The Middle Byzantine period in Anatolia is considered a recovery period after two centuries of instability at the end of the Early Byzantine period. From the late ninth through the twelfth centuries, building small churches became a trend as rural settlements and monastic communities expanded across the countryside. During extensive surveys at Komana, near Tokat in Turkey, a number of churches were identified in rural contexts through scattered architectural fragments, especially brickwork typical of the Middle Byzantine period. These sites were later revisited for intensive collection in an attempt, firstly, to test whether identification of Middle Byzantine churches through qualitative data could be verified and, secondly, to improve our understanding of site types and their extent in the rural landscapes of Middle Byzantine Komana. In this article, the results of the intensive surveys will be discussed in the context of the new trends of the Middle Byzantine period.
Historical sources indicate Turks came intoAnatolia starting from the middle of the 11th century. This must have had critical short-and long-term impacts on various aspects of life in the region. Based on the archaeological evidence, it can be suggested that the settlement dynamics started to change during the period of confrontation between the Byzantines and Turks as a result of the shifting political authority on a regional scale. This article will try to identify changing settlement dynamics through the 11th-13th centuries at Komana and its territory with a comparison of other contemporary settlements in the inland Black Sea region and central Anatolia. Thus, archaeological data that shed light on our understanding of abandonment, continuity and transformation are discussed and categorized as indicators.
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