Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:33:08.518Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Last Meal for the Monks. Human Ecology, Food Prescriptions and Manipulation from a Sealed Archaeological Context. Case Study of San Vincenzo al Volturno Abbey, Molise, Southern Italy, Late Ninth Century ad

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Alfredo Carannante ,
Salvatore Chilardi Open the ORCID record for Salvatore Chilardi [Opens in a new window]  and
Francesco Solinas
Alfredo Carannante
Affiliation:
Mediterranean Archaeology Department International Research Institute for Archaeology and Ethnology (IRIAE) Via Lieti 51/B Naples, 80131 Italy Email: alcarann@yahoo.it
Salvatore Chilardi
Affiliation:
Mediterranean Archaeology Department International Research Institute for Archaeology and Ethnology (IRIAE) Via Lieti 51/B Naples, 80131 Italy Email: schilar@virgilio.it
Francesco Solinas
Affiliation:
Mediterranean Archaeology Department International Research Institute for Archaeology and Ethnology (IRIAE) Via Lieti 51/B Naples, 80131 Italy Email: solinas.francesco@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Human communities belonging to different times and places often adopt a set of ideal rules, sometimes related to alimentary prescriptions. For different reasons, foods and/or specific resources are, in fact, prohibited to some social or religious groups, but sometimes these can elaborate special strategies to find a compromise between a high social status and the access to ‘prohibited’ resources. For past societies, a careful archaeological study, crossing data emerging from a multidisciplinary approach, written contemporary sources and the rules the community must follow, can depict what was an interplay of ideal rules and actual practice. The paper aims to study a significant population of the past, namely an early medieval monastic community, from a human ecology perspective, but also investigating food storage and preparation at the time, along with the practical respect of the Benedictine Rule about foods with its social implications. The site under study is San Vincenzo Abbey, one of the most important monastic power centres in Italy, which was destroyed in 881 ad by a Saracen raid followed by a destructive fire. This caused the collapse of some structures sealing the contexts of the kitchen's complex, thereby preserving many bioarchaelogical remains related to daily monastic life.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , November 2022 , pp. 643 - 659
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adamson, M., 2004. Food in Medieval Times. Westport (CT): Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Audoin, F., 1986. Ossement Animaux du Moyen-Age au Monastère de La Charité-sur-Loire [Medieval animal bones at the monastery of La Charité-sur-Loire]. Paris: Publications de La Sorbonne.Google Scholar
Binford, L.R., 1978. Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology. New York (NY): Academic Press.Google Scholar
Binford, L.R., 1984. Bones. Ancient men and modern myths. New York (NY): Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bresc, H., 1987. La pêche dans l'espace économique normand [Fishing in the Norman economic space], in Terra e uomini nel Mezzogiorno normanno-svevo [Land and men in the Norman-Swabian period in southern Italy], ed. Musca, G.. Bari: Dedalo, 271–91.Google Scholar
Brichetti, P. & Fracasso, G., 2018. The Birds of Italy. Vol. 1. Anatidae-Alcidae. Latina: Edizioni Belvedere.Google Scholar
Carannante, A., Chilardi, S., Fiorentino, G., Pecci, A. & Solinas, F., 2008. Le cucine di San Vincenzo al Volturno. Ricostruzione funzionale in base ai dati topografici, strutturali, bioarcheologici e chimici [The kitchens of San Vincenzo al Volturno. A functional reconstruction based on topographic, structural, bioarchaeological and chemical data], in Monasteri in Europa occidentale (secoli VIII–XI): Atti del Convegno internazionale ‘Topografia e strutture degli insediamenti monastici dall'età carolingia all'età della riforma’ Castel San Vincenzo, 23-26 settembre 2004 [Monasteries in Western Europe (8th–11th centuries). Proceedings of the international meeting ‘Topography and structures of the monastic settlements from the Carolingian Age to the Reformation Period’. Castel San Vincenzo, 23-26 September 2004], eds F. De Rubeis & F. Marazzi. Rome: Viella, 498–509.Google Scholar
Carannante, A., 2015. Analisi archeoittiologiche e archeomalacologiche [Archaeoichthyological and archaeomalacological analyses], in Iuxta Flumen Vulturnum. Gli scavi lungo il fronte fluviale di San Vincenzo al Volturno [Iuxta Flumen Vulturnum. The excavations along the riverfront of San Vincenzo al Volturno], eds F. Marazzi & A. Luciano. Cerro al Volturno: Volturnia Edizioni, 223–30.Google Scholar
Chilardi, S., 2015. I mammiferi, [The mammals], in Iuxta Flumen Vulturnum. Gli scavi lungo il fronte fluviale di San Vincenzo al Volturno, eds Marazzi, F. & Luciano, A.. Cerro al Volturno: Volturnia Edizioni, 217–22.Google Scholar
Clarke, D.L., 1968. Analytical Archaeology. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
De Falco, D.J., Pugliese, A. & Soriga, E., 2015. I resti di avifauna: risultati preliminari [Bird remains: preliminary results], in Iuxta Flumen Vulturnum. Gli scavi lungo il fronte fluviale di San Vincenzo al Volturno, eds Marazzi, F., & Luciano, A.. Cerro al Volturno: Volturnia Edizioni, 231–43.Google Scholar
Fiorentino, G. & Solinas, F., 2015. Le ricerche archeobotaniche: le cucine dell'abbazia e lo scarico al Ponte della Zingara [Archaeobotanical researches: the abbey's kitchens and the dump at the bridge of La Zingara], in Iuxta Flumen Vulturnum. Gli scavi lungo il fronte fluviale di San Vincenzo al Volturno, eds Marazzi, F., & Luciano, A.. Cerro al Volturno: Volturnia Edizioni, 245–58.Google Scholar
Fiorillo, R., 2010. Fonti scritte e fonti materiali: l'allevamento e il consumo di pesce nei monasteri medievali del meridione d'Italia [Written and material sources: breeding and fish consumption in medieval monasteries of southern Italy], in Pesci, barche, pescatori nell'area mediterranea dal medioevo all'età contemporanea [Fishes, boats and fishermen in the Mediterranean region from the Middle Ages to contemporary times], eds D'Arienzo, V. & Di Salvia, B.. Milan: Franco Angeli, 494–502.Google Scholar
Hodges, R., 1997. The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
King, A., 1999. Diet in the Roman world: a regional inter-site comparison of the mammal bones. Journal of Roman Archaeology 12, 168–202.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H., 1982. Climate, History and the Modern World, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Marazzi, F., 1996. San Vincenzo al Volturno tra VIII e IX secolo: il percorso della grande crescita [San Vincenzo al Volturno between the 8th and 9th centuries: the path of the great growth], in San Vincenzo al Volturno. Cultura, istituzioni, economia [San Vincenzo al Volturno. Culture, institutions, economy], ed. Marazzi, F.. Montecassino: Abbazia di Montecassino, 38–90.Google Scholar
Marazzi, F., 2000. Medioevo monastico molisano: il caso di San Vincenzo al Volturno [Molisan monastic Middle Ages: the case of San Vincenzo al Volturno], in Storia del Molise II, dal Tardo Impero Romano al 1350 [History of Molise II, from the Late Roman Empire to 1350 AD], ed. Massullo, G.. Bari: Laterza, 14–23.Google Scholar
Marazzi, F., 2002. San Vincenzo al Volturno. Introduzione a un cantiere di archeologia medievale [San Vincenzo al Volturno. Introduction to a ‘worksite’ of medieval archaeology]. Naples: CUEN.Google Scholar
Marazzi, F., 2007. Cibo e regole monastiche: uno sguardo alle fonti [Food and monastic rules: a look at the sources], in Il lavoro nella regola. L'approvvigionamento alimentare e il cantiere edile di San Vincenzo al Volturno fra IX e XI secolo [The work in the Rule. Food supplying and the construction site of San Vincenzo al Volturno between the 9th and 11th centuries], eds Marazzi, F. & Gobbi, A.. Naples: Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa, 15–26.Google Scholar
Marazzi, F., Filippone, C., Petrone, P.P., Galloway, T. & Fattore, L., 2002. San Vincenzo al Volturno – Scavi 2001–2002. Rapporto preliminare [San Vincenzo al Volturno – excavations 2001–2002. Preliminary report]. Archeologia Medievale 29, 209–74.Google Scholar
Marazzi, F. & Carannante, A., 2010. Dal mare ai monti: l'approvvigionamento ittico delle cucine di S. Vincenzo al Volturno nel IX secolo [From the sea to the mountains: supplying fish to the San Vincenzo al Volturno kitchens in the 9th century], in Vie degli animali. Vie degli uomini. Transumanza e altri spostamenti di animali nell'Europa tardoantica e medievale, Atti del Secondo Seminario Internazionale di Studi ‘Gli animali come cultura materiale nel Medioevo’ (Foggia, 7 ottobre 2006) [The ways of animals. The ways of men. Transhumance and other animal displacements in Late Ancient and Medieval Europe], eds Volpe, G., Buglione, A. & De Venuto, G.. Bari: Edipuglia, 107–18.Google Scholar
Mazzini, I., 1996. Alimentazione e medicina nel mondo antico [Diet and medicine in the ancient world], in Storia dell'alimentazione [History of diet], eds Flandrin, J.L. & Montanari, M.. Bari: Laterza, 191–200.Google Scholar
Oldoni, M. (ed.), 2013. Chronicon Vulturnense del monaco Giovanni. Cerro al Volturno: Volturnia Edizioni.Google Scholar
Taffetani, F. & Biondi, E., 1993. Boschi a Cerro (Quercus cerris) e Carpino (Carpinus orientalis) nel versante adriatico italiano centro-meridionale [Turkey oak (Quercuus cerris) and Oriental hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis) woods on the Adriatic side of south-central Italy]. Annali di Botanica 61, suppl. 10, 229–40.Google Scholar
Wheeler, A. & Jones, A.K.J., 1989. Fishes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wickham, C.J., 1985. The Terra of San Vincenzo al Volturno in the 8th to 12th centuries: the historical framework, in San Vincenzo al Volturno, eds Hodges, R. & Mitchell, J.. (BAR International series S252.) Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 227–58.Google Scholar