Voices from the cloister. Bioarchaeology of a modern Nunnery
Main Article Content
Keywords
Female monastic population, burial ritual, convent, putridarium, double burial
Abstract
The Church of SS. Annunziata, Valenza (northern Italy) founded in 1699, harbors a crypt with 29 burial cells. Here, the Augustinian nuns of the nearby cloistered convent received a particular type of inhumation. The nuns were deposed inside the crypt in a sitting position, on a step inside a cell. The corpses were supported by a stick placed at the level of the bust, probably a vase was located beneath the seat to collect the decomposition fluids. The skeletal remains of the nuns underwent an extensive anthropological-palaeopathological analysis. This analysis provides considerable insight into the daily life of a group of cloistered nuns in the 18th century. The study of the history of female monastic communities is important for understanding this important part of the Christian tradition.
References
Akademiai Kiado.
Bamji, A. (2016) The catholic life cycle. The Ashgate research companion to the Counter-
Reformation. Routledge, New York.
Brooks, S.T., Suchey, J.M., 1990. Skeletal age determination based on the os pubis: acomparison of the Ascádi-Nemeskéri and Suchey-Brooks methods. Hum. Evol. 5, 227–238.
Brothwell, D.R., 1981. Digging Up Bones. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Bruzek, J., 2002. A method for visual determination of sex, using the human hip bone. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 117, 157–168. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.10012
Casillas, J., Joseph, R.C., Guerra, J.J., (1990). Ct appearance of uterine leiomyomas.
Radiographics, 10, 999–1007.
Culpepper, D. (2005). Our Particular Cloister. Ursulines and Female Education in Seventeenth-Century, Parma, and Piacenza. Sixteenth Century Journal, 4, 1017-1137.
Eckenstein, L. (1986). Women under Monasticism. Chapters in Saint-Lore and Convent between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1500, Cambridge, University Press.
Gasparolo, F., (1986) Memorie storiche valenzane. SS. Annunciata. Altesa, Bologna.
Gilardi, G., (2005) L'antico convento di Santa Croce a Torino. CELID, Torino.
Grano, L., (1987) La cripta delle monache dell’Annunziata. Valsesia d’una volta n. 2.
Fornaciari, A, Giuffra, V., Pezzini, F., (2007). Processi di tanatometamorfosi: pratiche di scolatura dei corpi e mummificazione nel Regno delle Due Sicilie. Archeologia Postmedievale, 11: 11-49
Fusco, R. Tesi, C. (2019). The walled nuns of the crypt of Santissima Annunziata in Valenza (Piedmont, Italy). Med Histor, 3(2), 108-9.
Fusco R. (2018). Putridaria (strainer rooms) and draining practices of the bodies. Anthropology of death in the modern age. Papers in Italian Archaeology VII: The Archaeology of Death.
Fusco, R. (2022) Exhumation, from tomb violation to immortality strategy. Med Histor, 6(S1), e2022029.
Herlihy, D. (1985). Medieval Households. Cambridge, Harvard University press
Licata, M., Borgo, M., Badino, P., Iorio, S. (2018). Cadaverous Decomposition as a Representation of the Soul’s Journey. Anthropological Evidence of a Funerary Ritual. Religions 9(9), 272; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9090272
Lovejoy, C.O., Meindl, R.S., Pryzbeck, T.R., Mensforth, R.P.,1985. Chronological metamorphosis
of the auricular surface of the ilium: a new method for the determination of adult skeletal age at death. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 68, 15–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330680103
Lopes, C., Cardoso, F., Cunha, E. (2000). Comments on diet based on oral pathology. The case of the Median Order of the Clarissas in Coimbra (Portugal). Investigaciones en Biodiversidad humana. Sociedade Española de Antropologia Biologica. Santiago de Compostela: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.
Lukacs, J.R. (1989). Dental paleopathology: methods for reconstructing dietary patterns. Reconstruction of life from the skeleton. New York, Alan Liss.
Lurgo, E. (2017). I monasteri femminili nel Piemonte di età moderna. Un’introduzione. Sguardi incrociati su un monastero vittoriano. Santa Chiara a Torino. Genova, Sagep Editori.
Lynch, J. H., & Adamo, P. C. (2014). The medieval church: a brief history. Abingdon, Rout, ledge.
Marín, F. J. R. (2009). Las religiosas del Císter Malagueño. Catálogo de las cartas de profesión de la Abadía de Santa Ana. Isla de Arriarán: revista cultural y científica, (34), 331-334.
Passalacqua, N.V., 2009. Forensic age-at-death estimation from the human sacrum. J. Forensic Sci. 54, 255–262. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00977.x
Phenice, T.W., 1969. A newly developed visual method of sexing the os pubis. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 30, 297–301. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330300214
Porčić, M. (2016). Paleodemografija: kritički osvrt na teorije, metode i istraživanja. Beograd: Filozofski fakulteta u Beogradu.
Powell, M. L. (1985). Analysis of Dental Wear and Caries for Dietary Reconstruction. The analysis of prehistoric diets. New York, Academic Press.
Robboy, S.J., Bentley, R.C., Butnor, K., Anderson, M.C., (2000). Pathology and pathophysiology of uterine smooth muscle tumors. Environ. Health Perspect. 108, (5), 779–784.
Rougé Maillart, C., Vielle, B., Jousset, N., Chappard, D., Telmon, N., Cunha, E., (2009). Development of a method to estimate skeletal age at death in adults using the acetabulum and the auricular surface on a Portuguese population. Forensic Sci. Int. 188, 91–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2009.03.019
Šarkić, N., Muñoz, L., Silva, A. M., & Herrerín, J. (2018). An idle mind is the devilʼs workshop: A study of skeletal markers of activity in female monastic populations from Belmonte (Spain, 16th-20th centuries) and alcácer do sal (Portugal, 16th-19th centuries). Annales Universitatis Apulensis.Series Historica, 22(1), 223-239.
Stewart, E.A., (2001). Uterine fibroids. Lancet, 357, (9252), 293–298
Trotter, M., Gleser, G.C., 1952. Corrigenda to the estimation of stature from long bones of American whites and Negroes. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 47, 355–356. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330100407
Walker, C.L., Stewart, E.A., (2005). Uterine fibroids: the elephant in the room. Science, 308 (5728), 1589–1592.
Wilde, S., Scott-Barrett, S., (2009). Radiological appearances of uterine fibroids. Indian J. Radiol. Imaging 19, (3), 222.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
How to Cite
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Transfer of Copyright and Permission to Reproduce Parts of Published Papers.
Authors retain the copyright for their published work. No formal permission will be required to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published papers, provided the source is quoted appropriately and reproduction has no commercial intent. Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.