'Feeding Medieval England' wins the EAA Book Prize 2026

We are delighted to share the announcement that 'Feeding Medieval England: A Long ‘Agricultural Revolution’, 700–1300' has been awarded the EAA Book Prize 2026.

The EAA annually awards a prize to honour monographs recently published by EAA Members in the following three categories:

• books that have had, or are expected to have, a formative influence on the direction and character of archaeological research
• books that are written for the general public and present the results of archaeological research to a broader audience
• books that are addressing current issues in archaeological heritage management.

The EAA states: 

This publication represents an outstanding achievement in interdisciplinary archaeological research and constitutes a major empirical and methodological contribution to the study of medieval agriculture and long-term socio-environmental change. Drawing on an exceptionally rich body of archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, palynological, and land-use data, it provides the first comprehensive synthesis of agricultural production, livestock husbandry, environmental change, and human impact across medieval England. The work combines rigorous analytical methods with exemplary documentation, open access datasets, and a clear methodological framework that is likely to serve as a benchmark for future largescale archaeological research.

Helena Hamerow and colleagues successfully integrate diverse lines of evidence into a coherent narrative while maintaining exceptional clarity of presentation, making highly complex interdisciplinary research accessible to both specialists and non-specialists. Beyond its substantial empirical contribution, it offers important new insights into long-term agricultural transformations and demonstrates the value of collaborative, data-intensive research enabled by long-term international funding. The comprehensive digital publication of its underlying datasets further enhances its scientific value and ensures its longterm impact.

The work provides a robust comparative framework and methodological blueprint that will inspire similar research across Europe and beyond. It is expected to become a foundational reference for medieval archaeology, bioarchaeology, and environmental history, shaping future discussions of agricultural change and interdisciplinary archaeological practice for years to come.

Read more about the FeedSax project here: https://feedsax.arch.ox.ac.uk/