Conversion on the Periphery: Bioarchaeology of Religious Identities in Early Medieval Bohemia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Life and Death in Medieval Central Europe" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The ninth and tenth centuries in Central Europe have historically been characterized by political consolidations around Christian leadership. As Christianity gained influence in the region, conversion altered far more than religious beliefs: political landscapes, material culture, and bodies were also transformed. The skeletal remains and mortuary contexts of 260 individuals from the early medieval Akropole and Kanín cemeteries at Libice nad Cidlinou in what is now Czechia are compared to examine how social status and engagement with Christianity influenced daily life as well as mortuary practices for people in central Bohemia. To do so, osteological data is integrated with archaeological and textual sources. Results suggest that individuals buried at the more peripheral Kanín cemetery were more likely to participate in alternative, pre-Christian mortuary traditions, while those buried in the centralized, elite Akropole burial space were more likely to follow Christian practices and prescriptions in daily life as well as in death. This study highlights the performative potential of conversion for particular social strata as well as the rich syncretism shaping expressions of early Christianity in Central Europe.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Life and Death in Medieval Central Europe   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39370.0