POTTERY AS AN INDICATOR OF A CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION UNDER THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGE:A STUDY ON LATE BYZANTINE (1204-1304) TO EARLY OTTOMAN (1425-1453) POTTERY ASSEMBLAGES FROM EPHESUS-AYASULUK

Date

2025-12-29

Author

Günal, Merve

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This dissertation examines pottery as a primary indicator of cultural, economic, and administrative transformation in the Ephesus–Ayasuluk region between the Late Byzantine, Beylik, and Early Ottoman periods (11th–16th centuries). Following the progressive decline of the Ephesian harbor and the inland relocation of settlement activity after the eleventh century, Ayasuluk emerged as the principal administrative, religious, and economic center of the region. This study argues that pottery assemblages from this period provide a stratified and contextually grounded record of how communities responded to changing political authority, environmental constraints, and shifting networks of connectivity. Adopting an interdisciplinary archaeological approach that integrates settlement archaeology, geoarchaeology, archaeometry, and ceramic analysis, the dissertation treats pottery not merely as a chronological or typological marker, but as an active component of social practice. Changes in vessel form, fabric, glaze technology, and distribution patterns are analyzed as material expressions of administrative restructuring, economic reorientation, and everyday adaptation. Particular emphasis is placed on the relationship between harbor decline, the reconfiguration of inland exchange routes, and the emergence of regionally unified ceramic traditions under Beylik authority, followed by increasing standardization during Ottoman provincial integration. Ayasuluk constitutes the primary case study, contextualized through comparative analysis with Anaia/Kadıkalesi as a coastal counterpart and Sardis as an inland production center. This comparative framework demonstrates that ceramic change across western Anatolia was neither uniform nor abrupt, but shaped by locally specific conditions operating within broader regional and imperial systems. By foregrounding archaeological context and material agency, this dissertation contributes to ongoing debates on continuity and transformation in post-Byzantine Anatolia. It proposes that pottery assemblages offer critical insight into how administrative change was negotiated at the level of production, consumption, and daily life, providing a materially grounded perspective on cultural transformation during the Late Byzantine–Early Ottoman transition.

Subject Keywords

Ayasuluk, pottery, Late Byzantine, Early Ottoman, administrative change

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118251

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis