Thesis--Lund. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-251).

Thesis--Lund. / Summary in English. Bibliography: p. 247-251.

No

Thesis--Universitetet i Lund, 1993. / Danish with English summary. Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-238).

Thesis--Universitetet i Lund, 1993. / Danish with English summary. Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-238).

abstract: Mobility is an important aspect of the lives of religious individuals described by medieval texts in early and late medieval Ireland, and biogeochemical methods can be used to detect mobility in archaeological populations. Stories are recorded of monks and nuns traveling and founding monasteries across Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, and other areas of Europe. However, these texts rarely address the quotidian lives of average monks and nuns who lived in monastic communities. This dissertation seeks to understand if travel was a typical part of the experiences of religious and lay people in early and late medieval Ireland. It also aims to increase understanding of how monastic communities related to the local lay communities, including addressing if the monastery was populated by those who grew up in the local area. Another methodological aim of this dissertation is to advance the field of archaeological biogeochemistry by (1) adding to the bioavailable strontium baseline in Ireland and (2) quantifying the contribution of ocean-derived strontium to coastal environments. These topics are explored through the biogeochemical analysis of 88 individuals buried at 5 early and late medieval monasteries in Ireland and the analysis of a total of 85 plant samples from four counties in Ireland. The three papers in this dissertation present: (1) a summary of the mobility of religious and lay people buried at the monasteries (Chapter 2), (2) a case study presenting evidence for fosterage of a local child at the early medieval monastery of Illaunloughan, Co. Kerry (Chapter 3), and (3) a study designed to quantify the impact of sea spray on bioavailable strontium in coastal environments (Chapter 4). The majority of lay and religious individuals studied were estimated to be local, indicating that medieval Irish Christianity was strongly rooted in the local community. The study of ocean-derived strontium in a coastal environment indicates that sea spray has a non-uniform impact on bioavailable strontium in coastal regions. These findings shed new light on medieval monastic and lay life in Ireland through the application of biogeochemical methods, contributing to the growth of the field of archaeological chemistry in Ireland. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2018

Sigtuna is one of the first settlements in Sweden considered to be a proper town. Taking over Birka´s function as a central trading hub when it was founded in the late 10th century AD, Sigtuna was characterized by its early connection to Christianity, and many churches were built there. The foundations of one of these medieval stone churches and its churchyard lie beneath Sigtuna museum’s plot on the block S: t Gertrud 3. However, the full extent of this church and churchyard as well as its foundation date and function is not fully known. The over-arching purpose of this study is to achieve a better understanding of this church’s function. This will be done by geochemically analysing soil samples taken from the museum plot under which the churchyard is located. The first aim of this study is to establish the extent of the churchyard. During excavations carried out between 1990- 1991 in the neighbouring block Urmakaren, archaeologists discovered the remains of King Olof Skötkonung’s minting house along with various finds, notably two lead pieces with imprints of coin stamps. The second aim of this study is to see if traces of these metalworking activities can be detected on the museum plot. The third aim is to see how the church and churchyard related to the minting house on a spatial plane.

This thesis describes and contextualises the Population & Cemetery Simulator (PCS), which represents agent-based demographic modelling software that can be used to model living populations based on archaeological and historical data as well as their cemeteries. The data used by the PCS are demographic in nature, e.g. age and sex data generated by osteoarchaeologists from excavated cemeteries or historical demographic data. This thesis seeks to provide a methodological foundation for modelling the demographics of archaeological populations. It focusses on case studies using data from early medieval Anglo-Saxon (South England) and Alamannic (South Germany) cemeteries, although excursions into neighbouring periods and regions are included as validation studies. The case studies show how the PCS can be used in archaeological research and the software is presented as a solution to various problems caused by the difference between the living population and the 'dead' cemetery data in archaeology.

This thesis examines the evidence for the buildings and precincts of the five friaries of late medieval London: Black Friars, Grey Friars, White Friars, Austin Friars and Crossed (or Crutched) Friars. Virtually nothing survives, at least above ground, of these once-famous institutions and so documentary and archaeological evidence form the core of the research. Using a technique of historic map regression – working backwards from the modern Ordnance Survey map and carrying out a succession of ‘digital tracings' of historic maps – the early modern street plan of each friary was drawn. Then, evidence from dozens of archaeological excavations (small and large, antiquarian and modern) could be pasted onto the base map of each friary. Finally, documentary evidence was brought in, primarily a series of surveys (‘particulars for grant') by the Court of Augmentations, the Crown body supervising the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s and ‘40s. After setting out the historiography of research into monastic London, five chapters examine the five friaries in turn, discussing the church, cloister, precinct walls and gardens, and illustrating the evidence with a series of reconstructed plans. The chapters also examine the fate of the friary buildings in the mid-sixteenth century, after the Dissolution. In a concluding chapter, the churches and precincts are compared, looking at size, status and the use of space. The limited evidence for the economy of the friaries – both income and expenditure – is also examined. The gradual ‘secularisation' of the friaries in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries is also considered, before studying the purchasers of the old friary buildings in the 1540s and the uses they made of their new properties.

No description available.