An everyday story of country folk?

Abstract

• What was the nature of the farming way of life, and how did it vary over time and space? How well do we understand the range of resources that were being used and the changing environment in which people lived their lives? How did society operate, and where did people live? What can we say about the people – their life expectancy, their state of health, the way they interacted with each other, their power relationships, their identities? This lecture assesses our current state of knowledge about these not-so-ordinary country folk.