ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some broad developments and detailed changes and advances in dealing with and understanding non-ceramic finds from c1050 to c1500/50. The 50 years since the founding of the Society for Medieval Archaeology have seen sustained and very substantial advances in the study of later medieval material culture. The great expansion in staff numbers of those dealing full-time with finds from excavations was a consequence of the establishment of archaeological units in a number of major towns and areas through the 1970s. The Rotterdam Papers series, several of which are devoted to non-ceramic medieval finds, have made an important contribution across much of north-west Europe on an international front. The widespread use of non-ferrous metal alloys usually appropriate for the tasks intended is clear enough, but so far little immediately obvious progress is being made with the places of production of seemingly ubiquitous dress accessories, at least within the ambit of rescue archaeology.
