Digital Archive for Warhorse: The Archaeology of a Military Revolution? 2019-2023
Oliver Creighton, Alan Outram, Robert Liddiard, Carly Ameen, Robert Webley, Kate Kanne, 2023. (updated 2024) https://doi.org/10.5284/1102072. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Dr Oliver Creighton, Prof Alan Outram, Dr Robert Liddiard, Dr Carly Ameen, Dr Robert Webley, Dr Kate Kanne unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Primary contact
University of Exeter
Stocker Road
Exeter
EX4 4ND
United Kingdom
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 5150
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1102072
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises the digital archive for the research project ‘Warhorse: The Archaeology of a Medieval Revolution?’. The project was supported by a Standard Research Grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and ran between 2019-23. The project conducted the first ever systematic archaeological study of medieval warhorses, and horses generally, in England across the period AD800-1600.
The point of departure for the project was the fact that established understandings of warhorses had been based almost entirely on historical scholarship - hinging on the use of documentary sources - while the archaeological evidence had been largely overlooked, despite its richness, diversity and, through new state-of-the-art methodologies, its capacity to challenge received wisdom and to create new knowledge and understandings. It set out to break new ground by collecting the fullest range of source material available for medieval horses and integrating these otherwise disparate strands of evidence into a new narrative.
The evidence base investigated by the project comprised: the physical remains of horses (‘zooarchaeological’ materials: bones and teeth, including small samples taken from them for various scientific analyses); equestrian material culture (portable items of apparel such as harness pendants, and horse armour); horse breeding landscapes (studs and stables); visual depictions of horses in medieval sculpture and art; and historical documents relating to horse breeding and training.
The overarching aims of the work were not only to create a new and more rounded understanding of the medieval horse, but also to unpick its complex, fascinating and ever-evolving interrelationship with medieval society through the centuries.
