Abandonment, Continuity, Transformation: Setting Komana into Archaeological Context through the Middle Byzantine and Early Turkish Periods

Abstract

Historical sources indicate Turks came into Anatolia starting from the middle of the 11th century. This must have had critical short- and long-term impacts on various aspects of life in the region. Based on the archaeological evidence, it can be suggested that the settlement dynamics started to change during the period of confrontation between the Byzantines and Turks as a result of the shifting political authority on a regional scale. This article will try to identify changing settlement dynamics through the 11th-13th centuries at Komana and its territory with a comparison of other contemporary settlements in the inland Black Sea region and central Anatolia. Thus, archaeological data that shed light on our understanding of abandonment, continuity and transformation are discussed and categorized as indicators.