Leibniz-Zentrum fur Archaologie (LEIZA) – förlag

General phenomena such as the organisation of the Byzantine navy and its operations or lighthouses are discussed in this volume as well as new geoarchaeological research methodologies in harbour archaeology. Most contributions in the present volume examine case studies for the most important maritime core region of the Byzantine Empire, the Aegean. This sea connected the remaining provinces of the empire in Southeastern Europe and Asia Minor after the loss of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa to the Arabs in the 7th century A.D. In addition to technical and geographical aspect, the studies in this volume make clear that we need to explore more and more the social embedding of the seasides of Byzantium to understand their dynamics in all their complexity.The conference »Seasides of Byzantium. Harbours and Anchorages of a Mediterranean Empire«, from which the papers collected in the present volume emerged, took place in Athens in 2017 as part of a cooperation between the DFG-funded Special Research Programme (SPP-1630) »Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages« and the National Hellenic Research Foundation. It united historians, archaeologists and geoarchaeologists to explore harbours and anchorages as core maritime infrastructure to the Late Roman and Byzantine Empire.

The first remains of European sabre-toothed cats were discovered in 2012 at Schöningen, in Lower Saxony, Germany, where mankind’s oldest wooden weapons had been found. This volume addresses the various topics surrounding the European sabre-toothed cat, including the circumstances of their extinction, comparisons to extant big cats and their relationship to past humans. Big cats, especially sabre-toothed cats, are for many people the symbol of a dangerous predator. As a result of the discovery of the first remains of European sabre-toothed cats at the approximately 300,000 year old site of Schöningen., a two-day scientific workshop was held in there in 2015, titled »The Homotherium finds from Schöningen 13II-4 and big cats of the Ice Age«. This volume is based on the lectures of this workshop and presents an overview of a topic that is crucial for human development, our coexistence with big cats.

Using a multidisciplinary methodology, the technological approach developed in this publication provides new insights into Great Moravian and Bohemian elite jewellery dated from the 9th and 10th centuries AD. Based on an investigation of the main types of jewels (gombiky, earrings, metallic elements of necklaces including kaptorgy, beads, and chains), it sheds light on the complex construction of these jewels, on the different manufacturing processes, and on the decoration techniques involved in their fabrication. Detailed material characterizations highlight the elemental chemical composition and purity of the alloys used by jewellers in Moravia and Bohemia through the 9th and 10th centuries. Comparisons of the size, the total number of components, the estimated manufacturing time, and the weight of precious metal needed to produce each type of jewel shed light on the level of complexity involved in their manufacture and highlight the exceptional pieces. Observations and comparisons of tool marks, defects, and quality of realization evidence the presence of very fine pieces manufactured by highly skilled goldsmiths using sophisticated tools alongside coarser products manufactured by unexperienced craftsmen with low skill and more rudimentary tools. In addition, they allow us to identify pieces likely produced in the same workshop and probable imports.