*AIA Lecture Series* "What’s a Greek Urn? Day Wages, Pottery Prices, and Household Goods in Medieval Europe" :: Guy Sanders, American School of Classical Studies at Athens. January 15, 2014:: University of Colorado Museum of Natural History (1030 Broadway) 7:00pm

January 15, 2014:: University of Colorado Museum of Natural History (1030 Broadway) 7:00pm 

One of the most vexing questions faced by archaeologists is how to correlate the material remains that they excavate to individuals or groups of different socio-economic statuses. So while the activities of aristocrats are relatively easy to identify archaeologically, the other 95% of the population is largely invisible. A new approach to this issue comes from an analysis of historical documents from medieval Europe, which allow us to reconstruct the economic activities and average household possessions of the urban and rural poor. Using this new model, pottery and other archaeological data related to houses from various sites and periods can be evaluated to include (or exclude) evidence for the poor and middle classes.