The study of belief, faith and religious practices can provide a deep insight into historical societies, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish or pagan. They form a constant of human behavior. Through religion, cult and rituals, multilayered and complex cultural norms are expressed, demonstrating group affiliation. However, popular devotion and belief in a rural environment can include practices that are out with those of the official religion.
Some of these practices discussed in this book can be investigated through archaeology. Important religious sites like churches, monasteries, mosques and synagogues as well as caves, holy wells and hermitages are discussed. Furthermore burials of children, revenants and the condemned are analyzed, as they often deviate from normal practice and shed light on particular communities and their beliefs. Rituals concerning the protection of buildings and persons which focus on objects attributed with religious qualities are another area explored. Through archaeological research it is possible to gain an understanding of popular religion of medieval and early modern times and also to draw conclusions about religious ideas that are not written in documents. By bringing together these topics this book is of particular interest to scholars working in the field of archaeology, history and cultural anthropology.
The addressed subjects were the theme of an international conference of the RURALIA association held in Clervaux, Luxemburg, in September 215. Ruralia promotes the archaeology of medieval settlement and rural life. Current research questions in rural archaeology are discussed in an European wide context. The aim is to strengthen the exchange of knowledge in, and the development of, archaeologically comparable studies, and to make archaeological results available to other disciplines.

About the Author

Specialized in medieval and post-medieval archaeology, Christiane Bis-Worch (1966) is curator of the department for medieval and post-medieval archaeology at the Centre national de recherche archeologique (CNRA) since 2004. Her missions include, among others, the archaeological investigations on site and the dispatching of the obtained scientific results in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. She is supporting and supervising scientific research done by students (Bachelor, Master, PhD and post-PhD) in close cooperation with universities. Beside the research on a national and international level, the CNRA sensitizes the public by publishing books, articles and brochures, by organizing conferences and by preparing permanent and temporary exhibitions at the Musee National dHistoire et dArt (MNHA).

Prof. Dr. Claudia Theune is Professor for Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna with a special/great/deep interest in contemporary archaeology. She studied Prehistoric and early medieval Archaeology, social Anthropology, Christian Archaeology and geology at the Universities in Marburg and Bonn, Germany (1979-1988). In 1988 she received her PhD at the University of Marburg for her thesis on Early medieval graves in the western part of the lake Constance (Fruhmittelalterliche Grabfunde im westlichen Bodenseegebiet (Hegau)), published in 1999: Fruhmittelalterliche Grabfunde im Hegau. She worked as a scientific researcher at the University of Marburg. In 1994 she became Assistant Professor at the Department of Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology at the Humboldt-University, Berlin. She did her Habilitation in 2001 on the Changes of structures in the Alamannia on the basis of archaeological sources. (Strukturveranderungen in der Alamannia vom 3. - 7. Jahrhundert aufgrund archaologischer Quellen), published in 2004: Germanen und Romanen in der Alamannia Since 2007 she was appointed Full Professor for Medieval and Historical Archaeology at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna. Main Research Fields: Early Medieval funeral and social archaeology Medieval archaeology of marginal landscapes, urban archaeology Archaeology of the contemporary past (research projects in the former concentration camps of Sachsenhausen (Brandenburg, Germany), Mauthausen (Upper Austria, Austria) and its sub camps (Loibl-North, Carinthia, Austria; Gunskirchen, Upper Austria, Austria), massgrave Rechnitz (Burgenland, Austria), Five Islands, Trinidad and Tobago) Esteem factors: President of the European Association: RURALIA The Jean-Marie Pesez Conferences on Medieval Rural Archaeology (since 2014) and National Representative of Austria (since 2010). President of the Austrian Association for Medieval Archaeology (since 2012). Member of scientific boards: DFG-Project: Der hochmittelalterliche Landesausbau und die Entwicklung der Siedlungsstrukturen in Brandenburg, Cooperation partner. (PhD-supervisor of Greta Civis: Mull in der mittelalterlichen Wustung von Diepensee, Brandenburg: 2012-2015). VU Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), The Netherlands: The Heritage and Memory of Conflict and War: 2012 - 2015. University of Cambridge: Lager Wick on Jersey, Channel Islands: 2012 - 2015. Freie Universtitat Berlin/Landesdenkmalamt Berlin: Excavation on the Tempelhofer Flugfeld (Ausgrabungen auf dem Tempelhofer Flugfeld): 2012 - 2013. Deutscher Verband der Archaologen: Committee of experts: Archaeology of Modern times (Fachausschuss Archaologie der Moderne): 2015 - ongoing. University of Brno: Archaeological committee Pohansko, 2013 - ongoing. Bezirkeshauptmannschaft Perg: Expert advisor for the National Socialist tunnel system in St. Georgen / Gusen Bergkristall - Section Archaeology and Analyses of Aerial Photographs: 2014 - 2015. Peer reviewing activities for funding organizations: Czech Science Foundation / Grantova Agentura Česke Republiky; National Science Center Poland / Narodowe Centrum Nauki; Croatian Science Foundation / Hrvatska zaklada za znanost; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; Wissenschaftliche Kommission des Landes Niedersachsen; Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung, Berlin; Osterreichische Nationalbank; National Geographic Society International scientific co-operations: Project: The Five Islands: Archaeology and History (Archaeology of an internment camp). Cooperation with the University of the West Indies, Campus St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, Faculty of Humanities and Education Recent key publications (see also academia.edu) Cl. Theune, Archaologie an Tatorten des 20. Jahrhunderts. 2. Durchgesehene und erweiterte Auflage (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft: Darmstadt 2016) Th. Kersting / Cl. Theune / A. Drieschner / A. Ley / Th. Lutz, Archaologie und Gedachtnis. NS-Lagerstandorte: Erforschen - Bewahren - Vermitteln. Interdisziplinare Konferenz im Archaologischen Landesmuseum Brandenburg an der Havel 17. bis 19. September 2015. Denkmalpflege in Berlin und Brandenburg, Arbeitsheft 4/2016. (Imhof-Verlag, Petersberg 2016) Cl. Theune, An der Grenze. Die spatmittelalterliche und fruhneuzeitliche Burg Klausegg im Lungau. Museumsportal. Zeitschrift des Lungauer Museumsvereins 3 (2012-2014) (Tamsweg 2014). Cl. Theune, (Un)sichtbarkeiten. Aufgedeckte Spuren und Relikte. Archaologie im ehemaligen Konzentrationslager Mauthausen. In: Daniela Allmeier / Inge Manka / Peter Mortenbock / Rudolf Scheuvens (Hg.), Erinnerungsorte in Bewegung. Zur Neugestaltung des Gedenkens an Orten nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen (Transcript Verlag Bielefeld 2016) 199-218 (peer reviewed). Cl. Theune, Transformations in the Roman West. The Case of the Alamanni. In: S. James / St. Kmnicek (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Roman Germany Cl. Theune, Archaeology and remembrance: the Contemporary Archaeology of Concentration camps, Prisoner-of-war-camps and Battlefields: In: N. Mehler (ed.), Historical Archaeology in Central Europe. Society of Historical Archaeology Special Publications (Rockville 2013) 241-260 (peer reviewed). Cl. Theune, Goldbergbau im Gasteiner Tal. In: Cl. Theune / G. Scharrer-Liska / E. H. Huber / Th. Kuhtreiber (Hrsg.), Stadt - Land -Burg. Festschrift fur Sabine Felgenhauer-Schmiedt zum 70. Geburtstag. (Marie-Leidorf-Verlag: Rahden / Westf. 2013) 395-404. Cl. Theune, Identity Establishing Heritage Sites? Memory, Remembrance and Commemoration at Monuments and Memorials. In: R. ORiagain / C. N. Popa, Archaeology and the (de)construction of National and Supra-National Polities. Archaeological Review from Cambridge Vol. 27.2 November 2012, 161-177. (peer reviewed) Cl. Theune, Das Gedachtnis der Dinge. In: H. Berger/M. Dejnega/R. Fritz/A. Prenninger (Hrsg.), Politische Gewalt und Machtausubung im 20. Jahrhundert. Zeitgeschichte, Zeitgeschehen und Kontroversen. [Festschr. G. Botz] (Wien, Koln, Weimar 2011) 543-560.