Overview

The archaeology of Byzantium is the archaeology of an empire whose chronological bounds, broadly speaking, spanned the fourth through fifteenth century AD. The authors whose works are collected in this handbook examine methods and practice of Byzantine archaeology as well as the materials typically encountered in artifacts produced within the imperial boundaries. Byzantine archaeology is still a relatively young discipline, and, while vast in its scope and ambition, work in the field tends to be challenging to access. This volume aims to remedy this situation by providing current views of the nature of Byzantine archaeology, exploring crucial studies which elucidate salient features of the empire's people, as well as offering glimpses of how things may develop in the near future.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael J. Decker (University of South Florida)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
ISBN:  

9781107042612

ISBN 10:   1107042615
Pages:   1319
Publication Date:   30 April 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available, will be POD  
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Table of Contents

Part I. Byzantine Archaeology: Sources and Methods: Introduction Michael J. Decker; 1. Byzantine archaeology: a loss of innocence Richard Hodges; 2. Survey archaeology as a source of data: principles and practice Ufuk Serin; 3. Ceramics and Byzantine archaeology Pamela Armstrong; 4. Papyri and the study of archaeology in Byzantium Arietta Papaconstantinou; 5. Coins Julian Baker; 6. Byzantine epigraphy Frederick Lauritzen; 7. Sillography and Byzantine archaeology Olga Karagiorgou; 8. Metalwork Brigitte Pitarakis; 9. Skeletal materials Anthousa Papagiannaki; 10. Byzantine glass vessels Christopher Lightfoot; 11. Sculpture Simon Davies; 12. Textiles Petra Linschied; Part II. Themes in Byzantine Archaeology: 13. Constantinople Abrecht Berger; 14. The Balkans Jim Crow; 15. The Byzantine west to the pillars of Hercules Paul Arthur; 16. Anatolia Philipp Niewöhner; 17. The Southern Levant in the Byzantine period (324–600): old and new debates in the light of archaeological contributions Itamar Taxel; 18. Crimea and the western Cacausus: seventh to twelfth centuries Michel Kazanski; 19. Byzantine ecologies Adam Izdebski; 20. The archaeology of Byzantine daily life Marcus Rautman; 21. The bioarchaeology of Byzantine death Chryssi Bourbou; 22. Art and reality: material culture in Byzantium Nadine Schibille; 23. Ethnicity and identity in Byzantine archaeology Kostis Kourelis; 24. Gender and Byzantine archaeology Marica Cassis; 25. Coins, context and the Byzantine economy (seventh to fifteenth centuries) Cécile Morrisson; 26. Revival and revolution: Byzantine shipwrecks of the greater Mediterranean world Sean A. Kingsley; 27. Byzantine ports and harbourless seas Sean A. Kingsley; 28. Architectural approaches to Byzantium Cecily Hennessy; 29. Byzantine rock-cut architecture J. Eric Cooper; 30. The built environment and the experience of the fortified cities in Byzantium Nikolas Bakirtzis; 31. Churches and sacred spaces Vincenzo Ruggieri; 32. The 'Byzantine' countryside in transition ca. 550–ca. 850 Luca Zavagno; 33. The middle- and late Byzantine countryside Michael J. Decker; 34. The coming of Islam Gideon Avni; 35. The end of Byzantium: the transition in material culture from Byzantine to Ottoman times Joanita Vroom; 36. The future of Byzantine archaeology Myrto Veikou.

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Author Information

Michael J. Decker is Associate Professor of History at the University of South Florida. The focus of his research is Byzantium to c. 1100. His publications include Tilling the Hateful Earth (2009) and The Byzantine Dark Ages (2016).

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