UNIMAR-CMN International Course on Sephardic Medieval Archaeology

From today through till Friday September 12, the town of Lorca plays host to the I UNIMAR-CMN International Course on Sephardic Medieval Archaeology, which aims to give specialized theoretical and practical education about the material culture of the Jewish minority group that resided in the Iberian Peninsula from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries.

Six theory sessions and five workshops will give participants an up-to-date overview of the most important aspects of the Sephardim.

The idea is to give participants tools to identify and analyze aspects of medieval material culture that are considered to distinguish the Jewish communities within the prevailing Islamic and Christian systems in Medieval Iberia.

The course consists of a series of talks by leading specialists in Archaeology of the Medieval Jewish minority along with various practical workshops. The sessions will focus on characterizing the religious spaces (mainly synagogues), the analysis of funereal rituals and classifying and interpreting liturgical and domestic furniture. The exceptional archaeological finding of the late Medieval Jewish quarter at the Castle of Lorca and the fifteenth century synagogue are a perfect backdrop for the practical sessions with original archaeological materials (pottery, metals, glass) and the on-site analysis of archaeological buildings and contexts.

The course seeks to provide more than mere theoretical and practical training in archaeology, aspiring to become a space for cultural dialogue between European and Israeli students on the common problems surrounding the identification and interpretation of Jewish archaeological contexts in majority Islamic and Christian societies. The aim is also to offer a stage for debate on the problems deriving from promoting the Jewish medieval cultural heritage that has recently come to light with the controversial exhumations of human remains at old funereal sites.

The course is funded by the Mare Nostrum Campus and forms part of the International University of the Sea courses. It is the first specialized course to offer complete theoretical, and above all practical, training in medieval archaeology of the Iberian Jewish minority to students and specialists of archaeology in other areas of history or those from countries familiar with the Jewish material culture in other scenarios.

The General Coordinator of the Mare Nostrum Campus, Pilar Garrido Clemente, will take part in the closing ceremony on Friday September 12.

For more detailed information go to the website.

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