Tag Archives: Archaeology

Lecture: “22 Years of the Ango-Bahraini Early Islamic Bahrain Project”, T. Insoll

The IASA annual Beatrice de Cardi Lecture is taking place on the 21st September at 17.45 BST at the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London WIJ 0BE and via Zoom. If any members of the Bahrain Society would like to attend in person please send an email to: contact@theiasa.com by 15 September.

To Register via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZMkc-ioqz4sHtXXpicRc5JBh_Aq…

For full details of the lecture please see the IASA website: https://iasarabia.org/lectures/

5th International Seminar on the Archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula

The 5th International Seminar on the Archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula, organized by the National Council for Culture, Arts, & Letters (NCCAL) and the Centre français de recherche de la péninsule Arabique (CEFREPA) is untitled Material Culture in the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf during the late Antiquity and the early Islamic Period and will take place from March 12 to 14, 2023 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Kuwait City

Material culture within the Arabian Peninsula is still a growing field of research, particularly regarding the study of the artefacts dated within the end of the Sassanian empire to the Abbasid area. Since the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have proposed numerous hypotheses for a better understanding of the exchange networks, typologies of objects and their dating. Beyond the typological works, new research focused on chemical characterisation and function with a developing interest for their context location in domestic habitats or other types of occupations. The accumulation of recent data, pooled by the numerous archaeological missions, on the fields or in laboratories, allows us to a further comprehension of material culture in Arabian Peninsula, for the Late Antiquity until the beginning of the Medieval period.

This International Seminar represents an opportunity for researchers, working in and around the Peninsula, to present or answer many pending issues. Whether related to matters of typology, dating and provenance of artefacts or comparisons between the uses of materials in different archaeological sites. This gathering will allow the discussion between specialists of the different types of objects (pottery, glass, stoneware, metalwork, stucco) but also to propose a global synthesis on the material culture.

12 March – 14 March, 2023
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL, KUWAIT CITY

Download the full programm

Organizing board:

Mohammad Bin Redha (NCCAL)

Dr. Julie Bonnéric (Ifpo / Cefrepa / Ciham)

Rémi Perrogon (Cefrepa / Aix Marseille University)

AQUEDUCTS, CANALS, QANATS workshop on June 23rd-24th in Nijmegen

AQUEDUCTS, CANALS, QANATS: 

CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF WATER CONDUITS

IN THE LATE ANTIQUE AND MEDIEVAL MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST

This workshop will explore topics connected to the hydraulic infrastructure and its management that allowed water to be transported to, and distributed within, cities in the medieval world (c. 600–1500 CE). Many medieval cities depended on the transportation of water across long distances, requiring the construction of significant infrastructure—or, in some cases, the maintenance and extension of pre-existing structures from earlier periods—to supply urban populations. Conduits of various varieties—such as canals, qanats and aqueducts—were huge investments in terms of labour and financial resources and their construction, through sometimes difficult and unforgiving landscapes, often presented considerable engineering challenges that had to be overcome. Once built, these structures required frequent maintenance to remain effective and the distribution of water had to be actively managed to ensure an equitable supply of water regularly reached urban users. Rulers often took a personal interest in the construction, extension or repair of these conduit systems while local authorities and other institutions played key roles in their management and regulation. The material evidence for many of these conduits is well preserved and its analysis often illuminates how, when and why these structures were built as well as episodes of maintenance, repair and abandonment. Textual evidence, on the other hand, provides an equally valuable strand of evidence which often contains more ephemeral details relating to their management, the social obligations that related to their upkeep and the users that depended on the water they conveyed.

In this workshop, we aim to gain an insight into these processes—construction and upkeep, management, (dis)repair, etc.—as well as the relationships between the many people and groups involved in these processes and/or who made use of the water transported and distributed via these conduits. Therefore, contributions explore various aspects of conduit systems that brought water to, and distributed water within, medieval cities—e.g. their construction, repair, management, materiality, symbolism or abandonment. Our focus is the medieval Middle East but contributions also consider evidence from neighbouring cultural and geographic zones (including, but not limited to, the Byzantine Empire, Al-Andalus and Central Asia) as well as earlier periods (such as the Roman and Sasanian empires).

The preliminary programme can be download here.

We would be delighted if colleagues could join us in person, but there will also be a live zoom link to follow discussions online.

To register please send an email to edmund.hayes@ru.nl, indicating IN-PERSON or ONLINE attendance, specifying which days you will attend.

The zoom link will be send to registered participants on the eve of the conference.

New publication: Archaeology, Politics and Islamicate Cultural Heritage in Europe

Archaeology, Politics and Islamicate Cultural Heritage in Europe

Edited by David J. Govantes-Edwards

Archaeology, Politics and Islamicate Cultural Heritage in Europe responds to the wishes of specialists in the history and archaeology of Islamicate societies in Europe to explore the integration of these societies into historical narratives. In order to deal with the multiple implications and wide ramifications of the subject matter, the book offers a collection of papers that cover a broad range of topics, including historiography, gender and family studies, material culture, historical and contemporary identities, historical heritage management, and archaeological theory, while paying attention to the peculiarities of the record in European regions in which Islamicate societies have played a major historical role (and others in which this role may not be quite so obvious, such as Scandinavia). These wide-ranging subjects find their commonality in the book’s aim of challenging the dominant simplifying narratives and their stress on interruption and exception.

The impact of historical narratives in national and social identities is reflected in a wide range of issues, including school curricula, heritage management, the organisation of academic departments, the presentation of Islamicate history and archaeology in the media and the politics of identity of majority and minority groups. The volume does not avoid these questions, but tackles them head-on, challenging the unwillingness of some academics to engage in potentially disruptive political issues.

Table of content

More information: https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/archaeology-politics/

Online lecture: “The Missing Bishopric? The Archaeology of Christianity in Samahij, Bahrain”, 28/04/2022

We cordially invite you to an online lecture Professor Timothy Insoll Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK on DEUTSCHES ARCHÄOLOGISCHES INSTITUT “The Missing Bishopric? The Archaeology of Christianity in Samahij, Bahrain” Thursday, April 28th, 2022 4.00 p.m. CET Abstract: The episcopal seat of Meshmahig or Mašmahig is referred to in various historical sources, such as the synods of the Church of the East, of 410 and 576. These sources have been extensively explored, and it has been suggested that Mašmahig can be linked with the village of Samahij in northeast Muharraq Island, Bahrain. However, archaeological evidence for a Christian presence in Samahij, or elsewhere in Bahrain was lacking. Excavations completed within the village cemetery at Samahij uncovered part of a large building complex. Based on the architecture, associated material culture, and chronology, it is suggested this was occupied by a Christian community, and is perhaps the episcopal palace itself. This was abandoned after Islamisation, seemingly in the eighth century. The results of two seasons of excavations will be described, and the implications for Christianity, Islamisation, and settlement in Bahrain considered. The online event is free of charge and takes place with the software “Zoom”. Please click the following link to join the event: https://dainst-org.zoom.us/j/92312981591… Meeting-ID: 923 1298 1591 Passcode: 666010

Job opportunities at Archaïos

Archaïos is a scientific research society in the field of Heritage and Archaeology. Archaïos’ mainly international projects are based on the multidisciplinary skills of its research team. The strong points of our expertise are focused on Archaeological Maps, Archaeological Excavations (Rescue and research, C.R.M.), Heritage conservation and promotion, Research and development of innovative tools for the excavation and promotion of archaeological sites, and training of professional archaeologists.

Archaïos is currently recruiting on different projects. For more information visit their website.