Ceramics and medieval rural settlements (Archaeology)

Lately we have seen a growing academic interest in the early medieval countryside across the Iberian Peninsula. The data concerning the centuries between the dismantlement of the Western Roman Empire and the Muslim occupation is still scarce; however, several patterns start to emerge, forming a patchwork of shifting landscapes. This paper focuses on the results of recent field surveys and excavations, carried out within a research project on the territory of Castelo de Vide (Alentejo, Portugal). Present findings show evidence of a complex process of adaptation throughout the post-Roman centuries (AD 500‑800). The transition from medium-sized Roman villas to small-scale valley settlements results in noticeable changes in the management of local resources and economic activities. The new countryside is shaped through a network of small farmsteads in which production scale and focus shifts. Comparisons will be drawn between the Roman land-use model and the new settlement pattern. Based on the available archaeological evidence, it will be argued that in the period after the collapse of Roman imperial structures a new form of peasant community emerges.

This paper deals with the question of using ceramic complexes as a foundation for isochronal existence of ceramic in wide areas. Author analyzed three types of ceramic complexes such as covered complexes, complexes considered as closed and uncovered complexes. The definition of covered ceramic complex is the one which finished it existing in one moment, was preserved and didn’t change ever after. For instance it could be a tomb, a treasure, a burned building, an inner space of oven (for ceramic complexes). The second one — complex considered as closed is the complex which combines some artifacts that were dated as isochronal for particularly period of existence (for example, settlement existence). It could be middle and lower stratum of building filling or specific building horizon as well. The third one — is a summation of findings which were uncovered in a way we could not be sure of their isochronal existence. Such complex could be formed for a long period instead of covered complex and an example of it could be the stratum of settlement filled of finds. The last types of complexes were used by author only in a case of absence any other marks for ceramic dating. Several types of ceramic complexes discovered in 42 rural settlements, hillforts, and burials were selected and analyzed by author. The dating and comparative chronology proposed by investigators was considered by author.

This paper discusses the results of a field-survey carried out at a site in central-south Sicily (Contrada Cimia, Mazzarino) previously unknown to scholars. The aim is to provide complementary data for the diachronic evolution of the settlement patterns in this area, filling a gap between major sites which have been the focus of recent archaeological research (Philosophiana, Villa del Casale, etc). Sporadic or minor evidence of human activity at this site dates to classical Greek period, early Roman Empire, and to the first two centuries of Byzantine rule on the island (6th-7th cc). However, it was only during the Norman period (11th-12th cc.) that the settlement at Cimia became an actual rural village, whose size probably exceeded 7 hectares. The explanations for the establishment ex novo of this village are multiple and likely linked to both the great quality of this water-rich agricultural catchment-area, and to its strategic position within the network of roads crossing central-south Sicily during the Norman period.

The Middle Islamic (MIS) period at Umm el-Jimal has remained largely unremarked upon, in large part because the later hand-made painted (HMGP) and plain pottery found at the site has been understood as Late Ottoman.

New excavations at the House XVII-XVIII complex revealed striking evidence of significant MIS activity primarily in House XVIII’s courtyard and cistern/reservoir, the latter of which was re-plastered at this time. The pottery finds shed new light on the types of MIS wares present at the site, the majority of which were distinct in ware/fabric from the types of HMGP published from other parts of Jordan.

Subsequent reinvestigation of the “Late Ottoman” contexts at Umm el-Jimal revealed that most of their contents may all or in part be of Middle Islamic date. However, despite the identification of MIS pottery/activity at the site, there was no sign of intensive, long-term occupation in any of the excavated areas.

To put Umm el-Jimal in its regional context, MIS presence and intensity of occupation in the settlements near Umm el-Jimal was analysed though survey pottery from Umm es-Surab, Deir al-Kahf, and Khirbet es-Samra. The types and quantities of MIS pottery found at each site were strikingly different and beg further exploration through excavations. Yet with the current evidence, we can hypothesize a society where possible longer-term settlement is concentrated at Umm es-Surab, but also relies heavily on movement and shorter-term occupation at places like Umm el-Jimal, which necessitated the harnessing of water resources in a region that receives little rainfall.

The present study aims at bringing to the attention of specialists a very important archaeological site in the research of the Árpádian Era in Ierului Valley. The spot thus identified is located on the site of a settlement that disappeared during the Middle Ages.

RESUMEN En un terreno situado en los alrededores de la villa de San Pedro del Pinatar, cerca del límite entre las provincias de Murcia y Alicante se encuentra la villa romana de El Salero. Se trata de una villa marítima en la que puede constatarse la existencia de dos conjuntos edilicios bien diferenciados: por una parte los almacenes y un lagar, pertene-cientes a su pars fructuaria; por otra, dos caleras y varias fosas rellenas de cenizas, estucos policromos, bloques de yeso y escombros que proceden de las villas de la zona.

Funa fortress is one of the most remarkable and well­studied monuments of the fortification architecture of the medieval Crimea. The good preservation of its architectural ensemble led to a keen interest of specialists to study it.
As a result, the stages of its building history are described in detail, and the outward appearance of the fortifications is reconstructed with a high confidence.However, quite a lot of issues related to the daily life of the builders and inhabitants of the fortress still have received a little attention from researchers. Even less known is about the people who lived on the top and slopes of the rock Kelsenyn­Khayasy which was chosen for the construction of a border outpost of the principality of Theodoro. The task of this article is to analyse the excavated materials from the sites preceding the building of the fortress in the 15th
century, with a special attention to the ceramic finds. There are  ousehold containers, kitchen pottery and tableware of various origins giving an idea not only about the features of the  raditional culture, but also about vast and diverse trade relations of the population of the settlement, which was located on a one of the most important land routes connecting the steppe part of the peninsula with the seaside.

Archeologia Medievale, XLIII (2016), pp. 363-382

Summary
The salt landscape on the borders of Al-Andalus: considerations on the central-eastern area of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th-12th centuries.
The objective of this study is to analyze the social organization of the territory and the distribution of the settlements particularly in relation to the management and control of the natural resources, especially salt, considering the places connected with its production: the salt pans. The geographical area which has been chosen is located in the center of the Iberian peninsula, especially the area north and east of the province of Guadalajara and south of the nearby province of Soria. The chronological period that has been studied is the period from the 8th to the 12th century. From a historical and cultural point of view, these centuries correspond to the period in which this land was part of the Marca Media di al-Andalus, that is, the central space of the frontier between the andalusi society and the feudal society of the Christian kingdoms. For this reason, we have analyzed the invasion and Islamization of this area from the 8th to the 9th century, up until the expansion, conquest and feudal colonization which occurred during the 11th and 12th centuries.

Riassunto
L’obiettivo di questo studio è analizzare l’organizzazione sociale del territorio e la distribuzione degli insediamenti, anche in relazione alla gestione e al controllo delle risorse naturali, in particolare quella del sale, considerando anche i luoghi legati alla sua produzione: le saline. L’ambito geografico scelto si situa nel centro della Penisola Iberica, in particolare nel nord-est della provincia di Guadalajara e nel sud della vicina provincia di Soria. Il periodo cronologico preso in considerazione va dall’VIII al XII secolo. Da un punto di vista storico-culturale questi secoli corrispondono al periodo in cui queste terre fecero parte della Marca Media di al-Andalus, ovvero dello spazio centrale della frontiera tra la società andalusí e quella feudale dei regni cristiani. Vengono qui
analizzate, pertanto, l’invasione e l’islamizzazione di queste aree nei secoli VIII e IX, fino all’espansione, conquista e colonizzazione feudale che avvenne tra l’XI e il XII secolo.

Resumen
Paisajes de la sal en la frontera de al-Andalus. Reflexiones sobre el sector centro-oriental de la Península Ibérica entre los siglos VIII al XII.
El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la organización social del espacio y la distribución de los asentamientos, así como su relación con la gestión de los recursos naturales, y más concretamente la sal y sus lugares productivos: las salinas. El ámbito geográfico elegido se sitúa en el centro de la Península Ibérica. En concreto en el noreste de la provincia de Guadalajara y en el sur de la vecina provincia de Soria. El periodo cronológico tomado en consideración se extiende desde el siglo VIII al siglo XII. Desde un punto de vista histórico-cultural, estos siglos corresponden a la pertenencia de estas tierras a la Marca Media de al-Andalus, es decir, al espacio central de la frontera entre la sociedad andalusí y la feudal, la de los reinos cristianos. Se aborda, por lo tanto, desde la invasión e islamización de estas tierras entre los siglos VIII y IX hasta la expansión, conquista y colonización feudal que se produce entre los siglos XI-XII.