Medieval historian @sarahifftdecker talks about how movies, tv shows, and books depict the medieval past, in historical fiction and medieval-inspired fantasy
- Tweets407
- Following66
- Followers341
- Likes787
ALT some similar archaeological evidence presents itself in trying to formulate an understanding of “African” in England circa 1000 CE. As in the earlier Bamburgh cemetery, archaeology provides evidence of African presence in the later part of the pre-Conquest period. Archaeological excavations from 1967 to 1972 in a tenth- and eleventh-century East Anglian cemetery in North Elmham, Norfolk, revealed a female African skeleton (Wells and Cayton). Although the 1980 publication of the findings is riddled with racism and sexism (as discussed by Florence H. R. Scott), I received confirmation in 2018 that the core conclusion is scientifically sound: the skeleton in question would still be categorized as African.11 The authors of the 1980 report assume that this African woman would have been a slave (Wells and Cayton 259). Their discussion refers to the “flourishing trade in black slaves” throughout Europe and the Mediterranean basin in the early medieval period and connects English trade network
ALT Ramírez, Paul Edward Montgomery. “Colonial Representations of Race in Alternative Museums: The ‘African’ of St Benet’s, the ‘Arab’ of Jorvik, and the ‘Black Viking.’” International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2 Feb. 2021, pp. 937–52, https://doi.org /10.1080/13527258.2021.1883715. Robertson, D. W. A Preface to Chaucer. Princeton UP, 1962. Robinson, Fred. “Notes on the Old English Exodus.” Anglia, vol. 80, 1962, pp. 363–78. Scott, Florence H. R. “Two Black Women in Tenth-Century England: The North Elmham and Fairford Women.” Ælfgif-who?, 19 Apr. 2021, florencehrs.substack.com/p/ northelmhamfairfordwomen.
