07-31-2009, 10:26 AM
I agree. I don't have specific support for subsistence farming as the six or seventh century norm. It just seemed unlikely that whatever was going on would support much of an administrative or military superstructure. It wasn't an all-or-nothing situtation, but a continum from famished to opulent, with the norm probably sliding toward the hungry pole for several centuries.
"Fugit irreparabile tempus" (Irrecoverable time glides away) Virgil
Ron Andrea
Ron Andrea