engleski

Death in the Convent: Burials in a Benedictine Monastery

The convent church of the Benedictine monastery of St. Margaret in Bijela was used for the burial of, not only the members of the convent, but also for other lay people. The majority of the analyzed burials contains male skeletons. A central stone tomb is identified as a burial place for the abbots, which is corroborated by the position of skeletons and the age of death. Predominant male skeletons could indicate a monastic community, but the radiocarbon dates suggest presence of other members of the society. The monastery was used as a fortification at the turn form the 15th to the 16th century. It was thought that the monastery and its church were abandoned after the Ottoman conquest in the mid-16th century. Some graves are dated from the second half of the 16th century on, and indicate that the old monastic church retained the same burial symbolism as in the medieval period. Altogether 26 skeletons were uncovered from 16 graves (20), and outside of the grave units (6). The sample comprising of 19 males, 3 females and 4 subadults shows evident underrepresentation of females and subadults. In order to interpret how people who were buried in Bijela lived, several pathological conditions (indicators of subadult stress, hard physical labour, dental pathologies, and trauma), were recorded. High frequencies of certain pathologies (81% of linear enamel hypoplasia, 65% of non specific periostitis, and 30.4% of Schmorl’s nodes) suggest poor living conditions and low health standard. Furthermore, particularly high frequencies of antemortem and perimortem trauma in adults show that members of this community were subjected to high levels of intentional violence.

Benedictine monastery, Bijela, graves, quality of life

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