Holy Wells across the Longue Durée

Summary

Sacred springs and holy wells in northwest European prehistory evidence multi-period veneration, yet are archaeologically-resistant sites. This paper assesses evidence for votive deposition at sacred watery sites with a focus on the Iron Age to Christian transition in Ireland. While recent scholarship deconstructing “the Celts” has also dismissed contemporary holy well practices as invented traditions or as Roman introductions, ongoing veneration at nearly 1000 Irish well sites is part of an old paradigm. Early medieval literary documentation (in Irish myths, hagiographies, penitentials and annals) of “rounding rituals” at supermundane wells seems to offer direct precedents for today’s wellside folk liturgies. Visitation of well landscapes also involves prayer and votive deposition at sacred trees and stone “stations” that have come within the cultural orbit of wells. Possibly revealing older patterns of regional saint dedications and interconnectivity, some well landscapes must be visited in conjunction. Inspired by Carole Crumley’s emphasis on interdisciplinarity, the Annales school, ethnohistory, and multiscalar dynamics, this paper reassesses the potential of holy wells as archaeological resources.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Historical Ecology, Heterarchy and Multitemporal Dynamics: Papers in Honor of Carole Crumley

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