Tradition and Transformation in Anglo-Saxon England by Susan ... - 9781472507273

Tradition and Transformation in Anglo-Saxon EnglandArchaeology, Common Rights and Landscape\nAuthor(s): Susan Oosthuizen\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, United Kingdom\nImprint: Bloomsbury Academic\nISBN-13: 9781472507273, 978-1472507273\nSynopsis\nMost people believe that traditional landscapes did not survive the collapse of Roman Britain, and that medieval open fields and commons originated in Anglo-Saxon innovations unsullied by the past. The argument presented here tests that belief by contrasting the form and management of early medieval fields and pastures with those of the prehistoric and Roman landscapes they are supposed to have superseded. The comparison reveals unexpected continuities in the layout and management of arable and pasture from the fourth millennium BC to the Norman Conquest. \nThe results suggest a new paradigm: the collective organisation of agricultural resources originated many centuries, perhaps millennia, before Germanic migrants.