This article presents the different types of pendant crosses found in the burials of a Middle Byzantine graveyard at the Pisidian settlement of Sagalassos in south-western Turkey. The aim is to study both the chronology and function of these pectoral crosses. A variety of sources are used, ranging from stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates to contextual information and skeletal data. The crosses could be broadly dated to between the eleventh and thirteenth century AD, thus providing an indication of the lifespan of the cemetery. Moreover, the typological evolution, which was corroborated by parallels from other sites in the Byzantine Empire, allowed us to establish a horizontal stratigraphy for the graveyard. The pectoral crosses discussed here shed light on the funerary practices in this part of the Byzantine world. These generally proved to belong to very young children. They constitute a category of material culture that not only provides insights into the lives of the Byzantine population, especially in early childhood, but are also the material manifestation of the intersection between popular religion, magic, and funerary rites.

Many thousands of burials have been excavated from across the Roman world, documenting a variety of funerary practices and rites. Individual burials, however, sometimes stand out for their atypical characteristics. The authors report the discovery of a cremation burial from ancient Sagalassos that differs from contemporaneous funerary deposits. In this specific context, the cremated human remains were not retrieved but buried in situ, surrounded by a scattering of intentionally bent nails, and carefully sealed beneath a raft of tiles and a layer of lime. For each of these practices, textual and archaeological parallels can be found elsewhere in the ancient Mediterranean world, collectively suggesting that magical beliefs were at work.

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Early career (doctoral and postdoctoral) researchers often lack experience with transdisciplinary research despite their interest in tackling societal challenges with colleagues. Engagement in transdisciplinary research may not be an obvious choice because of limited support from their academic environment, difficulties of publishing, or a lack of suitable methods. In this work, we focus on the last. In order to evaluate several possible methodologies, we brought together a group of 10 young researchers from various disciplines to consider the question ‘What is progress?’. They examined this question via essay writing, a workshop, and a full-day colloquium, using methods that were based on examples from literature. After this process, input from the participants was gathered by means of a survey. Here, we provide an evaluation of existing methods and introduce four new methods: orientation exercise, census, individual reflection, walking consensus. Our results show that such a transdisciplinary exercise can readily be performed by a group of young researchers if the process is methodologically well structured, opening up opportunities for integrating such transdisciplinary insights in early career research.

e journal is open to international research submitted by individual scholars as well as by interdisciplinary teams, and especially wishes to promote work by junior researchers and new and innovative projects. Challenging research themes can be explored in dedicated issues. eoretical approaches are welcomed as much as presentation of material culture assemblages.