Another cool #openaccess study about Late Antiquity / Early Middle Ages (my favourite historical period): "Demography and life histories across the Roman frontier in Germany 400–700 ce" (see end of post for full citation and DOI link).

Perhaps expectedly, the population in this region in Central Europe turned out to be very diverse and subject to change, but at the same time consistent in many key cultural traits. Change and continuity - what else is new?

Well, I'm always on the lookout for traces of my steppe nomad darlings, so imagine my joy when I spotted the following:

"... a male from Altheim (Alh_245; 528–553 ce) who shares long IBD segments with individuals from the Berel necropolis in modern Kazakhstan, derives roughly two-thirds of his ancestry from East Asian sources and one-third from populations of the western Steppe." Atam, what are you doing in Bavaria?

Was he a very late Hun or a very early Avar, or something in between?

"A contemporary male from Wölfersheim (W67) carries similar, albeit less of this Asian ancestry, whereas late fifth century females with artificial cranial deformation (Wh4 and Wh59) lack Steppe-related ancestry and instead exhibit patterns consistent with post-Roman admixture" - The "trend" of artificial cranial modification appears in Central Europe in the mid-400s and correlates with the arrival of the Huns. However, as these findings show, genetics and culture are not necessarily connected - neither in the past, nor today.

Oh, how I would love to know more about all these unique individuals!

Blöcher, J., Vallini, L., Velte, M. et al. Demography and life histories across the Roman frontier in Germany 400–700 ce. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10437-3

#archaeology #steppeancestors #avars #huns #archaeogenetics #iwanttobelieve #lateantiquity #earlymiddleages

CADBURY CASTLE :
IS IT A MODEL FOR CAMELOT?

Here are links I gathered together recently. The main illustrations I have in mind are the one at the top plus the row below it. (see Illustrations link below.)

Though other candidates have been proposed, chances are quite good that Cadbury Castle may have been the model for Camelot; and, as we know, there's simply not a more congenial spot.

Wikipedia article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadbury_Castle,_Somerset

Illustrations

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.earlybritishkingdoms.com%2Farchaeology%2Fimages%2Fcadrecon.gif&tbnid=I4G_L4iakWeEUM&vet=12ahUKEwi69fiWtZCFAxW4FGIAHQmdBUwQMygLegQIARBk..i&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.earlybritishkingdoms.com%2Farchaeology%2Fcadbury.html&docid=xYfieN2viTVyZM&w=300&h=205&q=%22south%20cadbury%20castle%22&ved=2ahUKEwi69fiWtZCFAxW4FGIAHQmdBUwQMygLegQIARBk

Suggested Dates for the Battle of Badon (Mons Badonicus)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_conflict_in_Anglo-Saxon_Britain

(It is my opinion that the Battle of Badon took place in the range of 492-494 AD, squarely in the fifth century.)

It seems to me the topic of the historic Arthur deserves a major rethinking. Lucky for us, this process was begun by Christopher Gidlow, which he presented in his book, "The Reign of Arthur."

It is commonly understood that Picts and Saxons did, in fact, attack Britain in the fifth century; and the Britons did mount a successful counterattack. It is widely accepted that the Battle of Badon (Mons Badonicus) is an actual historic event. The earliest sources attribute this decisive victory to Arthur. In short, Arthur did exist. One early source credits the Badon victory to Ambrosius Aurelianus, which brings in the venerable thought that Ambrosius Aurelianus equals Arthur.

We keep learning more about the Arthurian period - and before it and after - through such means as archaeology, aerial photography, scans that penetrate deep into the ground, fresh looks at old texts, and on and on.

A genealogist took Geoffrey of Monmouth's "House of Constantine" seriously, if not necessarily literally, and plotted a plausible family tree including Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther. Could the historic Riothamus be the same person as Aurelius or Uther? According to some scholars, Saint Ambrose seems to have had family in Britain, suggesting some connection to Geoffrey's Aurelius Ambrosius and/or to the historic Ambrosius Aurelianus. Who knows?

Most theories do not prove out. A thing one person "knows" contradicts what another person "knows," if you get my drift. But we can keep inching forward by considering new information, giving new looks to old information, and sorting out most ideas while keeping a few.

:

Closely related names

Geoffrey Ashe
Leslie Alcock

History of the Kings of Britain (Historia Regum Britanniae)

:

#ambrose #ambrosiusaurelianus #ancienthistory #arthur #aureliusambrosius #badon #battleofbadon #britain #britons #cadburycastle #camelot #christophergidlow #darkages #darkageshistory #earlymiddleages #earlymiddleageshistory #fifthcenturyad #geoffreyofmonmouth #historiaregumbritanniae #history #historydarkages #historyearlymiddleages #historyofthekingsofbritain #houseofconstantine #medievalhistory #monsbadonicus #picts #reignofarthur #riothamus #saintambrose #southcadburycastle #thereignofarthur #uther #utherpendragon

:::

𝗪𝗜𝗞𝗜𝗣𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗔'𝗦 𝗙𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗟𝗘

✧ Medieval cuisine ✧

Medieval cuisine includes the foods, diets, and cooking methods of various European cultures from the 5th to the 15th century. Cereals were the most important staple during the Early Middle Ages: barley, oats, and rye were eaten by the poor while wheat was generally more expensive. These were consumed as bread, porridge, gruel, and pasta by people...

#EarlyMiddleAges #LateMiddleAges #Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_cuisine

A little #FrenchHistory as background during the riots: (edited from #Wikipedia)

Did you know that 1200 years ago as #Rome fell, the #Christian world was nearly conquered by the #Islam World?

The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large #Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the #EarlyMiddleAges.

In #AD800, the #Frankish king #Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by #PopeLeoIII in an effort to transfer the #RomanEmpire from the #ByzantineEmpire to western Europe.