Harvard Archaeology Seminar Series

Mark Pawlowski UCLA

The majority of the population in Medieval Byzantium lived in small settlements in the countryside. It is the study of these rural settlements that will provide important information for a more inclusive understanding about daily life in the Byzantine Empire. This talk focuses on housing and the use of space within Byzantine villages in the Mani peninsula in the southern Peloponnese. Because of the use of stone in the construction of houses, churches, threshing floors, cisterns and other agricultural features, the preservation of settlements is excellent despite centuries of abandonment. Concentrating on the domestic and secular features of settlements, the built features of the village are documented and mapped to preserve their history as the buildings continue to deteriorate. Using social history, theory on the use of space and domestic architecture, the village is contextualized and its population is reconstructed. Lacking significant historical resources, the built remains of the Mani are the greatest source of information about the Byzantine period in the region. Based on the close examination and analysis of two villages and the kastron at Tigani, I argue that there is significant evidence for settlement planning and social hierarchy in the built remains. The placement and access of houses and other buildings reflects the social values and connections of those that lived in the villages.