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‘Differing in status, but one in spirit’: sacred space and social diversity at island monasteries in Connemara, Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2018

Ryan Lash ,
Ian Kuijt ,
Elise Alonzi ,
Meredith S. Chesson  and
Tommy Burke
Ryan Lash*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, 1810 Hinman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
Ian Kuijt
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Corbett Family Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
Elise Alonzi
Affiliation:
Archaeological Chemistry Laboratory, Center for Bioarchaeological Research, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, PO Box 872402, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 8528, USA
Meredith S. Chesson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Corbett Family Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
Tommy Burke
Affiliation:
Inishbofin Walking, Fawnmore, Inishbofin Island, County Galway, Ireland
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

The Christianisation of Ireland in the fifth century AD produced distinct monastic practices and architectural traditions. Recent research on Inishark Island in western Ireland illuminates the diverse material manifestations of monasticism and contributes to the archaeological analysis of pilgrimage. Excavations revealed a ritual complex (AD 900–1100) developed as both an ascetic hermitage and a pilgrimage shrine. It is argued that monastic communities designed ritual infrastructure to promote ideologies of sacred hierarchy and affinity that legitimated their status and economic relations with lay worshippers. In a global context, this research emphasises how material and spatial settings of pilgrimage can accommodate and construct social distinctions through patterns of seclusion, exclusion and integration in ritual.

Keywords

IrelandInisharkearly medievalpilgrimagemonasticism
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 92 , Issue 362 , April 2018 , pp. 437 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018 

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