Sacred Space and the Archaeology of Landscapes from Antiquity to the Post-Medieval World, session at 2020 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Washington, D.C. January 2–5, 2020

The proposed colloquium, organized by Justin Mann and Darlene Brooks Hedstrom on behalf of the AIA Medieval and Post- Medieval Archaeology Group, will examine how current archaeology has treated the creation and maintenance of sacred spaces and landscapes in the broadly defined Mediterranean region from antiquity to the post- medieval period. Our understanding of sacred spaces has too often been delimited to the identification and definition of religious architecture as the locus for sacrality. The ensuing analysis, therefore, disconnects these culturally important sites from their wider social and cultural contexts. As a result, less work has been done to understand how concepts of the sacred connect with and extend beyond the precincts of religious architecture or the environmental setting of the religious built environment.

This panel seeks to engender a wider analysis of the archaeological record of sacred spaces and landscapes. We seek papers that assess how archaeological concepts of the sacred communicate with broader socio- economic or environmental consequences. For example, potential papers may relate to the continuity or discontinuity of religious practice, the topography of the sacred, the economy of sacred landscapes, and the ramifications of sacred space or landscapes on daily life and local authority. We welcome papers from all periods of history, and those from the Byzantine and post-medieval are particularly encouraged.

Interested scholars should submit for consideration an abstract of 300-400 words by Thursday, March 28 to the panel co-organizers: Justin Mann and Darlene Brooks Hedstrom.