Roberta Gilchrist critically evaluates the concept of sacred heritage. Drawing on global perspectives from heritage studies, archaeology, museology, anthropology and architectural history, she examines the multiple values of medieval Christian heritage. Gilchrist investigates monastic archaeology through the lens of the material study of religion and reveals the sensory experience of religion through case studies including Glastonbury Abbey and Scottish monasticism. Her work offers new insights into medieval identity and regional distinctiveness, healing and magic, and memory practices in the sacred landscape. It also reflects on the significance of medieval sacred landscapes as contested heritage sites which hold diverse meanings to contemporary groups.
Author(s): Roberta Gilchrist
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 274
City: Cambridge
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
One. Sacred Values: Medieval Archaeology and Spiritual Heritage
Introduction: 'Living Heritage'
Secular Traditions: Why Are Archaeologists Afraid of the Sacred?
Sacred Heritage: Value and Authenticity
Spiritual Values: The 'Re-enchantment' of Religious Heritage
Participation and Practice: Re-engaging Medieval Archaeology with the Sacred
Two. Monastic Archaeology and National Identity: The Scottish Monastic Experience
Introduction: Regional Research Traditions
In the Shadow of the 'Golden Age'
'Value' and the Construction of Archaeological Knowledge on Medieval Monasteries
Monasticism and Nation-Building
Scottish Monastic Reform: The Conversion of the Céli Dé
Conclusions: Later Medieval Monasticism in Scotland – 'inventive, creative and regional'
Three. Spirit, Mind and Body: The Archaeology of Monastic Healing
Introduction: The Monastic Healing Regimen
Therapeutic Landscapes
The Archaeology of Medieval Healing
The Monastic Infirmary
Therapeutic Care
Conclusions: Monastic Healing Technologies
Four. The Materiality of Magic: The Ritual Lives of People and Things
Introduction: Magic and Religion
Stones and Sacred Words: The Occult and the Divine
'Placed Deposits': The Incorporation of Objects
Burial: The Transformation of the Dead
Silent Witnesses: Magic, Agency and the Life Course
Five. Monastic Legacies: Memory and the Biography of Place
Introduction: Landscape and Memory
Monastic 'Biographies'
Monastic Memory Practices
Memory and the Reformation: Remembering and Forgetting
Myth and Memory: Arthur and Arimathea at Glastonbury Abbey
Dissolution Stories: A Martyred Landscape
Post-Reformation Narratives: Glastonbury Abbey and Protestant Nationhood
Monastic Afterlives: The Biography of Place
Six. Sacred Myths: Archaeology and Authenticity
Introduction: Saints, Scholars and Kings
The 'Golden Age': Authenticity and Nationalist Narratives
Authenticating Sacred Sites: Preservation, Replication and the Proof of Archaeology
Spiritual Identities: Contested Heritage and Sacred Sites
Representing Legends: Visual Reconstructions and Authenticity
Conclusions: 'Deep Time' and 'Thin Places'
Bibliography
Index
