Santa Maria della Stella: From Text to Teeth
An ongoing partnership between historians, (bio)archaeological scientists, and cultural heritage leaders.
SMdS: from Text to Teeth is an in-depth pilot study of single female monastery: the Cistercian community of Santa Maria della Stella (Saluzzo, Italy). The project, which is a collaboration between the University of St Andrews and the University of Turin, is supported by a generous grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
The key aim of the project is to deepen and extend our understanding of women’s religious life in premodern Europe through interdisciplinary and transnational collaboration using intersecting textual and (bio)archaeological evidence. The project is providing vital proof-of-concept work 
for the text-to-teeth approach to the study of medieval religious women at the heart of broader #TeamNun research collaborative.
Our multi-disciplinary approach combines the analysis of written texts and objects of material culture with experimental archaeology, bioarchaeology, and cutting-edge micro- and biomolecular analyses of human remains. Our team is compiling vital reference collections of microdebris — the tiny particles entrapped in dental calculus — to facilitate the study of health and healing, diet, craft and artistic pursuits, and spiritual practices activities in premodern populations.
We combine this micro-research with advanced skeletal analysis to establish the presence of diseases among the nuns of Santa Maria della Stella, advancing our knowledge of the health, occupations, and spiritual practices of religious women in premodern Europe through the study of this fascinating and important community, vital for its rare combination of extensive archive of documents of practice and expertly excavated human remains from a clearly defined monastic context.
Lead Investigators
Alison Beach, St Andrews
Rosa Boano, Turin
Beatrice Demarchi, Turin
Anita Radini, Dublin
Project Students and Interns
Sarah Sandron, Turin (bioarchaeology)
Julia Rohn, St Andrews (archival research)
Madison Crow, NYU (archival research)
Project Partners
St Andrews Centre for Archaeology, Technology, and History
ArchaeoBiomics Lab for Biomolecular Archaeology and Osteology at the University of Turin
Michaele Scanavino, Foundatione Saluzzo
Funding