Medieval Masculinities and Violence: Weapon-Related Trauma in Skeletal Assemblages from Two Religious Houses in Iceland and Sweden
Previous research has shown that physical violence had a normative presence in medieval Nordic societies. In this study, weapon-related trauma (WRT) was examined in human skeletal assemblages from two religious houses, Skriðuklaustur in Iceland, and Västerås in Sweden. The aims were to identify patt...
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2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.20 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1461957120000200 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/eaa.2020.20 2024-03-17T08:58:33+00:00 Medieval Masculinities and Violence: Weapon-Related Trauma in Skeletal Assemblages from Two Religious Houses in Iceland and Sweden Sundman, Elin Ahlin Kjellström, Anna 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.20 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1461957120000200 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms European Journal of Archaeology volume 23, issue 4, page 567-584 ISSN 1461-9571 1741-2722 Archeology Archeology journal-article 2020 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.20 2024-02-20T00:02:47Z Previous research has shown that physical violence had a normative presence in medieval Nordic societies. In this study, weapon-related trauma (WRT) was examined in human skeletal assemblages from two religious houses, Skriðuklaustur in Iceland, and Västerås in Sweden. The aims were to identify patterns of WRT and to relate these to the masculinities of different groups of men. Violence was a prominent component of identity among lay men, especially for men with warrior experience. The use of violence was more problematic among clerics. The hypothesis that these notions of ideal masculine behaviour would affect the ways in which masculinities were enacted and would be reflected in the patterns of WRT was borne out by the results of this study. No WRT was identified among the canons and lay brothers in Skriðuklaustur, but it was present in about thirty per cent of the males interpreted as belonging to the lay elite buried in the northern part of the church at Västerås. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Cambridge University Press Skriðuklaustur ENVELOPE(-14.979,-14.979,65.044,65.044) European Journal of Archaeology 23 4 567 584 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Archeology Archeology |
spellingShingle |
Archeology Archeology Sundman, Elin Ahlin Kjellström, Anna Medieval Masculinities and Violence: Weapon-Related Trauma in Skeletal Assemblages from Two Religious Houses in Iceland and Sweden |
topic_facet |
Archeology Archeology |
description |
Previous research has shown that physical violence had a normative presence in medieval Nordic societies. In this study, weapon-related trauma (WRT) was examined in human skeletal assemblages from two religious houses, Skriðuklaustur in Iceland, and Västerås in Sweden. The aims were to identify patterns of WRT and to relate these to the masculinities of different groups of men. Violence was a prominent component of identity among lay men, especially for men with warrior experience. The use of violence was more problematic among clerics. The hypothesis that these notions of ideal masculine behaviour would affect the ways in which masculinities were enacted and would be reflected in the patterns of WRT was borne out by the results of this study. No WRT was identified among the canons and lay brothers in Skriðuklaustur, but it was present in about thirty per cent of the males interpreted as belonging to the lay elite buried in the northern part of the church at Västerås. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sundman, Elin Ahlin Kjellström, Anna |
author_facet |
Sundman, Elin Ahlin Kjellström, Anna |
author_sort |
Sundman, Elin Ahlin |
title |
Medieval Masculinities and Violence: Weapon-Related Trauma in Skeletal Assemblages from Two Religious Houses in Iceland and Sweden |
title_short |
Medieval Masculinities and Violence: Weapon-Related Trauma in Skeletal Assemblages from Two Religious Houses in Iceland and Sweden |
title_full |
Medieval Masculinities and Violence: Weapon-Related Trauma in Skeletal Assemblages from Two Religious Houses in Iceland and Sweden |
title_fullStr |
Medieval Masculinities and Violence: Weapon-Related Trauma in Skeletal Assemblages from Two Religious Houses in Iceland and Sweden |
title_full_unstemmed |
Medieval Masculinities and Violence: Weapon-Related Trauma in Skeletal Assemblages from Two Religious Houses in Iceland and Sweden |
title_sort |
medieval masculinities and violence: weapon-related trauma in skeletal assemblages from two religious houses in iceland and sweden |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.20 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1461957120000200 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-14.979,-14.979,65.044,65.044) |
geographic |
Skriðuklaustur |
geographic_facet |
Skriðuklaustur |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
European Journal of Archaeology volume 23, issue 4, page 567-584 ISSN 1461-9571 1741-2722 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.20 |
container_title |
European Journal of Archaeology |
container_volume |
23 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
567 |
op_container_end_page |
584 |
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1793768219080654848 |