The course deals with one of the least studied periods in the history of the Balkans, 500 to 900, a period for which there is dearth of written sources, but a relative abundance of archaeological material. This crucial period for the transition between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages in the Balkans is worth a fresh look, if only to compare the situation in the Peninsula with the general paradigm of the "transformation of the Roman world," which is now dominant among historians in Western Europe and North America (see, for example, Chris Wickham's conspicuous neglect of the Balkans in his "Framing of the Early Middle Ages"). The purpose of this course will be to give an overview of the considerable progress made in archaeological research over the last two decades, especially in the field of numismatics, small finds, and the chronology of the Avar age. Besides a brief discussion of the problems posed by the few literary sources available (primarily the Miracles of St. Demetrius and Theophanes Confessor), this course will take a fresh look at  the archaeological evidence pertaining to urban centers, rural settlements, and burials, as well as the numismatic evidence (both single finds and hoards). Moreover, the discussion will involve a re-evaluation of issues of group identity, primarily that connected to the early Slavs, Bulgars, Serbs, and Croats. In the light of the historical and archaeological evidence, the course advances a new interpretation of the spatial distribution of sites and of their occupation phases that is radically different from that proposed by most scholars who regard the seventh century as the period of the "Slavic tide" inundating the Balkans. Similar attention will be paid to the current debate surrounding the Croat ethnogenesis. The main theme of the course, however, is the implementation of the social and economic structures that marked a radical departure from Antiquity and the beginning of the medieval period in the history of the Balkans.
 
 
August 15: The last century of Roman power (500-620)

    Readings:

• William Bowden, "A new urban élite? Church builders and church building in late-antique Epirus." In Recent Research in Late-Antique Urbanism, edited by Luke Lavan (Portsmouth: Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2001), pp. 57-68.
• William Bowden, "Procopius’ Buildings and the late antique fortifications of Albania." In New Directions in Albanian Archaeology. Studies Presented to Muzafer Korkuti, edited by Lorenc Bejko and Richard Hodges (Tirana: International Centre for Albanian Archaeology, 2006), pp. 223-32.
• Florin Curta and Andrei Gândilă, "Hoards and hoarding patterns in the early Byzantine Balkans." Dumbarton Oaks Papers 65-66 (2011-2012): 45-112.
• Archibald W. Dunn, "Was there a militarisation of the southern Balkans during Late Antiquity?" In Limes XVIII. Proceedings of the XVIIIth International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, edited by Philip Freeman (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2002), pp. 705-12.
• Ivan Iordanov, "The diocese of Thrace (5th-7th c.) according to the sigillographic data." Archaeologia Bulgarica 16 (2012), 3: 57-76.
• Olga Karagiorgou, "LR2: a container for the military annona on the Danubian border?" In Economy and Exchange in the East Mediterranean during Late Antiquity. Proceedings of a Conference at Somerville College, Oxford - 29th May, 1999, edited by Sean Kingsley and Michael Decker (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2001), pp. 129-66.
• Nikolai Rusev, "Burial rituals in the period of Late Antiquity on the territory of the province of Second Moesia." In The Lower Danube Roman Limes (1st-6th c. AD), edited by Liudmil Vagalinski, Nikolai Sharankov and Sergei Torbatov (Sofia: National Archaeological Institute and Museum, 2012), pp. 381-404.
• Carolyn S. Snively, "The new basilica at Golemo Gradište, Konjuh: a sixth century church in the province of Dardania." In Nish i Vizantija, IX. Simpozium, Nish 3-5. iun 2010. Zbornik radov, edited by Miša Rakocija (Niš: NKC, 2011), pp. 187-201.
• Jean-Pierre Sodini, "The transformation of cities in Late Antiquity within the provinces of Macedonia and Epirus." In The Transition to Late Antiquity on the Danube and Beyond, edited by Andrew G. Poulter (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 311-36.
• Sergei Torbatov, "Quaestura exercitus: Moesia Secunda and Scythia under Justinian." Archaeologia Bulgarica 1 (1997), 3: 78-87.
• see a map of the modern Balkans, a map of the northern and central Balkans in the 6th century and a reconstruction of Caričin Grad

• Florin Curta, "The Prague type: a critical approach to pottery classification." Archaeologia Bulgarica 5 (2001), 1: 73-106.
• Florin Curta, "Female dress and "Slavic" bow fibulae in Greece." Hesperia 74 (2005), 1: 101-46.
• Florin Curta, "The early Slavs in the northern and eastern Adriatic region. A critical approach." Archeologia medievale 37 (2010): 285-306.
• Danijel Dzino, "’Becoming Slav’, ‘becoming Croat’: new approaches in the research of identities in post-Roman Illyricum." Hortus Artium Medievalium 14 (2008): 195-206.
• Vujadin Ivanišević, "Barbarian settlements in the interior of Illyricum: the case of Caričin Grad." In The Pontic-Danubian Realm in the Period of the Great Migration, edited by Vujadin Ivanišević and Michel Kazanski (Paris/Belgrade: Centre de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance/Arheološki Institut, 2012), pp. 57-69.
• Christine Katsougiannopoulou, "The Slavic bow brooches in Greece revisited. Some remarks on ethnicity and social status." In Foreigners in Early Medieval Europe. Thirteen International Studies in Early Medieval Mobility, edited by Dieter Quast (Mainz: Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 2009), pp. 219-31.
• Maciej Salamon, "Novae in the age of Slav invasions." In Novae. Legionary Fortress and Late Antique Town, edited by Piotr Dyczek (Warsaw: Center for Research on the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe, University of Warsaw, 2008), pp. 173-212.
• Franziska E. Schlosser, "The Slavs in sixth-century Byzantine sources." Byzantinoslavica 61 (2003): 75-82.
• Arkadiusz Sołtysiak, "The plague endemic and Slavic expansion in the 6th-8th centuries." Archaeologia Polona 44 (2006): 339-64.
• read also Procopius' description of the Slavs and the Antes,  and see examples of the (wrong) scholarly understanding of the Slavic migrations through Eastern Europe and the Balkans

 August 17: The short “Dark Ages” (620-680)

Readings:

• Georgi Atanasov, Svetlana Venelinova and Stanimir Stoichev, "An early medieval graveyard in the Divdyadovo quarter of Shumen (NE Bulgaria)." Archaeologia Bulgarica 12 (2008), 2: 59-80.
• Csanád Bálint,  "Some Avar and Balkan connections of the Vrap treasure." In From Attila to Charlemagne. Arts of the Early Medieval Period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, edited by Katharine Reynolds Brown, Dafydd Kidd and Charles T. Little (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press, 2000), pp. 180-87.
• Florin Curta, "Byzantium in Dark-Age Greece (the numismatic evidence in its Balkan context)." Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 29 (2005): 113-46.
• Florin Curta, "Were there any Slavs in seventh-century Macedonia?" Istorija 47 (2012), 1: 61-76.
• Florin Curta, "Seventh-century fibulae with bent stem in the Balkans." Archaeologia Bulgarica 17 (2013), 1: 49-70.
• Anna Lampropoulou, "The presence of Slavs in the western Peloponnese during the 7th and 8th centuries. New archaeological evidence." In Foreigners in Early Medieval Europe. Thirteen International Studies in Early Medieval Mobility, edited by Dieter Quast (Mainz: Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 2009), pp. 197-217.
• David Michael Metcalf, "Monetary recession in the Middle Byzantine period: the numismatic evidence." Numismatic Chronicle 161 (2001): 111-55.
• Etleva Nallbani, "Urban and rural mortuary practices in early medieval Illyricum. Some general considerations." In The Material and the Ideal. Essays in Medieval Art and Archaeology in Honour of Jean-Michel Spieser, edited by Anthony Cutler and Arietta Papaconstantiniou (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2007), pp. 63-74.
• Mitko B. Panov, "Reconstructing 7th century Macedonia: some neglected aspects of the Miracles of St. Demetrius." Istorija 47 (2012), 1: 93-115.
• Dora Piguet-Panayotova,  "The gold and silver vessels from the Albanian treasure in a new light." Mitteilungen zur spätantiken Archäologie und byzantinischen Kunstgeschichte 3 (2002): 37-74.
• Efi Ragia, "The geography of the provincial administration of the Byzantine empire (ca. 600-1200): I.2. Apothekai of the Balkans and of the islands of the Aegean Sea (7th-8th c.)." Byzantinoslavica 59 (2011), 1-2: 86-113.
• Stanislav Stanev and Zarko Zhdrakov, "The Old Metropolitan Church in Nessebar/Mesembria after new epigraphical 7th century evidence." Archaeologia Bulgarica 13 (2009), 1: 87-102.
• Myrto Veikou, "Byzantine histories, settlement stories: kastra, ‘isles of refuge,’ and ‘unspecified settlements’ as in-between or third spaces. Preliminary remarks on aspects of Byzantine settlement in Greece." In Oi byzantines poleis (8os-15os aionas). Prooptikes tes ereunas kai nees ermeneutikes proseggiseis, edited by Antonia Kiousoupoulou (Rethymno: Ekdoseis Philosophikes Scholes Panepistemiou Kretes, 2012), pp. 159-206.
• read also the account in the Miracles of St. Demetrius concerning Kuber and the Kermesians 

• Ivan Bugarski, "Early mediaeval finds from Veliko Gradište and the  appearance of Late Avar belt elements along the southern bank of the  Middle Danube." Archaeologia Bulgarica 12 (2008), 1: 87-96.
• Florin Curta, "Qagan, khan or king? Power in early medieval Bulgaria (seventh to ninth century).") Viator 37 (2006): 1-31.
• Archibald W. Dunn, "From polis to kastron in southern Macedonia: Amphipolis, Khrysoupolis, and the Strymon Delta." In Archéologies des espaces agraires méditerranéens au Moyen Age. Actes du colloque de Murcie (Espagne) tenu du 8 au 12 mai 1992, edited by Andrés Bazzana (Madrid/Rome: Casa de Velázquez/Ecole Française de Rome, 1999), pp. 399-413.
• Ljubinka Dzhidrova, "The Komani-Kruje culture: another view. An attempt for the definition of a culture and an ethnic group as a contribution to the political administration of the Balkans in the early Middle Ages." In Papers from the EAA Third Annual Meeting at Ravenna 1997, edited by Mark Pearce and Maurizio Tosi (Oxford: Archaeopress, 1998), pp. 300-06.
• Uwe Fiedler, "Bulgars in the Lower Danube region. A survey of the archaeological evidence and of the state of current research." In The Other Europe in the Middle Ages. Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans, edited by Florin Curta (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2008), pp. 151-236.
• Joachim Henning, "The metropolis of Pliska or, How large does an early medieval settlement have to be in order to be called a city?" In Post-Roman Towns, Trade, and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium, edited by Joachim Henning (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2007), pp. 209-40.
• Joachim Henning, Todor Balabanov, Peter Milo and Daniel Ziemann. "Khan Omurtag's stone palace of AD 822: a ‘modernized; eighth-century timber fort." In Post-Roman Towns, Trade, and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium, edited by Joachim Henning (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2007), pp. 433-40.
• Solinda Kamani, "Butrint in the mid-Byzantine period: a new interpretation." Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 35 (2011), 2: 115-33.
• Eleonora Kountoura, "New fortresses and bishoprics in 8th century Thrace." Revue des études byzantines 55 (1997): 279-89.
• Nicholas Oikonomides, "A note on the campaign of Staurakios in the Peloponnese (783/4)." Zbornik radova Vizantološkog Instituta 38 (1999-2000): 61-66.
• Vasilena Petrova, "The early medieval yellow pottery from Pliska, Bulgaria: the question of its provenance and the problem of its origin." In Post-Roman Towns, Trade, and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium, edited by Joachim Henning (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2007), pp. 315-40.
• Nikolai Sharankov and Dimităr Iankov. "A 784 AD inscription of Constantine VI and Irene from Beroe-Irenopolis (modern Stara Zagora, south Bulgaria)." Archaeologia Bulgarica 12 (2008), 1: 77-86.
• Pananos Sophoulis, "New remarks on the history of Byzantine-Bulgar relations in the late eighth and early ninth centuries." Byzantinoslavica 68 (2009), 1-2: 119-38.
• Boris A. Todorov, "Byzantine myths of origin and their functions." Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 6 (2008), 2: 64-72.
• Daniel Ziemann, "Between authoritarianism and consensus: domination and the role of nobility in the First Bulgarian realm (7th-late 9th century)." Bulgaria Mediaevalis 2 (2011): 373-97.
• Tibor Živković, "The date of the creation of the theme of Peloponnese." Symmeikta 13 (1999): 141-55.
• see a map of the Balkans in the late 7th century, and read also Theophanes' account of the origin of the Bulgars and their migration to the Balkans

• Mladen Ančić,  "Lombard and Frankish influences in the formation of the Croatian dukedom." In L'Adriatico della tarda Antichità all'età carolingia. Atti del convegno di studio Brescia 11-13 ottobre 2001, edited by Gian Pietro Brogiolo and Paolo Delogu (Rome: All'insegna del Giglio, 2005), pp. 213-28.
• Vedran Bileta, "At the crossroads of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages - the rise and fall of the military elite of Byzantine Istria." Annual of Medieval Studies at the CEU 17 (2011): 100-21.
• Florin Curta, "A note on trade and trade centers in the eastern and northern Adriatic region between the eighth and the ninth century." Hortus Artium Medievalium 16 (2010): 267-76.
• Florin Curta, "Emperor Heraclius and the conversion of the Croats and the Serbs." In Medieval Christianitas. Different Regions, "Faces," Approaches, edited by Cvetelin Stepanov and Georgi Kazakov (Sofia: Voenno izdatelstvo, 2010), pp. 121-38.
• John V. A. Fine, "Croats and Slavs: theories about the historical circumstances of the Croats' appearance in the Balkans." Byzantinische Forschungen 26 (2000): 205-18.
• Đorđe Janković, "The Serbs in the Balkans in the light of archaeological findings." In The Serbian Question in the Balkans, edited by Jovan Ilić, Dušanka Hadži-Jovančić and Ivanka Grdović (Belgrade: Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade, 1995), pp. 125-46.
• Georgios Kardaras, "The settlement of the Croats and Serbs on the Balkans in the frame of the Byzantine-Avar conflicts." In Bălgariia, bălgarite i Evropa. Mit, istoriia, săvremie. IV (Dokladi ot Mezhdunarodna konferenciia v pamet na prof. d.i.n. Iordan Andreev "Bălgariia, zemia na blazheni...", V. Tărnovo, 29-31 oktomvri 2009 g.), edited by Stela Dermendzhieva and Dimităr Dimitrov (Veliko Tărnovo: Universitetsko izdatelstvo "Sv. sv. Kiril i Metodii", 2011), pp. 91-98.
• Maja Petrinec, "Croatia between the East and the West--evidence from early medieval graves." In Rome, Constantinople and Newly-Converted Europe. Archaeological and Historical Evidence, edited by Maciej Salamon, Marcin Wołoszyn, Aleksandr E. Musin and Perica Špehar (Cracow/Leipzig/Rzeszów/Warsaw: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN/Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2012), pp. 461-74.
• Mario Šlaus, Željko Tomičić, Ante Uglešić and Radomir Jurić. "Craniometric relationships among medieval Central European populations: implications for Croat migration and expansion." Croatian Medical Journal 45 (2004), 4: 434-44.
• Perica Špehar, "By their fruit you will recognize them - Christianization of Serbia in [the] Middle Ages." In Tak więc po owocach poznacie ich, edited by Wojciech Dzieduszycki and Jacek Wrzesiński (Poznań: Stowarzyszenie Naukowe archeologów polskich. Oddział w Poznaniu, 2010), pp. 203-20.
• Ivan Stevović, "Byzantium, Byzantine Italy and cities on the eastern coast of the Adriatic: the case of Kotor and Dubrovnik." Zbornik radova Vizantološkog Instituta 39 (2001): 165-82.
• Trpimir Vedriš, "’Frankish’ or ‘Byzantine’ saint? The origins of the cult of St. Martin in Dalmatia." In Sailing to Byzantium. Papers from the First and Second Postgraduate Forums in Byzantine Studies, edited by S. Neocleous (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 221-49.