BVT Clause Samples

BVT. The study of societies after the end of the ancient world has in general been restricted to historical texts and religious art. The archaeological record has not been used as for previous periods, and in particular landscape archaeology has shown minimal interest for this period. Except for a few intensive surveys, which have studied human ecology diachronically, our information about BVT times consists of only sporadic and inconsistent evidence. Medieval pottery is in general acknowledged to be very difficult to recognise, but in fact, archaeological focus on PH times is largely responsible for our lack of experience with the archaeological record of this period. For our area, we know that several nowadays villages were founded in the medieval period, such as Hagia Photia, Nea Praisos, Kalamafki and Ayios Spyridon (the last three in Praisos area). The abandonment of strong cities (Itanos) declares a total reorganisation of the social landscape and indeed now we observe the establishment of several villages on the coast and inland, some of which are defensible and express social upheaval (▇▇▇▇▇▇▇). At the same time, in Pseira we have 2 early Byzantine farms with permanent agricultural constructions in the fields. Moreover, the landscape expresses a strong religious ideology that continues to the present, as many churches and monasteries are founded in this period. In general, socio- economic life surviving to the present or until a few years ago seems to have had its roots in this period.