Crusader Acre

is an important Bronze Age site located in eastern Turkey, in the province of Bingöl, 5km south of Solhan. Murat Höyük is located on the north bank of the Arsanias River in the Upper Euphrates valley. Due to the construction of the Aşağı Kaleköy Dam, the mound there was registered in 2018 and salvage excavations began in 2019. The main intention of the excavations was to study the Early Bronze and Iron Age periods, but some important discoveries on the top of the mound also drew attention to the later phases of occupation. Some architectural remains from these later phases have been brought to light and, additionally, locally produced pottery, together with some objects and tools related to agricultural production and some liturgical metal finds, such as processional crosses, have been recovered from the excavations. The finds give an idea of the nature of the later settlement. The aim of this article is to describe and interpret these architectural remains and small finds, which were found on the highest point of the mound and are most likely medieval in date (between the 9th and 12th centuries), and to attempt to evaluate the nature of the small settlement. This study also helps to understand the relationship between sites in the Euphrates basin during the medieval period.

This study has five purposes: (1) To define and describe various techniques of manufacture of these wares; (2) to chronicle the history of and reasons for the development of these wares in New Spain; (3) to present a detailed description of the styles of Mexican Lead-Glazed Earthenwares recovered from the six sites already mentioned; (4) to
survey the development of the transportation system in western Mexico that had a bearing on the shipment of these wares to southern Arizona and Sonora, and (5) in summary form, to establish a chronology of these wares.

The Fourth Crusade (1204 AD) brought about significant disruptions across the Byzantine Empire. In Greece, the arrival of Frankish lords and Italian rulers contributed to shape new demands for a variety of goods and commodities. This eventually led to cross-cultural adaptations of culinary traditions, dining practices and artistic tastes. The development of new pan-Mediterranean networks of commercial and artistic exchanges is notably documented by the widespread diffusion of glazed tablewares in the Late Byzantine “Zeuxippus Ware class I” across Turkey, Greece and northern Italy. It remains unclear, however, whether these exchanges were purely commercial and artistic in nature, or also involved some technological transfers and thus some learning and regular contacts between producers. This paper aims to shed light on this question through a combined analysis of style, provenance, production and decoration techniques of 25 glazed bowls with incised patterns and yellow glaze, includi...

In collaborazione con Limes, rivista italiana di geopolitica Da Cadice alla Siria, dall'Inghilterra al Marocco, passando per Corsica e Sardegna, ben piantata tra Costantinopoli e il mar Nero, fra XI e XV secolo Genova controllava, direttamente o indirettamente, vasti territori, allargandosi alle estreme periferie di quello ch'era, allora, li mondo conosciuto. Forse, nemmeno oggi gli stessi genovesi riescono a rendersi pienamente conto di ciò che è stata la loro città in quel tempo, quando la sua influenza s'irradiava «in diversas mundi partes»: nel commercio, nella finanza, nella forza militare, nella lingua, negli usi e costumi. Gli insediamenti genovesi, collocati in posti strategici attraverso forti, monumenti e città, avevano una precisa valenza geopolitica, unendo aree distanti fra loro sotto un'unica bandiera, nonostante la varietà di poteri deputata alla loro amministrazione. Le navi che partivano da Genova raggiungevano la Terrasanta, l'Egitto, l'Inghilterra, le Fiandre, la penisola iberica. Sul lato opposto delle mappe, i mercanti genovesi si spingevano fino in Cina. Molti siti, a partire da quelli della Crimea, territorio oggi in guerra, appartengono a quello che si può definire l'impero di Genova. Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura organizza il convegno inaugurando così, d'intesa con il Comune di Genova, il programma di Ianua. Genova nel Medioevo.

In collaborazione con Limes, rivista italiana di geopolitica Da Cadice alla Siria, dall'Inghilterra al Marocco, passando per Corsica e Sardegna, ben piantata tra Costantinopoli e il mar Nero, fra XI e XV secolo Genova controllava, direttamente o indirettamente, vasti territori, allargandosi alle estreme periferie di quello ch'era, allora, li mondo conosciuto. Forse, nemmeno oggi gli stessi genovesi riescono a rendersi pienamente conto di ciò che è stata la loro città in quel tempo, quando la sua influenza s'irradiava «in diversas mundi partes»: nel commercio, nella finanza, nella forza militare, nella lingua, negli usi e costumi. Gli insediamenti genovesi, collocati in posti strategici attraverso forti, monumenti e città, avevano una precisa valenza geopolitica, unendo aree distanti fra loro sotto un'unica bandiera, nonostante la varietà di poteri deputata alla loro amministrazione. Le navi che partivano da Genova raggiungevano la Terrasanta, l'Egitto, l'Inghilterra, le Fiandre, la penisola iberica. Sul lato opposto delle mappe, i mercanti genovesi si spingevano fino in Cina. Molti siti, a partire da quelli della Crimea, territorio oggi in guerra, appartengono a quello che si può definire l'impero di Genova. Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura organizza il convegno inaugurando così, d'intesa con il Comune di Genova, il programma di Ianua. Genova nel Medioevo.

The study of medieval liturgy is well served by a fuller appreciation of the unique richness of individual manuscripts. One example, Vat. Lat. 7701, is a key piece of evidence for uncovering the reception of the Carolingian project to 'correct' liturgy in Chieti, Abruzzo. This manuscript is a 'pontifical', created for the personal use of a ninth-century bishop of Chieti. Within this book, he described and prescribed his own liturgical duties, those which made up his office as the Carolingians understood it. The peculiarities of the manuscript and some of its unique features are best understood by reference to this imperative. Alongside other products of the Carolingian scriptorium at Chieti, the manuscript reveals that even bishops at the southernmost tip of the Carolingian Empire saw themselves as fully engaged in an Empire-wide programme to amend liturgical practice, which did not aim for uniformity but led to significant creativity. This programme was associated with imperial authority, but led by bishops themselves. Local liturgical variation is undeniable in our manuscript, but the sharing of texts and communication with sees all across the Empire are equally visible components. Lo studio della liturgia medievale può trarre vantaggio da un più pieno apprezzamento della ricchezza, unica nel suo genere, di manoscritti personali. Un esempio in tal senso è il Vat. Lat. 7701, una fonte chiave per gettare luce sulla ricezione a Chieti (Abruzzo) del progetto carolingio di riforma della liturgia. Il manoscritto è un 'pontificale', creato per uso personale di un vescovo di Chieti nel IX sec. All'interno di questo libro, egli descrive e stabilisce i suoi doveri liturgici, quelli che erano competenza della sua carica secondo quanto inteso dai Carolingi. Le peculiarità del manoscritto e alcune delle sue caratteristicheuniche nel loro generesi possono capire bene facendo riferimento a questa esigenza. Insieme ad altri prodotti dello scriptorium carolingio di Chieti, il manoscritto rivela come persino i vescovi nelle parti più meridionali dell'impero carolingio percepissero il loro pieno coinvolgimento in un programma di modifica globale della pratica liturgica, che non mirava all'uniformità ma che portava a una significativa creatività. Questo programma era associato con l'autorità imperiale, ma condotto dai vescovi stessi. La variazione liturgica locale è innegabile nel nostro manoscritto, ma la condivisione di testi e la comunicazione con le vedute di tutto l'impero sono componenti ugualmente visibili.

This article examines a number of Carolingian liturgical manuscripts (Wolfenbuttel Herzog August Bibliothek Wissembourg 91, Cologne Dombibliothek MS 138, Vienna Österreichische Nationalbibliothek cod.ser.n. 2762 and Paris Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 227) each containing texts now known as the ordines romani. These texts are "stage directions" for the liturgy, distinguished by their reference to the practices of the Church of Rome. While the ordines romani certainly give precious information about Roman liturgical practice, the Frankish contribution to shaping and displaying these texts in line with their own priorities and usages must be acknowledged too. For example, these manuscripts all combine ordines romani with texts about Roman history and topography. For these readers, the desired imitation of Roman liturgical practice was not about copying any particular text or practice by rote, but a deeper form of participation that involved the construction of an image of Rome across a whole manuscript. The given image of Rome responded to the institutional or personal needs animating the manuscript. These manuscripts compel us to imagine diverse practices of reading within and without liturgical performance.

This study aims to present a part of the already evaluated Late Roman glazed pottery record from Aquincum
and, thus, provide a typological classification based on our current knowledge. It is important to note that the
present study does not include the complete – mostly fragmentary – ceramic record, comprising thousands of
objects, but focuses only on eighty artefacts representing traditional types. The current evaluation concerns vessel
types used on a daily basis: containers (jugs, pitchers, and bottles), serving (bowls) and drinking vessels (mugs,
cups, drinking cups), mortaria, and simple lamp variants. In addition to presenting the finds, the study provides
a brief general survey of glazed pottery and other Late Roman ceramic vessel types with lead glazing.

An impressive fortification system on the northern border of the Genoese Quarter at Crusader-period Acre was discovered, comprising a defensive wall built of bossed ashlars and incorporating arrow slits, a fortified gate leading to the quarter through a vaulted passageway and a projecting tower with two levels of arrow slits. The gate and parts of the passageway were blocked, apparently during the Crusader period, as a consequence of the Saint Sabas War. This war broke out following a dispute between Venice and Genoa over ownership of a monastery located on the border between their quarters, near the port, which was rooted in their struggle over control of the harbor of Acre and the eastern Mediterranean lucrative maritime trade. Written sources indicate that the outcome of this fierce conflict was the expulsion of the Genoese from Acre and the blocking of their quarter. The presence of a blocked gate and the abandoned state of the area are physical evidence of the aftermath of the War. These remains, well-preserved within eighteenth-century Ottoman buildings, do not only shed light on the nature of the Genoese Quarter's northern fortified borderline but also provide the first concrete material evidence of defense, power and control by the Italian communes in the maritime hubs of the Crusader states.

A small salvage excavation in ‘Akko exposed the remains of a previously unknown ravelin outwork in the counterscarp of the Ottoman-period fortifications—a previously unknown military feature—which cut through earlier Crusader and Hellenistic layers. Ravelins are known components of city fortifications in Europe from the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, continuing in use in the nineteenth century. In ‘Akko, it seems that the construction of the ravelin was not completed.

Lecture at the “Sparta Live! Webinar for 2022-2023” organized by the Centre for Spartan & Peloponnesian Studies and the Centre for Late Antique & Byzantine Studies of the University of Nottingham and the City of Sparta, on November the 3rd 2022.

Jerusalem, City of David (B) In June 2014, an archaeological excavation was conducted along the western edge of a paved Byzantine street ascending from the western slopes of the City of David hill to the Davidson Archeological Park (Permit No. A-7130; map ref. 222327-32/631338-61), prior to preparing the site for visitors. The excavation, in the Jerusalem Walls National Park, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and at the instigation of the Elad Association, was directed by J. Uziel and M. Hagbi, with the assistance of V. Essman and Y. Shmidov (surveying and drafting), A. Peretz (field photography), G. Berkowitz and A. Ajami (area supervision), N. Natanel and B. Cohen (safety), A Koren (engineering supervision), J. Sheffer (conservation engineering), I. Novoselesky (wet sieving) and Y. Gorin-Rosen (glass).

Fra XIII e XIV secolo, Genova espresse un forte dinamismo commerciale che la portò a insediare basi commerciali in tutto il Mediterraneo, e oltre. L’articolo ripercorre le tappe principali di tale espansione, le cui tracce materiali sono visibili tutt’oggi.

This paper aims to reconstruct the network of a production zone in the city of Chalcis (central Greece) by which certain glazed tablewares and amphorae were distributed within and outside the eastern Mediterranean basin between the 10th and the 13th centuries.

La actual ciudad de Akko in Israel, ha tenido muchos nombres a lo largo de los siglos de su prolongado asentamiento. El nombre de Acre, con el que se le conoce en el mundo Occidental, es el residuo del nombre de San Juan de Acre que le dieron sus habitantes cruzados en el s. XII de la era Cristiana. Sin embargo, el nombre de ‘Akko y sus derivados, tienen una larga historia. Bajo tal nombre, aparece ya en las fuentes escritas de comienzos el II Milenio a.C., cuando e produjo la primera urbanización del lugar. Se mantuvo como ‘Akko, ‘Ake, etc…a lo largo de los siglos posteriors, a pesar de los inentos de varios dirigentes de cambiarelo. El asentamiento se trasladó, a causa de los cambios en la línea de costa y del río Na’aman o Belos, desde el antiguo Tel Akko a la bahía, en la que se estableció un puerto artificial,reconstruido y renovado reiteradamente durante más de 2000 años. El primer nombre conocido del sitio original del asentamiento, el tell, data de época de los cruzados. Est...

The research on stone marks used on public buildings erected from the Hellenistic period to Late Antiquity in the region of Alexandria, Cyrenaica and Cyprus, the two regions clearly influenced by Alexandrian architecture, aims to answer questions related to the technology of stone processing, as well as wider consideration of the flow of ideas and people within the Mediterranean Basin. The paper will focus on a case study of masons’ marks engraved on the Tauchira Gate in Ptolemais in Cyrenaica, the best-preserved part of
Ptolemais’ fortifications. Although the building has been studied by many researchers, masons’ marks engraved on masonry walls have remained undocumented so far. Inscribed on carefully joined stones of the high quality
isodomic masonry, on the surface of rusticated blocks, provide a unique testimony about the stone masters engaged in this monumental construction. The analysis of the marks’ distribution was possible thanks to
drawings made based on photogrammetric models obtained from archival photographic documentation of the Polish Archaeological Mission to Ptolemais of the University of Warsaw. It demonstrates two different marking
systems used in the Tauchira Gate: the first used in the lower part of the Gate represent ordinal numbers, and the second system is represented by marks in the form of sophisticated designed monograms, probably the
names of workshops owners or individual stonecutters were abbreviated in them. It seems that the Gate was built in two phases, in the first one the marks refer to division of the works among unnamed, consecutive eight
stonecutters’ teams, while the second system refers to particular workshops or masons abbreviated by monograms. Probably these two identified systems of the marks reflect the organization of work and the
methods of financing the masons.

Medieval Rhodes was the focus of investigations about the Knight Hospitallers politics toward Papacy and other Mediterranean powers. This subject is related to the Order of Jerusalem's government and its commitent to the crusade as well, whereas we do not know so much about Rhode's mixed society and overall about the Genoese milieu. For a long time the Genoese aimed to seize the isle and had a remarkable role in its conquest when the Knigt Hospitallers took it from the Byzantine and subtracted it from probable Turkish occupation. This paper investigates the point of Genoese presence in the 14th-15th Centuries. The purpose is to compare the Rhodian case to other Genoese dominions in eastern Mediteranean.

This report focuses on the pottery assemblage retrieved from the small and deep area (4 × 5 m, depth 8 m) excavated within the Western Wall Tunnels, c. 10 m west of Warren's Gate (see Onn and Weksler-Bdolah, this volume). Notwithstanding the small area excavated, the finds are important as these are the first pottery assemblages retrieved from a stratigraphic excavation near Warren's Gate, adjacent to the Temple Mount. The pottery came from five strata, subdivided into phases, from the lowest Stratum V, dated to the Early Roman period, to surface Stratum I, dated to the thirteenth or fifteenth centuries CE. Selected sherds from each stratum and phase are illustrated and discussed below. For a summary of all the strata, phases and main loci, including references to the pottery figures presented in this article, see Onn and Weksler-Bdolah, this volume: Table 1. The pottery discussion focuses on dating the vessels from each stratum and phase, by referring to published parallels from well-stratified contexts, predominantly from Jerusalem,

Between the years 2009-2013, the southern sea wall of the Old city of Akko underwent planned rehabilitation and conservation works funded by the Old Akko Development Company. The southern section of the wall, measuring some 300 m long with an average height of 8 m, was severely damaged by years of marine erosion and flaws in the ancient structural foundation techniques that were comprised of materials unsuited to a marine environment. Moreover, stabilization and rehabilitation attempts carried out in the 1930’s of the 20 th century also caused irreparable damage to the wall’s foundations. The ancient city and its walls are subject to statutory limitations and considerations, as it has been declared an antiquity site by the Israel Antiquities Authority and a world heritage site by UNESCO, and is also a modern bustling town. In addition to these limitations, there are implementation restrictions for construction inside an ancient port, lacking the option to carry out works in an under...

Medieval Rhodes was the focus of investigations about the Knight Hospitallers politics toward Papacy and other Mediterranean powers. This subject is related to the Order of Jerusalem's government and its commitent to the crusade as well, whereas we do not know so much about Rhode's mixed society and overall about the Genoese milieu. For a long time the Genoese aimed to seize the isle and had a remarkable role in its conquest when the Knigt Hospitallers took it from the Byzantine and subtracted it from probable Turkish occupation. This paper investigates the point of Genoese presence in the 14th-15th Centuries. The purpose is to compare the Rhodian case to other Genoese dominions in eastern Mediteranean.

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In the long-running history of conflicting western and local interests in the Eastern Mediterranean, an under-explored episode is the aftermath of the Mamluk conquest of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the subsequent maritime connections with Cyprus. Material remains can illuminate these relationships and networks that are poorly attested in the written record. The papal ban on trade with the Mamluks after the conquest of Acre in 1291, restricted direct trade from Europe. The Cypriots, however, had papal exemption from the ban, and Cyprus under the Lusignan and later Venetian rule, became a reshipment point for merchandise to the Levantine coast and Egypt. Notwithstanding, despite the papal embargo, Venetian merchants were granted permission in 1304 by the Amir of Safed to moor in the bay of Acre, later they were also allowed to settle and trade in Acre and to bring pilgrims to the port of Jaffa. Archaeological evidence to the activity of Venetian and Cypriot merchants in the southern Levant is scarce and it includes mainly glazed tableware. Ceramic evidence was found in excavations at the urban centres of Jerusalem, Ramla and Safed wherein the higher-rank Mamluk population and the foreign merchants resided. In the past decade I have identified small sherds of imported vessels in contemporary rural contexts, that were apparently consistently overlooked or misidentified as local product. These ceramics arrived by sea in small quantities, with the merchants and the pilgrims that frequented the coastal ports and anchorages and clearly reflect their activities. In this lecture I will present the Cypriot glazed bowls and a local production that may have been inspired from contemporary Cypriot ceramics, within the context of the maritime connections with Cyprus and the Venetian involvement during the 14th to 16th centuries.