Searching for Ancient Shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea: the Discovery of Chios and Kythnos Hellenistic Wrecks with the Use of Marine Geological-Geophysical Methods

This paper presents the results of two deep-water archaeological surveys recently conducted in the Aegean Sea, and the advantages of using conventional marine geological techniques in deep-water archaeology. Two Hellenistic wrecks were discovered: one in the Chios-Oinousses strait at 70 m, was a concentration of over 400 amphoras in a 1.5-m-high, high-backscattering, morphological high; the second, west of Kythnos island, at 495 m, consisted of a few amphoras scattered in a 20 × 20-m-wide area. Side-scan sonar was integrated with high-resolution sub-bottom profiling, and the integration of the two data-sets proved to contribute significantly to realistic interpretation of the sonar targets.
© 2007 The Authors     

Artificial cranial modification on a female skeleton from the Byzantine site of Maroneia (Thrace,Greece)

Artificial cranial modification is one of the most often documented types of intentional intervention on the human skeleton in the anthropological record. A female cranium exhibiting headshaping recently came to light at the Early Byzantine site of Maroneia, in Thrace, northern Greece. Headshaping was practiced by several different population groups during the migration period (1st–9th c. AD), but was unknown in Byzantine customs. Homogeneity in burial customs, evidenced by the skeleton's position and orientation and by cemetery topography, strongly supports the hypothesis that this burial belonged to a Christianised citizen who had the right to be buried in a common Christian cemetery. Headshaping provides strong evidence for the cultural adaptability and complexity of Early Byzantine society at Maroneia, an important provincial urban centre of the Byzantine Empire. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mobility in seventh-century Byzantium: analysing Emperor Heraclius’ political ideology and propaganda

This paper aims to shed light on the mobility of people and relics in the seventh century. It will show that Emperor Heraclius strategically designed his movements and those of his household, citizens, and officials, as well as those of relics within and beyond the borders of Byzantium, in order to consolidate the empire and his position in it. These movements also allowed Heraclius to associate himself effectively with Old Testament, antique, and Byzantine exemplary models of leadership. Overall, this look at mobility in terms of political ideology and propaganda provides a more nuanced understanding of imperial leadership in seventh-century Byzantium.     

Identification of materials in post-Byzantine textiles from Mount Athos

Numerous textiles of inestimable historical significance have been preserved in the monasteries of Mount Athos for several centuries. However, our knowledge regarding the materials used in these objects is very limited. In the present study, microsamples extracted from ecclesiastical textiles (16th – 19th c.) of the monastery of Xeropotamou (Mount Athos) are investigated using Optical Microscopy (OM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled to a Photodiode Array Detector (HPLC-PDA) and Scanning Electron Microscopy equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDX). The first goal of the study is to identify the colouring materials of the historical samples, which were of silk nature (OM). The presence of Prussian blue is revealed using FTIR and organic colourants such as cochineal, dyer’s broom (Genista tinctoria L.), fuchsin, indigo carmine, old fustic (Chlorophora tinctoria L.), soluble redwood (Caesalpinia trees), weld (Reseda luteola L.), young fustic (Cotinus coggygria Scop.) and indigoid dyestuff source(s) are identified using HPLC-PDA. Dyestuff extraction from silk substrates is achieved using the TFA method, which preserves the contained glycosides. Thus, the report provides further evidence to support the efficacy of the TFA method to extract various organic colourants from historical silk samples (second goal). Finally, metal threads included in some historical samples are studied using OM and SEM-EDX. The latter is employed to analyse the composition of the metal surfaces. Silver (Ag) and gold (Au) are detected on the surfaces of the majority of the samples. Two samples were manufactured only with Ag.