ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with some new finds of Early and Middle Byzantine ceramics and some novel, perhaps for some quite radical or surprising, thoughts that they instigate on the ‘Dark Ages’ and the following centuries in the eastern Mediterranean. It concerns recently excavated or recovered (i.e., re-discovered in storage rooms) archaeological finds from two major urban centres in this region: Athens (Greece) and Butrint (Albania). The ceramic finds discussed here date from the Early Byzantine (‘Dark Age’) and Middle Byzantine periods, broadly ranging from the 7th to the 12th/early 13th centuries. In order to understand the wider context and importance of these finds, I will first introduce my research project at Leiden University into the material culture of four major coastal towns in the eastern Mediterranean from Early Byzantine to Ottoman times. Then it is my aim to discuss some of the preliminary results of our study of the – until now – mostly unknown Early and Middle Byzantine pottery from Butrint and Athens. I will analyse these finds against the background of the economic and social conditions of Butrint and Athens during these periods, and in the framework of the habitational history and spatial organisation of these two urban centres.
