Session: #561

Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each

In recent years, the study of medieval Jewish communities from the archaeological record has changed significantly. In the past, all the studies have been focused almost exclusively on epigraphy, cemeteries and religious buildings (synagogues and ritual baths or mikva’ot), but in the last decade new strategies of research are making it possible to identify the presence of Jewish population in medieval archaeological contexts (distinct from religious or funerary). An innovative research line aims to an archaeological identification of Jewish presence with intensive topographic use of written sources in relation to stratigraphic contexts. On the other hand, despite the difficulties in characterizing the material culture of Jewish communities (if that were possible), the identification of ceramic Hanukkah oil lamps in domestic contexts or the development of zooarchaeological analysis (that enables the identification of diets and alimentary practices typical of Jewish populations, Sechita and Kashrut) are giving successful results in some Spanish, French or Italian archaeological sites. This session will deal with the results of the application of these two research strategies and any other that allows the identification of the presence of Jewish populations in domestic contexts, through the study of concrete cases related to archaeological sites of any European country as well as the North of Africa.

Medieval Archaeology, Jews, indicators

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Jorge Eiroa (Spain) ¹

Marco Milanese (Italy) ²