Archaeology of Medieval Monasteries Research Papers (original) (raw)

Taft R. F. The Great Entrance. A History of the Transfer of Gifts and other Preanaphoral Rites of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. [A History of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, vol. II]. Roma, 1975. (Orientalia Christiana Analecta;... more

This paper will summarise the evidence for the development of ‘Christian’ burial places in Scotland from AD 400-1100. A body of radiocarbon dates now allows us to track developments in burial practice in unprecedented chronological detail. Scotland’s burial evidence comes mainly from field cemeteries not associated with churches, but these can now be compared with burials from recently-published excavations on early monastic sites. The material culture of death, burial and Christian worship were integrated and interacted with existing physical and mental landscapes. 'Christian' burial places did not begin as founder's graves or shrines over saint's tombs, and it is argued here that the familiar concept of a 'Christian cemetery' did not arrive fully formed with monasticism, but was formed by adapting existing burial rites to a new social setting. Only by tracing the processes of creating, maintaining and often forgetting burial places across the early medieval period can we shed new light on conversion and the eventual consolidation of Christendom in the post-Roman west.

Stift Göttweig is located approx. 4 km south of the city Krems an der Donau on the hill "Göttweiger Berg" in the foreland of the Dunkelsteinerwald on c. 420 m. The monastery has been founded by bishop Altmann von Passau in 1083 at the latest and was redesigned in the 18th century according to plans by Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt, who brought the monastery to its present form of landscape-defining appearance. In 2019, geophysical examinations of the entire area were carried out using georadar. The collected data answered architectural questions and created a sustainable basis for planning potential future construction projects and earth movements in the area.

hikuin 39, 2012, p. 131-46.
Sorø Monastery's Cemetery for Laymen. The 2006 Archaeological Excavation of tombs outside the north Transept.
Prior to the construction of a new extension on the north side of the church the National Museum excavated 24 square meters. 25 graves were discovered and 15 of them excavated. 9 skeletons were examined at the University of Copenhagen; they turned out to be five men, two women and two children. There were 6 stone coffin-graves made of bricks and roofed with tiles. In one of these brick graves a woman was buried. Dating of the graves was difficult. But at least 8 of the graves are medieval, as brick coffins are commonly dated from late 12th to 14th century and two other graves are older. According to the Cistercian rule monks were buried without coffins and from what we know about the location of the monasteries cemeteries, it was usually the cemetery of the laymen which was located on the north side of the church. One grave without a coffin and older than brick graves was located in a different orientation that all the rest of the graves. Perhaps this is an indication of the location and orientation of the church's predecessor from the abbey's Benedictine times.
It is far from the first time stone coffin-graves have been discovered and excavated in the site of Sorø Monastery. The first record in Antikvarisk-Topografisk Arkiv is from 1826. The stone coffins are made of bricks travertine or fieldstones. The grave of archbishop and founder of the Cistercian convent in Sorø, Absalon (1201) has been opened and examined three times in 1536, 1827 and 1947.

Pri iskopavanju 1999. godine provedenom oko ostataka pročelja crkve cistercitske opatije, čiji se ostaci nalaze u parku Opatovina u Topuskom, pronađena je veća količina kamenih komada arhitektonskih elemenata. Tijekom 2018. godine provedeno je dokumentiranje pronađenih arhitektonskih elemenata s pomoću 3D modeliranja. Razvojem tehnologije devedesetih godina 20. stoljeća 3D modeli počinju se primjenjivati u arheologiji i postaju sve popularniji. Danas u arheologiji razlikujemo dva pojma vezana uz 3D modeliranje: 3D digitalizaciju i 3D rekonstrukciju. Arhitektonski elementi iz Topuskog fotografirani su u svrhu izrade 3D modela temeljenog na fotografijama, što se smatra 3D digitalizacijom (modeli su napravljeni u programu Agisoft Photoscan). Tlocrti, bočni pogledi i presjeci „eksportirani“ su iz programa u obliku ortomozaika te su poslužili kao temelj za izradu nacrtne dokumentacije.

- by Valerija Gligora and +1
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- Archaeological documentation, Medieval Archaeology, Cistercian architecture, Monastic Architecture
- by Zoltán Bencze
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- Archaeology, Archaeology of Medieval Monasteries, Middle Aged

A new edition of the site guide of San Vincenzo al Volturno, replacing that published in 2005 - Published in cooperation with Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici del Molise and under the patronage of the Regione Molise.
La nuova edizione della guida del sito di San Vincenzo al Volturno, che sostituisce quella edita nel 2005. Pubblicata in collaborazione con la Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici del Molise e con il patrocinio della Regione Molise

The construction of Dionisius’ Monastery (Dienesmonostora) north of River Crișul Alb /Fehér Körös/ is connected
to the early history of the area around the settlement of Ineu /Borosjenő/ (Arad County). The monastery of
Dienesmonostora is mentioned in the written sources since the 12th century and it was an important family-founded
monastic institution. In time, the traces of the old abbey disappeared both from the landscape and from the local
memory. It seems that building materials were taken from the abbey starting at the end of the Middle Ages, for
the erection of the fortification of Ineu, so that the on-site location of the monastery was somewhat ambiguous
nowadays. Through several field researches performed in the area between the former mill of Bălucana, Crișul
Alb, and Canalul Morilor (Malom csatorna) we were able to locate an area with both material culture remains and
especially brick fragments and architectural components. Corroborating these data with the analysis of maps and
especially satellite images we were able to note that a precinct measuring ca. 100 x 100 m. can be identified in that
area. Based on the data thus obtained we have decided to scan the ground through georadar measurements (GPR)
in order to locate and map the perimeter.

- by Florin Marginean and +1
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- Archaeology of Medieval Monasteries
- by Javier Pérez Gil
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- History, European History, Art History, Medieval History
- by Laurent Schneider
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- Medieval Studies, Space and Place, Monastic Studies, Early Medieval Archaeology

Inchcleraun is a small island in Lough Ree, a lake located in the Irish Midlands. Already celebrated by a pre-Christian tale, the island became a famous pilgrimage place from the middle of the VI century AD, when the Irish Catholic monk Diarmuid 'the Just' founded there a monastery, the ruins of which can still be observed.
The presence of gravestones carrying more or less elaborate engravings and inscriptions is a typical feature of early Christian Irish monastic settlements.
In 1991 some such artefacts, stolen from the Inchcleraun island, ended up at the centre of an international case, which was resolved by means of a very complex intelligence operation. In it took part Irish and American investigative bodies, in a common effort widely supported by the authorities of the respective countries.
The case of the Inchcleraun gravestones received vast media coverage and struck public opinion, leading to a wave of mobilization that influenced the Irish policies of fight against illegality in the heritage sector and contributed to improve the relevant legislative framework.

- by Paolo Ciuchini
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- Archaeology, Public Archaeology, Archaeology of Law, Irish Archaeology
- by Eduardo Carrero Santamaría
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- Liturgy, Cistercian architecture, Cistercians, Relics (Religion)
- by Christian Later
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- Church Archaeology, Archaeology of Medieval Monasteries

It is an unchallenged fact that medieval monks and nuns following the Rule of saint Benedict were preparing their own food, as required by chapter 35 of the Rule. In fact, the practices in between the ninth and the eleventh centuries, before the arrival of laybrothers and laysisters, might have been more complex, with some dishes prepared within the monastic kitchen, especially vegetables and beans, but the majority of the dishes prepared by lay servants, in another kitchen. This other kitchen is little known to scholars because it was barely mentioned by the monastic writings. I make the hypothesis that this was so because its existence was not really acknowledged by the monastic community, as illustrated by the absence of a proper name for it. More generally, through this article and in relation with the main topic of the book in which this article is published, I attempt to demonstrate as well that A) the monks and nuns created the norms (customs) that dictated their enclosed way of life, in other words they were responsible for their own bars to their own cage, a fundamental difference with prisoners in jails B) They had internalized the necessity for them to distance themselves from the lay world and indeed did not pay much attention to it (at least to some aspects of the lay world), which represents another way to create one own's bars.

- by David Yoon
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- Archaeology of Medieval Monasteries, Medieval numismatics

The article deals with Garden Archaeology, particularly the gardens of cloisters and convents in the province of Östergötland in Sweden. The Archaeology of Gardens has great scientific potential as it enlightens new aspects of everyday... more

- by Karin Lindeblad
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- Garden Archaeology, Archaeology of Medieval Monasteries
- by Daniela Rywiková
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- Art History, Cultural Heritage, Medieval Studies, Architectural History

Entre los meses de diciembre de 2004 a mayo de 2005 se realizó el levantamiento de los restos de la cartuja de Aniago, la toma de datos no fue fácil pues, no pocas veces, tuvimos que movernos entre escombros y en dependencias que presentaban un avanzado estado de ruina, superando alguna que otra caída de cascotes . Sin embargo, pese al estado de ruina, los restos del monasterio aún dejan sentir el esplendor de otras épocas y la monumentalidad de un conjunto bien estructurado, pensado para desarrollar la vida autosuficiente de una comunidad que buscaba el retiro y la soledad.

- by Juanjo Fdz and +1
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- Archaeology of Medieval Monasteries, Monastic charters and cartularies

Voici le 5e volume de ma thèse consacrée aux prémontrés de la Casedieu et à leur implantation en Gascogne : volume consacré à l'étude monumentale.

Monasteries and Greek monastic communities occupy a prominent position in the analysis of the transformations of Ravenna between the mid-6th and 8th centuries. They are not well documented by written testimonies but according to many scholars their role, mostly political, was of extraordinary importance. According to Guillou, for example, Greek monks tried to defend the autonomy of the clergy of Ravenna from that of Rome. There are some descriptions of the ceremonial and the processions carried out by the monks in support of the bishop of Ravenna, in his transfers outside the city. Few surviving structures and most of the Greek communities were quickly replaced, especially by monks and Benedictine abbots, immediately after the victory of the Franks over the Lombards in the middle of the eighth century. In this contribution I will try to describe the current knowledge of the monasteries of S. Maria in Cosmedin, of S. Lorenzo in Caesarea, S. Teodoro and S. Maria adblachernas, especially from a material point of view, trying to approach these monastic complexes also other religious buildings that were probably managed by the Hellenophone clergy, in these centuries very complex and little studied of the early Middle Ages Ravenna.

- by Enrico Cirelli
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- Archaeology, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Architecture, Medieval History

Publications published in the journal Archaeological Monuments of 1905.