The Tip of the Iceberg: The Material of Skriðuklaustur Monastery and Hospital

Abstract

Material objects from distant societies and cultures have long been an axis for archaeological research. In recent research, however, growing attention has been drawn to exploring simultaneously the conceptual meaning of material substances as the products of humans. The visual appearance of material is in this respect no more than the tip of an iceberg, where only a small part of something largely hidden is evident. In this article, Skriðuklaustur, an Augustinian monastery which operated in Eastern Iceland from ad 1493 to 1554 will thus be approached as embracing the remains of an internationally based society that flourished on the outskirts of the medieval monastic world. An excavation of its ruins has revealed residues of a society whose material is both domestic and international but still reflects the universally based meaning of monasticism. The Catholic Church is in this manner regarded as having fabricated phenomena through its pervasive institutions, upholding a distinct monastic identity. This view does not though involve a general denial of cultural or social changes as it rather underlines the hybrid character of everything that is and, at the same time, the significance of examining the materiality of past cultures as the creation of humans in their relational context.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author would like to thank Professor Roberta Gilchrist at the University of Reading for commenting on the manuscript, Cecilia Collins, a doctoral student at the University of Iceland, for proof-reading the text and advising on the interpretation of skeleton assemblage and, finally, Margrét Valmundsdóttir, an archaeologist for assisting with figures, drawings and tables. The research at Skriðuklaustur monastic site was made possible by Gunnarsstofnun, the National Museum of Iceland, the University of Iceland, the University Research Fund, the Research Council of Iceland and the Leonardo da Vinci Fund.

Notes

¹ It is worth noting that no leprosy cases have been identified so far in the assemblage.

² It must be noted here that in the earliest cemeteries excavated in Iceland, dating to approximately the period AD 1000–1100, women were buried on the northern side of churches, men on the southern and children around the chancel. This custom disappeared with the regulation of the Icelandic church as an official institution during the 12th century (see, for example, Kristjánsdóttir 2004:54f).