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Description
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.
ContributorsAlonzi, Elise (Author) / Knudson, Kelly (Thesis advisor) / Hegmon, Michelle (Committee member) / Scott, Rachel (Committee member) / Stojanowski, Christopher (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
This dissertation research employs biological distance and mortuary analyses in tandem with historical sources to investigate the degree to which conversion, as opposed to migration, contributed to the spread of Islam in southern Iberia. The dynamics of the 8th century conquest of Iberia by Muslim Arab and Berber forces from North Africa, and the subsequent 800-year period of religious, political, and social change, remain contested and poorly understood. Migration of Islamic peoples to the peninsula once was invoked as the primary vehicle of Islamic influence, but religious conversion, whether true or nominal, increasingly is regarded as a key component of those changes. This dissertation proposes that conversion, whether a prelude to or a component of Islamization, altered social group affiliations and interactions among those living in southern Iberia. Such changes in social relations and the resultant patterns of mate exchange will be recognizable by means of altered biological patterns of phenotypic variation. Through the examination of ~900 individuals from both Iberian and North African skeletal collections, this study concludes that conquest resulted in a great increase in phenotypic variability in the peninsula from the 8th-11th centuries. The data further indicate that males contributed this phenotypic variability to the samples in the Early Conquest period. Females, most frequently from Hispano-Roman Christian groups, appear to have ‘intermarried’ with these early conquerors and with the Muwallads, male Islamic converts, and are included in the early Muslim burial programs. From the 11th to the 14th centuries, the data presented here demonstrate a stasis and even a slight decrease in phenotypic variability in southern Iberia, which may be explained by endogamy among religious groups in this region.
ContributorsBolhofner, Katelyn L (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis advisor) / Stojanowski, Christopher (Committee member) / Curta, Florin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This dissertation examines microevolutionary changes in the Eastern Adriatic and hinterland during Roman imperialism, evaluating changing patterns of variation among indigenous groups with varying histories of acceptance or defiance to Roman rule. Despite the prevalence of Roman influence, trade, and the accommodating nature of Roman political authority administered through existing local leaders, Eastern Adriatic and hinterland peoples underwent significant cultural transformations. Unlike the Roman-allied Liburnians, Romanization was not a voluntary and amicable process for the resisting Delmatae, Histri, Japodes, and Pannonians. The violent experiences of locals during the late Republican Period and early Roman Empire, including death, enslavement, conscription, and displacement, contrast with the eventual integration of the region by the end of the Roman Empire, when their descendants were Roman citizens. These complex histories make it challenging to understand local identities and the impact of Romanization. Biological distance analyses of dental morphology from Liburnian, Delmatae, Japodes, and Pannonian samples representing 313 individuals dating to the Iron Age (c. 700- 400 BCE), and Roman Period (Roman Republic c. 200- 0 BCE; Roman Empire c. 1- 500 CE), were contextualized with archaeological data and classical research. Results indicated no significant differences within Eastern Adriatic and hinterland populations across the time periods. However, interpretations of the results for Roman Period Liburnians, descendants of Roman allies, suggest differentiation from contemporaneous Italic Romans. Conversely, the descendants of resisting populations were not statistically different from Roman Empire Italics, potentially influenced by their ancestors’ experiences of war affecting subsequent admixture, community formation, and adherence to prevailing norms.
Roman laws that managed access to advantageous status identities through marriage and citizenship may also explain the findings that all surveyed local populations demonstrate continuity between ancestors and descendants. The dynamic of being identified as Roman, and yet descending from the people who fought against Rome, is further discussed as a form of biological imperialism, consequentially shaping indigenous ancestral ties within a pan-regional Roman citizenry. While Roman multiculturalism is often considered exemplary of Antique Period diversity, Roman values prioritized diversity when it was advantageous and used pluralism to encourage cultural assimilation and define outsiders.
ContributorsLoewen, Tisa Nicolette (Author) / Stojanowski, Christopher (Thesis advisor) / Buikstra, Jane (Committee member) / Novak, Mario (Committee member) / Knudson, Kelly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024