| Abstract | Paper -a:
Pottery fragments, coming from more than thirty years of archaeological researches in post-classical sites in South Italy, offer an interesting testimony about wealth and poverty in Medieval societies of this Mediterranean area, by explaining progressive ascent of upper classes': if its presence appears less clear after the end of the ancient world, as the villas' system collapsed, it already comes up between the end of 12th and the half of the following century. As the centuries go by, pottery became a real status symbol, within the growth of new social strata, often coming in peninsula from other countries.
Paper -b:
The contrast between the rich institutions of pre-Reformation England and the poor is starkly revealed by the use of rare materials in the manufacture of objects in ecclesiastical treasuries. As so few of these artefacts survived the Reformation, National Museums Liverpool is fortunate to have in its collections an exceptionally rare object in this category. This is the tusk of a narwhal, an Arctic whale, carved in the middle of the 12th century, and plausibly used as a processional candlestick. The paper will explore the attraction of Medieval objects made of rare and unusual material, with a focus on the narwhal horn in Liverpool.
|
|---|
