Deconstructing the Medieval Anchorhold

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Work in Medieval Archaeology, Part 1: Landscapes, Food, and Health" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper will look at the religious phenomenon of anchoritism, popular in Western Europe during the medieval period and how we, in the twenty-first century can engage with it. The medieval anchorites (men) and anchoresses (women) lived in isolation in their anchorhold (cell) in order to live the life of a solitary recluse. The life within the anchorhold was lonely and tough, leading to possible negative impacts on the wellbeing of the anchorite or anchoress walled up inside us. This phenomenon may seem strange to us in the twenty-first century with our modern ideas and perceptions, however, there may be some comparisons between the isolation felt during the Covid-19 pandemic and wellbeing. and it is this which the presentation aims to investigate. This paper shall investigate how we can engage with medieval anchoritism through the lens of deconstructed landscape photography which focuses in on the details of a landscape or archaeological site rather than the wider landscape shot. This is a form of photography introduced by Scottish photographer by Niall Benvie and is a core part of my PhD research into engagement with archaeological landscapes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Work in Medieval Archaeology, Part 1: Landscapes, Food, and Health   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38181.0