A Middle–Late Byzantine Pottery Assemblage from Sagalassos: Typo-Chronology and Sociocultural Interpretation

A 12th-13th-century A.D. ceramic assemblage from Alexander's Hill at Sagalassos in southwestern Turkey provides new evidence for the typochronological study of Byzantine pottery. A functional analysis of the assemblage, along with textual and iconographic evidence, archaeozoological and palynological analyses, and chemical analysis of cooking-pot residues, contributes to the reconstruction of diet and cooking practices in Anatolia. While baked fish, vegetables, pulses, and bread are usually regarded as the staples of Byzantine peasant cuisine, diners at Sagalassos were enjoying beef stews before the Fourth Crusade, when the technique of stewing meat was allegedly introduced to the eastern Mediterranean from the West.