Content:
For centuries monasteries had a very important role in society. Not only were they the centre of spirituality, but also the centre of education, and they often provided shelter and food for beggars, medical care for the sick and home for orphans and the elderly poor. Nuns and monks, at least in theory, lived in communities under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, dedicating their time to prayer, contemplation, intellectual and physical work.
However, the information that we have at hand is mainly based on written sources, such as historical data, monastic books and rules of monastic orders. But history can often be subject to manipulation and provides only general facts.
Using a multidisciplinary approach, we can shed a light on various aspects of monastic life and its evolution through centuries. While archaeological studies can answer questions regarding architecture, economy, facilities and religious landscapes, archaeozoology and archaeobotany can inform us about production and consumption of food and drinks, bioarchaeology can tell about health and diet, traumas, degenerative diseases, dental health, occupational stress, infectious diseases etc. We can also observe possible differences between monastic orders, between male and female communities as well as possible violations of monastic rules. With new approaches, we can follow the development of these large complexes through space and time, their adaptation to new social and environmental changes through a long period of time, from the late antique period till the 19th century.
We invite papers addressing topics of European monasticism in a broad sense. Contribution can be focused on monastic populations (both monks and nuns) or specific cases and can present results from different perspectives: bioarchaeology (analysis of human remains, archaeobotany, archeozoology…), bimolecular analysis, landscape archaeology etc. We particularly welcome papers that provide examples of cross-disciplinary research, regardless of geographic region or time period.
Keywords:
Monastery, Monastic Archaeology, Fasting, Paleopathology, Isotopic analysis, Christianity