FeedSax Digital Archive now online!

Between 2017 and 2022, the FeedSax team assembled and interrogated a vast bioarchaeological dataset, to obtain a new perspective on the pivotal agricultural innovations of the medieval period in England. This dataset, together with a wealth of supporting documentation, has now been published as an open-access digital resource, not only to serve as supplementary material …

FeedSax goes to Lorsch

In July, on the hottest day of the year, members of the FeedSax team were fortunate enough to visit the Lauresham Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lorsch Abbey, south of Frankfurt. The famous ‘Königshalle’ (King’s Hall), built around 900 and one of the best-preserved examples of Carolingian architecture. …

Coming soon: our conference proceedings!

Way back in December 2020, the FeedSax project held a virtual conference, attended by hundreds from around the globe. We're now excited to announce that the proceedings of this conference will be published as a book, later this year, by Liverpool University Press. It's called New Perspectives on the Medieval 'Agricultural Revolution': Crop, Stock and …

We’re holding a conference! (7th-8th Dec 2020)

The FeedSax project has really been gathering momentum over the last few months, pushing ahead with new analyses and interpretations even as the team members have been adapting to the "new normal". To bring our findings forth into the world, along with the work of colleagues in related fields, we're holding a two-day conference this …

The sheep of London

Part of the zooarchaeological work on the FeedSax project involves an analysis of sheep pathologies. To place these in a wider context and better understand the underlying causes of pathological changes to teeth and bones in sheep, it was necessary to obtain baseline data from animals of known life histories. Collaboration with the Institute of …

FeedSax goes to Sheffield

At the end of November three members of the FeedSax team attended the 40th AEA (Association for Environmental Archaeology) autumn conference at the University of Sheffield. Mark McKerracher and Elizabeth Stroud presented posters (‘Data harvesting: towards the digital automation of charred grain analysis’ and ‘Crop rotation during the Early Medieval period: the problems of charring …

Our Leicester workshop

On Friday 13th September the second FeedSax workshop was held in Leicester. Following the success of the first workshop that took place in Oxford, the theme of this year’s offering was ‘early results’. As well as the FeedSax team, a panel of specialists was invited to give their thoughts and suggestions on the results so …

A visit to Highgrove

In March this year, members of the FeedSax team visited Duchy Home Farm in Highgrove, located near Tetbury in Gloucestershire. Home Farm is part of the Duchy of Cornwall and was converted to organic farming by H.R.H the Prince of Wales in 1985. Four team members made the trip to Home Farm: Helena Hamerow, Amy …

Sheep-folding today

Sheep folding at Sibbertoft, Northamptonshire, on the Naseby battlefield trail Old ways are sometimes the best, and although this rural scene includes electric fences, the underlying concept of penning sheep on small areas of open fallow fields is a continuation of an early medieval practice. Sheep eat down the stubble while manuring to provide weed …

Pollen coring at Sydlings Copse, Oxfordshire

In December 2018 members of the FeedSax team visited Sydlings Copse, a small woodland in Oxfordshire, to obtain cores for pollen analysis. Today, the copse is surrounded by agricultural land, but the woodland was formerly part of Shotover royal hunting forest, mentioned in Domesday Book. It also provides one of very few pollen records with …