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Medieval ceramics from Paterna and Manises were highly prized and very widely traded in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe during the Middle Ages. Although a decline in their presence can be observed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries due to the boom in Italian majolica, they continued to be distributed, despite the fact that they now represented old-fashioned styles and tastes. The eighteenth century saw the beginnings of a certain commercial recovery, thanks to tiles from the factories in the city of Valencia. The Royal Factory at Alcora (Castellón), in the north of the Valencian region, played an important part in this revival of taste, and its products came to be widely distributed throughout the Spanish-speaking world. This study presents a general overview of the commercial distribution of Valencian ceramics between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries based on archaeological and historical evidence.
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This study consists of initial observations made upon Byzantine, Seljuk, Begliks and Ottoman pottery finds from the Aphrodisias excavations since 2013. Chronology of the pottery finds uncovered in the North Avenue, South Agora, Hadrianic Baths, Theatre and Temple of Aphrodite will be presented briefly. To resolve the contexts in which the potteries belong to, the emphasis is on the history of the city and political events that could have potentially caused considerable changes to the economy. By establishing analogies and considering the chronology of the city, an attempt is made herein to put the pottery finds into their possible contexts.Through the end of the 9th century in Aphrodisias, a sudden rise in the quantity of Byzantine potteries is observed. The city was in commercially connected to Constantinople and centers such as the Adriatic Coasts or Corinth. Pieces of Fine Sgrafitto Ware, Green and Brown Painted Ware and Slip Painted Ware produced from the middle of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century have been found in many areas of the city. Very few pottery finds belonging to the Seljuk period have been uncovered. In Aphrodisias, glazed pottery production probably started during the Byzantine or Begliks period.There was a period of growth in Aphrodisias from the first quarter of 15th century to the mid 16th century. In excavated areas, a large number of pottery finds have been found. With the change of commercial routes in the 17th century, the city was increasingly reduced into a rural settlement and has subsisted to the present day.
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Whereas historical, political and cultural studies reach the postmedieval period in Lebanon, interests for archaeological artifacts remains neglected.The archaeological excavations undertaken in 1996 and 1997 in Beirut, sites Bey 070, Bey 071 and Bey 111, led to the discovery of tableware ceramics (in the surface layers) dated to the 16th —19th centuries.In this paper, we examine tableware ceramics of various origins: Didymoteicho and Çanakkale (Thrace), Kütahya and Iznik (Analolia), Pisa and Montelupo (Tuscany), Albisola in Liguria, Varages in Provence, European porcelain, as well as local and/or regional ceramics.
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The article offers an analysis of main stages in development of glazed ceramics of Uzbekistan: Samanid, Karakhanid and Timurid periods, the period of the late medieval Uzbek Khanates and the modern period. The author characterizes local ceramic schools and centers and reveals traditional elements in development of pottery. She discusses reasons behind the spread of glazed ceramics during the first centuries of Islam. Its further specific development is explained within the context of social-historical development of the region.The ceramic industry of Uzbekistan is shown as a vibrant and dynamic process, which has maintained sustainable archetypical features through time. These include: conventional pattern, contrast colors, basic repertory of decoration: floral motifs, stylized images of animals and birds, simplistic geometric ornamentation.
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The article deals with the most popular among the warriors offensive melee facilities weapons, especially swords, medieval sabres, falchions and their components found in the northern part of the Dniester-Prut interfluvial area.The territory of the Northern Bukovina knows 11 swords. The above analysis of blade weapons made it possible to distinguish among them some types of XIIa, XVIа, XVII, and XX according to E. Okshott, dating to 14th—16th centuries. The proposed typology is not exhaustive and definitive, and perhaps further research and new finds will be able to clarify it more.The fragments of the sabre, as well as the saber guards, were found on the studied area. The latter refers to types I, II according to A. Kirpichnikov. The guards are dated by the analogies of the 11th—13th centuries. Among the weapons found in the investigated territory, there are also known two falchions, of cross-guard shape and pommel shape. The falchions are type 1 and 2 according to A. Nadolsky. They are dated by the middle of the 15th — the beginning of the 16th centuries.Thus, it is obvious that the local population from the investigated territory was quite sufficiently armed. Evolution of these weapons was mainstreamed with the general development of the military art in Europe. The territory of the Northern Bukovina in the 12th—16th century was involved into the pan-European political events. And the finds of the advanced weapons of that time serves as evidences to the fact.
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The solution of the problem of localization of the Khadzhibey castle on the territory of modern Odessa became possible due to the first geo-radar exploration in the area of its most probable existence. The work revealed at a depth of more than 2 m an anomaly that coincides in size and contours with the plans of the stone castle in Khadzhibey, known by cartographic materials of the 1780s. The castle was located opposite the modern houses no. 4—5 on Primorsky Boulevard. The depth of occurrence corresponds to the horizon of the surface of the Khadzhibey period, revealed by the expedition of A. O. Dobrolyubsky during excavations near the Vorontsov Palace in 1997.The castle existed at this place (almost unchanged) in the period from the 1420s to the 1790s. It was built in connection with the defensive initiatives of Witold or T. Buczacki. In 1593, the Turks attempted to reconstruct the castle. In 1765, the structure was slightly modernized — a coastal artillery battery was added from the north-east, coastal side. In 1789, it was incapacitated by blasting two mines. After 1794, it was disassembled to harvest building materials.
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The article is devoted to revealing regularities of formation of the Russian-nomadic frontier in the Middle Don region based on the analysis of the geographical location of the archaeological sites of the 9th—17th cc. The sites of Slavic Borshevskaya culture (the end of the I Millennium AD) are located in the lower reaches of the Voronezh river and on the right Bank of the Middle Don (Central Russian upland). The sites of the Saltov culture are located on the right bank of the Middle Don, to the North of the Tikhaya Sosna river. The left bank of the Middle Don (the Oka-Don plain, Kalacska hill) was not an area of active colonization by the bearers of the Borshevskaya and Saltov cultures.In 12th — first half 13th centurie, the Russian population is documented in the lower reaches of the Voronezh river, Semiluki area reaches of the Don. Polovtsian nomads used to camp on the right bank of the Middle Don and do not spread beyond the South of the Tikhaya Sosna river and on the left bank of the Middle Don to the Bityug river.In the Golden Horde period, the Russian population colonized the left bank of the Middle Don. There is archaeological evidence of the coexistence of different ethnic groups. Nomadic sites do not extend to the North of the Tikhaya Sosna river, on the right bank of the Don river, and the mouth of the Voronezh river, on the left bank.Belgorod defensive line reproduces the line formed by the fortified settlements of Slavic Borshevskaya cultures on the rivers Don and Voronezh, and fortified settlements of the Saltov-Mayaki culture on the Tikhaya Sosna river. The left bank of the Middle Don in the 17th century, just like in the time before that, was still the region of the original colonization by the Russian population.
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The author publishes some new recently obtained and analyzed data related to historical topography of a Golden Horde city of Ukek. He specifically examines history of field research on the Uvek Hillfort, which dates back to 90s of 19 th c. His special focus in examining natural and geographic factors is on peculiar local topography affected by some landslides, as well as on a high hill with a flat top (the Uvek Mount), which gave the name to the city — Ukek, from a Mongolian word meaning ‘plateau’. Changes in landscape caused by either natural or anthropogenic factors are also assessed. New data on fortifications and hydraulic structures of the hillfort, a rich estate, a hammam, kilns and a mausoleum are also published and discussed in the article.
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The author provides general characteristics for over a hundred of archaeological sites of the Golden Horde time on the territory of the Volga Bulgaria, such as forts, unfortified settlements and necropolises. He studies history of their research, area of distribution, topography of some sites, stratigraphy and chronology, archaeological material, and historical context of their emergence and development.Archaeological research of 19th—20th cc. detected at least 330 settlements — both fortified and unfortified. Best studied are forts, i. e. remains of towns and fortresses. Yet, only a small part of archaeological forts can be identified as historical towns mentioned in written sources. Thus, the article first studies towns known from written sources (with Bilyar and Bulgar as the largest ones), then the forts that emerged in pre-Mongol period and continued to exist over the Golden Horde time, and then the forts emerged during the Golden Horde time and unfortified settlements, and last — necropolises of late nomads on the territory of Bulgar Ulus. Necropolises left by the settled population are considered in parallel with the respective settlements.
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This article represents the first full publication of the materials from restoration works (1984—1985) at one of the famous cult Muslim buildings of Medieval Crimea. An inscription above its door way states that the construction was made by Abdul-Asis, son of Ibrahim al-Arbeli, during the reign of khan Uzbek in 714 anno Hegirae (= 1314 AD). The field survey of the monument allowed the author to specify its chronology and architectonics, as well as to get an idea about some of its completely or partly lost architectural and construction details. Three building periods were distinguished: second half of 15th century, 1512—1513 and late 19th — early 20th century. The research has shown, that the mosque, despite of some Ottoman elements, was still influenced by Seljuk building traditions, involving reuse of some architectural and construction details from some earlier Golden Horde buildings, including the previous mosque of Uzbek from 1314, whose location is still unknown. The architectonics of the building clearly illustrates the beginning of a new stage in Muslim cult construction of Medieval Crimea and makes the so called Uzbek mosque a unique building of the transitional period between two architectural styles.
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The city of Bolgar situated 50 km south from the Kama river mouth occupied an advantageous geographical position. Starting from 10th century, the territory, which had been closely connected with Bolgar throughout the entire period of its existence up to the early 15th c., began to develop around the city. This territory occupied both the left and the right bank of the Volga. After the Mongol invasion, the number of settlements in the area considerably reduced. The remaining ones, closely connected with Bolgar, gained further development and actively participated in the commodity-money relations of the Golden Horde Bulgar ulus.
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The author discusses features of the Middle Volga region historical development in the second half of the 14th to first half of 15th c., in the Golden Horde decline period. The specificity of the three climatic zones of the Middle Volga region, which determined the economic structure and the originality of the population’s material culture, is taken into account. Following the economic boom and the growing number of urban and rural settlements in the first half of the 14th century, a decline and urban life degradation are traced later, as well as the population migration to the north due to military conflicts and climatic changes. On the other hand, new settlements, cities included, emerged in the Middle Volga in the late 14th to first half of the 15th century as a result of the influx of the Golden Horde servicemen, the Volga Finns and the Russians. In the first half of the 15th century, independent Tatar fiefdoms, or beilyaks are established here, and simultaneously prerequisites for the emergence of independent states — Kasimov and Kazan Khanates — are formed.
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In the vicinity of Bilyar (“Great City”), the capital of pre-Mongol Volga Bulgaria, there are 249 archaeological sites referring to the 10th — first half of the 15th century. Of these, 59 date back to the pre-Mongol and the Golden Horde periods, while 20 archaeological sites refer exclusively to the era of the Ulus Jochi. The collapse of the Great City occurred in 1236. This fact is established by both written and archaeological sources and serves as another argument in support of the view that the coins with the name of al-Nasir li-Din Allah were minted in the 1240s. Recent studies have made it possible to localize the restored “Golden-Horde Bilyar”, where coins were minted in the second half of the 13th century, not on the site of the destroyed city, as was thought previously, but rather in the territory of the vast Bilyar III and the Toretskoye settlement sites located 3 km north-west of it. The number of settlements declined almost 3-fold — up to 8 persons per 1 sq. km, with a corresponding decrease in the population density. The changes in settlement patterns and material culture of the Bilyar area population, characteristic of the other conquered territories as well, reflects the process of provincialization of the former pre-Mongol centers.
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The paper discusses peculiarities inherent in formation and development of the administrative-territorial structure of the Volga estuary in the Golden Horde period, singles out economic micro-regions included in the Khan’s domain and offers geographical characteristics of the lower reaches of the Volga River, which had influenced the development of the Golden Horde cities and the formation of their suburbs.
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Are characterized monuments of the Middle Don region in the the Golden Horde period. They relate to different groups of population: are settlements with Russian ceramics and nomadic graves, mausoleums, burial grounds and settlements. New data of anthropological researches are provided. Comparison of data of archeology and written sources is carried out.
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Ireland has nearly one hundred and seventy examples of cheek-pieces, two examples dating from the Later Bronze Age, the rest from c. sixth to seventeenth centuries AD, the great majority of which are of insular design and manufacture. There is a highly distinctive class that has been categorised as “horse pattern,” by far the greatest number being in the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, It is clear, however, from the basic anatomical details depicted that the animal incorporated into the design is a male deer, a red deer stag or a fallow deer buck. It is a distinct group, but one without immediate parallels, datable provenances or associations, and it is very difficult to find any convincing precursor inside or outside Ireland, or to use stylistic features to provide a reasonably close date-range. Metal analysis would tend to indicate later rather earlier mediaeval, a view that might be supported by ceramic motif parallels and, by the dating of the introduction of fallow deer to Ireland at the start of the thirteenth century AD.
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The Great Flood is a legendary story known from many ancient civilizations. The general idea is that the gods or god decide to destroy sinful humanity, but in the end they spare it by leaving a representative to repopulate the earth. Hardly anyone has not heard of the biblical Noah, God’s chosen one who survived the flood, but few know that long before history was recorded in the Bible, there was Ziusudra – the chosen one of the Sumerian gods who decided to destroy humanity as they unleash the waters and flood the earth. This paper presents a historical, geographical and substantive description of the cuneiform tablet revealing the history of the flood. Examples of other Sumerian cultural artifacts related to the myth are presented, as well as analogies with civilizations far and close to the Sumer, which in turn brings information about international relations in antiquity and the significance of a history present in human global civilization over the millennia.
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