The everyday life of a feminine religious community from a multidisciplinary approach: the convent of Santa Clara (Pontevedra, Spain)

The archaeological survey at the convent of Santa Clara (Pontevedra, Spain) developed during 2022 has offered the exceptional opportunity of take a glimpse to the day-to-day life of a cloistered feminine religious community. Archaeological evidence of different episodes of the convent between the 14th century to the 21st century was recorded and systematic sampling for recovering bioarcheological remains was implemented. Archaeological data besides archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological analyses have provided an unprecedent bulk of information about different activities related with the life and death in a cloistered convent. Charcoals have been recovered from the backfilling of tombs and the orchard providing information about domestic debris related with the firewood burnt in the convent, mostly obtained from Fabaceae shrubs and oak, as attested previously in other religious buildings of the city. The analysis of faunal, shellfish and fish evidence provide valuable information about other aspects related to the daily life of the nuns. In the other hand, aspects related to their death and the materiality associated to the funerary practices have been revealed in this multidisciplinary study. The preservation of mineral-replaced wood attached to the iron nails has also offered the opportunity to identify the raw material used for crafting the coffins. The exceptional preservation of a textile pseudomorph has even offered the opportunity of analyzing one shroud.

Archaeobotany. Textile analysis. Zooarchaeology. Archaeology. Cloistered life.