Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe is the first-ever evidence of a Christian woman who bound herself in chains by way of extreme self-flagellation before her death.
The Israel Antiquities Authority concluded yesterday in light of fresh analysis that a skeleton found during a dig near Ramat Shlomo likely belongs to a nun who died in the 5th century, during the early Byzantine period of the region.
Researchers in the Levant had previously recovered the remains of men from the period engaging in the practice, though it would be centuries before it became widespread in the West, during the Black Death.
But until now, the only suggestion that early Byzantine women engaged in the practice came from contemporary texts with no archaeological evidence to back up their claims.
The excavation directors said that the woman was bound with ’12-14 rings around the arms or hands, four rings around the beck, and at least 10 rings around the legs’.
Iron plates or discs would have been placed on her stomach, attached to the rings and giving her skeleton ‘an armoured form’.
Historical records suggest that such a heavy load to bear was unlikely to have been inflicted as a form of torture, but rather a voluntary act carried out under the belief that through corporeal suffering the soul could ascend to higher spiritual ‘heights’.
The Antiquities Authority said that the discovery ‘raised new questions’ about how women of the time lived, potentially dressing up as men to be able to engage in the religious ideals of the period.
Such measures were ‘acceptable, because the more a man refrains from pleasures – and even satisfies the body, the more the soul ascends to lofty spiritual heights’
Researchers were able to assess the skeleton belonged to a woman with fresh analysis
Researchers Zubair Adawi, Kfir Arbiv and Dr. Yossi Nagar said that the woman was found in a ‘single grave, dedicated to her as a sign of honour under the church altar’.
The evidence suggests that she chose to wrap herself in rings before her death as a form of extreme asceticism, or self-discipline.
Such measures were ‘acceptable, because the more a man refrains from pleasures – and even satisfies the body, the more the soul ascends to lofty spiritual heights’, the researchers explained, citing historical sources on the matter.
‘The nun is an expression of a phenomenon that was common among Byzantine monks in ancient times,’ Adawi and Kafir Arviv, managing the site, said.
The analysis came nearly a decade after the skeleton was found in poor condition during a 2016/17 excavation of the Khirbat el-Masani site near Ramat Shlomo, per the Times of Israel.
Reviewing her tooth enamel, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science were able to isolate amelogenin proteins, encoded by the female X and Y chromosomes.
The researchers determined that the skeleton belonged to a woman likely between the ages of 30 and 60 at the time of her death.
‘As an archaeologist for the Israel Antiquities Authority, I participate in many excavations, but I had never seen anything like it,’ Adawi said.
‘To find something similar, we have to go back to the 1990s, when the skeleton of a chained male monk was uncovered at the site of Khirbet Tabaliya, on the way between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.’
The skeleton was found with rings and binds, believed to be part of an ascetic ritual
Zubier Adou, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, reveals the find
Researchers had previously uncovered two other skeletons from the period showing evidence of such self-flagellation, but experts believe both belong to men.
Monks of the time ‘imposed self-destruction and self-harm on the body’ by way of ritual, Adwi and Arviv explained.
They described some of the methods to make modern audiences baulk.
These included tying the body to rocks, sleep deprivation, self-imprisonment, abandonment in hanging cages, and even throwing themselves into fire or in the path of predatory animals.
Theodoret of Cyrrhus, a prominent Christian theologian of the time, had mentioned two women, named as Marana and Cyra, who had also bound themselves with chains for 42 years.
But until now there had been no hard evidence that women of the time did perform such practices.
‘This discovery raises new questions about the role of women in the world of Byzantine nuns,’ Monday’s statement concluded.
It noted that women who ‘lived and operated in a strict patriarchal and masculine environment’ would dress up as men ‘in order to take part in the religious ideals’ of the life of the nuns and vices of the same time’.
The site where the nun was discovered lies about three kilometers north-west of the Old City of Jerusalem, and was identified as a Byzantine monastery that operated between the 5th and 7th centuries AD.
Theodoret of Cyrrhus, a prominent Christian theologian of the time, had mentioned two women who had also bound themselves with chains for 42 years
The archaeological documentation process, shared to social media on Monday
Monks of the time ‘imposed self-destruction and self-harm on the body’ by way of ritual
Excavators said they found the remains of women, men and children in crypts buried beneath the church.
‘In the tomb, where the bound skeleton was found, iron rings were discovered around the neck, arms and legs, next to metal objects, which contain a small cross,’ they revealed.
The researchers said that their findings point to the practice beginning in northern Syria and Anatolia before spreading to Asia Minor and later reaching Italy, France and England.
At the same time, they concluded, it spread southward towards Jerusalem and Egypt.
The research was conducted by Dr. Paula Kotley, David Morgenstern and Prof. Elizabeth Buarto from the Weizmann Institute of Science, in collaboration with Dr. Yossi Nagar, Zubair Adoi and Kfir Arviv from the Antiquities Authority.
