New publication from the FeedSax project: Feeding Medieval England: A Long ‘Agricultural Revolution’, 700–1300

We are delighted to announce that you can now get an online copy of ‘Feeding Medieval England: A Long ‘Agricultural Revolution’, 700–1300’ (the print version will be published in late November).

Professor Helena Hamerow (Principal Investigator) says 'The publication of Feeding Medieval England is the culmination of five years' work for the FeedSax team, which included researchers from across the School of Archaeology as well as colleagues from Leicester University.  We feel very lucky to have been able to work together on such a ground-breaking project, thanks to the long-term funding provided by the Horizon 2020 scheme.'

Congratulations to Helena Hamerow, Amy Bogaard, Michael Charles, Emily Forster, Mark McKerracher, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Elizabeth Stroud, and Richard Thomas and Matilda Holmes (both of the University of Leicester). 

About FeedSax

Between the 8th and 13th centuries, the population of England grew to unprecedented levels. This could not have happened without a major expansion of arable farming, a development that culminated in the emergence of open field agriculture. As well as feeding more mouths, the production of large cereal surpluses sustained the growth of towns and markets. It also fuelled wealth inequality and the rise of lordship.

Early medieval England thus witnessed a golden age of cereal farming - but when, where and how were the crucial developments achieved?

Feeding Anglo-Saxon England (FeedSax) was an ERC-funded research project led by Professor Helena Hamerow between 2017 and 2022, which generated new evidence to address these age-old questions by using new methods of analysing bioarchaeological data such as preserved medieval seeds, animal bones and pollen. Find out more on the project website by clicking here.