From microtowns to megavillages to feuds: settlement transformation in Boeotia and beyond (7th–14th c. CE)
Athanasios Vionis University of Cyprus / Archaeological Research Unit / ArtLandS Lab
Invité par Simon Hasdenteufel École française d’Athènes
This presentation examines long-term transformations in the natural and cultural landscapes of Boeotia in central Greece between the 7th and 14th centuries CE, framing them within broader Byzantine and Mediterranean developments. It traces the trajectory from early Byzantine civitates and bishoprics (6th-7th c.), through fortified ‘microtowns’ in the transitional Early Middle Ages (8th-10th c.), to middle Byzantine ‘megavillages’ (11th-12th c.) and, ultimately, to late Byzantine / Latin feudal territories structured around free-standing towers (13th-14th c.). By employing concepts from ‘Central Place’ theory and ‘Settlement Chambers’ and drawing on intensive archaeological survey data from micro-regions such as the Tanagriké, Thespiai, Hyettos and the Valley of the Muses, this seminar presentation reconstructs a three-tier hierarchy of primary centres (often bishoprics), secondary megavillages and tertiary hamlets and farms in the 11th–12th centuries. It argues that megavillages functioned as nucleated local centres, embedded in intensified agrarian economies and regional exchange networks. Following the Fourth Crusade, this village-based system was not replaced but rather re-framed: ‘Latin/Frankish’ towers and castles, strategically positioned within productive micro-environments, appropriated existing central places and reconfigured village territories into feudal fiefs. Comparative evidence from various regions in the Peloponnese and central Italy highlights analogous processes of nucleation, encastellation and central-place reorganisation. The presentation ultimately emphasises landscape as a diachronic palimpsest in which political, ecclesiastical and economic re-codings of space can be traced through the persistent locations of churches, towers and villages.