Byzantine Marble Mortars in the Material Culture of Medieval Towns of Taurica

Introduction. One of the rare categories that make up the material culture of Taurica in the second half of the 7th to the beginning of the 14th century are marble mortars made from waste in the production of marble architectural details. Despite the small number, they were noted during excavations of almost all Provincial-Byzantine cities of the peninsula. They are also widely known outside the peninsula in the material culture of the Golden Horde cities of the Sea of Azov and the Volga region. The source base of the work is all the marble mortars recorded during ground and underwater excavations in Sugdeja and the village of Novy Svet, including from closed complexes. Unfortunately, to this day they have not been published. Methods and materials. Standard methods of comparative morphological and stylistic analysis were used. Analysis. The use of the most complete source base allows for the first time to reasonably determine the leading morphological type and chronological framework of the existence of products in medieval Taurica. Results. The data obtained suggest that the marble mortars recorded during the excavation of the provincial-Byzantine cities of the peninsula belong to one of the most common types of products. Archaeological contexts make it possible to date the last period of use of most of them within the framework of the 12th – first half of the 13th century. The most worked products are recorded in the cultural layers of the city of the second half of the 13th and the first half of the 14th centuries.