Butrint 5: Life and Death at a Mediterranean Port: The Non-Ceramic Finds from the Triconch Palace [Hardback]

This is the second volume arising from the 1994–2003 excavations of the Triconch Palace at Butrint (Albania), which charted the history of a major Mediterranean waterfront site from the 2nd to the 15th centuries AD. The sequence (Butrint 3: Excavations at the Triconch Palace: Oxbow, 2011) included the development of a palatial late Roman house, followed by intensive activity between the 5th and 7th centuries involving domestic occupation, metal-working, fishing and burial. The site saw renewed activity from the 10th century, coinciding with the revival of the town of Butrint, and for the following 300 years continued in intermittent use associated with its channel-side location.

This volume reports on the finds from the site (excluding the pottery), which demonstrate the ways in which the lives, diet and material culture of a Mediterranean population changed across the arc of the late Roman and Medieval periods. It includes discussion of the environmental evidence, the human and faunal remains, metal-working evidence, and the major assemblages of glass, coins and small finds, giving an insight into the health, subsistence base and material culture of the population of a Mediterranean site across more than 1000 years. The findings raise important questions regarding the ways in which changes in the circumstances of the town affected the population between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They illustrate in particular how an urban Roman centre became more rural during the 6th century with a population that faced major challenges in their health and living conditions.

1. Introduction – William Bowden
2.       Summary of the excavated sequence
3.       The archaeological sequence and the material evidence
4. An investigation of the subsistence base at Butrint: the archaeobotanical evidence – Alexandra Livarda and John Giorgi  
5.       Sampling and processing methods
6.       Results
7.       Discussion
8.       Concluding remarks
9. The faunal remains – William Bowden, Zoe Knapp, Adrienne Powell, and James Westoby
10.       Introduction
11.       Methods
12.       The assemblage
13.       The Roman/late antique period (Phases 1 to 10): 3rd century to early 7th century
14.       Age structure and husbandry practices at the late antique Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House areas
15.       The medieval period (Phases 12 to 15): early 10th century to 15th century and later
16.       Age structure and husbandry practices at the medieval Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House areas
17.       Discussion
18.       Conclusion
19. The human skeletons from the Triconch Palace and the Merchant’s House – Jared Beatrice, Todd Fenton, Carolyn Hurst, Lindsey Jenny, Jane Wankmiller, Michael Mutolo, Christina Rauzi, and David Foran
20.       Introduction
21.       Demographic profile: the Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House skeletons
22.       The spatial arrangement of the skeletons
23.       Skeletal palaeopathology
24.       Discussion: living conditions at late antique and medieval Butrint
25.       Conclusion: life and death at late antique and medieval Butrint
26. Metalworking at the Triconch Palace and the analysis of slags and waste – Patrice de Rijk
27.       Introduction
28.       Iron working
29.       Copper alloy working
30.       Silica-rich slag
31.       Other finds
32.       Conclusion
33. The ancient and early medieval coins from the Triconch Palace c. 2nd century BC to c. AD 600 – T. Sam N. Moorhead
34.       Introduction
35.       The condition of the coins
36.       Coins per period
37.       Deposition of coins
38.       Mints
39.       Discussion by period
40.       Possible hoards
41.       Conclusion
42. The middle and late Byzantine, medieval and early modern coins – Pagona Papadopoulou
43.       Byzantine coins (9th to 13th century)
44.       Non-Byzantine coins (late 10th to 12th century)
45.       Conclusion
46. The small finds – John Mitchell
47.       Introduction
48.       1. Silver artefacts
49.       2. Copper alloy artefacts
50.       3. Iron artefacts
51.       4. The iron nails
52.       5. Lead artefacts
53.       6. Glass artefacts
54.       7. Stone artefacts
55.       8. Ceramic artefacts
56.       9. Worked ivory and bone
57. The vessel glass from the Triconch Palace: a catalogue – Sarah Jennings, with additional contributions from William Bowden and Karen Stark
58.       Introduction
59.       The glass as deposited
60.       The catalogue
61. The Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House as lived environments in late antiquity – William Bowden  
62.       The domus and Triconch Palace (pre-AD 425: Phases 1 to 4)
63.       The 5th-century domestic occupation (AD 425–500: Phases 5 to 6)
64.       The ‘ruralisation’ of the Triconch Palace? (AD 500–50: Phases 7 to 8)
65.       Blacksmiths and burials (AD 550–650: Phases 9–10)
66.       Living and dying in later 6th-century Butrint
67.       The Triconch Palace and the archaeology of late antiquity
68.       Conclusion
69. Living and dying at the Triconch Palace in the Middle Ages – William Bowden
70.       Abandonment (mid-7th to early 10th century: Phase 11)
71.       Urban renewal, soldiers and stock rearing? (10th to 12th century: Phases 12 to 13a)
72.       Diminishing activity and the severing of the channel link (c. 12th to 14th century: Phases 13b to 14a)
73.       A small Venetian garrison? (c. later 14th to 16th century: Phases 14b to 15)

"Rigour of method and intelligence of archaeological reading make this book an excellent example of how, from the 'little forgotten things' (to take up the title of a famous text by an American archaeologist), you can think about history in its broadest sense."
Sauro Gelichi
Archeologia Medievale (15/05/2023)