Excavations in the South Region of Chersonesos, 2001-2006: A Multidisciplinary Approach

“Excavations in the South Region of Chersonesos, 2001-2006: A Multidisciplinary Approach” will be a multi-authored publication coordinated by Dr. Adam Rabinowitz in collaboration with Larissa Sedikova of the Museum-Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, with contributions by Paul Arthur of the University of Salento and a team of researchers and specialists. It will present the results of excavations in a residential block at the southern edge of the urban center of Chersonesos, where between 2001 and 2006 a multidisciplinary research team uncovered an archaeological story of urban life stretching from the 3^rdc. BCE to the 13^thc. CE. The results of this research shed new light on the diachronic development of the city and its economy, with a particular focus on the final phase of the community’s life. In the 13^thcentury, this area and most of the rest of the city was destroyed in a devastating conflagration, probably the result of a brutal sack. The fire put an end to occupation in all but a few areas of the city, but by carbonizing wood and plant material, it also preserved a rich record of the environment, economy, and foodways of this Late Byzantine provincial center. Moreover, the residents of the city in the last centuries of its existence had the habit of burying their dead in mortuary chapels within residential blocks, and the excavation of one such chapel in the residential block investigated by this project permitted the osteological and isotopic analysis of more than 30 intact burials and a total of more than 100 individuals including those represented by disarticulated remains. The excavation was also a test-bed for various forms of digital documentation, including a web-based database, an integrated GIS platform, and early experiments with the application of photogrammetrical modeling to archaeological stratigraphy. The original plan for publication envisioned an integrated print-and-digital format, including not only an online database and GIS, but an accompanying “data blog” that would reproduce excavation diaries and technical stratigraphic reports with links to the relevant records in the database. The print publication, meanwhile, would present a holistic and integrated view of the specialist research on osteology, paleobotany, zooarchaeology, ceramics, etc. in the context of the larger historical narrative, rather than separating each of these research areas into individual studies. The Shelby White and Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications will make this vision a reality, and the resulting hybrid publication will benefit not only from the original research but from the knowledge generated by more than a decade spent grappling with the challenges of post-excavation sustainability and accessibility of digital archaeological data.