The University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute is pleased to announce the publication of an important research paper on the impact of medieval saints on the Orkney landscape.
The paper, written by UHI Archaeology Institute lecturers Dr Sarah Jane Gibbon and Dr James Moore, is entitled Storyways: Visualising Saintly Impact in a North Atlantic Maritime Landscape and examines the impact of the cult of St Magnus and its veneration throughout the Orcadian landscape and how this can be seen by investigating multiple forms of evidence.
The research presents a new methodological and theoretical approach with which to explore the way veneration and remembrance can be seen within the landscape.
There are three churches that carry the St Magnus name, one of them being St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, and there are many altars and dedications to the saint in Scandinavia and Britain, and yet we know very little about his veneration.
A multi-source approach examined not only the structural evidence, but also a range of sources such as place names, folklore, history, archaeology and hagiographic evidence.
Utilising a GIS (Geographical Information System) Sarah Jane and James were able to explore the ways in which different types, and sources of evidence reflected the spatial distribution of the cult of St Magnus in Orkney, in turn enabling them to investigate how memories and stories link with the landscape features of both past and present.
Dr Sarah Jane Gibbon brought experience gained during the ‘Mapping Magnus’ project completed last year, which included a multitude of events and activities led by the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute revolving around the story of St Magnus, recounting his funerary and shrine journeys from where he was killed on Egilsay, to his final resting place in the cathedral in Kirkwall.
Sarah Jane and James mapped “remembered” routeways, or storyways, since much of the evidence comes from stories and traditions, which display the impact Magnus had as a saint on the communities living in Orkney and his continuing influence within the wider landscape well beyond the churches dedicated in his name.
This paper establishes a new way to research the impact and scope of belief in a community and shows the embeddedness and layering of multiple-beliefs in the landscape.
The paper is now freely available online for everyone in Open Archaeology through De Gruyter in a topical issue on Unlocking Sacred Landscapes: Digital Humanities and Ritual Space.
This is the coolest thing I’ve ever read: to map how the reverence for a saint has had an effect on the archaeological landscape. I can’t wait to read the paper. Also, I was wondering. I’ve always wanted to study at the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute but I’m not from the UK. Would you happen to know if there are scholarships for non-EU residents? I am from the United States.