Utilitarian unglazed ceramics constitute an important range of evidence for investigating cultural and economic identities. The present research project analyses commonly used, unglazed Byzantine vessels from stratified contexts, excavated in Ancient Corinth (ASCSA), in close comparison with vessels from Sparta and Argos (Peloponnese - Greece). The first goal of this thesis is to provide an updated overview of the specific types of unglazed, utilitarian vessels used in these sites. Through a quantitative analysis, applied to ceramics, this study presents a seriation of specific types of unglazed utilitarian vessels from the Byzantine Period (8th - 13th centuries), which suggests a revised chronology of use for these vessels. Furthermore, this study also provides an analysis of how vessels changed shape and fabric over time and how Byzantine history and related domestic environments influenced the quantity and quality of utilitarian objects. Quantitative studies of unglazed pottery, based upon type and fabric, can produce relevant information for delineating technological, economic and social patterns on a local and a regional scale. Quantifying the presence and the percentage of unglazed pottery types in relation to their contexts makes it possible to identify technological, economic and cultural networks in which those pots were produced, used, reused and discarded. The production of coarse and cooking wares in the 8th century inherited a Late Roman artisanal tradition. Additionally, these wares are also characterized by a changed scale of production and by transformed manufacturing practices, which are further developed in the Byzantine period and cease only some decades after the Frankish conquest of the Peloponnese. Diverse utilitarian vessels were part of a typological koine in the Byzantine period; the same types have been found in stratified deposits excavated in different sites across the Peloponnese and beyond. The appearance of these vessels may be used, primarily, to suggest date ranges and to denote regional and interregional trade. Furthermore, such typological consistency is evidence for connectivity and for exchange, which encompasses not only the exchange of goods, but also of technical know-how. The same types of wares were possibly produced simultaneously in distant sites. For instance, there are striking similarities between the Early and Middle Byzantine coarse and cooking wares produced in Corinth and those produced in Salento (Southern Apulia, Italy). Due to these similarities, utilitarian unglazed wares may be studied as a proxy for patterns of social, cultural and economic networks of exchange in the Byzantine period between these two regions. Finally, this study would like to investigate how the presence or absence, the frequency and the relative proportions of pottery types are determined by socio-economic factors. An analysis of the manufactory tradition, including variations in technology of production and of vessel morphologies, within the appropriate historical context, can be indicative of social and economic patterns. Pottery can demonstrate the components of effective demand and can, therefore, be an important tool for measuring patterns of production and consumption in relation to economic trends. This project tests diverse research methodologies in order to analyse how ceramics, set within a wide and multifocal range of historical and archaeological sources, can be informative of economic patterns and changes.

The aim of the study was to investigate Seljuk Plasters used in some of their royal administrative or residential buildings from a viewpoint of their raw materials and technological characteristics. Some Byzantine Plasters of the same period were also investigated to make comparison. Plasters from some historic structures in the archaeological sites namely / Alanya Castle, Kubadabad Palaces, Syedra Archaeological Site, Aspendos Amphitheatre, Selinus Archaeological Site-Sekerhane K&ouml / sk and Hasbah&ccedil / e were examined. In a series of examination basic physical properties of the plasters as bulk density, porosity, water absorption capacity and water vapour permeability were obtained. The results indicated that plasters are low dense and high porous materials and having good breathing property. Mechanical properties of the plasters were expressed by the modulus of elasticity (Emod) values which were obtained from ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements. The Emod of the plasters being in the range of 1.0 to 5.6 Gpa show that they have enough mechanical strength comparable to historic mortars and bricks. Raw material composition and mineralogical properties of plasters were determined by combined interpretation of several types of analyses such as chemical analyses, particle size distribution of aggregates, petrographic analyses of thin sections by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopic analyses of cross sections coupled with EDX for image analyses and semiquantitative elemental analyses, X-ray powder diffraction analyses for the determination of mineral phases, thermogravimetric analyses and FTIR analyses. Binder used in all plasters was found to be lime with amount in the range of 53.8-96.8% as CaCO3. The main minerals of aggregates are quartz, calcite (limestone), dolomite and opal-A. Regarding particle size distribution of aggregates it was possible to classify them into fine, coarse and mixed aggregates having rather high pozzolanicity. Study on decorative and red zigzag patterned plasters indicated presence of haematite as the source of red pigment. Study on green colored plaster also indicated presence of iron containing mineral with lower oxidation state. The Seljuk and Byzantine Masonries chosen are still surviving buildings that their plasters should be of good quality. In fact, this study approved their quality which may be due to the presence of opal-A and dolomite.

This thesis reviews the general characteristics of rock-cut churches with an inscribed-cross plan in G&ouml / reme. These churches, namely Chapel 17, St. Barbara, &Ccedil / arikli, Karanlik, Elmali, Chapel 25, Chapel 32, Kili&ccedil / lar, Bezirhane and Yusuf Ko&ccedil / , date from the ninth to the eleventh century of the Middle Byzantine period. Firstly, this study aims to identify the general features of these churches. It also attempts to examine their liturgical planning. While doing so, architectural developments in the insribed-cross churches in Byzantine Istanbul will also be used for comparison, in order to highlight provincial characteristics in the inscribed-cross churches in G&ouml / reme.

M.A. / A study is conducted into the roles of women living in the late Byzantine period between the 6th Century to 1453, using demotic or ‘popular’ poetry which can be quite significant in shedding some light into Byzantine history and society. An in depth analysis of these songs is carried out and compared to valid historical texts in order to create a proper account on history. Some questions that will be examined are as follows: How did women fit into society? What was their expected role? Did they ever go beyond their conventional role? Were they treated differently at different stages or circumstances in their life? Do the clues that are found in these songs correspond to the previously written historical texts that were predominantly written by men? It is no secret that, women portrayed in historical texts which refer to that period, were subjugated to the men in their lives and had very different roles to their partners, fathers, or brothers. Using demotic poetry, one is able to understand the voice of common folk and their worldview, thereby collecting accounts of the society’s ideas and ideals at grassroots level. A collection of about 20 songs has been gathered for this study and each song has been analysed in detail alone and in its contexts. It is tremendously interesting to discover how important women were in their society and how they often seem to have influenced men’s behaviour indirectly.

Cette thèse de doctorat en archéologie est consacrée à l'étude des "militaria" découvertes dans la péninsule balkanique et issues de contextes datés de l'époque romaine tardive et protobyzantine. La définition des champs de l'enquête permet, dans un premier temps, d'établir un corpus répertoriant 156 sites archéologiques à armes et de proposer l'inventaire des "militaria" dans leurs contextes historiographiques, géographiques et chronologiques. L'analyse typologique replace ensuite ces armes dans leurs contextes de production, de diffusion et d'approvisionnement, d'utilisation, d'entretien et d'abandon. Une telle analyse démontre enfin qu'aucune forme n'est anodine et que l'évolution de celle-ci résulte d'héritage, d'adaptation et d'innovation. / This Phd work in archaeology deals with the study of "militaria", found on the Balkan Peninsula, from late roman and early-byzantine archaeological contexts. At first, the definition of field investigation allows to establish a database indexing 156 archaeological sites with weapons and to take stock of the "militaria" within their historiographical, geographical and chronological contexts. Cluster analysis then puts these weapons in their contexts of manufacture, circulation and supplying, use, maintenance and abandonment. This analysis demonstrates finally that no style is trivial and that the evolution of the latter results of inheritance, borrowing and innovation.

Les Hautes Steppes comportent un grand nombre de fortifications dont beaucoup ont été attribuées à l’époque byzantine. Parmi elles, de grandes forteresses ont livré des dédicaces renseignant sur leur statut officiel, mais, on rencontre également de très nombreux « fortins ». Devant ce corpus composé de constructions aux caractéristiques très variées, la sériation, selon des critères architecturaux notamment, suivie de la recherche de corrélations entre les séries, apparaissait comme la méthode la plus efficace pour arriver à des résultats probants. Seul a ensuite été poursuivi l’examen des séries pouvant raisonnablement être étudiées dans le contexte byzantin. La distribution géographique de chacune d’entre elle a été examinée et des analyses spatiales ont été réalisées grâce à l’outil SIG. Ce travail a permis la mise en évidence de plusieurs réseaux dont les schémas d’implantation évoluent avec le temps. Il semblerait qu’on soit passé de la forteresse symbole d’un pouvoir qui se voulait fort, s’appuyant sur des lignes de défense naturelles, à des réseaux de surveillance peut-être plus adaptés à la particularité des ennemis des Byzantins, les Maures, puis les Arabes, réputés très mobiles et, de ce fait, difficiles à contrôler. La nouvelle approche des réseaux qui est proposée met en lumière une vision un peu moins négative de l’Afrique byzantine. Il y avait certes de nombreux problèmes de sécurité, mais les représentants du pouvoir byzantin n’ont peut-être pas abandonné l’Afrique à son sort sans tenter d’apporter des solutions. / Tunisian High Steppes include a great number of fortifications. For many of them, a date in the Byzantine period was proposed. On few large ones, inscriptions indicating official status were found, but there are also numerous under-studied little « fortlets ». These constructions are quite different. A serial handling, based on architectural standards specifically, has been carried out. Only the series which can reasonably be attributed to the byzantine period have been examined in greater detail. Their geographical distribution has been studied and spatial analysis have been done, using a Geographical Information System (GIS). Thanks to this work, it is possible to identify successive networks. Their settlement plans seem to have changed, from the time when the fortress was considered as a power symbol and installed near natural lines of defense. It evolved to probably more adapted surveillance networks. Indeed, the Byzantine’s enemies were Moorish tribes and Arabs, known to be mobile people and considered hard to control. This new approach of fortifications networks highlights a less negative vision of Byzantine Africa. There were certainly great security problems, but Byzantine representatives doesn’t seem to have let Africans to their own without trying to bring solutions.

Cette thèse vise à apporter des connaissances sur le monde des morts dans les tombes à fosse dans la Syrie antique entre le Ier et le VIIIe siècle après J.-C. La cadre géographique concerné englobe la région de l’Orient comprise entre l’Anatolie, la Mésopotamie, l’Arabie, l’Égypte et la Méditerranée. Ce travail cherche à caractériser les lieux d’implantation des espaces funéraires des tombes à fosse, à établir un classement typologique et chronologique de l’architecture funéraire de ce type de tombes et à déterminer les gestes funéraires pratiqués : inhumation ou incinération, dépôt individuel ou pluriel, collectif ou multiple, primaire ou secondaire. Il s’agit aussi d’illustrer l’orientation et la position originelle des corps placés dans les sépultures : disposition du tronc, de la tête, des membres supérieurs et inférieurs. Ce travail vise à observer la localisation des objets déposés dans les sépultures par rapport aux défunts et d’analyser l’ordre dans lequel ils ont été déposés. Au-delà de ces analyses archéologiques et taphonomiques, l’objectif est de savoir s’il existe une évolution ou une variation des pratiques funéraires, selon les zones géographiques ou une période particulière. Il s’agit aussi de vérifier si l’ensemble de la Syrie appartenait à la culture gréco-romaine dans le domaine des pratiques funéraires ou au contraire si la région ou certaines zones géographiques de Syrie, étaient à l’écart de cette culture. / This thesis aims to provide knowledge of the world of the dead in pit graves in antique Syria between the 1st and the 8th century AD. The area under consideration includes the region of the Orient located between Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. This work tries to characterize the location of pit graves, to establish a typological and chronological classification of the funeral architecture of this type of grave and to determine the funeral rites practiced: inhumation or cremation, individual or group, collective or multiple, primary or secondary burial. It is also a question of illustrating the alignment and the positioning of the bodies placed in the graves: the position of the trunk, the head, the lower and upper limbs. This work furthermore attempts to analyze the location of grave objects and the order in which they were deposited. Beyond these archaeological and taphonomic analyses, the objective is to determine whether there is an evolution or a variation in the funeral practices between different geographical zones or during a particular period. It is also a question of verifying whether the whole of Syria belonged to the Greco-Roman culture in the field of the funeral practices or if, on the contrary, the entire region or only certain geographical zones of Syria, remained apart from this culture.

Les cités antiques d’Asie Mineure comprennent à leurs périphéries de vastes ensembles funéraires dont seulsl’épigraphie et les monuments, pour la plupart pillés anciennement, sont généralement étudiés. Les modalités de dépôts et degestion de ces tombes, a priori collectives, n’ont jusqu’alors pas ou très peu été analysés. La découverte d’une chambresouterraine (tombe 163d) non pillée dans la « Nécropole nord » de Hiérapolis (ancienne province de Phrygie dans le sud-ouestde la Turquie), a été l’occasion de mettre en oeuvre une analyse archéo-anthropologique afin d’aborder le fonctionnement de cetype de tombe. Cette investigation a impliqué de reprendre et d’achever la fouille initiée en 2003, nécessitant quatrecampagnes (2010-2013) au cours desquelles une stratégie d’intervention adaptée aux contraintes de temps imposées a étéélaborée dans le cadre de la Mission Archéologique Italienne de Hiérapolis. Après avoir défini le cadre chronologique del’utilisation de la tombe, notre travail s’est attaché à comprendre les modalités de dépôts des défunts (traitement du corps,milieu de décomposition, mode d’inhumation) mais également les gestes témoignant de la gestion et de la dynamique del’espace funéraire. L’analyse stratigraphique des dépôts a démontré que la tombe avait été utilisée entre la périodeaugustéenne et le début du VIIe siècle, afin d’accueillir les restes de 293 individus. Au IIIe siècle, une famille juive la rachète,comme l’indiquent les inscriptions gravées sur le monument. L’étude taphonomique des squelettes empilés en connexionanatomique a révélé que la majorité des dépôts avait été réalisée dans des cercueils. Il est apparu, d’une part, que la famillejuive a laissé une partie des os des premiers occupants en place, conformément aux lois romaines définissant le sepulchrumcomme locus religiosus, et, d’autre part, que la gestion des os disloqués reposait davantage sur des considérations pratiquesliées au volume des os que sur le souci de conserver l’individualité des sujets inhumés. Ces conclusions permettent d’apporterde nouveaux éléments de discussion sur les relations entre les différents groupes religieux vivant à Hiérapolis à traversl’organisation des espaces funéraires et, plus largement, sur les pratiques funéraires pendant l’antiquité romaine et la périodeprotobyzantine en Asie Mineure. / The roman cities of Asia Minor are surrounded by vast necropolises, amongst which funerary complexes are mostoften plundered. While monuments and inscriptions have been studied in great detail in the past, the depositional context andfunerary treatment of the dead and the management of collective burials have not been submitted to detailed analysis. Thediscovery of Tomb 163d, a subterranean funerary chamber not plundered in the North Necropolis of Hierapolis (ancientprovince of Phrygia, in the South-West of Turkey) provided a unique opportunity to apply archeo-anthropological analysis inorder to understand funerary treatment and burial practices. This study reinvestigated the excavations which took place in2003, to complement another four campaigns (2010-2013). For these excavation campaigns a specific intervention strategywas developed as part of the Archeological Italian Mission of Hierapolis. After discussing the chronological framework, thisstudy analyses funerary treatment (modes of inhumation, body treatment, depositional context) as well as the burialmanagement to the management within the dynamic of the funeral space. The stratigraphic analysis demonstrated that thegrave was utilized from the Augustan period to the 7th century and contained 293 individuals. During the 3rd century, a Jewishfamily rebought the tomb for further use, as indicated by the inscriptions engraved on the monument. The taphonomic study ofthe articulated skeletons revealed that the majority of the deceased were buried in wooden coffins. It appeared that the Jewishfamily left some skeletal remains from the first occupiers in situ, in accordance with the Roman law defining the sepulchrum asa locus religious. However, the management of human remains was more related to practical considerations, linked to thevolume of the remains, than to the concern of respecting the deceased. By analyzing and interpreting the organization offuneral spaces, the conclusions of this study provide new evidence on relationships between different religious groups living inHierapolis, and on aspects of burial practices during Roman Antiquity and Proto-Byzantine period.

Mon inscription en thèse sur travaux est l’aboutissement et la reconnaissance d’un parcours de céramologue en Égypte dans le cadre de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire (Ifao). Un grand nombre d’opérations archéologiques sur tout le territoire égyptien nourrissent mes recherches, et m’ont logiquement conduite à développer la question des groupes céramiques régionaux, à les comparer et à en suivre les évolutions du Néolithique à l’époque arabe.La première partie de la synthèse établit un inventaire archéologique des centres de production de céramiques publiés en Égypte, de l’époque prédynastique à l’époque moderne. La seconde partie est consacrée aux groupes céramiques régionaux égyptiens. Une démarche linéaire et diachronique a été choisie pour la réalisation d’un parcours général des groupes céramiques régionaux en Égypte du VIIe millénaire à la fin de l’époque ottomane. Elle tente d’en décrire de façon dynamique les grandes lignes de rupture ou de continuité. Afin d’illustrer la richesse et l’intérêt de ce point de vue pour l’étude des céramiques égyptiennes, nous proposons deux études de cas qui sont situées aux antipodes l’une de l’autre tant sur les plans chronologiques et géographiques que culturels. En effet, chacune se réfère à des problématiques historiques, culturelles et techniques très différentes. L’une concerne la céramique funéraire datée de la fin de l’Ancien Empire à Bahariya ; l’autre étude se concentre sur la céramique égyptienne domestique du début de l’époque ptolémaïque, autour du IIIe siècle av. J.-C. / My registration to a thesis based on work experience is the outcome and recognition of a ceramologist career in Egypt within the framework of the Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire (Ifao). A large number of archaeological operations throughout Egypt feed my research and they have logically led me to enlarge the issue of regional pottery groups, to compare and to monitor them and to follow their developments from the Neolithic Period to the Islamic Period. The first part of the synthesis provides an archaeological inventory of pottery production centres published in Egypt, from the Predynastic Period to the Modern Era. The second part is devoted to the Egyptian regional pottery groups. A linear and diachronic approach was chosen for the implementation of a general course of regional pottery groups in Egypt from the seventh millennium to the end of the Ottoman Period, attempting to dynamically outline the ruptures or continuities. To illustrate the richness and relevance of this perspective for the study of Egyptian potteries, we propose two case studies that are to the opposite of each other, at a chronological and geographical level as well as at a cultural level. Indeed, each refers to very different historical, cultural and technical issues. One concerns the funerary pottery dated of the end of the Old Kingdom in Bahariya; the other study focuses on Egyptian domestic pottery at the beginning of the Ptolemaic Period, dated around the third century BC.