Theme:
5. Climate Change and Socioenvironmental Perspectives
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Islands, Monasteries and Water Management
Content:
In recent decades, excavations and other research have greatly enriched our knowledge about island monasteries – may they be situated in the sea, in lakes or rivers. For some regions overviews and syntheses have been presented (e.g., Meier 2009; Gutscher 2000) and we are starting to see monastic islands as a pan-European phenomenon at the beginning of the medieval period (Signori 2019, Bully/Jurković/Sapin 2013).
Continuing but also complementing this Europe- and Christianity-centered approach, the session intends to widen the geographic, chronological and religious frame. At the same time, the topic will be narrowed by adopting a ‘fluid focus’ or ‘liquid lens’: presenters are asked to look for everything related to water and the technologies to manage it as a material and spiritual resource.
In the past, islands have attracted monastic communities across cultures. Water creates their isolation and interconnectedness at the same time. The session would like to explore these contradicting properties as well as varying perspectives and different methodologies for investigating island economics, monastic sites and hydraulic technology. The topic could be tackled from angles such as:
- water management on islands and the role of monastic communities,
- the application of water technologies in island monasteries,
- monasteries on marine islands as opposed to islands in lakes and rivers,
- island monasteries as part of ‘water heritage’ (e.g., Willems/Schaik 2015).
References:
Bully/Jurković/Sapin 2013 https://www.brepolsonline.net/toc/ham/2013/19
Gutscher, D. 2000. Die St. Petersinsel im Bielersee – zum Bedeutungswandel der Schweizer Inseln. In: Inseln in der Archäologie pp. 195-204, München : Bayerische Gesellschaft für Unterwasserarchäologie.
Meier 2009 https://www.academia.edu/27183345/Das_Kloster_im_See_Überlegungen_zu_einem_mittelalterlichen_Lagetyp_In_Siedlungsforschung_Archäologie_Geschichte_Geographie_27_2009_113_161
Signori 2019 https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110646726/html?lang=de
Willems/Schaik 2015
https://www.sidestone.com/openaccess/9789088902789.pdf
Keywords:
Island Studies, Hydraulic archaeology, Island Monasteries, Archaeology of Medieval Monasteries, Medieval Monasticism, Water Heritage
Session associated with MERC:
yes
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Sophie Hueglin (Switzerland) 1
Co-organisers:
Sophia Germanidou (United Kingdom) 2
Affiliations:
1. University of Tuebingen
2. Newcastle University
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