Journal of Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies, volume 3, issue 1–2 (September 2024).

CONTENTS INCLUDE 

A Sixth-Century CE Drought in Arabia New Palaeoclimate Data and Some Historical Implications
John Haldon and Dominik Fleitmann

Establishing plausible causal associations between the impact of climate and/or environment and past human societies presents many challenges, as the case of the decline of the S. Arabian kingdom of Himyar in the sixth century CE indicates. Evidence from a new high-resolution stalagmite record for the last 2,600 years shows that a period of drought in the early sixth century, hardly mentioned in the sources, was of unusual duration and severity. We argue that, while this likely contributed to undermine the sociopolitical resilience of Himyar and thus contributed to the societal changes in the region from the 520s to the late sixth/early seventh century, identifying the exact causal relationships involved is fraught with difficulty.

Fostering in Early Medieval Armenian Sources from the Fifth to the Seventh Century
Lewis Read

Dayekut‘iwn, a practice of fostering found in early medieval Armenian sources, formed a significant basis of social interaction between families in the historical Caucasus and Iran. This article presents a new and extensive analysis of fostering in the context of early medieval Armenian sources written between the fifth and seventh century, illustrating the broad context in which early medieval Armenian social history can be understood.

Multilingualism and the Jews of Byzantium in the Middle Period
Nicholas de Lange

The Jewish minority in Byzantium in the ninth to twelfth centuries was mainly Greek-speaking, as is now clear from the Cairo Genizah discoveries. However, Greek education was rare, and it was Hebrew that served as the written and learned language, as well as for prayer and bible reading. A unique, artificial form of Greek was used to translate bible readings: it combined Greek vocabulary with Hebrew syntax. Aramaic was used in synagogues for specific liturgical purposes. Latin is attested locally in south Italy, and there is evidence of a use of Arabic in the east, mainly among immigrants.

The Trapezuntine Poems in Panagiou Taphou 370
Marc D. Lauxtermann

In this paper I propose a new date for the Trapezuntine poems in ms. Panagiou Taphou 370 (commonly attributed to Stephen Sgouropoulos) and identify references to historical events that took place in Trebizond during the first thirty years of the fifteenth century.

Special Issue: Reconstructing Cross-Craft, Inter-Industry, and Multicraft Relations in the Late Antique Mediterranean 

An Introduction to Late Antique Cross-Craft Studies
Hallie G. Meredith and Elizabeth A. Murphy

The study of crafts and trades in the ancient Mediterranean world has garnered increased attention over the last decade, including through the investigation of cross-craft or inter-industry relations among craft producers. This body of literature represents a range of distinct approaches – including co-production, cross-craft interaction, skeuomorphism, and multicraft – each derived from different disciplinary perspectives, yet collectively these inter-industry approaches are offering new and important perspectives on social and professional networks of artisans, technological developments, and economic organisation of ancient industries. In this introductory chapter, we outline the current trajectories in cross-craft studies and their too often overlooked significance for the study of Late Antiquity.

Late Antique Glass Carving as Cross-Craft
Hallie G. Meredith

Focusing on the related engraving techniques of openwork and opus sectile carving as evidence, this paper demonstrates that glass production in the Eastern Mediterranean in late Antiquity was an example of cross-craft, involving aspects of specialised collaboration among glass producers. As such, it represents the interdependence required of inter-industry relations in terms not only of resources but fundamentally of skills. Beyond just glass, cold-worked carving in various media suggests relatively large-scale late Roman urban production was more likely defined by a transferrable skill set (in this case carving) as opposed to a material.

Bound by Binders: Multicraft Organisation and Industrial Interdependence of Lime Production for Mortar in the Eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity
Elizabeth A. Murphy and J. Riley Snyder

In the late antique period (fourth-seventh centuries AD), lime was produced and consumed in great quantities for use in building, medicine, tanning, fulling, mortuary practices, and as an agricultural fertiliser. As a result, lime kilns (and associated slaking pits) are common features of late antique contexts – both in urban and rural environments and involving public institutions and private enterprise. In this paper we consider the archaeological remains of lime production and use in the eastern Mediterranean, a region in which dozens of lime production sites have been recorded. Focusing on the example of lime mortar production specifically, and following evidence for the associated chaîne opératoire, we demonstrate the versatility of the lime production process and how it frequently involved and even relied upon multiple industries.

Disentangling Cross-Crafting, Reuse, and Recycling in Late Antique Gerasa/Jerash (Fourth-Seventh Centuries CE)
Rubina Raja

This article focuses on the processes of cross-crafting, reuse, and recycling, which thick dense fill layers in archaeological stratigraphies allow us to begin to disentangle and investigate – however, not without problems. It discusses the potential and pitfalls of such often overlooked and understudied ‘messy’ contexts. It furthermore discusses the focus these contexts deserve and their centrality to push forward our understanding of complex processes in urban spaces in the Late Antique period in the Eastern Mediterranean. While focussing on archaeological situations in Gerasa/Jerash, the broader implications of this contribution’s arguments are of wider significance and importance to archaeological practice and research focus.