Building Technique of the Early Byzantine Fortifications of the South-Western Taurica: Historiographical Tradition and Archaeological Realities

Abstract

The system of early mediaeval fortifications in the Byzantine lands in the South- Western Crimea remains an object of discussion. The dating of many fortifications was determined by indirect evidence, particularly the stonework of defensive walls. In the mid-twentieth century, A. L. Yakobson inferred that the Crimean forts of ashlar masonry dated to the age of Justinian I. This article argues that the technique in question appeared in the Hellenistic Period and was used in the defensive walls throughout the history of Byzantium and therefore was not a particular chronological marker. The given research addresses the materials of archaeological investigations at 12 forts in the South-Western Taurica, constructed, in the scholars’ view, in the Early Middle Ages. The results of historiographical analysis make it possible to single out a group of castles constructed in the sixth century according to archaeological materials: Mangup-Kale, Eski-Kermen, Bakla, Sivag-Kermen, and Alouston. This group should also include the fort in Gorzoubitai, the construction of which fortifications was described in the Buildings of Procopius of Caesarea. The ashlar facing of defensive walls has been documented at two sites of the group in question, Mangup and Eski-Kermen. The other forts had rubble facing of their defensive walls. Apparently, both building techniques were used by the Byzantine engineers in the Taurica simultaneously. With a degree of probability, the castles of Chufut-Kale and Kalamita and the fort in the Karalez valley can be attributed to the Early Middle Ages.