New light on early Insular monasteries.

New light on early Insular monasteries. HEATHER F. JAMES & PETER YEOMAN yeoman(yō`mən), class in English society. The term has always been ill-defined, but generally it means a freeholder of a lower status than gentleman who cultivates his own land. with numerous contributors.Excavations at St Ethernan's monastery, Isle of May The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately 8 km (5 miles) off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is just 1.8 km long and less than half a kilometre wide. , Fife (Tayside& Fife Archaeological Committee Monograph 6). xii+220 pages, 103illustrations, 8 colour plates, 66 tables. 2008. Perth: Tayside &Fife Archaeological Committee; 1360-5550 paperback 15 [pounds sterling]. CHRISTOPHER LOWE LOWE Lowell National Historic Park (US National Park Service). Inchmarnock: an Early Historic island monasteryand its archaeological landscape. xxii+314 pages, 156 b&w &colour illustrations, 34 tables. 2008. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquariesof Scotland The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body in Scotland, with its headquarters, collections, archive, and lecture theatre in the Royal Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society plays an important role in the cultural life and heritage of Scotland. ; 978-0-903903-37-0 hardback 30 [pounds sterling] (Fellows 25[pounds sterling]). THOMAS MCERLEAN & NORMAN CROTHERS. Harnessing the tides: theEarly Medieval tide mills at Nendrum monastery, Strangford Loch. xx+468pages, 344 b&w & colour illustrations, tables. 2007. Norwich:Environment & Heritage Service/The Stationery Office; 978-0-08877-3hardback 25 [pounds sterling]. MARTIN CARVER Martin Oswald Hugh Carver FSA BSc (London), Dip.Archaeol. (Durham), MIFA, is Professor of Archaeology at the University of York, England, and director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project and a leading exponent of new methods in excavation and survey. . Portmahomack: monastery of the Picts. xvi+240 pages,94 illustrations, 16 colour plates. 2008. Edinburgh: EdinburghUniversity Press Edinburgh University Press is a university publisher that is part of the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. External linksEdinburgh University Press ; 978-0-7486-2441-6 hardback 75 [pounds sterling];978-0-7486-2442-3 paperback 24.99 [pounds sterling]. The institution of monasticism monasticism(mənăs`tĭsĭzəm, mō–), form of religious life, usually conducted in a community under a common rule. was instrumental in theChristianisation of the Insular peoples and in forging their identities,yet its study poses major challenges for archaeologists and historiansalike. As historian Colman Etchingham has concluded, 'it cannot bestressed too strongly that the Irish evidence, both Latin andvernacular, reveals no systematic distinction between monastic andnon-monastic churches' (Church Organisation in Ireland, AD 650 to1000, 1999: 457). This accords well with the Irish archaeologicalevidence: there is a wide spectrum of ecclesiastical sites, which arebroadly similar in overall layout (usually delimited by two concentricenclosures), but only a minority of them were monasteries in the primarysense of the term. Though abundant evidence for learning, sculpture withmonastic themes and in some cases a deliberately remote location aresuggestive, the surest archaeological indicator of monasticism isprobably segregated burial. It is only in the last few years thatecclesiastical cemeteries in Ireland and Scotland have been analysed toa high enough standard to allow monastic ones to be identified withcertainty (e.g. Illaunloughan, Co. Kerry). We have barely begun to lookbeyond the skin-deep uniformity suggested by the concentric enclosuresto explore the diverse expressions of monasticism that must surely haveexisted. The four excellent books under consideration here bring ussignificantly closer to realising this goal. They all provide freshinsights into several aspects of the monastic life, and each of themilluminates one aspect with particular clarity, be it the role ofmonasteries as places of cereal processing (Nendrum), primary education(Inchmarnock), manuscript production (Portmahomack) or healing (Isle ofMay). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Isle of May The Isle of May, on the Firth of Forth Noun 1. Firth of Forth - a large firth on the east coast of Scotland and the estuary of the Forth River; location of EdinburghScotland - one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part , is traditionally known asthe burial place any place where burials are made.See also: Burial of St Ethernan who, according to an Iona annalist an��nal��ist?n.One who writes annals; a chronicler.annalistone who chronicles yearly events; a writer of annals.See also: HistoryNoun 1. , died'among the Picts' in AD 669. A Benedictine priory wasestablished there in 1145 and James & Yeoman's excavations werefocused primarily on the area occupied by the later medieval church andcloister cloister,unroofed space forming part of a religious establishment and surrounded by the various buildings or by enclosing walls. Generally, it is provided on all sides with a vaulted passageway consisting of continuous colonnades or arcades opening onto a court. . They uncovered some evidence for early medieval farming andmetalworking but within the excavated area evidence for early medievaloccupation was limited, leading them to conclude that before the tenthcentury 'any settlement on the island was small-scale and probablyseasonal' (p. 174). One wonders, though, if enough of the site hasbeen excavated to be confident of this conclusion. Assuming occupationwas seasonal, the community presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. spent the winter months at amainland site such as nearby Kilrenny which is also associated with StEthernan (p. 3). It is a pity that a model along these lines is notdeveloped in this report, as this would give us a clearer picture of therelationship of the May to other ecclesiastical sites in the area. The excavations uncovered the remains of two stone churches,probably of tenth- or eleventh-century date, under the Benedictine one.These in turn may have replaced one or more wooden churches (pp. 176-7).The churches and associated cemetery were located on a raised cobblebeach, which had been augmented and reveted with drystone See Dhrystones. walling toconsolidate it and to provide further space for burial (p. 173). Amongthe earliest burials (fifth to seventh century) was a cluster of maleswho may well have been monks. These graves were not marked withcross-slabs, nor is there any other sculpture on the island (p. 174).This does not, of course, undermine the argument that this was amonastery, for sculpture is absent from many monasteries, including forexample Emly, Co. Tipperary, chief monastery of the kings of Cashel. Bythe eighth century women were also buried in the cemetery but theoverall ratio of men to women was 4:1. In the case of a disproportionatenumber of burials in a seventh- to tenth-century cluster there wasosteological evidence for serious disease, and a high proportion oflater medieval burials also had evidence for chronic diseases (pp.176-7). James & Yeoman argue that these individuals had come to thesite in search of healing. They make a convincing case, though it wouldhave been strengthened by a wider discussion of the role of monasteries(including Whithorn for example) as centres of physical as well asspiritual therapy. This is a well produced volume with very goodillustrations and clear colour plans. At one or two points in the textadditional illustrations would have been welcome: for example a map toillustrate the excellent discussion of Scottish sites associated with StEthernan (pp. 3-4). This is however a minor criticism of a book whichmakes an important contribution to the subject. Inchmarnock Moving westwards, Inchmarnock outlines the results of ChrisLowe's investigations at a minor island monastery in the estuary ofthe river Clyde. The volume is beautifully designed and handsomelyproduced in full colour. The illustrations are superb, though it wouldhave been nice if more photographs of the cross-slabs were included. Thereport includes a painstaking reconstruction of the pre-improvementlandscape and contains the results of a number of excavations, includingthe partial excavation of a cave which seems to have served as ahermitage (p. 226). The largest trench was at the main monasticsettlement around a ruined Romanesque church. The outer enclosure (c.50m across) was identified through geophysical survey and test trenches,and there was also limited evidence for an inner enclosure separatingthe church and cemetery from an iron-working area to the north. Bone didnot survive in most of the early burials so the proportion of men towomen could not be determined, but there is a vague tradition of aseparate women's cemetery (p. 257). Quartz pebbles were found onlyin later medieval burials, but the author's suggestion that thisrepresents a general pattern is incorrect, for quartz has been found inearly medieval burials at several sites including Illaunloughan, Co.Kerry and the Isle of May (James & Yeoman pp. 169 & 176). Traces of a single-cell stone church were found under theRomanesque one (p. 255). There is little discussion here or in the Isleof May volume about what the churches at these sites looked like. Thisis understandable given that only foundations were found, but they areunlikely to have resembled the churches shown in the reconstructiondrawings. In Figure 9.7 of the Inchmarnock volume the ninth-centurypredecessor of the first stone church is imagined as having around-headed doorway, a west window and two north windows: featuresnever found in Irish pre-Romanesque architecture and therefore unlikelyto have existed at a site with such strong Irish links. Irish influencewas not as strong on the Isle of May, but in Figure 9.1 of that reportthe first stone church is depicted as a stone-roofed building,apparently of Gallarus-type. In fact such churches are largely confinedto peninsular Kerry and are of drystone construction rather thanclay-bonded like the Isle of May church. Ar Inchmarnock the distribution of incised slates led Lowe topostulate postulate:see axiom. that there was a schoolhouse in an unexcavated area west ofthe church (p. 255). Only further excavation could confirm this, bur theslates themselves show beyond doubt that this was a centre of primaryeducation. Over 100 pieces were found, including eight with earlymedieval inscriptions. The island does not appear in early documentarysources but its name means Island of Mo Ernoc. How wonderful, therefore,to discover a slate incised no less than three times with the nameErnan! As the author states (p. 249), this cannot be taken as absoluteproof that an Irishman called Ernan founded the monastery around AD 600,but in combination with the place-name evidence it points very stronglyin that direction. The early inscriptions include a Latin and an ogham ogham,ogam,or ogum(all: ŏg`əm, ō`əm), ancient Celtic alphabet of one of the Irish runic languages. alphabet as well as copying exercises by novices, most likely children.The full implications of this important assemblage are expertlyexplored. In particular there is a fascinating discussion of theorganisation of education within monastic networks: in addition to thisnew archaeological evidence, hagiography hagiographyLiterature describing the lives of the saints. Christian hagiography includes stories of saintly monks, bishops, princes, and virgins, with accounts of their martyrdom and of the miracles connected with their relics, tombs, icons, or statues. is cited to show thatrelatively minor sites like Inchmarnock served as feeder schools formajor centres of learning and manuscript production, in this caseprobably Kingarth on nearby Bute (pp. 258-63). Lowe also points out thatthe depictions of ships, people, animals and buildings on some of theother dates, along with the 35 gaming boards, remind us that monks andnovices were allowed some respite from physical, intellectual andspiritual toil (p. 264). Nendrum Continuing westwards across the Irish Sea, Harnessing the tidesoutlines the discovery and excavation of two tidal mills at theimportant monastery of Nendrum, Co. Down. A relatively large number ofearly watermills have been found in Ireland, but very few of them aretidal mills. The earlier of the two Nendrum mills dates to AD 619-21making it the earliest known Irish watermill This article is about a type of structure. For other locational uses see: MilldamA watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour or lumber production, or metal shaping (rolling, grinding or wire . These unique monumentsreceive the attention they deserve in this hefty volume. The book issuperbly designed, meticulously researched and very well written. It isalso lavishly illustrated with numerous colour photographs andexceptional drawings. The use of colour in the plans to convey complexinformation is particularly effective. Remarkably the dams of both mills survive in reasonably goodcondition on the foreshore foreshore:see beach. immediately adjacent to the monastery. Thefirst dam is 110m long and creates a large triangular millpond mill��pond?n.A pond formed by a milldam.millpondNouna pool which provides water to turn a millwheelNoun 1. .Excavation showed that it incorporated a series of timber and wattle wattle,in botany: see acacia. revetments and a palisade breakwater breakwater,offshore structure to protect a harbor from wave energy or deflect currents. When it also serves as a pier, it is called a quay; when covered by a roadway it is called a mole. (p. 47). By contrast the second dam(125m long) encloses a smaller, more linear millpond which wasbetter-protected and easier to manage (pp. 128-9). The first mill wasdamaged when the second was built, but there was some evidence tosuggest it had two wooden penstocks and therefore two waterwheels (pp.37-9). The second mill was far better preserved and features an unusualand skilfully constructed stone penstock. The waterwheel hub from thefirst mill was recovered, along with three wooden paddles anda number ofmillstones from the second mill. All of these features are described and discussed with admirableclarity and there is also an interesting analysis of the energy whichcould potentially be extracted from the second mill (pp. 208-20). Inaddition, the volume includes an exhaustive treatment of Nendrum'shistory, which documents that the monastery was in decline by the tenthcentury. Significantly, the second mill seems to have fallen out of usearound then and was not replaced (p. 113). Finally there is a majorreassessment of the rich archaeology of the site as a whole, includingits enclosures, church, round tower and impressive collection ofartefacts, many of which were found during Lawlor's extensiveexcavations in the 1920s. Portmahomack Unlike the other volumes considered here, Portmahomack is not adefinitive publication but a preliminary statement aimed at the generalreader as well as the professional archaeologist. This project isparticularly important for two reasons. The first relates to theposition of Portmahomack on the Moray Firth in the heart of Pictland.There is meagre mea��geralso mea��gre ?adj.1. Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty.2. Deficient in richness, fertility, or vigor; feeble: the meager soil of an eroded plain.3. enough historical evidence for the establishment ofChristianity and literacy in pre-Viking Pictland, but the sculpture inand around Portmahomack, with its sophisticated iconography andinscriptions, suggested that this was an important centre of learning.By showing beyond doubt that this was so, Martin Carver has made a majorcontribution to early Scottish history. Furthermore, though he wiselystops short of making a definitive judgement on the issue, by showingthat the monastery was probably established in the sixth century he hasstrengthened the case that it was founded by Columba of Iona who carriedout missionary work among the Picts in the 560s (p. 196). Secondly, this project is particularly important because of theunprecedented size of the area excavated. Apart from towns, majormonasteries were the largest and most complex settlements in earlymedieval Europe. The D-shaped outer enclosure at Portmahomack delimitedan area probably more than 250m by 150m. As Jerry O'Sullivan showedin his review of archaeological interventions on Iona (in ChurchArchaeology 2 (1998): 5-18), small-scale excavations usually tell usvery little about the overall organisation of sites like these: rather,they deplete de��pletev.1. To use up something, such as a nutrient.2. To empty something out, as the body of electrolytes. a precious and finite resource. Instead it is essential tosecure major funding (the Portmahomack project was financed with almost2 million [pounds sterling] in Heritage Lottery Funding) so that largeareas can be excavated to a high standard. Ar Portmahomack it provedpossible to 'strip-and-map' large areas during the evaluationstage, giving a general picture of the site's layout and providingtargets for full excavation later on (p. 29). Two areas 100m or morelong by 25m wide were investigated in this way: the Southern andNorthern Sectors. The fact that (according to my rough calculations)these constitute about a fifth of the site's area illustrates thegreat challenge major monasteries pose for the archaeologist.Nevertheless, as a result of Carver's excavations we now knowconsiderably more about the layout and organisation of Portmahomack thanthat of any other comparable site in Scotland or Ireland. Before the monastery was established the site seems to have been'a kind of waste that a king might be happy to grant to anitinerant community of spiritual eccentrics' (p. 75). Within theexcavated areas, most of the evidence suggests that during Period 1(c.550-650) the monastery was established on a relatively modest scale(p. 76), although the Period 1 enclosure delimited an area onlymarginally smaller than its successor. There was much more extensiveevidence for occupation during Period 2 (c. 650-780). The SouthernSector was for fine metalworking, perhaps including altar plate. Carveringeniously argues that the large, bow-shaped 'Smith'sHall' excavated in this area was laid out using ratios belonging to'the Fibonacci series that tends to the Golden Section' (p.130). In the Northern Sector there was a road and, parallel to it, a damwhich turned a marshy marsh��y?adj. marsh��i��er, marsh��i��est1. Of, resembling, or characterized by a marsh or marshes; boggy.2. Growing in marshes. area into a pond. This may well have been for amill, though no mill-house was found within the excavated area (p. 118).The most significant discovery of the whole excavation was west of thesefeatures: through careful detective work, Carver and Cecily Spall haveshown that, for a hundred years or more, this area was used for theproduction of vellum vellum:see parchment. (p. 124). This is the only definite parchmenterieidentified at an Insular monastery to date. The monastic character of Portmahomack is also confirmed by thefact that most of the early graves under the multi-period parish churchcontained male skeletons. No traces of wooden churches were found, butthe thirteenth-century crypt incorporates fabric from a pre-1100semi-subterranean church. Carver argues that this was built during theeighth-century boom at the site. If he is correct, the building probablyrepresents Anglo-Saxon or Frankish influence for, as he points out, somepre-Viking churches in these regions have crypts (p. 88). He also leavesopen the possibility that it represents Irish influence, stating that it'would not have been out of place in the Ireland or North Britainof the eighth century' (p. 90). However, mortared stone churcheswere very rare in Ireland before 900 and there is no evidence for cryptsin Ireland before the twelfth century. In the 1920s Lawlor found evidence for a fire at Nendrum which, onshaky grounds, he attributed to Viking marauders. In Harnessing theTides McErlean convincingly dismisses this interpretation, though, as hecomments himself, 'it seems a shame that [in doing so he has taken]some of the romance and drama' out of the site's history (p.332). Carver has been able to conjure up or make visible, as a spirit, by magic arts; hence, to invent; as, to conjure up a story; to conjure up alarms s>.See also: Conjure drama of this sort atPortmahomack, but this time on the basis of sound archaeologicalevidence. He found that sometime between 780 and 830 there was acatastrophic raid in which the Northern Sector was burned, at least onemonumental cross-slab destroyed and at least one member of the communityput to the sword. This is a vivid reminder that, while (in Ireland atleast) most monasteries continued to prosper throughout the Viking Age,the initial impact of the Vikings must have been devastating. Equallyinteresting, though, is the fact that agriculture and metalworkingresumed at Portmahomack immediately. According to Carver from the ninthto the eleventh century the site was 'an industrially activefarmstead' (p. 142). There were fewer burials in the excavated areaand vellum production ceased. Carver suggests that the church wasruinous ru��in��ous?adj.1. Causing or apt to cause ruin; destructive.2. Falling to ruin; dilapidated or decayed.ru throughout this period (pp. 142 & 147), bur the evidence forthis seems equivocal and we should consider the possibility that thesite continued to function as an ecclesiastical centre, even if it wasno longer a monastery. One hopes that this exemplary project will inspire furtherlarge-scale investigations of major monasteries. This preliminarypublication is a joy to read and should be considered a model forpresenting the results of a major research project in an accessible yetscholarly manner. It begins with an engaging, personal account of howthe project came about and finishes with a useful (albeit preliminary)digest of evidence. In one or two of the plans different phases couldhave been distinguished a little more clearly (Figures 3.11 & 4.3),but most of the illustrations are excellent. There are very occasionalslips and other errors in all four books under discussion, but ingeneral the standard of copy-editing is high. In any case I do notconsider it the purpose of a review article to enumerate To count or list one by one. For example, an enumerated data type defines a list of all possible values for a variable, and no other value can then be placed into it. See device enumeration and ENUM. minorblemishes: these do not detract from the terrific scholarship inevidence here. Along with a few other recent and forthcomingpublications, these books will set the agenda for the archaeologicalstudy of Insular monasticism for some time. Tomas O Carragain, Archaeology Department, University College Cork,Ireland (Email:t.ocarragain@ucc.ie)