Overview
Caves and rockshelters in Europe have traditionally been associated with prehistory, and in some regions cave archaeology has become synonymous with the Palaeolithic. However, there is abundant evidence that caves and rockshelters were important foci for activities in historic times. During the medieval period (here taken as AD 500-1500), caves were used for short-term shelter, habitation, specialised craft activities, storage, as hideaways and for tending animals, and also for religious purposes. Caves and Ritual in Medieval Europe, AD 500-1500 focuses on this neglected field of research the ritual and religious use of caves. It draws together interdisciplinary studies by leading specialists from across Europe: from Iberia to Crimea, and from Malta to northern Norway. The different religions and rituals in this vast area are unified by the use of caves and rockshelters, indicating that the beliefs in these natural places and in the power of the underworld were deeply embedded in many different religious practices. Christianity was widespread and firmly established in most of Europe at this time, and many of the contributions deal with different types of Christian practices, such as the use of rock-cut churches, unmodified caves for spiritual retreat, caves reputedly visited by saints, and caves as places for burials. But parallel to this, some caves were associated with localised popular religious practices, which sometimes had pre-Christian origins. Muslims in Iberia used caves for spiritual retreat, and outside the Christian domain in northern Europe, caves and rockshelters were places for carving symbols among Pictish groups, places for human burial, for bear burials amongst the Sámi, and places for crafting and votive deposition for Norse populations. AUTHORS: Knut Andreas Bergsvik is Professor of Archaeology in the University Museum at the University of Bergen, Norway. His main research interests are the human use of caves and rockshelters in Norway and social and economic change among hunter-fisher populations in Scandinavia. He has conducted a large number of archaeological excavations in western Norway. He is author of Ethnic Boundaries in Neolithic Norway (2006) and, together with Robin Skeates, he co-edited Caves in Context. The Cultural Significance of Caves and Rockshelters in Europe (2012). Dr. Marion Dowd is a Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology at the Institute of Technology Sligo, Ireland. For two decades her research has focussed on the human use of caves in Ireland, and specifically the role of caves in prehistoric ritual and religion. She has directed numerous archaeological excavations in Irish caves, and has lectured and published widely on the subject. Her first book, The Archaeology of Caves in Ireland (Oxbow, 2015), won the Tratman Award 2015 and the Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2016.
Full Product Details
Author: Knut Andreas Bergsvik ,
Marion Dowd
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Imprint: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 9781789258073
ISBN 10: 1789258073
Pages: 324
Publication Date: 28 May 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
It merits wide readership to encourage more concerted exploration of these sites which clearly formed, for many communities, important loci in their landscapes of work, belief and memory. * Medieval Settlement Research Group * [It is] successful in unpacking the depth and breadth of ritual, superstitious and popular medieval engagement with these natural places and spaces … Well-produced and extensively illustrated. * Medieval Archaeology * An excellent volume … this important book highlights a previously under-appreciated aspect of cave archaeology in Europe. * Archaeology Ireland *
...an excellent volume...this important book highlights a previously under-appreciated aspect of cave archaeology in Europe. -- Archaeology Ireland
"""...an excellent volume...this important book highlights a previously under-appreciated aspect of cave archaeology in Europe.""-- ""Archaeology Ireland"""
Author Information
Knut Andreas Bergsvik is Professor of Archaeology in the University Museum at the University of Bergen, Norway. His main research interests are the human use of caves and rockshelters in Norway and social and economic change among hunter-fisher populations in Scandinavia. He has conducted a large number of archaeological excavations in western Norway. He is author of Ethnic Boundaries in Neolithic Norway (2006) and, together with Robin Skeates, he co-edited Caves in Context: The Cultural Significance of Caves and Rockshelters in Europe (2012). Marion Dowd is Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology at the Institute of Technology Sligo, Ireland. For two decades her research has focused on the human use of caves in Ireland, and specifically the role of caves in prehistoric ritual and religion. She has directed numerous archaeological excavations in Irish caves, and has lectured and published widely on the subject. Her first book, The Archaeology of Caves in Ireland (Oxbow, 2015), won the Tratman Award 2015 and the Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2016.
