Monastery dig uncovers details about 8th century end-of-life care

Monastery dig uncovers details about 8th century end-of-life care 
Care Home Professional; by Stephen Hall; 8/4/25  
Archaeologists have picked up their trowels to learn more about how people lived, died and were cared for at the site of an 8th-9th century monastery in Cookham. The remains of the monastery were first discovered in 2021 in a test excavation by staff from the University of Reading’s Archaeology Department and volunteers from local archaeological societies. ... Thomas Hayes, director of the university’s field school, told the BBC this year they had found evidence of illness and treatment in human remains, including bedsores, suggesting palliative care may have taken place.
Editor's Note: These findings echo the history of hospice care in the European Middle Ages, when nuns and monks in monasteries often cared for the sick and dying. Do you know? The word hospice comes from the Latin hospitium and hospes, meaning both “guest” and “host”—the roots of words like hospitality, hotel, and hospital. Important for the Hispanic families your serve: in Spanish, “hospice” translates to “asylum,” so the term “paliativo” is often used instead.