Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Art-Sanat Dergisi, ss.531-561, 2023 (ESCI)
This paper, focusing on the results of a long-term and interdisciplinary archaeological research project conducted in the Gulf of Mandalya, investigates the transformation of rural settlements and the countryside in coastal Caria from Late Antiquity to Byzantine times, together with the economic activities and forms of labour, including the quarrying and exploitation of Iasos marble, on which the survival of rural communities had depended. Despite considerable changes in settlement patterns over time, the literary, epigraphic, and numismatic evidence suggest that this region was widely occupied, with numerous sites located both inland and in coastal areas. The most notable among these sites, whose history and experiences contributed to the formation and profound modification of the settlement features of the land surrounding the gulf, were Iasos and Kazıklı to the north and Bargylia to the south. The Mandalya Archaeological Survey Project (1988-2011) revealed an almost uninterrupted continuity of settlement and land exploitation in this micro-region from the Late Bronze Age through to the 18th/19th centuries CE, with a major concentration of archaeological evidence from the 6th century BCE to 7th century CE. Within this wide chronological context, the paper focuses on the continuity/ discontinuity of rural settlements, closely or more loosely affected by multiple factors, in the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages (7th and 9th centuries) and beyond. It also attempts to explain the changing nature of settlements through transformation and adaptation, involving abandonment and resettlement (within or around the ruins of the now largely deurbanised and ruralised urban fabric) or relocation.