Waiting for the End of the World?: New Perspectives on Natural Disasters in Medieval Europe(The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monographs)

Waiting for the End of the World? addresses the archaeological, architectural, historical and geological evidence for natural disasters in the Middle Ages between the 11th and 16th centuries. This volume adopts a fresh interdisciplinary approach to explore the many ways in which environmental hazards affected European populations and, in turn, how medieval communities coped and responded to short- and long-term consequences. Three sections, which focus on geotectonic hazards (Part I), severe storms and hydrological hazards (Part II) and biophysical hazards (Part III), draw together 18 papers of the latest research while additional detail is provided in a catalogue of the 20 most significant disasters to have affected Europe during the period. These include earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, storms, floods and outbreaks of infectious diseases. Spanning Europe, from the British Isles to Italy and from the Canary Islands to Cyprus, these contributions will be of interest to earth scientists, geographers, historians, sociologists, anthropologists and climatologists, but are also relevant to students and non-specialist readers interested in medieval archaeology and history, as well as those studying human geography and disaster studies. Despite a different set of beliefs relating to the natural world and protection against environmental hazards, the evidence suggests that medieval communities frequently adopted a surprisingly ‘modern’, well-informed and practically minded outlook.

Table of Contents:
Researching natural disasters in the later Middle Ages Part I: Tectonic Hazards Rituals of resilience: The interpretative archaeology of post-seismic recovery in medieval Europe Medieval earthquakes in Italy: Perceptions and reactions Seismic adaptation in the Latin churches of Cyprus Architectural heritage and ancient earthquakes in Italy: The constraints and potential of archaeoseismological research applied to medieval buildings Medieval tsunamis in the Mediterranean and Atlantic: Towards an archaeological perspective Volcanic eruptions and historical landscape on Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain ‘The harvest of despair’: Catastrophic fear and the understanding of risk in the shadow of Mount Etna, Italy Part II: Severe Storms and Hydrological Hazards Mitigating riverine flood risk in medieval England Tide and trauma: Tangible and intangible impacts of the storms of 1287 and 1288 Disaster or everyday risk? Perceiving, managing and commemorating floods in medieval central Europe Recovering from catastrophe: How medieval society in England coped with disasters Fear, matter and miracles: Personal protection and coping with disasters through material culture c1200−1600 Part III: Biophysical Hazards Digging up the victims of the Black Death: A bioarchaeological perspective on the second plague pandemic Preserving the ordinary: Social resistance during the second pandemic plagues in the Low Countries Reconstructing the impact of 14th-century demographic disasters on late medieval rural communities in England Recognising catastrophic cattle-mortality events in England and their repercussions Medieval archaeology and natural disasters: Looking towards the future PART IV: Catalogue 19. Catalogue of medieval disasters

About the Author :
Christopher M. Gerrard is a Professor in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK. Paolo Forlin is a Research Associate in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK. Peter J. Brown recently completed his PhD in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK.