International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Ivan Bugarski
Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia; 
[e-mail]
Sonja Stamenković
Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia; 
[e-mail]
Housing and Storage District at the Northern Plateau of Caričin Grad
Ongoing since 2009 and followed by remote sensing, the excavations of the Upper Town’s 
northern slope have revealed a dense settlement which differs greatly from the city’s other habitation 
quarters. The buildings discovered were linked to the Acropolis and the main city square. Some of 
the two-storey buildings leaning on the Acropolis rampart were used as both houses and workshops, 
judging by the traces of furnaces and slag, while the large horreum and some of the elongated 
buildings sloping towards the north were used to store food – namely building 15C, producing 
pithoi and carbonised fruits. Numerous millstones found in the area testify that this was a storage 
district as well. Unlike other parts of the city with their wide porticoes, this quarter was traversed by 
small streets and narrow passages.
Miriam Steinborn
Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz, Germany; 
[e-mail]
Elementary Habitation – Archaeological Investigation of a Small-Scale House 
in Caričin Grad Case Study Building 23
Building 23 is a modest example of architecture in the upper town of Caričin Grad.
It was excavated in 2014-2015 with integration of archaeobiology and soil science. The 
excavation technique adapted their requirements as well as the methodology of household 
archaeology. Since one key aspect was the identification of cultural formation processes, a high 
resolution documentation of small finds was applied.
The house was a semi-detached building with one room, constructed in a characteristic mix of 
masonry and mud brick. Antique and contemporary analogies indicate an attic storey. It was built 

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in an advanced phase of the settlement and orientated in consideration of the acropolis fortification 
and an established road. A small fire place and a storage possibility as well as the assemblage of finds 
reflect a habitational function, which is stressed by fragments of a rough cut bone fitting that might 
have belonged to furniture. A sickle illustrates connections of the household to agrarian production. 
It seems as if the house was left orderly. The talk will focus on the methodological and theoretical 
framework of household archaeology and its potential regarding the archaeological investigation 
of social and oeconomic life in the early byzantine era. It is based on the preliminary results of the 
excavation in Building 23 which provide insights into common life in a 6
th
century urban context.