A Female Monk Bound In Chains From The Byzantine Era Was Found In Jerusalem
At the site of Khirbat el-Masani in East Jerusalem, the remains of a monastery from the Byzantine era were discovered. Excavations revealed several burials that date back to the 5th century C.E.
Among these, archaeologists found the poorly preserved remains of what they believed to be a man bound in chains.
Typically, ascetic monks wore heavy iron chains to restrain the flesh. A number of large metal rings were in place of the man’s arms, legs, and neck.
The skeleton was in such a fragile state that a few of the bones crumbled on contact. Yet, researchers were able to conduct a thorough analysis of the remains.
They examined three cervical vertebrae and one tooth, which helped them determine that the burial belonged to an adult between the ages of 30 and 60 at the time of death.
They also employed peptide analysis on the enamel of the tooth to confirm the individual’s gender. Their findings led them to conclude that the burial actually contained the remains of a woman.
They noticed an absence of peptides associated with the AMELY protein, encoded by a gene on the Y chromosome.
Instead, they identified a significant amount of peptides associated with the AMELX protein, which is linked to the X chromosome.
The new discovery challenged previous assumptions about the role of women in ascetic practices during the Byzantine era, suggesting that women may have engaged in similar religious practices as men.
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According to the researchers, historical records imply that women in the Roman Empire began practicing asceticism as early as the 4th century A.D.
For example, notable figures like Melania the Elder, a Christian saint from a wealthy family of nobles, embraced self-restraint.
The recently discovered burial is of particular significance because it represents the first archaeological evidence that women also engaged in self-torture through the use of heavy chains. Women, not just men, were active in extreme ascetic practices.
The female from the burial likely lived in the monastery in seclusion while chained in a cell. This practice originated in Syria in the 4th or 5th century A.D.
However, the discovery of the burial showed that extreme asceticism spread as far south as the Jerusalem region during the Byzantine era.
The monastery was located along the Christian pilgrimage route to Jerusalem, a city that grew into a major religious hub in the Byzantine period.
It attracted worshipers from all over the Roman Empire. Monasteries served as spiritual sanctuaries, but they were also places of refuge for weary pilgrims.
The presence of a female ascetic indicates that women played a much more important role in these communities than what was known before.
The details of the full study were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
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