faunal remains include animal bone (deer, elk, bear, raccoon, and the nocturnal flying squirrel), mollusk shells, feathers, claws, insect carapaces, egg shells, and fish scales—up to 117 species in all.

All of the data recovered from Meadowcroft suggest its use as a station for hunting, collecting, and food processing. The significance of the rock shelter in North American archaeology has necessitated close scrutiny of the available data, particularly the concern of contamination of radiocarbon samples. Consensus calls for ongoing clarification of dating the rock shelter, yet the general antiquity of the site is not in question. While numerous studies compare Meadowcroft to related assemblages across North America, a final report has yet to be published.

Danielle Greene

See also

Lithic Analysis; United States of America, Prehistoric Archaeology

References

Bonnichsen, Robson, and Karen L. Turnmire. 1999. Ice Age People of North America: Environments, Origins, and Adaptations. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press for the Center for the Study of the First Americans.

Dillehay, Tom D., and David J. Meltzer. 1991. The First Americans: Search and Research. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Ericson, Jonathon E., R.E. Taylor, and Rainer Berger, eds. 1982. Peopling of the New World. Los Altos, CA: Ballena Press.

Thomas, David Hurst. 1989. Archaeology. Fort Worth: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Medieval Archaeology in Europe

Introduction

Medieval archaeology as a subject with its own identity is a relatively recent phenomenon, but the study of the material culture of the Middle Ages has a much longer history, set in the context of a series of cognate disciplines. This fact is important for understanding the development of the subject as many of the areas of concern and types of research questions have derived from these other disciplines. Moreover, just as Roman archaeology was often undertaken by people who had a background and interest in classical sources, with the inevitable biases in the evidence collected and researched, the same is the case with medieval archaeology. Medieval archaeology as a distinct academic discipline taught through defined modules and courses in universities is an even more recent phenomenon, as yet present in only some European countries, with the result that much of medieval archaeology is practiced by people trained in other branches of archaeology or in cognate disciplines. This situation continues to affect the research questions and priorities in the subject, although medieval archaeology has matured considerably over the last half century.

Many of the major structures and sites of importance in medieval archaeology have never been abandoned or forgotten and continue in use, albeit often in a very different context. These range from churches and cathedrals to castles and palaces and more mundane structures such as water mills, bridges, and field systems. Moreover, many portable artifacts, which tend to have belonged to the elite, have never entered the archaeological record but have continued to serve a function to the present day. These include religious items such as illuminated manuscripts, reliquaries, and church plate and secular objects such as royal regalia, armor, and weaponry. A great deal of the study of the material culture of the Middle Ages has been undertaken by architectural historians, art historians, historical geographers, and historians of particular activities such as naval or military historians, and numismatists. To varying degrees these scholars have incorporated the primary study of material evidence into their research and even have carried out excavations to reveal such remains.

Medieval archaeology has two separate traditions, early and late. The first is associated with the early Middle Ages, also often called the migration period, which ran from the end of the Roman period in those areas affected by the Roman Empire until the eleventh to thirteenth centuries a.d. depending on the region. The second is concerned with the late Middle Ages when the power of the international church and