Traditionally the Reformation has been viewed as responsible for the rupture of the medieval order and the foundation of modern society. Recently historians have challenged the stereotypical model of cataclysm, and demonstrated that the religion of Tudor England was full of both continuities and adaptations of traditional liturgy, ritual and devotional practice. Monastic ruins and defaced shrines represent the material legacy of Dissolution and iconoclasm, but can archaeology contribute more to our knowledge of cultural change than simply a record of destruction? Can archaeology reveal the diversity of popular responses to the Reformation? In contrast to the written record, archaeology has the potential to tell us more about attitudes to the new liturgy on the ground, both within the elite and amongst the wider population. This volume contains contributions given at the Archaeology of Reformation conference, which was hosted jointly by the Societies for Medieval and Post-Medieval Archaeology. Papers are spread across five themes: public worship and iconoclasm, private devotion and material culture, Dissolution landscapes and secular power, corporate charity and Reformation, and burial and commemoration. The essays discuss the extent to which the study of buildings, graveyards, funerary monuments and domestic artefacts can enhance our understanding of the religious, social and cultural changes generated by the Reformation. Case-studies from Scandinavia and western Europe provide an international perspective to the study of the British experience.

Traditionally the Reformation has been viewed as responsible for the rupture of the medieval order and the foundation of modern society. Recently historians have challenged the stereotypical model of cataclysm, and demonstrated that the religion of Tudor England was full of both continuities and adaptations of traditional liturgy, ritual and devoti

This volume provides a thorough examination of the impact of the English Reformation through a detailed analysis of medieval and early modern church fittings surviving at parish churches located throughout the county of Norfolk in England.

Evidence gleaned from archaeology sheds dramatic new light on religious practices and identities between the later sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. The post-medieval period was one of profound religious and cultural change, of sometimes violent religious conflict and of a dramatic growth in religious pluralism. The essays collected here, in what is the first book to focus onthe material evidence, demonstrate the significant contribution that archaeology can make to a deeper understanding of religion. They take a broad interdisciplinary approach to the spatial and material context of religious life, using buildings and landscapes, religious objects and excavated cemeteries, alongside cartographic and documentary sources, to reveal the complexity of religious practices and identities in varied regions of post-medieval Britain, Europe and the wider world. Topics covered include the transformation of religious buildings and landscapes in the centuries after the European Reformation, the role of religious minorities and immigrant groups in early modern cities, the architectural and landscape context of eighteenth and nineteenth-century nonconformity, and the development of post-medieval burial practices and funerary customs. Offering a unique perspective on the material remains ofthe post-medieval period, this volume will be of significant value to archaeologists and historians interested in the religious and cultural transformation of the early modern world. Contributors: Chris King, Duncan Sayer, Andrew Spicer, Philippa Woodcock, Matthias Range, Simon Roffey, Greig Parker, Jeremy Lake, Eric Berry, Peter Herring, Claire Strachan, Peter Benes, Diana Mahoney-Swales, Richard O'Neill, Hugh Willmott, Natasha Powers, Adrian Miles, Anwen Cedifor Caffell, Rachel Clarke, Rosie Morris

Archaeologists have been increasingly turning their attention to the study of religion, but the field so far has lacked a cross-cultural overview. This text challenges archaeological conventions by refusing to respect the geographic and temporal boundaries with which archaeologists too often define their field. Worldwide in range and comparative in perspective, this exploration is guided by several fundamental questions: how do we recognize religion in the archaeological record? When should we recognize the first activities we call religious? What distinguishes a world religion? How can we see the formations of modern world religions in the archaeological record? An Archaeology of Religion begins with the first glimmers of what might be considered religious expression in the Paleolithic period and concludes with the complexities of world religions today. This book is an ambitious attempt to survey how scholars approach the identification of religious sites and practices in the archaeological record.

An original and approachable account of how archaeology can tell the story of the English village. Shapwick lies in the middle of Somerset, next to the important monastic centre of Glastonbury: the abbey owned the manor for 800 years from the 8th to the 16th century and its abbots and officials had a great influence on the lives of the peasants who lived there. It is possible that abbot Dunstan, one of the great reformers of tenth century monasticism directed the planning of the village. The Shapwick Project examined the development and history of an English parish and village over a ten thousand-year period. This was a truly multi-disciplinary project. Not only were a battery of archaeological and historical techniques explored - such as field walking, test-pitting, archaeological excavation, aerial reconnaissance, documentary research and cartographic analysis - but numerous other techniques such as building analysis, dendrochronological dating and soil analysis were undertaken on a large scale. The result is a fascinating study about how the community lived and prospered in Shapwick. In addition we learn how a group of enthusiastic and dedicated scholars unravelled this story. As such there is much here to inspire and enthuse others who might want to embark on a landscape study of a parish or village area. Seven of the ten chapters begin with a fictional vignette to bring the story of the village to life. Text-boxes elucidate re-occurring themes and techniques. Extensively illustrated in colour including 100 full page images.