The Impacts of Monastic Services on Juvenile Stress in the Byzantine Levant

This dissertation investigates the influence of monastic care on juvenile health in the Byzantine period southern Levant (4th-7th centuries CE) through a bioarchaeological lens. By analyzing skeletal remains from two monastic sites—St. Stephen’s in Jerusalem and Deir ‘Ain ‘Abata near the Southern Dead Sea—and a non-monastic townsite, Umm al-Jimal in Northern Jordan, the study explores physiological stress indicators to assess the relationship between monastic services and juvenile health outcomes.
First, this research examines the correlation between proximity to monastic complexes and physiological stress using multiple skeletal stress indicators. Second, it expands on existing bioarchaeological models of care to better encompass the care of juveniles, with a focus on the role of monasteries. Third, it contextualizes these findings with broader socio-economic and religious patterns. Two main hypotheses are tested. The first posits that proximity to monastic services reduces stress and disease indicators and improved healing due to access to balanced nutrition, sanitary environments, and/or medical care. The second hypothesis suggests that the socio-cultural and economic context of each monastery affects the quality and type of care provided, thereby influencing stress patterns.
Across the sites, young children around the age of weaning were particularly vulnerable. Overall, juveniles at St. Stephen’s exhibited fewer stress indicators, while those at Deir ‘Ain ‘Abata showed higher prevalence and severity, suggesting variability in monastic care, while Umm al-Jimal seems to reflect broader health trends with frequent but typically healed stress episodes. Most critically, the differing roles of the monasteries in Byzantine juveniles’ care networks is analyzed in an expanded bioarchaeology of care model, which highlights their very different positions, as well as their overlap in the realm of spiritual care. This research contributes to understanding how early welfare services impacted juvenile health and highlights the significant but varying positions of monasteries in Byzantine era.

本研究以拜占庭时期南黎凡特（公元4至7世纪）的僧侣关爱对青少年健康的影响为研究对象，通过生物考古学的视角进行深入探讨。研究通过分析耶路撒冷的圣斯蒂芬修道院和死海以南的德伊尔·艾因·阿巴塔修道院，以及约旦北部的非修道院城镇乌姆·阿勒·吉马尔的两处修道遗址的人类骨骼遗骸，探究生理压力指标，以评估修道服务与青少年健康状况之间的关系。首先，本研究通过多个骨骼压力指标，考察了与修道院集群的邻近性与生理压力之间的相关性。其次，研究扩展了现有的生物考古学关怀模型，以更好地涵盖青少年关怀，并聚焦于修道院的作用。第三，研究将发现置于更广泛的社会经济和宗教模式中加以语境化。研究测试了两个主要假设。第一个假设认为，接近修道服务可以减少压力和疾病指标，并改善愈合，这是由于能够获得平衡的营养、卫生环境以及/或医疗服务。第二个假设则提出，每个修道院的社会文化及经济背景会影响所提供关怀的质量和类型，从而影响压力模式。在所有遗址中，大约处于断奶期的幼童尤其脆弱。总体而言，圣斯蒂芬修道院的青少年表现出较少的压力指标，而德伊尔·艾因·阿巴塔修道院的青少年则显示出较高和严重的压力指标，这表明修道院关怀存在差异，而乌姆·阿勒·吉马尔似乎反映了更广泛的健康趋势，有频繁但通常得到治愈的压力事件。最为关键的是，本研究在扩展的生物考古学关怀模型中分析了修道院在拜占庭青少年关怀网络中的不同角色，突显了它们在精神关怀领域的不同位置及其重叠。这一研究有助于理解早期福利服务如何影响青少年健康，并突出了拜占庭时代修道院在关怀中的显著但各异的地位。