SACRIECE is a research project funded by the PRIMUS grant scheme. The project focuses on the process of Christianisation of East-Central Europe, from the point of view of the archaeological heritage of the rural population. Christianisation in the examined region was a crucial agenda of state formation; however, the impact of the largest segment of the society, the rural population is seldom examined. Traditionally, researchers focused primarily on the higher levels of society and the ecclesiastic network, mostly due to the availability of sources.
Still, the investigation of the archaeological remains of the earliest network of rural churches and their relation to Christianisation is an excellent base for such an approach. The current project aims to create a digital database of those archaeological features connected to this process; early churches, cemeteries, rural and ecclesiastical power centres. The digital, geospatial database allows the data to be contextualised, analysed, and compared at a regional level, processing data that has never been investigated at such scale. Even though archaeology considered the high impact that Christianisation had on transforming the rural landscape, such, targeted large-scale investigations were not conducted. By applying new methods on neglected sources and creating an extensive, regional, comprehensive digital database, the project aims to provide new narratives about East-Central Europe’s Christianisation.