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Offers of contributions on “Recent archaeological investigation in inhabited medieval rural settlements: new perspectives from historic communities past and present” are now invited for session #39 at the 2019 Annual Conference of the European Archaeological Association (4-8 Sept 2019, Bern, Switzerland) Summary: The archaeological investigation of medieval rural settlements in Europe has a long history, but until recently this mostly focused on deserted villages. Recently, however, the archaeology of non-deserted medieval rural settlements (surviving today as villages, hamlets, farms and small towns) has received more attention. Research-driven interest has been stimulated by awareness that deserted settlements are a minority which may often be atypical, while there have also been sharp rises in the amount of excavation carried out within inhabited settlements in advance of development and, in some countries, community archaeological projects connecting rural residents with their local heritage. Consequently, one way or another, much more medieval archaeological evidence is now available from inhabited rural medieval settlements than was the case a decade or so ago. However, knowledge of this can often remain restricted to those who were directly involved or local record curators. EAA Session #39 invites those interested in the medieval archaeology of inhabited rural settlements to share recent discoveries, explore what these are telling us that is new about settlement origins and development, assess how this helps us understand the past, and consider what our aspirations for investigation in inhabited medieval rural settlements should be for the future. Papers or posters may include presentations on specific sites or projects, synthesising overviews looking at ‘bigger pictures’, and/or provocative ‘think-pieces’ challenging current approaches. Themes explored in Session #39 may include: • How is excavation and other fieldwork advancing understanding of the medieval development of inhabited rural settlements (origins, expansion, contraction, adaptation, recovery etc)? • How do the trajectories of still-inhabited and permanently deserted settlements compare? • How can evidence from inhabited rural settlement studies illuminate wider phenomena? (eg post- Roman change, Christianisation, Viking diaspora, climate change, conflict, the Black Death, resilience, Reformation etc). • What are the opportunities and challenges for archaeological work in rural communities where today’s inhabitants may live in, above or around medieval remains? Offers of papers (15 minutes) or posters for this session must be done via EAA’s online submission form available at https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2019/. Offers of contributions must include a title (20 words max.) and an abstract (150-300 words) accompanied by 3-6 keywords. The deadline for submitting an abstract is 14th February 2019 (23:59 CET). Session #39 is being organised jointly by Carenza Lewis (University of Lincoln, United Kingdom), Heleen van Londen (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands), Arkadiusz Marciniak (University of Poznan, Poland) and Pavel Vareka (University of West Bohemia, Czech Republic). Session #39 can be found on the EAA website at https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA2019/Programme.aspx?WebsiteKey=92bb0c7f-79c0-4998-9804-b5db83f9a8b9&hkey=48f0a584-1ae8-4680-bcef-572c6fe82598&Program=3#Program -------------------------- contemp-hist-arch is a list for news and events in contemporary and historical archaeology, and for announcements relating to the CHAT conference group. ------- For email subscription options see: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/archives/contemp-hist-arch.html ------- Visit the CHAT website for more information and for future meeting dates: http://www.contemp-hist-arch.ac.uk --------------------------