Sixth-Century Byzantine Seal Excavated at the Settlement of Karakabak

This article discusses a unique find discovered by the excavations at the trade and craft settlement of Karakabak (Mangyshlak peninsula, Kazakhstan). This is a lead seal with a Greek block monogram within a border of leaves and a cross above on the front side. The images of the kind are the earliest monuments of Byzantine sigillography. From the parallels in possessions there are reasons to date the find in question to the sixth century, the final stage of the settlement of Karakabak. According to the analogies given in the article, the monogram reads as the name “Marinos / Marianos / Maurianos” with the position eparchos (head of a city’s administration). The discovery of an Early Byzantine lead seal on the territory of the trade and craft center of Karakabak is an outstanding of Byzantine expansion into the Aral–Caspian region. The coin finds and typical jewellery found on Karakabak confirm the said interpretation. Apparently, in the sixth century this emporium linked Byzantine Bosporos, Cherson, the Caucasus, and the Central Asian oases, bypassing the political and commercial claims of Sassanid Iran. The seal of eparchos from Karakabak may indicate the direct or indirect participation of representatives of the Byzantine authorities in regulating the internal life of the settlement and the surrounding areas.