Medieval Chersonesus in the Second Half of the 13th Century: a city, a village, a trading post?

Abstract

The paper addresses the results of the study of medieval Chersonesus as a municipal structure in the second half of 13th century. Historiography was previously dominated by the viewpoint that in that time period Chersonesus remained a major trade, craft and cultural center with buildings of monumental architecture. Currently, it is considered that it remained an ordinary provincial Byzantine center. Specific archaeological complexes with frequent finds of the second half of the 13th century were identified and studied in all districts of the settlement, and were found to be associated with layers of destruction and fires. Two layers of destruction (fire), dated to the 13th and 14th centuries, have been recorded in the Port district. These late Byzantine layers are represented by all complexes of materials (primarily, archaeological), which allow to conclude that at the beginning of the second half of the 13th century Chersonesus was a typical provincial Byzantine city on the edge of the Golden Horde Ecumene. At the turn of the fourth quarter of the 13th century (in 1278), the city was destroyed and has not been restored, with the exception of the Port district, which became a small 14th century village.

Keywords

• archaeology
• medieval chersonesus
• second half of the 13th century
• archeological complexes
• amphorae
• glazed ceramics