Rock and People in Byzantine Thrace. Two Case Studies from Glouhite Kamani and Michalich

Aside from the urban centers and the impressive and sophisticated examples of civil and religious architecture, the studies of the rock-cut sites remain scarce and represent isolated efforts to understand the Byzantine heritage of Thrace. This paper proposes a comparative analysis between the two sites. Different levels of analysis will be proposed: the topographic description and the transformation of the rocks into the functional compounds; the historical background and specifics of the human habitation around – chronology and periodization. Another level of discussion concerns the sites’ relationship with the surrounding settlement infrastructure, including their connections to road networks, administrative centers, and prevailing concepts of sacred or religious space. Finally, the paper discusses the possibilities to establish models of function and habitation of the distinctive sites with the other examples known from the literature or during the BRIA expedition.