Roberta Gilchrist
Biographic Data
| ID | 146611 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roberta Gilchrist |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roberta |
| FAMILY NAME | Gilchrist |
| SIGNATURE | GILCHRIST R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Reading |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1967-2558 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 418 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Immersive sacred heritage
This paper reflects on how immersive approaches can be designed to respect the spiritual ethos of sacred heritage. Glastonbury Abbey (Somerset, UK) provides a case study of ‘mixed reality’ immersive interpretation, including gamification, at an open-air sacred heritage site which attracts a diverse range of spiritual seekers (Christian, ‘New Age’ and Neo-Pagan). A cross-disciplinary team collaborated to design for authenticity, mediating ethical …
Voices from the Cemetery
This article critically reviews the archaeological study of high to late medieval burials (c AD 1000–1550), examining how and why research questions have changed in recent decades. Examples are drawn from Christian mortuary practices principally from Britain, Northern and Central Europe, to demonstrate increasing emphasis on the social study of emotion, agency and place. The question of social ‘value’ is addressed, exploring how disciplinary rese…
Beyond the martial façade
Gendered interpretations are rare both within castle-studies and heritage discourses on medieval castles. Yet, castles hold potential to inform multi-vocal accounts of the medieval past and to inspire meaningful heritage interpretations to achieve greater societal impact. This article explores the role that gender currently plays in interpretations of medieval castles in Britain, supported by three case-studies written by heritage professionals. …
Archaeology, Heritage, And The Material Study Of Religion
An interview by David Morgan with Roberta Gilchrist
Sacred Heritage
Roberta Gilchrist critically evaluates the concept of sacred heritage. Drawing on global perspectives from heritage studies, archaeology, museology, anthropology and architectural history, she examines the multiple values of medieval Christian heritage. Gilchrist investigates monastic archaeology through the lens of the material study of religion and reveals the sensory experience of religion through case studies including Glastonbury Abbey and S…
Reflections
This volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Society for Medieval Archaeology (established in 1957), presenting reflections on the history, development and future prospects of the discipline. The papers are drawn from a series of conferences and workshops that took place in 2007-2008, in addition to a number of contributions that were commissioned especially for the volume. They range from personal commentaries on the history of the Society…
The Archaeology of Reformation 1480–1580
Reflections
Religious Transformations in the Middle Ages
L'articolo esplora dal punto di vista archeologico le varie tracce materiali lasciate dalle forme cultuali proprie del Medioevo, colte nei loro aspetti di trasformazioni religiose. L'analisi riguarda contesti pagani, cristiani, islamici ed ebrei, visti attraverso una prospettiva di lungo termine. I concetti base sono quelli di ibridità, resilienza, tempi e traiettorie. Un'attenzione particolare è data al modo in cui credenze, pratiche e identità …
Physical Evidence for Ritual Acts, Sorcery and Witchcraft in Christian Britain
The aim of this volume is to draw together material evidence for ritual practices in Christian Britain and to highlight the significance of beliefs that have remained marginal to mainstream historical research. The scope is principally modern Britain, with a medieval case-study and a comparative chapter outlining the evidence for British magical practices in America and Australia. The physical evidence encompasses protective marks in churches and…
Monastic and Church Archaeology
Major advances in church and monastic archaeology are discussed in terms of two distinct waves, ca. 1970-1995 and 1995 to the time of writing (2014). The first wave was influenced by landscape history and processual archaeology; scholarship focused principally on historical, economic, and technological questions and targeted individual sites and monuments for study. The second wave has been informed by postprocessual approaches and considers chan…
Gender and Material Culture
Gender and Material Culture is the first complete study in the archaeology of gender, exploring the differences between the religious life of men and women. Gender in medieval monasticism influenced landscape contexts and strategies of economic management, the form and development of buildings and their symbolic and iconographic content. Women's religious experience was often poorly documented, but their archaeology indicates a shared tradition w…
Medieval Life
An examination of daily life in the Middle Ages which reveals the intimate relations between age groups, between the living and the dead, and between people and things. An important and timely volume... an elegant summary of complex theory, and synthesis of an impressive body of material. It will be eagerly read by current and future generations of archaeologists, and will demonstrate the significance of historical archaeology to a much wider sch…
Everyday Objects
Journal Article Everyday Objects: Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture and its Meanings, ed. Tara Hamling and Catherine Richardson Get access Everyday Objects: Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture and its Meanings, ed. Tara Hamling and Catherine Richardson (Farnham: Ashgate, 2010; pp. xxvii + 342. £60). Roberta Gilchrist Roberta Gilchrist University of Reading Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Th…
Gender and Archaeology
Gender and Archaeology is the first volume to critically review the development of this now key topic internationally, across a range of periods and material culture. ^l Roberta Gilchrist explores the significance of the feminist epistemologies. She shows the unique perspective that gender archaeology can bring to bear on issues such as division of labour and the life course. She examines issues of sexuality, and the embodiment of sexual identity…
The Intimacy of Death
Medieval lives
The first lecture introduces the concept of ‘the life course’ and explores its application to understanding the experience of ageing in medieval England. Rather than focus on successive stages of the biological lifecycle in isolation (such as childhood and old age), the model of the life course examines the experience of the human life as a continuum. It emphasizes the materiality of the body and the connections between phases in life, and it hel…
Sex and Gender
This article examines the relevance of sex and gender to archaeology. It explains that the themes of sex and gender have emerged as central concerns to archaeology internationally over the past twenty years and that the interrogation of gendered concepts and terminology began with the feminist critique of archaeology in the 1980s, and has continued in the more pluralistic archaeologies of gender that have characterized the past decade. It outline…
Dalrymple Lectures, 14–17 March 2011 Medieval Lives
"Dalrymple Lectures, 14–17 March 2011 Medieval Lives: Archaeology and the Life Course." , 31(1-2), p. v
Magic for the Dead? The Archaeology of Magic in Later Medieval Burials
This paper examines patterns in the placement of apotropaic objects and materials in high- to late-medieval burials in Britain (11th to 15th centuries). It develops an interdisciplinary classification to identify: (1) healing charms and protective amulets; (2) objects perceived to have occult natural power; (3) 'antique' items that were treated as possessing occult power; and (4) rare practices that may have been associated with the demonic magic…
Archaeology and the Life Course
Annual Report of the Council for the Year Ended 31 March 2007
Introduction
This paper briefly sets the scene for the articles that follow, introducing some key debates that have characterized the recent practice of historical archaeology. The definition of historical archaeology is explored according to parameters of chronology and methodology, drawing a distinction between New World traditions that define the subject as 'post-Columbian' and Old World approaches that establish broader connections with the 'documentary a…
Introduction
The recent explosion of interest in the archaeology of warfare is examined, and some possible reasons behind this trend are explored. Characteristics in the archaeology of warfare are identified in relation to prehistoric and historical archaeology and their contrasting sources of evidence. The androcentric tendency of the archaeology of warfare is discussed, and the major themes of the volume are introduced, including memorial landscapes, commem…
Gender and archaeology
Gender and archaeology
Gender and Material Culture
Gender and Material Culture is the first complete study in the archaeology of gender, exploring the differences between the religious life of men and women. Gender in medieval monasticism influenced landscape contexts and strategies of economic management, the form and development of buildings and their symbolic and iconographic content. Women's religious experience was often poorly documented, but their archaeology indicates a shared tradition w…
Gender and Archaeology
Gender and Archaeology is the first volume to critically review the development of this now key topic internationally, across a range of periods and material culture. ^l Roberta Gilchrist explores the significance of the feminist epistemologies. She shows the unique perspective that gender archaeology can bring to bear on issues such as division of labour and the life course. She examines issues of sexuality, and the embodiment of sexual identity…
Archaeological biographies
Les differents articles contenus dans ce volume sont consacres au theme du cycle de la vie humaine et proposent des approches theoriques sur l'evolution, la biologie, le sexe... Ils apportent egalement une reflexion sur la methodologie archeologique
Women's archaeology? Political feminism, gender theory and historical revision
Women's issues are deservedly a growing concern in archaeology, with concerns that run from the power (im)balance between the sexes in the present practice of archaeology to the technical question of how gender-relations are, or are not, recoverable from archaeological context. The several aspects that lie within the phrase 'women's archaeology'are explored
Magic for the Dead? The Archaeology of Magic in Later Medieval Burials
This paper examines patterns in the placement of apotropaic objects and materials in high- to late-medieval burials in Britain (11th to 15th centuries). It develops an interdisciplinary classification to identify: (1) healing charms and protective amulets; (2) objects perceived to have occult natural power; (3) 'antique' items that were treated as possessing occult power; and (4) rare practices that may have been associated with the demonic magic…
Sacred Heritage
Roberta Gilchrist critically evaluates the concept of sacred heritage. Drawing on global perspectives from heritage studies, archaeology, museology, anthropology and architectural history, she examines the multiple values of medieval Christian heritage. Gilchrist investigates monastic archaeology through the lens of the material study of religion and reveals the sensory experience of religion through case studies including Glastonbury Abbey and S…
Introduction
This paper briefly sets the scene for the articles that follow, introducing some key debates that have characterized the recent practice of historical archaeology. The definition of historical archaeology is explored according to parameters of chronology and methodology, drawing a distinction between New World traditions that define the subject as 'post-Columbian' and Old World approaches that establish broader connections with the 'documentary a…
Monastic and Church Archaeology
Major advances in church and monastic archaeology are discussed in terms of two distinct waves, ca. 1970-1995 and 1995 to the time of writing (2014). The first wave was influenced by landscape history and processual archaeology; scholarship focused principally on historical, economic, and technological questions and targeted individual sites and monuments for study. The second wave has been informed by postprocessual approaches and considers chan…
Introduction
The recent explosion of interest in the archaeology of warfare is examined, and some possible reasons behind this trend are explored. Characteristics in the archaeology of warfare are identified in relation to prehistoric and historical archaeology and their contrasting sources of evidence. The androcentric tendency of the archaeology of warfare is discussed, and the major themes of the volume are introduced, including memorial landscapes, commem…
Religious Transformations in the Middle Ages
L'articolo esplora dal punto di vista archeologico le varie tracce materiali lasciate dalle forme cultuali proprie del Medioevo, colte nei loro aspetti di trasformazioni religiose. L'analisi riguarda contesti pagani, cristiani, islamici ed ebrei, visti attraverso una prospettiva di lungo termine. I concetti base sono quelli di ibridità, resilienza, tempi e traiettorie. Un'attenzione particolare è data al modo in cui credenze, pratiche e identità …
Beyond the martial façade
Gendered interpretations are rare both within castle-studies and heritage discourses on medieval castles. Yet, castles hold potential to inform multi-vocal accounts of the medieval past and to inspire meaningful heritage interpretations to achieve greater societal impact. This article explores the role that gender currently plays in interpretations of medieval castles in Britain, supported by three case-studies written by heritage professionals. …
Pagans Hill Revisited
This report reviews and updates the evidence from the Roman temple site of Pagans Hill, Chew Stoke, North Somerset, which was partly excavated between 1949 and 1953. This includes a revised terminus post quem for the initial building of the temple complex of c. A.D. 262 and an emphasis of the importance of the location of the well on the axis of a planned layout. This is accompanied by a resumé of a reassessment by George Boon of the sculpture of…
Voices from the Cemetery
This article critically reviews the archaeological study of high to late medieval burials (c AD 1000–1550), examining how and why research questions have changed in recent decades. Examples are drawn from Christian mortuary practices principally from Britain, Northern and Central Europe, to demonstrate increasing emphasis on the social study of emotion, agency and place. The question of social ‘value’ is addressed, exploring how disciplinary rese…
Immersive sacred heritage
This paper reflects on how immersive approaches can be designed to respect the spiritual ethos of sacred heritage. Glastonbury Abbey (Somerset, UK) provides a case study of ‘mixed reality’ immersive interpretation, including gamification, at an open-air sacred heritage site which attracts a diverse range of spiritual seekers (Christian, ‘New Age’ and Neo-Pagan). A cross-disciplinary team collaborated to design for authenticity, mediating ethical …
Norwich Cathedral Tower and Spire
Multi-disciplinary study of the exterior of the tower and spire of Norwich Cathedral was undertaken as part of a programme of conservation to the stonework (1993–97). This study reviews evidence for the design and construction of the Romanesque tower and Gothic spire at Norwich, before presenting documentary evidence for its post-medieval treatment and repair. Archaeological and geological evidence is set out for three external elevations of the …
A Reappraisal of Dinas Powys
RESULTS OF THE analysis of a previously unstudied group of animal bone from Dinas Powys are tested against the original report and subsequent interpretations. Assumptions inherent in the initial sampling policy and analysis are discussed. The present interpretation explores the concept of social production in early medieval Wales
A Reappraisal of Dinas Powys
RESULTS OF THE analysis of a previously unstudied group of animal bone from Dinas Powys are tested against the original report and subsequent interpretations. Assumptions inherent in the initial sampling policy and analysis are discussed. The present interpretation explores the concept of social production in early medieval Wales
The Archaeology of Rural Monasteries
Pagans Hill Revisited
This report reviews and updates the evidence from the Roman temple site of Pagans Hill, Chew Stoke, North Somerset, which was partly excavated between 1949 and 1953. This includes a revised terminus post quem for the initial building of the temple complex of c. A.D. 262 and an emphasis of the importance of the location of the well on the axis of a planned layout. This is accompanied by a resumé of a reassessment by George Boon of the sculpture of…
Women's archaeology? Political feminism, gender theory and historical revision
Women's issues are deservedly a growing concern in archaeology, with concerns that run from the power (im)balance between the sexes in the present practice of archaeology to the technical question of how gender-relations are, or are not, recoverable from archaeological context. The several aspects that lie within the phrase 'women's archaeology'are explored
Archeology
Women in Archeology in Britain
Short Reviews
Meaningful Architecture
Short Reviews
Norwich Cathedral
Analysis of the north transept of Norwich Cathedral was prompted by archaeological recording of its northern external elevation. Here detailed archaeological and petrological evidence is presented, together with historical and visual sources for the functions and form of the medieval and post-medieval north transept, an area distinguished by its close spatial and iconographic links with the bishop's palace. A reconstruction of the Romanesque gabl…
Norwich Cathedral
Analysis of the north transept of Norwich Cathedral was prompted by archaeological recording of its northern external elevation. Here detailed archaeological and petrological evidence is presented, together with historical and visual sources for the functions and form of the medieval and post-medieval north transept, an area distinguished by its close spatial and iconographic links with the bishop's palace. A reconstruction of the Romanesque gabl…
Short Reviews
Gender and Material Culture
Archaeological biographies
Les differents articles contenus dans ce volume sont consacres au theme du cycle de la vie humaine et proposent des approches theoriques sur l'evolution, la biologie, le sexe... Ils apportent egalement une reflexion sur la methodologie archeologique
Norwich Cathedral Tower and Spire
Multi-disciplinary study of the exterior of the tower and spire of Norwich Cathedral was undertaken as part of a programme of conservation to the stonework (1993–97). This study reviews evidence for the design and construction of the Romanesque tower and Gothic spire at Norwich, before presenting documentary evidence for its post-medieval treatment and repair. Archaeological and geological evidence is set out for three external elevations of the …
Introduction
The recent explosion of interest in the archaeology of warfare is examined, and some possible reasons behind this trend are explored. Characteristics in the archaeology of warfare are identified in relation to prehistoric and historical archaeology and their contrasting sources of evidence. The androcentric tendency of the archaeology of warfare is discussed, and the major themes of the volume are introduced, including memorial landscapes, commem…
Introduction
This paper briefly sets the scene for the articles that follow, introducing some key debates that have characterized the recent practice of historical archaeology. The definition of historical archaeology is explored according to parameters of chronology and methodology, drawing a distinction between New World traditions that define the subject as 'post-Columbian' and Old World approaches that establish broader connections with the 'documentary a…
Archaeology and the Life Course
Annual Report of the Council for the Year Ended 31 March 2007
Magic for the Dead? The Archaeology of Magic in Later Medieval Burials
This paper examines patterns in the placement of apotropaic objects and materials in high- to late-medieval burials in Britain (11th to 15th centuries). It develops an interdisciplinary classification to identify: (1) healing charms and protective amulets; (2) objects perceived to have occult natural power; (3) 'antique' items that were treated as possessing occult power; and (4) rare practices that may have been associated with the demonic magic…
Sex and Gender
This article examines the relevance of sex and gender to archaeology. It explains that the themes of sex and gender have emerged as central concerns to archaeology internationally over the past twenty years and that the interrogation of gendered concepts and terminology began with the feminist critique of archaeology in the 1980s, and has continued in the more pluralistic archaeologies of gender that have characterized the past decade. It outline…
Dalrymple Lectures, 14–17 March 2011 Medieval Lives
"Dalrymple Lectures, 14–17 March 2011 Medieval Lives: Archaeology and the Life Course." , 31(1-2), p. v
Medieval lives
The first lecture introduces the concept of ‘the life course’ and explores its application to understanding the experience of ageing in medieval England. Rather than focus on successive stages of the biological lifecycle in isolation (such as childhood and old age), the model of the life course examines the experience of the human life as a continuum. It emphasizes the materiality of the body and the connections between phases in life, and it hel…
The Intimacy of Death
Medieval Life
An examination of daily life in the Middle Ages which reveals the intimate relations between age groups, between the living and the dead, and between people and things. An important and timely volume... an elegant summary of complex theory, and synthesis of an impressive body of material. It will be eagerly read by current and future generations of archaeologists, and will demonstrate the significance of historical archaeology to a much wider sch…
History (34 works) · Archaeology (29 works) · History (20 works) · Art (18 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies (15 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (12 works) · Anthropology (11 works) · Geography (9 works) · Literature (7 works)