OVERVIEW
What happened when natural disasters affected medieval European societies (AD 500-1550)? The roll-call of disasters during this period is lengthy and their effects were sometimes felt across the whole of Europe in a way that has not been observed in modern times. In 1258 the largest volcanic eruption of the last 7,000 years affected the entire continent, while in 1315-1321 the most serious famine in recorded European history was driven by a prolonged period of low temperatures and heavy summer rainfalls associated with abnormally warm North Atlantic sea temperatures. Other events such as the most powerful earthquake in central Europe in 1356, river floods, tsunamis in the Mediterranean and sea surges along north-western coastlines all affected specific regions so that responses by different communities can be usefully compared. How did hazards become disasters, how did societies perceive these events, and how did they react and evolve to reduce their vulnerability?
This weekend conference is the annual conference of the Society for Medieval Archaeology, but is open to all.FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016
6.15pm Registration (for those who have booked meals and or accommodation)
7.00pm Dinner
8.00pm Registration (for those who have booked as non-residential without meals)
8.15- 9.15pm Fire, Flood and Famine: The archaeology of natural disasters in Early Medieval Europe HELENA HAMEROW Society Presidential Lecture
SATURDAY 3 DECEMBER 2016
8.00am Breakfast (residents only)
9.15am Social instability and coping with extremes of drought, wet and cold in Medieval Ireland FRANCIS LUDLOW
10.00am Extreme Winds and High Tides: Responses to storms in medieval England PETER BROWN
11.00am Coffee / tea
11.30am Disaster or everyday risk? Perceiving, managing and memorizing floods in medieval Central Europe CHRISTIAN ROHR
12.15pm Drowning in sand: coastal change and crisis in Medieval Britain DAVID GRIFFITHS
1.15pm Lunch
2.15pm Disaster recovery: new archaeological evidence for the long-term impact of the ‘calamitous’ fourteenth century CARENZA LEWIS
3.00pm Flooding and water management through the evidence of place names RICHARD JONES
4.00pm Tea / coffee
4.30pm Risk and adaptation at the edge of the world: Norse settlement of Greenland ANDREW DUGMORE
5.30pm Break / free time7.00pm Dinner
8.15-9.15pm Understanding historic risk: a key component of modern day risk assessment for natural hazards DAVID PETLEY
SUNDAY 4 DECEMBER 2016
8.15am Breakfast (residents only)
9.15am The ArMedEa project. Recent work on the archaeology of Medieval Earthquakes in Europe (AD 1000-1550) PAOLO FORLIN 10.00am Medieval earthquakes in Italy. Perceptions and reactions BRUNO FIGLIUOLO11.00am Coffee / tea
11.30am The experience of disaster in late medieval England: resilience and recovery CHRIS DYER12.15pm Fear and Miracles: Coping with disasters through material culture in the Middle Ages ELEANOR STANDLEY
1.15pm Lunch and course disperses