Exploring Byzantine and Ottoman economic history with the use of palynological data: a quantitative approach (with one map and 32 figures)

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of a numerical analysis of the existing palynological evidence from medieval and early modern Balkans and Anatolia; as such, it hopes to provide new quantitative data for the study of Byzantine and Ottoman economic history. After presenting the palynological database prepared for this project – as well as the numerical methods developed specifically to deal with this material - the core of the paper is devoted to historical interpretation. In the first section we deal with the late antique and early medieval periods, demonstrating that signs of both late antique agrarian prosperity and early medieval economic collapse may be observed across Greece, Macedonia and Anatolia. The following section focuses on evidence for the development of a pastoral economy in the central Balkan mountain ranges, between the early Middle Ages and the Ottoman era. The third section discusses environmental aspects of the middle Byzantine economic revival. Finally, the paper focuses on how different regions of the Balkans and Anatolia fared during the late Byzantine and Ottoman periods; in particular, we demonstrate how the Byzantine economic system came to an end, and how a new economic geography emerged during the Ottoman era.