This volume edited by Philipp Niewöhner brings together an impressive array of Anatolian sites, international projects and accomplished archaeologists, the result of which is a panoramic survey of the current state of archaeological research on Byzantine Anatolia.
Byzantine Anatolia, in the context of this volume, spans (as the subtitle indicates) not the entirety of the eastern Roman (or ‘Romano-Byzantine’) imperial rule, from the foundation of Constantinople in the fourth century up to its fall in 1453, but the mid fifth to eleventh centuries. This periodization divides the last four centuries of Byzantine rule—limited to the northwestern Anatolian peninsula—from its preceding six centuries, due to the ‘fundamental changes in historical geography, material culture, and the archaeological record’ (p. 4) that would require different approaches than those employed in this volume.
The short introduction by the editor provides an overview of the volume and a brief history of research. Niewöhner identifies several major themes: first, the notion of (urban) decline in the early Byzantine period, dating to the post-mid fifth century (p. 3), well into the ‘Invasion Period’, the seventh–ninth centuries, corresponding to those centuries that have historically (but often misleadingly) been designated as the Byzantine Dark Ages (p. 6). A second major theme is ruralization as a gradual but continuous phenomenon over the centuries. This goes hand in hand with his discussion of the intersection between prosperity, the size and character of empire—especially Romanitas—and urbanization, each of which Niewöhner describes as circumstantially independent of the others: ‘the early Byzantine period was already ruralized, but still prosperous, while the later Byzantine periods were still Roman, but not prosperous anymore’ (p. 2).
The rest of the volume is presented in two parts. In many ways, it is organized like a companion or handbook, but it includes, in addition to the 14 thematic syntheses, two dozen case studies on sites that were selected for inclusion based on their demonstrably diachronic occupation during the entirety of the period(s) under discussion in the book (on which more below).
In Part I, the syntheses concisely but comprehensively tackle a variety of subjects deemed ‘of general interest for the archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia’ (p. 4): Historical Geography (Koder), Transport and Communication (Belke), Urbanism (Niewöhner), Human Remains (Demirel), Coins (Morrisson), Rural Settlements (Izdebski), Fortifications (Crow), Houses (Niewöhner), Monasteries (Niewöhner), Churches (Buchwald and Savage), Rock-cut Architecture (Öztürk), Funerary Archaeology (Ivison), Ceramics (Vroom) and Small Finds (Pülz).
Most of the syntheses provide chronological overviews of the evidence, though others provide an overview by theme or approach (e.g. Izdebski with excavation and survey; Öztürk with different rock-cut settlement forms and their various occupation, primary uses, and sophistication in treatment; Koder with different approaches to reconstructing the historical geography of Anatolia; Vroom's discussion of early and middle Byzantine tablewares, amphorae and coarsewares, respectively).
These up-to-date overviews are invaluable in and of themselves, whether because of their expanded chronological and geographical scope (i.e. rather than studies focused on a topic in a particular site or region), or as newly attempted studies that integrate disparate data from around Anatolia (e.g. Ivison's comprehensive discussion of a distinctly Byzantine funerary culture in Anatolia). Some inconsistencies in the space dedicated to each synthesis are inevitable. Buchwald and Savage's contribution on churches is the longest of the syntheses, not least because, as the authors note, ‘churches are the most numerous, best preserved, and most fully published monuments of Byzantine Anatolia’ (p. 129). The same correlation between, on the one hand, a long tradition of research dedicated to certain themes or categories of evidence and, on the other, a correspondingly longer dedication of space in terms of page numbers is paralleled in the syntheses of historical geography, urbanism, fortifications and ceramics, all topics that reflect historical priorities of archaeological research in Anatolia.
In Part II, the two dozen case studies are descriptive summaries of research and topography, and most are organized chronologically as variations on the theme of early Byzantine–Invasion Period–middle Byzantine periodization (several elide the Invasion Period and middle Byzantine period into ‘later Byzantine periods’), though some are organized according to material type or area of the settlement (e.g. the courtyard complexes at Çanlı Kilise). The sites presented include: Nicaea (Peschlow), Assos (Böhlendorf-Arslan), Pergamon (Otten), Sardis (Rautman), Ephesus (Ladstätter), Priene (Fildhuth), Miletus (Niewöhner), Mount Latmos (Peschlow), Aphrodisias (Dalgıç & Sokolicek), Patara (Peschlow), Olympos (Uçkan), Side (Piesker), Sagalassos (Poblome, Talloen & Kaptijn), Binbirkilise (Jackson), Çanlı Kilise (Ousterhout), Aezani (Stroth), Amorium (Lightfoot), Germia (Niewöhner), Ancyra (Peschlow), Boğazköy (Böhlendorf-Arslan), Çadır Höyük (Cassis), Euchaϊta (Haldon, Elton & Newhard), Amastris (Crow) and Sinope (Crow).
The case studies range from 3 to 13 pages long. Correspondingly, they go into varying degrees of detail about the archaeology of each site, from general overview to detailed description of individual monuments and finds. In terms of site size and significance, there is considerable and useful variation in the case studies selected, from rural sites and settlements like Çadır Höyük or Boğazköy to Christian pilgrimage destinations like Germia and Euchaϊta, alongside the decreasingly urban and often (re)fortified centres, like Priene, that reflect Niewöhner's discussion in the Introduction of increased ruralization in the Byzantine period. To that same end, many contributions make explicit (if passing) reference to regional survey work in the region and how that has contributed to better contextualization of developments at the settlements themselves.
Chronologically, the selection of sites presented as case studies expresses the volume's commitment to diachronic development, prioritizing sites with continuous occupation from the fifth to eleventh centuries. While this criterion excludes several important sites and regions that feature prominently in the syntheses (e.g. Cilicia and Isauria in Buchwald and Savage's synthesis of churches), it does illuminate the particularities of the occupation history of each site and the difficulties of defining and tracing continuity. Many of the case studies do have gaps in their settlement history—at Boğazköy, for example, the evidence for late antique and early Byzantine activity is limited to fourth–fifth-century graves and ‘there is no evidence for settlement continuity between the early and the middle Byzantine periods’ (p. 367), while sites like Lycian Olympos provide little to no evidence for occupation after the seventh century (p. 293). and several sites provide sparse evidence for middle Byzantine activity.
There is no overall map of the case studies, though Koder's synthesis of historical geography does provide a map of Byzantine sites in Anatolia (fig. 1.2). The volume is thoroughly and lusciously illustrated with colour photos, maps and plans, both in the syntheses and in the case studies. This decision emphasizes the opportunities for compelling and information-rich visualizations afforded by the use of colour in illustrations. There are very few typographical errors; more visually jarring was the decision to present the table of contents and chapter titles in a sans-serif font incapable of rendering certain Turkish letters, which fortunately was not an issue in the text.
The two indices are limited to known ‘Anatolian Sites by Ancient and Byzantine Names’ and ‘Anatolian Mountains, Lakes, and Rivers by Ancient or Byzantine Names’. The former does provide additional indications of certain features at different sites: the presence of a harbour or fortifications, or designation as an aplekton [fortified camp], are identified in the index as H, F, or A, respectively. This is a useful feature for a variety of reasons, not least because there is no corresponding synthesis on maritime transport and communication infrastructure. As in the map presented in fig 1.2, Mt Latmos has been omitted from the index. The second index of mountains, lakes and rivers adheres to the typographical conventions employed in the index of sites, and likewise indicates the type of feature in each entry as Fl, M, or L; that is, as a Flumen [river], Mons/montes [mountain/mountains], or Lacus [lake], respectively. Both indices indicate the general location of the sites through typography: regular type indicates location in western Anatolia, cursive to the eastern half of the Anatolian peninsula, and underlined to those sites east of the Mediterranean basin.
The volume is a valuable contribution to the field of Byzantine archaeology in Anatolia, not least in the successful compilation of two dozen well-known archaeological projects, which are usually presented in many different languages and publications, into a single volume. The juxtaposition of syntheses and case studies is both convenient and effective: the ability to read a synthesis and immediately look to the case studies for further contextualized discussion (and extensive bibliography) is helpful to the researcher, as well as an excellent resource for the student at any level. That said, the volume is not billed as a companion or handbook intended for the lay audience, or as a textbook geared toward the undergraduate or postgraduate student, and certainly the reader would need to have a well-informed background to approach many of the chapters.
It is clear that great care has been taken in the production of this volume on the part of the editor and the individual authors. Both historically grounded as well as forward-looking in its comprehensive scope, The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia will be an indispensable resource for scholars of Byzantine archaeology.
