IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i12p2202-d993348.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evolving Cultural and Historical Landscapes of Northwestern Colchis during the Medieval Period: Physical Environment and Urban Decline Causes

Author

Listed:
  • Galina Trebeleva

    (Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117292 Moscow, Russia)

  • Andrey Kizilov

    (Federal Research Centre the Subtropical Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 354002 Sochi, Russia)

  • Vasiliy Lobkovskiy

    (Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017 Moscow, Russia)

  • Gleb Yurkov

    (N.N. Semenov Federal Research Center of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119334 Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

In Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, both coastal and sub-mountainous parts of Colchis underwent rapid urbanization. In the 12th century, the processes of decline began: Large settlements were replaced by small farmsteads with light wooden buildings, and the economy transformed from commodity-based to subsistence-based. What caused this decline? Was it the social and political events linked to the decline of the Byzantine Empire and changes to world trade routes, or were there other reasons? This article provides the answer. The synergy of archaeological, folkloristic, historical cartographic, climatological, seismological, and hydrological data depicts a strong link between these processes and climate change, which occurred at the turn of the 12th–13th centuries. The beginning of cooling led to a crisis in agriculture. A decline in both farming and cattle breeding could not fail to affect demography. Seismic activity, noted in the same period, led to the destruction of many buildings, including temples, and fortresses, and changes in hydrological networks, which were directly linked to climate change and caused water logging, led to a loss of the functions of coastal areas and their disappearance.

Suggested Citation

  • Galina Trebeleva & Andrey Kizilov & Vasiliy Lobkovskiy & Gleb Yurkov, 2022. "Evolving Cultural and Historical Landscapes of Northwestern Colchis during the Medieval Period: Physical Environment and Urban Decline Causes," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2202-:d:993348
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2202/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2202/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas W. Lee & John H. Walker, 2022. "Forests and Farmers: GIS Analysis of Forest Islands and Large Raised Fields in the Bolivian Amazon," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-26, May.
    2. Michelle de Gruchy & Jaafar Jotheri & Hayder Alqaragholi & Jassim Al-Janabi & Raheem Alabdan & Haneen Al-Talaqani & Ghadeer Almamouri & Hajir Al-Rubaye, 2021. "The Khandaq Shapur: Defense, Irrigation, Boundary, Frontier," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Eid Al-Tarazi & Andrey Korjenkov, 2007. "Archaeoseismological investigation of the ancient Ayla site in the city of Aqaba, Jordan," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 42(1), pages 47-66, July.
    4. Giorgos Papantoniou & Athanasios K. Vionis, 2017. "Landscape Archaeology and Sacred Space in the Eastern Mediterranean: A Glimpse from Cyprus," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-18, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert T. Nyamushosho & Shadreck Chirikure & Ari Sitas & Eric N. Maṱhoho, 2022. "Modelling Land Use in The Gold Belt Territories of Iron Age Southern Zambezia," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-27, August.
    2. Jaafar Jotheri & Malath Feadha & Jassim Al-Janabi & Raheem Alabdan, 2022. "Landscape Archaeology of Southern Mesopotamia: Identifying Features in the Dried Marshes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Giorgos Papantoniou & Giorgos Bourogiannis, 2018. "The Cypriot Extra-Urban Sanctuary as a Central Place: the Case of Agia Irini," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-27, November.
    4. Camila Gianotti & A. César González-García & Nicolás Gazzán & Cristina Cancela-Cereijo & Moira Sotelo, 2023. "Knowledge of the Sky among Indigenous Peoples of the South American Lowlands—First Archaeoastronomical Analyses of Orientations at Mounds in Uruguay," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-24, April.
    5. Giorgos Papantoniou & Athanasios K. Vionis, 2018. "The River as an Economic Asset: Settlement and Society in the Xeros Valley in Cyprus," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-29, December.
    6. Jody Michael Gordon, 2018. "Transforming Culture on an Insula Portunalis: Port Cities as Central Places in Early Roman Cyprus," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-28, December.
    7. Ioannis N. Vogiatzakis & Theano S. Terkenli & Maria Gabriella Trovato & Nizar Abu-Jaber, 2018. "Landscapes in the Eastern Mediterranean between the Future and the Past," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-5, December.
    8. Athanasios K. Vionis & Giorgos Papantoniou, 2019. "Central Place Theory Reloaded and Revised: Political Economy and Landscape Dynamics in the Longue Durée," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-21, February.
    9. Athos Agapiou & Athanasios Vionis & Giorgos Papantoniou, 2021. "Detection of Archaeological Surface Ceramics Using Deep Learning Image-Based Methods and Very High-Resolution UAV Imageries," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Xiaopiao Wu & Zhongfa Zhou & Meng Zhu & Denghong Huang & Changli Zhu & Qing Feng & Wanlin Luo, 2022. "Study on the Coupling Relationship between Relocation for Poverty Alleviation and Spatiotemporal Evolution of Rocky Desertification in Karst Areas of Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-20, June.
    11. Giorgia Maria Francesca Di Paola, 2018. "Central Place and Liminal Landscape in the Territory of Populonia," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-16, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2202-:d:993348. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.