Local communities between the cracks of history. Changing traditions, materiality and regional networks in the (former) Roman North during the 5th century

The 5th century marks the transition from the Roman to the Medieval world, an essential turning point in European history. However, when we try to identify it in the archaeological record of the (former) Roman North, we can only deliver a handful of evidence. While 5th century archaeological material is not absent, the general picture of how local communities lived and interacted with each other on a daily basis, remains very much obscure. This invisibility of the 5th century is caused by a lack of diagnostic material culture and an unclear historical and societal framework. The limitations in understanding the materiality of this pivotal century is related to its position between the Roman and Early Medieval archaeological disciplines. As a
result, the 5th century is neither fully Roman or Medieval, but a vague stretch of time without clear identity, structure or coherent culture. This project aims to address this issue by studying the materiality of various post-Roman/pre-Merovingian communities. Regional material fingerprints will be explored based on the study of burial and settlement assemblages from a selection of military, central and rural settlement sites. The project offers a novel perspective by focusing on cultural traditions, socio-economic diversifiication and organisation, and will add much-needed data to improve our capacity to date and identify the 5th century in the material record.