Late Antique Period Research Articles

Bound by Binders: Multicraft Organisation and Industrial Interdependence of Lime Production for Mortar in the Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity

In the late antique period (fourth-seventh centuries AD), lime was produced and consumed in great quantities for use in building, medicine, tanning, fulling, mortuary practices, and as an agricultural fertiliser. As a result, lime kilns (and associated slaking pits) are common features of late antique contexts – both in urban and rural environments and involving public institutions and private enterprise. In this paper we consider the archaeological remains of lime production and use in the eastern Mediterranean, a region in which dozens of lime production sites have been recorded. Focusing on the example of lime mortar production specifically, and following evidence for the associated chaîne opératoire, we demonstrate the versatility of the lime production process and how it frequently involved and even relied upon multiple industries.

Microhistory, Archaeological Record, and the Subaltern Debris

Abstract This article explores the challenges of translating the empirical data recorded in the microhistorical events documented in most archaeological sites into narratives that provide a deeper understanding of long-term historical processes. It specifically focuses on the importance of studying the history of subaltern communities through this microhistorical scale. Drawing on the concept of “subaltern debris,” the article proposes a new approach to analyzing archaeological deposits generated by the everyday life of subaltern communities. It argues that these deposits can offer valuable insights into the living conditions and agency of subaltern communities. The article presents two case studies from the late antique period in the Iberian Peninsula to illustrate the potential of this approach. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of recognizing the material agency of subaltern communities in reshaping historical narratives.

A Late Antiquity case of a chronic osteomyelitis from the population of Cortijo Coracho, Córdoba, Spain (IV-VIII centuries AD).

The Cortijo Coracho archaeological site dates from the Late Antiquity period, from the 5th to the 8th century AD. During this period, a number of populations settled in the area (Germanic peoples until Visigothic rule, Byzantine until the arrival of the Arabs, etc.), each of them concentrating the historical characteristics in the Sub-Baetic that are currently known. The Cortijo Coracho archaeological site is currently located in the city of Lucena (Cordoba, Spain), found after the works on the A-45 motorway. The necropolis consists of 294 inhumations and the remains of a basilica, although after a series of surveys it is estimated that there are around 700 additional burials, which would make it the largest necropolis with ad sancti burials surrounding a martyrial basilica dating back to the 4th century AD. Among the burials, 397 subjects were recovered, which implies a large presence of shared and/or reused burials. These subjects were transferred to the city's museum, where they were examined, reorganised and classified. At this point, subjects of scientific interest were found, as is the case of subject 204, the topic of this article. This individual, described as an adult male, is an example of the living conditions of this period, since despite his injury on the left lower extremity, a double fracture aggravated by a chronic osteomyelitis infection, he continued to use that limb. This paper will give the details of that distinctive lesion and the possible hypotheses underlying it.

Race, Racism, and Ethnicity

This article examines the debates over historiographical uses of the terms race, racism, and ethnicity in the study of the premodern past. It begins with an analysis of conventional approaches to defining race, which understand the concept to be fundamentally modern and reject uses of the term in the study of the premodern world. Such conventional approaches to historicizing race are predicated on problematically essentialist definitions of the term that preclude comparisons of varying types of racisms that manifest across different historical periods. The article spotlights some of the arguments in favor of formulations of race and racism that allow for comparative analyses of premodern instances of racism, relying on the ideas of scholars working in race theory, philosophy of race, and premodern critical race studies. It also puts forward a working model of racism useful for analyzing examples of race-thinking found in Christian texts of the late antique period, focusing specifically on negative significations of blackness. Broadly, the article aims to outline more dynamic and fruitful approaches to conceptualizing race, racism, and ethnicity in the study of the ancient world.

After the Fall of the Caravan Kingdoms. Notes about the Occupation of Sumhuram and the Area of Khor Rori (Oman) from the Fifth Century AD to the Islamic Period

Since the beginning of the investigations in the area of Khor Rori and at the site of Sumhuram, the easternmost outpost of the caravan kingdoms along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, cultural material and architectural evidence seemed to exclude frequentation, both permanent and seasonal, during the Islamic period. Indeed, it was assumed that any form of occupation, which had begun in the second century BC, ceased in the fifth century AD, consistent with the historical, economic and cultural scenario that marked the end of the caravan kingdoms. However, discoveries made during more recent fieldwork, along with a critical reinterpretation of previously collected data, have clearly demonstrated the existence of a late occupation of the area, which can be tentatively dated to the Late Antique period in the case of the burials located nearby and to the Islamic period in the case of the reoccupation of the site. This paper will discuss the preliminary results of the re-analysis of the late evidence, focusing on the last architectural structures, the small finds and some of the pottery.

O sztuce rezyliencji. Marta Nowak rozmawia z Michele Salzman

The interview with Michele Salzman, a renowned scholar of Late Antiquity at the University of California, Riverside, focuses on issues of reinterpreting the methods of the historian of anti-quity in the face of new research developments. Here Salzman outlines the importance and possibilities of interdisciplinary studies and the global dimension of Late Antiquity, outlining the possible research horizons of the coming decades. Referring to the case of the decline of the Roman Empire, the conversation deals with the ways in which the interpretation of the past can be understood as a reflection of the current desires or fears of societies in times of crisis. Special attention in the conversation was given to the issues of resilience and the role of women in the period of Late Antiquity.

Studying Disaster in Late Antiquity

This introduction frames a collection of four papers, originally presented at the 13th Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity conference, that examine late antique episcopal responses to disaster, typically military defeats caused by the barbarians. To contextualize what follows, this essay begins by introducing various ways disaster researchers define disaster, as well as the related concepts of hazard and vulnerability. The paper also examines several terminological and methodological challenges associated with the application of modern disaster studies to the ancient world. Importantly, disasters cannot be separated from their social context. Indeed, thinking of disasters as social phenomena encourages historians to look beyond the disaster events themselves, to consider why and how those in power reacted (or failed to react) and what the experience was like for the individuals who lived through them. Finally, this essay serves as an argument against the simplistic association of the period of Late Antiquity with disaster.

Results of a palynological study of the contents of small glass bottles of the Late Antiquity from the Kanchaani Cemetery (Southeastern Georgia)

Eight small glass bottles (vials) have been obtained from five graves of the Kanchaani cemetery, dating to the 1st-3rd centuries AD. The objects came to the laboratory almost intact, and their contents have also survived. Analysis of the plant pollen and the study of non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) of these contents showed that there was a set of various medicinal plants in seven bottles, and one bottle contained an infusion made from in-sects, which also had medicinal properties. The pollen of 23 medicinal plants has been determined to genus and species levels in the contents of the bottles. The paper describes in detail the characteristics of all found medici-nal plants and their use in folk medicine. It turns out, that the ethnopharmacology of the Late Antiquity Period in the region under consideration was rather well developed.

Introduction. Epigraphy, the Qurʾān, and the Religious Landscape of Arabia

Abstract A wide range of archaeological finds is rapidly expanding our knowledge of the pre-Islamic cultural milieu and the political structures of the Arabian Peninsula during Late Antiquity, and thereby of the Qurʾān’s cultural context. This material can offer a complementary reading to the literary accounts on pre-Islamic Arabia, which were mostly composed outside of Arabia or long after the late antique period. There is a growing need to make the recent exciting discoveries of scholars working on the Qurʾān and Arabia more widely accessible to historians who may not have a solid background in archaeology and epigraphy. As such, the ERC project “The Qur'an as a Source for Late Antiquity” (QaSLA) organized a conference, titled “Epigraphy, the Qur'an, and the Religious Landscape of Arabia”, which took place in Tübingen on 8 – 10 September 2022. The three-day international conference brought together specialists in epigraphy as well as scholars of the Qurʾān to explore how recent epigraphic and archaeological findings and research have been changing our understanding of the Qurʾān and the Arabian religious, cultural, and political landscape. Accordingly, the conference sought to integrate new archaeological finds with ongoing studies on the genesis of the Qurʾān, its Arabian background, and the broader cultural milieu of pre-Islamic Arabia with a special focus on the dawn of Islam. The conference also featured an important contribution by Peter Webb on pre-Islamic poetry, another neglected corpus of inquiry into the history of pre-Islamic Arabia. Aiming to foster discussion between scholars, each panel was paired with a specialist on the Qurʾān or the wider history of Arabia.

Diety Nike-Victoria of the late Antique period on the territory of Georgia

The states on the territory of Georgia were part of the Classical antiquity ecumene. Accordingly, both Iberia and Colchis had close trade-economic and cultural relations with the Roman Empire, from where the deities popular in the empire spread to the territory of Georgia. Among them, a special place is occupied by the ancient god of victory, Nike (Ancient Greek: Νίκη). The name Nike is believed to date back to the pre- Greek period. In Greek mythology, Nike appears as a companion of Zeus and Athena. In Greek art, the deity is mainly depicted with symbols of victory – wings, a crown and a palm branch, but we also find a wingless Nike. In Roman reality, the Victoria (Latin: Victoria) corresponded to Nike. Research has shown that the deity Nike (Victoria) was one of the most widespread cults in late ancient Iberia, which is the result of political and cultural relations with the Greco-Roman world. In late antiquity, the cult of Nike (Victoria) was recorded on the territory of Georgia in the Kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) – on the territory of Greater Mtskheta, Urbnisi, Zhinvali... Since the Hellenistic period, religious syncretism was also reflected on the engraved gems found on the territory of Kartli. Athena-Tikhe-Fortuna- Demeter-Nike depicted in an oval-shaped cornelian intaglio in a fragment of an iron ring. Tomb №27 of Karniskhevi, 2nd-3rd centuries. Nike-Fortuna-Athena is depicted in an oval-shaped white, transparent glass intaglio in an iron seal. Urbnisi necropolis. Tomb №205. 1st-early 2nd century AD. Seals with the image of the deity Nike (Victoria) found in the territory of Georgia belonged to all layers of society. Gemas can be found both individually and in gold, silver and bronze rings. Intaglios with the image of the deity are made of: carnelian, glas, almadine, which are inserted into iron, bronze, silver and gold rings. It is noteworthy that the cult of Nike (Victoria) is mainly prevalent in urban centers. From the above, we can conclude that Nike (Victoria) was popular and in our opinion, mainly among the Romanized population.

The Western Delta in Late Antiquity

This article reviews recent archaeological work—in particular archaeological surveys, excavations, and analysis of pottery—in the western Egyptian Delta. The goal is to present a synthesis and to elucidate patterns of settlement in this region that can be of value in a historical reconstruction. The article argues that in the fifth and sixth centuries the western Delta was booming and was deeply integrated into the economy of the Eastern Roman Empire. Settlement was at an all-time high point for the area. The desert margins were colonized with vineyards, saints, and monks; the northern swamps were filled with new villages. The western Delta had been a most important region of Egypt since the Saite period, yet it is argued here that the Roman period (including much of the fourth century) shows a contraction of settlement and economic activity. This contraction separates two periods of remarkable growth: the Ptolemaic and late antique periods. The western Delta is therefore another example of the widespread growth of the rural economy in the eastern Mediterranean in the last centuries of antiquity.

The Red-lacquered ceramics of the Late Antique-Pre-Byzantine period Discovered in the Gonio-Apsaros area in 2018-2022

The article explores red-lacquered ceramics discovered in Gonio-Apsaros in recent years. The southwestern Georgia has yielded many diverse red-lacquered ceramics from the ancient and late antique periods, less from the early Byzantine era. However, recently more have been discovered, forming an intriguing category within the kitchenware. Being imported goods, they provide insights into the region's interactions with the world.The fragments of bowls (Late Roman C) including mouth, body, base, mouth-wall, fit into three distinct forms (10A, 10C, 3G/F) identified by Hayes. They are defined by orange, fine-grained ware, flared body and a mouth of varying cross-sections, separated by a delicate groove, traces of reddish varnish on the inside. A bowl fragment bears a cross-shaped mark with rings and can be associated with the types 67 and 68 of Hayes (LRC), with thickened, upturned mouths of polygonal or quadrangular cross-sections, light reddish-brown and fine-grained ware with occasional admixtures, somtimes remnants of pinkish-reddish varnish.
 2019Due to the Byzantine Empire's expansion eastward, parts of Lazica became influenced by Byzantine economy, culture, politics. Apsaros fell within the Byzantine borders from the late 5th century. The growing discovery of materials near the Roman castle highlights the newfound significance of Apsaros increasing interest in it.keywords: Late Antiquity-Early-Byzantine period, South-west Georgia, Ceramics, Red-lacquered ceramics

Animal management in the fortified palace Felix Romuliana – Gamzigrad (Serbia) throughout the Late Antique and the Early Byzantine periods

This paper represents the first results of zooarchaeological analysis of animal remains from the fortified palace Felix Romuliana – Gamzigrad in eastern Serbia. The faunal material derives from the Late Antique (the second half of the 4th and the 5th centuries) and the Early Byzantine (the end of the 5th to the beginning of the 7th century) contexts investigated in the tower 15 of the later fortification which was built during the reign of Emperor Galerius (293–311) in the first decade of the 4th century CE. According to the results, some similarities and differences were noted between the periods in question. Namely, during both periods the most important animal was pig and the patterns of exploitation were similar. Cattle exploitation was oriented towards secondary products in both phases of the settlement, however, there is a slight decrease in cattle ratio and its size during the Early Byzantine period which could suggest the decline in the importance of this species though time. Regarding caprines, in the Late Antique period the local community mainly exploited secondary products, while in the Early Byzantine period the focus shifted to meat exploitation. Furthermore, the increase in numbers of indicated species was observed during the Early Byzantine period. The low amount of wild animal and fish remains suggests that hunting and fishing were periodically practised by the local population.

:La villa dopo la villa 2: Trasformazione di un sistema insediativo ed economico nell’Italia centrale tra tarda Antichità e Medioevo

:<i>La villa dopo la villa 2: Trasformazione di un sistema insediativo ed economico nell’Italia centrale tra tarda Antichità e Medioevo</i>

Bishops in Flight: Exile and Displacement in Late Antiquity by Jennifer Barry

Reviewed by: Bishops in Flight: Exile and Displacement in Late Antiquity by Jennifer Barry Dirk Rohmann Bishops in Flight: Exile and Displacement in Late Antiquity Jennifer Barry Berkeley: University of California Press, 2019. Pp. xix + 200. ISBN: 9780520300378 The primary scope of this book is the exile primarily of two famous bishops, Athanasius of Alexandria and John Chrysostom, taking into account also some related exile cases (26). The main strength of the book is its thorough and novel application of spatial theories to the development of a fourth-century discourse of exile. The introduction gives a stimulating overview of models and theories underpinning Barry's interpretation of the discourse of exile in the main part of her book (11–25). Barry (like Daniel Washburn's 2013 book Banishment in the Later Roman Empire) sets out with the claim that exile came to be the new martyrdom, and that emperors were responsible for sending bishops into exile. Barry is right to qualify this claim on page 2 because indeed in the early to mid-fourth century it was normally the synod of bishops that took the initiative to exile Christian clerics. It is also doubtful that banishment was always the "outcome of doctrinal disputes" (2), as bishops could be banned for all sorts of reasons. While the introduction does include a brief discussion of the terminology of exile both in the classical and late antique periods (7–9), unfortunately there is no explanation of the legal implications of different categories of exile (relegatio, deportatio, and so on, while the Greek key term exoriā is not even listed). It is true enough that legal texts, including canonical ones, are more precise than narrative sources, which tend to be heavily biased, as Barry rightly points out. However, there is also a tendency throughout the book to further conflate the terms already indicated in the book title—flight, exile, and displacement—not least because subsequent sources are quoted in translation only, which are not always terminologically precise. For example, while Barry is right to say that it is unclear whether the flight of Athanasius was legally a kind of exile (2), she often subsumes under the generic term of "flight" different legal categories, as in the case of John Chrysostom, who was exiled on imperial order, and of Theophilus, who voluntarily left Constantinople (84–92). The book is likewise not very precise in saying that "flight during times of persecution" came to change dramatically between the third and fourth century (26, for example, and the back cover text). To my mind, the author could have stated more clearly that this comes as a corollary to the fact that forced exiles of bishops were virtually unknown before the council of Nicaea in 325. The reason for this is explained in a nutshell by Sozomen (HE 3.23.3), who is probably right to say that Christian communities never developed a discourse of internal persecution before the Arian controversy because they all felt united by a hostile pagan environment and did not allow their differences to come between them. Nevertheless, clerical exile in the fourth century and beyond is firmly rooted not in the cowardly flight of bishops during periods of imperial persecution but rather in excommunication. This tradition is not new but goes back all the way to the Epistles of Paul (Gal 1–2). The overview of previous research in the introduction takes account of English language and some German language scholarship [End Page 245] (Brennecke, but not the wider Athanasius Forschungsstelle). Vallejo Girvés is mentioned in the acknowledgements (page xii), but her important works on clerical exile do not appear in the bibliography. The clerical exile database mentioned on page 11 was at its early stages at the time of submission, but it is not among the resources "organized by many of the participants" of the 2015 Oxford Patristic workshop. The main part of the book excels with its numerous close readings of the imagery attached to various exile locations. Chapter 1 argues that Athanasius casts the desert as a safe haven from heresy in his writings. It is, however, implausible that Athanasius alluded to classical motifs, such as Odysseus...

Critical Fabulation and the Foundations of Classical Judaism

This article interrogates the historiography of the field of classical Judaism and suggests what a revisionist feminist historiography of this foundational period might look like. Feminist analysis of gender, class, and race in antiquity allows us to see how scholarly biases today reinscribe and even exceed ancient prejudices. Building on Blossom Stefaniw’s essay “Feminist Historiography and Uses of the Past” and deploying Saidiya Hartman’s method of critical fabulation to analyze synagogue inscriptions and rabbinic texts, this article offers counternarratives of Jewish daily life in the period of Late Antiquity. Through investigation of evidence for enslaved, manumitted, and fostered people in the households of the late antique Jewish patriarchs, this article emphasizes the contribution of ostensibly nonnormative Jews to late antique synagogues, rabbinic learning, and Jewish society in Late Antiquity. It argues that our imaginings of Jewish society and the Jewish household in premodernity must change to accommodate the evidence of these heretofore marginalized Jews and the challenges posed by their enslaved status and/or gendered identity. This restoration of excluded perspectives and traditions represents a more ethical historiographic practice, which produces more inclusive and accurate representations of the past, sets the stage for recognizing continuities through the medieval era, and, finally, enables a different present, one with subjects empowered to construct more ethical social norms within and outside the academy.

The contribution of archeometry in characterization of decorative materials from the site of Villa di Teodorico in Galeata (Italy)

Villa di Teodorico in Galeata (Forlì-Cesena, Emilia Romagna) is an important archeological site in the north of Italy occupied from sixth century BC to twelfth century AD. The most interesting results concern the Roman age, when a large villa was built, and the late antiquity, when the Ostrogothic king Theodoric decided to build in this area his palatium (early sixth century AD). The archeometric investigation was performed on Roman wall paintings fragments and on late antique glass sectilia fragments belonging to Palazzo di Teodorico by using a multi-technique approach that included micro-Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, UV–visible–NIR diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry with optic fibers and optical stereo-microscopy.. This analytical approach allowed the identification of all components, collecting molecular, elemental, microscopic, morphological and chromatic data. The characterization of samples supplied essential archeological, historical and technological information. The production techniques and the rich materials employed suggest the importance of the site in different periods. The evolution of the manufacturing technologies and the possible trade routes mainly during late antique period are witnessed by the change in the raw materials.Graphical abstract

Dental disease reflects differential diets and changes in consumption over time at Knossos

AbstractKnossos was an important city on Crete and within Mediterranean networks during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Late Antique periods. However, there were significant social, cultural, and economic shifts that appear to have caused changes to daily lifeways, including diet. This paper sets out to explore dietary changes across these time periods by looking at dental caries, with reference also to antemortem tooth loss, calculus, and stable isotope data. This study also looks to contextualize these results using archaeological and textual information relating to diet. It presents a thorough methodological approach to the investigation and interpretation of caries and discusses some of the shortcomings of using a fragmentary and commingled skeletal assemblage. The Roman diet was more cariogenic than in the Hellenistic or Late Antique periods. The caries‐zone analysis of the teeth suggests that there may have been a greater addition of sugars to the diet in the Roman period, though the increased caries could also be due to improved preparation techniques and technologies producing a more refined and sticky carbohydrate diet. Such changes could be due to either increased connectivity making certain foods more readily available, the cultural changes in food consumption or dental hygiene due to the influx of merchants, colonists, migrants, and other newcomers to the Colonia Iulia Nobilis Cnosus that was Roman Knossos, or increased prosperity at the site in this period. There was a significant difference detected between females and males for caries indicating differential dietary practices between the sexes, which was most notable for the Roman period.

Nike/Victoria representations in Late Antique Central Balkans

During the archaeological excavations in the north-eastern part of the thermae at Constantine the Great?s villa in Mediana, in the 2022 campaign, in a layer of debris two fragments of marble relief with a representation of Nike/Victoria standing on a globe were discovered. The fine grain white marble used for the icon, with its exquisite modelling, suggest that it was made from expensive marble by the hands of a skilful artisan in the period from the 3rd to the 4th century. The fact that the relief was discovered in the area of an imperial residential complex relates it to other known Central Balkan finds with Victoria representations, discovered in Galerius? imperial domain Felix Romuliana and Moesia Superior?s capital Viminacium. All these mythological objects can be dated into the period of the 3rd and the 4th century, attesting that the goddess? symbolism did not lose any of its popularity in the period of Late Antiquity - on the contrary, it announced the transformation of the goddess into an angel and, later on, as the one who blessed the emperors during their coronation. Thus, the question of Victoria?s different roles (goddess or personification) again arises, gaining a new meaning in the early Byzantine period.

Odrazi sjevernojadranskih klesarskih radionica u ranosrednjovjekovnom Sisku

The paper contributes to the interpretation of five fragments of early medieval sculpture and two capitals from the 5th century found around Sisak. Through the historical context and the analysis of the formal elements of early medieval sculpture, the authors discuss influences that came to the Pannonia Inferior from the cultural centres in the northern Adriatic, thus reflecting the specific circumstances in which Sisak is mentioned again after the late antique period in written sources of the early 9th century.