Byzantine Archaeology

Byzantine archaeological sites tend to be seen as representative of the empire as a whole, with little concern given to regional context. Within the imperial narrative that shapes Byzantine history, sites—whether urban or rural—are often used to explain and illustrate imperial trends. However, when we remove that overarching narrative, the sites in Anatolia provide the potential to view them as singular examples of local and regional identity. In this article, we have separated out four types of data: fortifications, coins, faunal material, and archaeobotanical evidence to illustrate how a close examination of the data provides new ways of understanding regional identity. In doing so, we posit that the Byzantine empire needs to be seen as a collection of local identities working alongside one another, but always expressing individual needs and resources.

This paper addresses some of the problems encountered with the established literature and presents the outline of a solution based on Corinth's unparalleled collection of stratified medieval ceramics and coins. The solution, based on a new relative and absolute chronology of the glazed wares, highlights a dramatic change in the appearance of the medieval ceramics towards the end of the 11th century when the quantity of glazed pottery increases and its appearance undergoes a complete metamorphosis. This phenomenon takes place during a period of wide ranging reforms in the Byzantine economy and, it will be argued, it reflects the economic impact of these reforms on the material culture of the empire's lower social echelons.

The early Christian complex of Illa del Rei (Menorca) consists of a church and three naves paved with mosaic, separated by pillars or columns with unique header with an annex on its northern side. A baptismal font is located in the north aisle on its eastern end. In addition to the church, other rooms extended to the East of the header and to the Southeast and Southwest of the church. These annexes include a stibadium a unique element. This contribution presents a synthesis on the complex of Illa del Rei, based on the published information and the results of a new archaeological excavation that allows suggesting a date of late 6th century or beginning of the 7th century for the ecclesiastical complex, fully within the period of Byzantine dominion of the Islands.

CONTENTS AIBABIN A.I., KHAIREDINOVA E.A. (Simferopol) The Town on the Plateau of Eski-Kermen in the Fourteenth Century ………………….…………………………….… 25 ALEKSEIENKO N.A. (Simferopol) Several New Sigillographic Finds in the Crimea ……………………….….. 31 ANTIPENKO A.V., KHAIREDINOVA E.A. (Simferopol) The Ultimate Composition of Mediaeval Artefacts of Nonferrous Metals ………………………………………...........…...….. 37 ARZHANOV A.Yu. (Sevastopol) The Spatial Organization of Mediaeval Settlements in the Gerakleiskii Peninsula ……………………………………..…….….. 47 AFINOGENOV D.E. (Moscow) An Epistle from Ioannikios the Great to Patriarch Methodios: Its Slavic Translation …………………………………………………..….. 53 AFINOGENOVA O.N. (Moscow) Terminological Differences in the Naming of Categories of Saints in Byzantium and Rus’ ……………………..….….. 57 BAIBURTSKII А.М. (Simferopol) The “Tzatoi,” or the Armenian Romaioi in Mediaeval Crimea (To the Historiography of the Question) ………..…….………………….... 59 BULGURLU V. (İstanbul) A Selection of Seals from the Private Collection of Adnan Aci of Samsun ……………………………………………….….. 65 BUTYRSKII M.N. (Moscow) Byzantine Numismatic Iconography: The Degree of Its Relevance and Adaptation in Coinage of Other Countries (Tenth to Twelfth Centuries) …………………….…..... 67 VINOGRADOV A.Yu., CHKHAIDZE V.N. (Moscow) “Save Great Eumathios of the Glorious Family”: Towards the Reading of the Legend of a Group of Byzantine Seals …...….. 71 GANTSEV V.K. (Simferopol) Winegrower’s Knives in Mediaeval Crimea: An Essay on the Classification …….……………………………………..... 77 DOBROVOLSKAIA M.V., MASTYKOVA A.V. (Moscow) On the Chronology of the Byzantine Church in Gorzubitai by Natural Scientific Methods …………………………………………..... 85 DUSHENKO A.А. (Simferopol) The Numismatic Assemblage of the Prince’s Palace at Mangup (2006–2018 Excavations): Its Statistical Review …………………….…..... 91 EVDOKIMOVA A.A. (Moscow) The Formulas in Byzantine Funeral Inscriptions from Syria ……………..... 99 EVDOKIMOVA A.A., TOLMACHEVA E.G. (Moscow) For the Question of Inscriptions on Late Antique and Early Islamic Textiles: From the Artefact Reconstruction to the Text (Preliminary Notes) ….…..... 105 ZAVADSKAIA I.A. (Simferopol), KULKOVA M.A. (St. Petersburg), SMEKALOVA T.N. (Simferopol) Preliminary Results of Petrographic Tests of Mediaeval Roof Tiles from Eski-Kermen and Il’ka-2 ……………………………………...…..... 113 IVANOV A.V. (Simferopol) Photo Materials from the Mid-Nineteenth to the First Half of the Twentieth Century as a Historical Source for the Reconstruction of Chembalo Fortress Ensemble: An Essay on the Code Making …………………………………………..... 117 IVANOV S.A. (Moscow) The Byzantine Kiss ……………………………………………………...... 131 IOZHITSA D.V. (Simferopol) Byzantine Basilica and Its Architectural Components: Some Aspects of Modern Scholarship …………......................................... 137 KAZANSKI M.М. (Paris) Decorative Elements of Horse Trappings from Altynkazgan at the Mangyshlak and Their Early Byzantine Parallels ……………………………..…..…..... 143 KALININA T.M. (Moscow) The Sea of Rum on the Maps by Tenth-Century Arabic Cartographers ………………………………..... 151 KIRILKO V.P. (Simferopol) Architectural Spolia Excavated in Mediaeval Alushta …………………..... 159 KUZENKOV P.V. (Moscow) Byzantine Officials' Roga according to the 1074 Chrysoboullon ………………………...…..……..... 165 MAIKO V.V., TESLENKO I.B. (Simferopol) Byzantine Glazed Red Clay Pottery from the Twelfth and the First Half of the Thirteenth Century at Mediaeval Sougdaia …………………………………………………..... 169 MAIKO V.V., KHAIREDINOVA E.A. (Simferopol) Byzantine Buckles from Sougdaia ……………………………………....... 177 MAKAROVA A-M.L. (Moscow) Eugenios of Trebizond and Saint of the Transcaucasia in the Paintings of Timotesubani (ca. 1206–1215) ……………………………………….... 183 MALAKHOV S.N. (Vladikavkaz) The Alans in Byzantium from the Tenth to Fourteenth Centuries …………....................................... 187 OSHARINA O.V. (St. Petersburg) On the Lion “Saving them that Believe, but Treading down the Adversary” …………………………….………..... 193 PANCHENKO V.V., STUPKO M.V. (Sevastopol) A Hoard of Early Byzantine Coins from the Vicinity of Oboronnoe Village …………………………….…..... 199 ROMENSKII A.A. (Sevastopol) The “Baptism of the Dead” in the Chronicle s.a. 6552: Byzantine, Scandinavian, and Pagan Slavic Context …………………....... 211 SEDIKOVA L.V., DON I.E. (Sevastopol) The Metal Ware from a Thirteenth-Century Shop in Byzantine Cherson …………………………………………………....... 215 SEIDALIEV E.I. (Simferopol) The Rural Sites in the Vicinity of Solkhat in the Golden Horde Period: The Materials for the Archaeological Map of the South-Eastern Crimea …………………………………………….... 219 SIDORENKO V.A. (Simferopol) The Building Inscription of Hekatontarches Τζιτ[ζίκιος] and Khan Tokhtamysh from Mangup …………………………………...... 227 STEPANENKO V.P. (Yekaterinburg) G. Schlumberger, N.P. Likhachev, V.S. Shandrovskaia: The History of a Seal ………….................................................................... 245 TESLENKO I.B. (Simferopol), The Ceramic Pottery from…

Olive (Olea europaea) trees in the arid Negev Desert of southern Israel are important relicts on the ancient agricultural landscape. Among them are a cluster of several trees located in Wadi Zetan, at the heart of the Shivta horticulture terroir, with its abundant agricultural runoff remains. Two isolated olive bearing trees stand in a sheltered beneath cliff in the upper part of the wadi. Radiocarbon dating of an internal part of the trunk of one of these living trees estimates its minimum age as the mid-16th-early 17th century CE (~500 years old). Archaeological excavations conducted beneath the trees and the adjacent dam revealed OSL samples of loess accumulation dated to the Early Islamic period (8th-9th centuries CE). The stratigraphy and chronology of this sediment deposition indicate its rapid and short accumulation. Palynological analysis of the same OSL dated samples indicates that grapevines and olive trees were cultivated in the immediate vicinity of the site during the Early Islamic period. The lack of pollen of cultivated taxa from the latter part of the sequence points to cessation of the agricultural activity, probably a few hundred years later. Leaf samples for DNA profiling of the trees in comparison to other local old olive trees around the country, indicate that the trees in Wadi Zetan are genetically close to a known cultivar common among ancient olive trees. The trees have survived for at least a few hundred years, in an arid area, due to the local conditions and enhanced drainage from the man-made upper runoff system. These old olive trees bear a powerful and symbolic significance, indicating the endurance and sustainability of ancient desert runoff agriculture. Moreover, the survival of their relicts in Wadi Zetan suggests their potential as cultivars greater resilience to the harsh growing conditions of arid environments.

The international scope of the Mediterranean wine trade in Late Antiquity raises important questions concerning sustainability in an ancient international economy and offers a valuable historical precedent to modern globalization. Such questions involve the role of intercontinental commerce in maintaining sustainable production within important supply regions and the vulnerability of peripheral regions believed to have been especially sensitive to environmental and political disturbances. We provide archaeobotanical evidence from trash mounds at three sites in the central Negev Desert, Israel, unraveling the rise and fall of viticulture over the second to eighth centuries of the common era (CE). Using quantitative ceramic data obtained in the same archaeological contexts, we further investigate connections between Negev viticulture and circum-Mediterranean trade. Our findings demonstrate interrelated growth in viticulture and involvement in Mediterranean trade reaching what appears ...

The historic event of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) was recently identified in dozens of natural and geological climate proxies of the northern hemisphere. Although this climatic downturn was proposed as a major cause for pandemic and extensive societal upheavals in the sixth–seventh centuries CE, archaeological evidence for the magnitude of societal response to this event is sparse. This study uses ancient trash mounds as a type of proxy for identifying societal crisis in the urban domain, and employs multidisciplinary investigations to establish the terminal date of organized trash collection and high-level municipal functioning on a city-wide scale. Survey, excavation, sediment analysis, and geographic information system assessment of mound volume were conducted on a series of mounds surrounding the Byzantine urban settlement of Elusa in the Negev Desert. These reveal the massive collection and dumping of domestic and construction waste over time on the city edges. Carb...

The study presents preliminary results of the renewed excavations at Shivta in the Negev Highlands, Israel. Several trenches were excavated in public buildings, domestic structures, open areas and middens. The goal of the excavations was to fine-tune the history of the site and document changes versus continuity in the Byzantine/Early Islamic transition. Most of the excavated contexts produced material from the Byzantine period (4th–7th centuries CE). Evidence from earlier periods, primarily the Early Roman (1st century CE; ‘Nabataean’) and from the Middle Roman period (2nd–early 3rd centuries CE) is scarce and was encountered only in middens on the outskirts of the site. Several public and domestic structures were abandoned prior to the Early Islamic period; some collapsed as a result of earthquakes after their abandonment. Remains of the Early Islamic period were found only in isolated contexts, indicating that Shivta declined in the Late Byzantine period after having reached its zenith during the 5th–6th centuries CE.

Abstract Pigeon rearing was an integral part of the agricultural regime that dominated the Negev region in Israel throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods. Dozens of structures have been documented that relate to the raising of pigeons and the exploitation of their dung as a fertilizer as is attested in the literary sources (Pliny, Columella and Varro). Excavation of a dovecote near Shivta produced large quantities of pigeon dung and sediments. The material recovered was processed for floral remains (both macro and micro) and archaeozoological remains. We present a holistic look at pigeon diet and local environmental conditions in the Byzantine Negev through the archaeobotanical remains. Demographic and morphometric analysis of size and shape of the pigeon bones refine our understanding of pigeon species that were bred in antiquity as well as inform on their life-histories. This integrated examination from an agro-archaeological perspective illustrates the complexity of desert agriculture.

This contribution reports on the tableware, dating to the 13th-14th centuries, found within a well which belonged to a Medieval house in the Athenian Agora, excavated by the American School of Classical Studies. This context is approached both from a typological point of view, as well as from the point of view of Medieval cuisine. As it is the first report on Late Medieval ceramics from the Agora, it offers an insight on local domestic and culinary customs.

Located 20 km west of the Bosporus, the Bathonea ancient port settlement on the Avcilar / Firuzkoy Peninsula northwest of Kucukcekmece Lagoon Lake has been the subject of archeological excavations with a multidisciplinary team since 2010. Excavations determined two separate structures with intense and destructive damage and studies were performed about whether or not this damage was caused by destructive earthquakes in the region. A church structure with an apse had most pronounced intense damage and skeletons belonging to two hugging individuals were identified under the stones of a collapsed dome. Additionally, coins dated to 550 and other archeological materials reveal the destructive earthquake occurred after 550 in the period of the Emperor Justinian (527-565). If it had occurred during the reign of a different emperor, the coins would have been out of circulation. Strong destructive traces were identified in other structures spread over a large area in the excavation site, apa...

Abstract Using strontium isotope analysis, we investigated the mobility of Roman (1st to 7th century AD) and Byzantine (9th–13th century AD) individuals buried at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hierapolis, Turkey. Results from Roman and Byzantine individuals show that while the majority of the population interred at this site have local strontium isotope values, there are some individuals with values outside the local range, which we identify as migrants. This conclusion agrees in particular with the known history of pilgrimage at Hierapolis in the Byzantine period (as defined above) and with the archaeological evidence of pilgrim badges associated with human burials unearthed from recent excavations. In addition, we present the first map of bioavailable strontium in southwestern Turkey.

The glazed pottery serves an essential source for reconstruction the phenomenon of medieval culture. It was available for broad strata of population of the Mediterranean region and evidently reflected its aesthetic and daily life. Anthropomorphic depictions are rare and attracted the most interest to the point. Such an example is a bowl from the 13th century shipwreck from Novy Svet (modern Sudak, Crimea). It bears depiction of the dancing figure. The open form vessel on the ring base attributed as ‘Green and Brown Painted Ware’ (GWw IV after J.W Hayes), which belongs to the ship’s cargo. The artifact merit attention within the framework of a given archeological assemblage as well as in the cultural context. The poster gives the description of the general and specific features used by the artist. It deals with the origin and application of certain genre scene.

ABSTRACT The city of Iznik, called Nikaia or Nicaea in ancient times, is located in northwest Anatolia, Turkey. Nicaea is renowned especially for the first Council of Nicaea convened by the Roman emperor Constantine in ad 325 in an attempt to unify the Church. During an international field course on the geophysical exploration of archaeological targets we detected the remains of a small previously unknown Byzantine church on a fallow lot of land inside the city. The church is oriented parallel to the ancient Hippodamian street grid that deviates from the modern street system of the quarter by ~45°. We found the contours of the nave, two aisles and three apses as well as evidence of a partly refilled grave. The geophysical measurements indicate that the foundations of the church consist of low-porosity hard rock with a low magnetic susceptibility, probably limestone or sandstone embedded in fluvial sediments. The field study is based on ground-penetrating radar (GPR), magnetics, electric resistivity tomography (ERT) and microgravimetry. It highlights the strength and necessity of combining different geophysical methods in exploring and characterizing archaeological sites. In fact, the foundation walls of the church do not show any magnetic anomaly but could be delineated clearly only by GPR. The wall remains appear as highly resistive spots in ERT. By converting the three-dimensional GPR image into an electric resistivity model we could verify that the ERT results fully correspond to the ruins found by GPR. The structure interpreted as a loosely refilled grave is indicated mainly by a weak gravity anomaly (~9 μGal) and a diffuse reflection pattern in GPR. Electric forward modelling shows that this structure leads to an additional increase of a high resistivity anomaly, which is primarily caused by foundation rocks, but it cannot be resolved within the ERT pattern a priori. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.