Borders, barriers, and ethnogenesis : frontiers in late Antiquity and the Middle Ages /

This collection addresses an audience of early medievalists with an interest in material culture and its use in building ethnic boundaries. The traditional concept of frontier is one of current debate by historians and archaeologists alike, but sometimes without reference to each other. For instance, the social and cultural construction of (political) frontiers remains outside the current focus of post-processualist archaeology, despite the significance of borders for the representation of power, one of the most popular topics with archaeologists interested in symbols and ideology. Similarly, historians of the early Middle Ages have only recently developed an interest in the political manipulation of cultural difference across state frontiers. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this new direction of research is the emphasis on political frontiers as crucial for the creation, rather than separation, of ethnic configurations. Recent work on the relation between monastic communities and political frontiers has shown the potential for a study of frontier symbolism. The idea of the present volume grew out of the realization that there was a great deal of new work being done in this direction which deserved a wider audience. This was true both of studies of late antique frontiers and of more recent research on medieval frontier societies. In addition, several authors address the issue of religious identities and their relations with ethnicity and state ideology. In that respect, the book is directed to a large audience, particularly because of its wide geographical range, from Iberia and the Balkans to Cilicia and Iran.Includes bibliographical references.The Byzantine-Arab borderland from the seventh to the ninth century / Ralph Johannes Lilie -- Civilization versus barbarians? : fortification techniques and politics in Carolingian and Ottonian borderlands / Joachim Henning -- The limes saxoniae as part of the eastern borderlands of the Frankish and Ottonian-Salian empire / Matthias Hardt -- Remarks on the archaeological evidence of forts and fortified settlements in tenth-century Bulgaria / Rasho Rashev -- Moving earth and making difference : dikes and frontiers in early medieval Bulgaria / Paolo Squatriti -- Reconceptualizing the Seljuk-Cilician frontier : Armenians, Latins, and Turks in conflict and alliance during the early thirteenth century / Sara Nur Yildiz -- Ethnic and territorial boundaries in late antique and early medieval Persia / Touraj Daryaee -- Acculturation and ethnogenesis along the frontier : Roma and the ancient Germans in an archaeological perspective -- Frontier ethnogenesis in late antiquity : the Danube, the Tervingi, and the Slavs / Florin Curta -- The shadow of a frontier : the Walachian plain during the Justinianic age / Eugen S. Teodor -- Ethnicity, rulership, and early medieval frontiers / Michael Kulikowski -- Frontiers and ethnic identities : some final considerations / Walter Pohl.This collection addresses an audience of early medievalists with an interest in material culture and its use in building ethnic boundaries. The traditional concept of frontier is one of current debate by historians and archaeologists alike, but sometimes without reference to each other. For instance, the social and cultural construction of (political) frontiers remains outside the current focus of post-processualist archaeology, despite the significance of borders for the representation of power, one of the most popular topics with archaeologists interested in symbols and ideology. Similarly, historians of the early Middle Ages have only recently developed an interest in the political manipulation of cultural difference across state frontiers. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this new direction of research is the emphasis on political frontiers as crucial for the creation, rather than separation, of ethnic configurations. Recent work on the relation between monastic communities and political frontiers has shown the potential for a study of frontier symbolism. The idea of the present volume grew out of the realization that there was a great deal of new work being done in this direction which deserved a wider audience. This was true both of studies of late antique frontiers and of more recent research on medieval frontier societies. In addition, several authors address the issue of religious identities and their relations with ethnicity and state ideology. In that respect, the book is directed to a large audience, particularly because of its wide geographical range, from Iberia and the Balkans to Cilicia and Iran