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IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 1022: Perceiving the Sacred: Aspects of Landscape, Place, and Belief in the Medieval World

Wednesday 9 July 2008, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Organiser:Sarah Semple, Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Moderator/Chair:Sarah Semple, Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Paper 1022-aMystical Jewellery and its Place in Later Medieval British Border Communities
(Language: English)
Eleanor Standley, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Archaeology - General, Folk Studies, Mentalities
Paper 1022-bFrom Mikveh to Bet Tohorah: Medieval England and the Jewish Religious Landscape
(Language: English)
Simon Alderson, Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Index terms: Archaeology - General, Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Mentalities, Religious Life
Paper 1022-cThe Sacred Stream: The Role of Water in Religious Practice in Post-Conquest England
(Language: English)
C. Pamela Graves, Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Index terms: Archaeology - General, Archaeology - Sites, Architecture - Religious, Mentalities
Abstract

The impacts of the natural world on medieval communities were multifarious and many, not least in religious and spiritual terms. Many aspects of the natural landscape held mystical and religious associations and water in particular often formed a medium for religious rites and popular rituals in both Christian and non-Christian beliefs. This session comprises three papers that explore the different facets of the aquatic aspects of medieval ritual life: from the deposition of magical objects in watery places to the importance of water and management within Jewish and Christian communities, water is here explored in ritual and functional terms as a medium for medieval religious practice.