ВИЗАНТИЙСКИЙ ГОРОД ПЕРИОДА "ТЕМНЫХ ВЕКОВ": ДИСКУССИЯ В ИСТОРИОГРАФИИ ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЫ XX В

The author maintains that the absence of archaeological evidence is not enough to conclude about the crisis or disappearance of Byzantine settlements in mid-7th - mid-9th centuries. On certain occasions, these archaeological gaps are filled with the help of the time when important buildings were functioning. In works of M.Ya. Syuzyumov, it was stated that Byzantine provincial towns did undergo a crisis, but did not utterly disappear as a result thereof. The researcher’s conclusions are proved by the finds from the closed archaeological sites of Chersonesus, made by Ural University since the beginning of expeditions in 1958 started by E. G. Surov.