ABSTRACT
Medieval archaeology as a systematic discipline is perhaps a little senior to prehistoric. Archaeological and written data provide complementary evidence in medieval studies. Each type of data will reveal particular facets of the medieval real world, and can yield its own separate models thereof. Analogue models have proved a stimulating extension of this substantive 'iconic' category. A medieval community, rural, urban or institutional, was the focal point of a complex social and ecological system, and sets of ecological models are required if we are to understand them. Even more clearly, the interleaving of archaeological and documentary data is needed to construct successive models of the changing medieval coastline and coastal areas of Britain and Europe and their relation to port activity and maritime trade. Norman society cultivated knightly ways, part of its power stemming from a command of equine mounted combat, which depended to some extent upon the effective use of the stirrup.
