The two volumes of 'The Archaeology of Medieval Europe' will together comprise the first complete account of medieval archaeology across Europe. Archaeologists from academic institutions in fifteen countries are collaborating to produce these two books of sixteen thematic chapters each. In addition, every chapter will feature a number of 'box-texts', by specialist contributors, highlighting sites or themes of particular importance. The books will be comprehensively illustrated throughout, in both colour and b/w, including line drawings and specially commissioned maps. This ground-breaking set, which is divided chronologically into two (Volume 1 extending from the 8th-12th centuries AD, and Volume 2 from the 12th-16th centuries -- available 2008), will enable readers to track the development of different cultures, and of regional characteristics, throughout the full extent of medieval Catholic Europe.
In addition to revealing shared contexts and technological developments, the complete work will also provide the opportunity for demonstrating the differences that were inevitably present across the Continent -- from Iceland to Italy, and from Portugal to Finland -- and to study why such existed.