From the quarry to the church : the economics of early medieval stone architectural sculpture: materials, makers and patrons (7th-9th centuries)
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An abundant scientific production concerns the economics of construction-stone and decorative stone items used in Roman and Late Medieval architecture. Yet, despite the major economic relevance of the construction industry, the same subject in Early Middle Ages had been very little inquired. This PhD thesis (which was awarded the Leibniz Dissertation Award / Leibniz Promotionspreis 2020) was the first comprehensive work that investigated the functioning of Early Medieval building- and sculpting-workshops, and their economic and social context, on a European-wide scale and over the longue durée. Among other aspects, were analysed the modalities of procurement of stone and their costs and logistics, the recruitment and payment of workforce, the working techniques, technical knowledge, organisation of workshops and craftsmen, their relation with the commissioners, their social status, and so forth. One of the most relevant changes in comparison to the Roman period was the striking increase of mobility of masons and sculptors: they often moved over long distances and across political and administrative boundaries, thus mirroring the nature of Early Medieval secular and ecclesiastical elite-networks, as high ranked individuals (frequently bound by ‘transnational’ and ‘trans-diocesan’ alliances) sent the best masters from their regions to their counterparts in other areas. Conversely, the transport over long distances of raw stone and near-finished carved items ceased almost completely. As shown by a large statistical survey, ca. 95% of the stone used for sculpture was locally procured. The travelling craftsmen who worked it even began to be presented as a status symbol by the elites that summoned them from afar, while the Roman high-ranked individuals often expressed their prestige through the import of exotic marbles. These phenomena were the ‘natural’ consequence of a new, different economic context, though the transition from one production system to the next occurred very gradually. Methodologically, the research required a transdisciplinary approach, being archaeological, written and petrographic evidence equally important to reconstruct the whole picture. Additionally, the correspondence analysis / seriation (a statistical method successfully used for other categories of archaeological finds) was applied for the first time to Early Medieval sculpted fragments.