BYZANTINE AND UMAYYAD PERIOD POTTERY AT BARSINIA (2006 SEASON OF EXCAVATION)

Abstract

Until recent pottery studies of the ancient Classical and Early Islamic rural sites in northern Jordan were of less interest to archaeologists. This article focuses on the Byzantine and Umayyad period pottery that has been discovered during the first season of excavation at Barsinia in the north-western part of Jordan. Fifty-two indicative pottery sherds were sorted according to their date and function into two main groups: the early Byzantine pottery (fourth–sixth centuries) and the Late Byzantine–Umayyad pottery (sixth–eighth centuries). Since Barsinia is one of the small rural archaeological sites, and such sites were rarely mentioned in ancient literary sources, the study of material remains at such locations is essential for elucidating regional development and trade. It also sheds more light on the relation between the site and the surroundings through the comparative study of the pottery objects.     

Byzantine–Early Islamic agricultural systems in the Negev Highlands: Stages of development as interpreted through OSL dating

Abstract

An extensive survey followed by OSL (optically stimulated luminescence) dating of loess accumulation in agricultural terraces at six Byzantine and Early Islamic sites in the Negev Highlands revealed clear stratigraphic and chronological sequences. Traditionally dated to the 1st–7th centuries a.d., results from the present study demonstrate that the construction and use of largescale agricultural systems took place in the 4th–11th centuries a.d. This new chronology provides the framework for a more precise interpretation of the circumstances of construction and demise of largescale agriculture in the Negev Highlands. The agricultural fields were exploited continuously, yet ancient farmers had to confront the environmental hazards of occasional intensive floods, successive years of drought, and a constant process of loess accumulation and erosion. The constant maintenance and repair of fields necessitated an investment of labor. However, it seems that the expansion of ancient agriculture was part of the natural growth and development of Byzantine settlements in the Negev, and not the outcome of planned government enterprise. The agricultural systems were abandoned in the course of the 11th century a.d. and sporadically reused by pastoral nomads.     

High‐boron and High‐alumina Middle Byzantine (10th–12th Century ce) Glass Bracelets: A Western Anatolian Glass Industry

The trace element boron is present in most ancient glasses as an impurity, and high boron (≥ 300 ppm) marks raw material sources that are geologically specific and relatively uncommon. Recent analyses of Byzantine glass with high boron contents suggest that glass‐making was not limited to the traditional regions of the Levant and Egypt, and a production origin in or near western Anatolia is proposed. Glass bracelets from ?i?n al‐Tīnāt in southern Turkey give fresh evidence for the production and circulation of high‐boron glasses that closely correlates with object typology. The patterning of findspots suggests that high‐boron glass was closely connected to the Byzantine world.     

拜占庭文明——独特的历史文明模式

本文探讨研究拜占庭文明的方法,分析拜占庭东正教和拜占庭神学的特点及其对社会发展的影响。通过对拜占庭文明与中世纪西欧文明的比较,说明拜占庭文明的独特性以及拜占庭文明在中世纪基督教世界历史发展中的地位。     

The titles of Petra in the sixth century: the evidence from the Petra papyri

Since their discovery in 1993, the Petra papyri have drawn the attention of both historians and archaeologists because of the amount of information they contain. The content of the papyri essentially deals with the property inheritance and transaction of a certain Theodoros son of Obodianos and his family in Petra and its vicinity, in the period between AD 537 and 593. The present paper focuses on the titles of Petra mentioned in these papyri and on their importance for the understanding of Petra in the Roman and Byzantine periods. Petra's full titles are: ‘Imperial Colony Antoniana, Distinguished, Holy (?), Mother of the Colonies, Hadriana Petra, and Metropolis of [the Province] Tertia Palaestina Salutaris’. The main components of these titles are attested elsewhere, but they appear in their entirety in the Petra papyri for the first time. The various titles of Petra as they appear in the papyri concerned clearly indicate that Petra continued to style itself as an important place in the Byzantine Empire. The picture that emerges from Petra's titles and other evidence from the papyri is that, in the sixth century Petra was still a place inhabited by relatively wealthy people, which had a major role in the economy of the Byzantine Empire.     

Ulama in Islamic Law‐Making and Adjudication in Contemporary Egypt

The article examines the legislative and judicial tasks of Islamic jurists and how they carried it out in constitutional or general legal structure. While the Pakistani experiment was inspired by the Iranian model of jurists' involvement in legislatures, Egypt took a different path by not recognizing any official role for Islamic jurists with ambiguous recognition of Islamic jurisprudence. The legislative role could take the form of incorporating Islamic jurists into the legislature, establishing a committee partially made up of Islamic jurists, or handing over some legislative task to an Islamic jurisprudential institution. Despite the fact that Islamization was intended to respond to the people's requests, it employed autocratic and authoritarian mechanisms. The project attempted to replace the typical class of socially recognized jurists with appointed committees entrusted with Islamic codification. The experiment was challenged for its operation and its Islamicity but never introduced Shari'a courts or Islamic clerical legislation.     

拜占庭的“展示”研究

本文是2006年伦敦第21届世界拜占庭大会开幕式上的主题发言。从公开、自觉的夸示,世俗生活模式的展示和教俗势力所禁止的习俗表现等3个方面阐释了拜占庭帝国在历史上和现实中“展示”（display）自己的方式,并指出,21世纪拜占庭研究者的任务就是探寻拜占庭文明对其周边世界的影响,将其“展示”于天下。     

Khirbat al‐Mana‘iyya: an early Islamic‐period copper‐smelting site in south‐eastern Wadi ‘Araba,Jordan

Recent excavations in south‐eastern Wadi ‘Araba in Jordan have revealed the first early Islamic‐period copper‐smelting site known in the eastern side of the valley, which extends south of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of ‘Aqaba. Five test pits were excavated in 2012 at Khirbat al–Mana‘iyya, a prominent copper‐smelting camp in south‐eastern Wadi ‘Araba, Jordan. The results of these excavations demonstrate that the site was primarily active in the seventh–ninth century AD. Its distance from the copper sources of south‐west ‘Araba suggests that its location was chosen based on proximity to wood and water resources, rather than copper ore deposits. The discovery that the site dates to the early Islamic period has implications for previous and future work in south‐east ‘Araba. In particular, it challenges the common—until now—view of the region as virtually devoid of settlement during this period.     

Nursing mothers and feeding bottles: reconstructing breastfeeding and weaning patterns in Greek Byzantine populations (6th–15th centuries AD) using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios

Traditionally, documentary evidence (mainly medical works and the vitae and miracles of saints) served as the primary source of information for perinatal nutrition in the Byzantine era. In the last decade, however, stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratio analysis has also been applied for the reconstruction of Byzantine breastfeeding and weaning practices. This paper reviews the documentary evidence for Byzantine weaning and compares it to isotopic data for eight Greek Byzantine skeletal samples from the sites of Eleutherna, Kastella, Messene, Sourtara, Stylos, Nemea, Petras and Servia (6th–15th centuries AD). The documentary evidence suggests that Byzantine children were weaned at a relatively late age. The age patterning of the stable isotope data is not as clear as normally seen at single sites. However, the presence of a higher proportion of elevated values in juveniles aged three years or less suggests that weaning was completed by the fourth year—a pattern consistent with the written sources. The data available from this study allow us to make some tentative suggestions about cultural and temporal differences in weaning, and to recommend directions for further research. A comparison of the Byzantine data presented here to data published for Roman-era sites from the Mediterranean and Western Europe suggests that the Byzantines maintained a Roman-era practice of relatively late weaning. In contrast, medieval data for Western Europe and the few measurements made on post-Byzantine Greek material suggest more variation, with some groups weaning late and others weaning earlier, by two years of age.     

The Hull of Yenikapı Shipwreck YK 11: a 7th‐century merchant vessel from Constantinople's Theodosian Harbour

YK 11, a small, heavily repaired merchantman, was one of 37 Byzantine shipwrecks excavated at Yenikap? in Istanbul, Turkey. This 7th‐century hull, abandoned in the harbour as a derelict, was studied by archaeologists from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. Originally built with mortise‐and‐tenon edge joinery, the ship had undergone a series of significant repairs over its lifetime. Repairs included the replacement of planking as well as framing. Although the repaired vessel exhibits evidence of both shell‐first and skeleton‐first shipbuilding techniques, detailed study of the hull remains indicates that the ship was initially designed and built as a primarily shell‐based vessel.     

Muslim Selbstverständnis: Ahmet Davutoğlu answers Husserl's Crisis of European Sciences

In formulating his understanding of Islamic history, thought and politics, the Turkish Muslim thinker Ahmet Davuto?lu approves and adopts the German philosopher Edmund Husserl's formulation of phenomenology — or, philosophy of consciousness. Both Husserl and Davuto?lu perceive a crisis in humanity and identify its causes in scientism and logical positivism, against which they develop their respective phenomenological alternatives. This article places in parallel Husserl's stylised history of Western thought and Weltanschauung method with that of Davuto?lu's Muslim worldview, in order to illuminate the latter's putatively comprehensive interpretation of Islam, diagnosis of the ills of secularism, modernisation, and crisis of values he finds in Muslim societies; and his prescribed treatment for those ills: the privileging of ontology over epistemology, and the full unfolding of core theological concepts of revelation, monotheism, and prophecy. Davuto?lu seeks to reconcile tensions and disputes within Islamic intellectual traditions concerning the nature of God and God's attributes, and the tension between mysticism and rationalism, and the historical and the atemporal. In summary, Davuto?lu's intervention in Islamic traditions is interesting in the effort it makes to appropriate elements of both Husserl and GWF Hegel for the purpose of reconciling a phenomenological reading of Islam with established Islamic authorities and commitments.     

宁夏伊斯兰教地理的初步研究

中国伊斯兰教地理的研究相对空白。本文以宁夏回族自治区为例,阐述了伊斯兰教徒、宗教景观、社区类型和教派及其门宦的地域性特征,伊斯兰区域主导文化与区域社会经济发展的关系。本文希望对伊斯兰教地理的研究起到抛砖引玉的作用,对于制定以伊斯兰文化为主导的区域发展战略和政策起到参考作用。     

Petra,taxes and trade reconsidered in the light of the Petra Church archive

Much has been written about the Petra Papyri since their discovery in 1993. However, little has been published on their connection with taxes, and our understanding of Petra and trade has changed considerably in the last couple of decades. The papyri provide plenty of information concerning the material culture of Byzantine Petra. The purpose of this paper is to review the economic and historical information in the papyri related to taxes on the land, and to understand the economic reality in Petra and its hinterland during the Byzantine period. The papyri indicate the existence of a stable society and continuity of human settlement in Petra and its neighbouring areas such as Udhruh and Al-Sadaqa, especially after the frequent earthquakes that threatened the region between the fourth- and seventh-centuries AD. It is clear from the papyri that there is an advanced tax system in the Petra region during the sixth-century AD.     

On the Metal‐Leaf Decorations of Post‐Byzantine Greek Icons

Metal leaves were widely used as decorative materials in post‐Byzantine ritual painting. Fifty‐two icons (mid‐15th to mid‐19th centuries) were studied by means of analytical techniques in order to reveal the materials and techniques encountered in their metal‐leaf decorations. High‐purity gold leaf was used throughout the studied period. Silver was employed rarely and mostly during the latter part of the period in consideration, while metal powders were mostly used from the mid‐18th century onwards. The identification of a gold–silver powder mixture and an ‘electrum’‐type alloy are among the reported findings, which are novel for post‐Byzantine icons. Three micromorphologically distinct highlighting techniques were also documented.     

Chemical characterisation of glass mosaic tesserae from sixth-century Sagalassos (south-west Turkey): chronology and production techniques

Little is known about the origin, supply pattern and production technology of Byzantine glass mosaic tesserae. In this study, we have analysed forty-eight glass tesserae from Sagalassos (Asia Minor) of different colours and from two archaeological contexts that were stratigraphically dated to the sixth century CE. The main aim was to identify the raw materials, colourants and opacifiers as well as secondary working practices that are reflected in the composition (EPMA, LA-ICP-MS analyses) and the microstructure (XRD, SEM-BSE) of the tesserae. The set of samples retrieved from the Roman Baths complex at Sagalassos is compositionally very homogeneous, representing possibly a single commission, and can be tentatively dated to the late Roman period. In contrast, the assemblage associated with the construction of a Byzantine church around the turn of the sixth century CE is more diverse, suggesting that these tesserae were produced from more than one silica source. This highlights a diversification in the supply and manufacture of glass tesserae during the Byzantine period.