Towards an Archaeology of Early Islamic Ports on the Western Red Sea Coast

Against a background of developing research on Red Sea ports, a hypothetical model of the morphology of port towns during the early Islamic period is presented here. These places went through constant cycles of change as economic and political frameworks fluctuated. While their physical shape and form was strongly influenced by architectural features of the Islamic world their functionality was more aligned to commercial interaction. These were dynamic spaces where the daily life of their inhabitants was guided by trade, religion, weather and politics. The ports were intrinsically tied to the trade networks that connected Africa with Arabia and the broader Indian Ocean world.     

The Enigma of 'Aydhab: a Medieval Islamic Port on the Red Sea Coast

The medieval Islamic port of 'Aydhab played a major role in the hajj and in trade with Yemen, India and the Far East. A recent satellite image reveals the layout of the town in some detail, but there seems to be no trace of a viable harbour. Yet there was a fine secure harbour at Halaib, 20 km to the south. We tentatively suggest that the main port of 'Aydhab was separate from the town. This hypothesis can only be verified by fieldwork and our objective in this paper is draw attention to the problem rather than to resolve it.
© 2007 The Authors     

Early Neolithic obsidians in Sardinia (Western Mediterranean): the Su Carroppu case

All the obsidians from the undisturbed Early Neolithic (Cardial ware phase I) layer of the Su Carroppu rock-shelter (Sardinia island) were studied. Their elemental composition and that of obsidians from the Monte Arci (Sardinia) volcanic complex was determined by ion beam analysis (PIXE). A comparison between the composition of Su Carroppu artefacts, analysed non-destructively, and that of Western Mediterranean analysed in the same conditions shows that the archaeological material belongs to the SA, SB2 and SC Monte Arci-types, to the exclusion of the SB1 type. The typological/technological study of this industry allowed us to reconstruct two chaînes opératoires, for the production of blades (using predominantly SC obsidians) and of flakes (based exclusively on SA and SB2 obsidians), respectively, but on the whole, assemblage blade/bladelet production was performed somewhat preferably with SA and SB2 types. Thus, in the earliest EN culture known on the island, ancient man had, for the making of its obsidian toolkit, a highly adaptive behaviour applied to the reduction of different useful obsidian sources.     

A 13th-Century Shipyard at Alanya (Alaiyye), on the Mediterranean Coast of Turkey

Anatolian Seljuks, a territorially-powerful medieval government, held their fleet at bases on the Black Sea and Mediterranean coasts, and constructed permanent stone buildings to protect their navy. Although most of these buildings have disappeared, 13th-century defended shipyard buildings have survived at Alanya, on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. These buildings are not only important architecturally, but can give clues to the types of warships used by the Anatolian Seljuk navy, of which little is known. The dimensions of the shipsheds help us to analyse the construction of these naval vessels.
© 2009 The Author     

Beyond Adornment: Cowry Use as Potter's Tool in the First Impressed Wares of the Southwestern Mediterranean Coast (Northern Morocco)

The use of seashells for the decoration of pottery from the sixth millennium cal BC is well known in the western Mediterranean, with the emergence of so-called Cardial Pottery. Actually, the most discussed issue up until now has been the use of bivalves for impressed decoration. However, the experimental approach followed in the present study provides for the first time clear evidence for the utilization of a very specific group of shells as tools for the decoration of some of the early pottery productions in northwest Africa. In particular, we propose the use of cowry, a gastropod family with a well-known ideological and symbolic role in many human cultures around the world. Also, it is suggested that cowry was used for making impressed wares on the opposite European shore. The implications for reconstruction of Neolithic diffusion along both the European and African coasts of the Mediterranean are of great significance.     

An Early Islamic Inter-Settlement Agroecosystem in the Coastal Sand of the Yavneh Dunefield,Israel

This study examines the remains of an agricultural complex found in the Yavneh coastal dunefield, central Israel. Known as a plot-and-berm agroecosystem, the complex consisted of earthworks in a crisscross pattern of sand berms and sunken agricultural plots that were used for groundwater harvesting. The plots, which provided easy access to the high groundwater table and the berms around them, are overlaid by a gray sand unit covered by pottery sherds and artifacts. This gray sand is more fertile than the underlying sand, suggesting refuse enrichment. Artifactual similarity of the finds to those of inland (Tel) Yavneh suggests that Yavneh was the main source for the refuse additive. Based on artifacts and OSL ages it seems that this agroecosystem was active during the 10th to early 12th centuries a.d. The agroecosystem demonstrates an early example of an Early Islamic agrotechnological attempt in marginal and sandy regions of the Mediterranean basin.     

Ancient Sounding-Weights and Navigation along the Mediterranean Coast of Israel

Underwater archaeological investigations in Israel have recovered scores of sounding-weights of varying shapes, weights and ages. Sixty-three examples kept in Israel Antiquities Authority collections are described in detail, discussed, and placed in a tentative typology of sounding-weight types from the Israeli coast. Finds from shipwreck assemblages enabled dating of some types. Integration of the topography and hydrography of the Israeli coast with site-formation processes provides a theoretical explanation for the high number of weights recovered from Israeli underwater sites.
© 2009 The Authors     

Abdul Ghaffar Khan: An Islamic Gandhi

Abstract

Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a mid-twentieth-century Pashtun of the Northwest Frontier Region known as the "Frontier Gandhi" or the "Islamic Gandhi." His career was marked by rejection of the badal blood feud, and the belligerent Pashtun tribal code. Accepting instead a non-violent interpretation of Islam, Khan was heavily influenced by Mohandas K. Gandhi, and came to interpret the heart of Islam, including the concepts of jihad, as essentially about peace, service, and non-violence. Khan traveled widely in the frontier region that later became Pakistan, and his most significant achievement was to raise a non-violent army of Khudai Khidmatgars or "Servants of God" from his own Pashtun people. His legacy is important to further understand a non-violent alternative of Islamic political resistance.     

Locating the Harbour: Myos Hormos/Quseir al-Qadim: a Roman and Islamic Port on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt

Recent maritime investigations at Quseir al-Qadim, on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, have revealed the importance of this port in both the Roman and later Islamic periods. This paper outlines the key evidence for the location of the harbours, from survey, sedimentological analysis and selective excavation. The Roman harbour, occupied between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD, was located in a now-silted lagoon. Over 100 sedimentological cores indicated its siltation process. By the time the site was reoccupied in the 12th century AD, the harbour was reduced to a small bay at the entrance to the former lagoon.
© 2007 The Author     

Prehistoric Mink (Mustela vison) Trapping on the Northwest Coast

Abstract

Excavations and survey since 1970 have produced data on many aspects of human occupation in the Basin of Mexico between 1200 B.C. and 500 B.C. (un calibrated radiocarbon dates). We attempt here to summarize our current understanding of the communities of that period in the Basin, with respect to chronology, stylistic affinities of their material remains, subsistence patterns, craft production, trade relationships, socio-political aspects, and the possible religious beliefs of their inhabitants. We urge in conclusion that even-handed attention be provided to both the historical and the processual aspects of the evidence in the interest of a more complete understanding of the past in our region.     

Early Islamic lustre from Egypt,Syria and Iran (10th to 13th century AD)

This paper presents a study of a representative selection of lustre ceramics dating from the last quarter of the 10th century AD to the second half of the 13th century AD from Egypt, Syria and Iran. The study concentrates on the structure and chemistry of the lustre itself over the historical period considered and has found a number of significant similarities between the production centres studied. Previous work on the reproduction of lustre under laboratory-controlled conditions allows the archaeological data to be related to the historical technological aspects of lustre production. The results obtained, although restricted to the limited number of samples studied, have demonstrated the occurrence of significant differences and similarities between lustre productions during this period. The possible reasons for these changes are discussed.     

Patterning and Its Causation in the Pre-Neolithic Colonization of the Mediterranean Islands (Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene)

In 1981 one of us (Cherry) first attempted to identify spatial and temporal patterning in the human colonization of the Mediterranean islands. Since the 1980s, slowly accumulating evidence has suggested that the Mediterranean islands were sporadically inhabited by hunter-gatherers during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Here we seek to establish whether or not these data exhibit regularity. We suggest that evidence for Upper Palaeolithic to Mesolithic activity, tending to cluster on larger or less remote islands, indicates that while humans were clearly capable of reaching the Mediterranean islands prior to the Neolithic, their general reluctance to do so can be explained in terms of the variable environmental attractiveness of the insular Mediterranean. Tending to be relatively small, dry, and biologically depauperate, the Mediterranean islands were largely inhospitable to mobile groups preferring extensive territories with diverse and robust biotas. Sedentism only became a widely viable strategy in the insular Mediterranean with the development in the Neolithic of what we might regard as “terraforming”—that is, the introduction of cereals, pulses, and ovicaprids, all tolerant of xeric environments.     

Strontium Isotopes in the Investigation of Early Glass Production: Byzantine and Early Islamic Glass from the Near East*

⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios have been determined for glasses from four production sites, dated to between the sixth and the 11th centuries, in the Eastern Mediterranean region. On the basis of elemental analyses, the glasses at each location are believed to have been melted from different raw materials. Two glass groups, from Bet Eli‘ezer and Bet She‘an, in Israel, are believed to have been based upon mixtures of Levantine coastal sands and natron, and have ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios close to 0.7090, plus high elemental strontium, confirming a high concentration of modern marine shell (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ~ 0.7092) in the raw materials. The isotopic compositions of these two groups of glasses differ slightly, however, probably reflecting a varying ratio of limestone to shell because the sands that were utilized were from different coastal locations. Natron‐based glasses from a workshop at Tel el Ashmunein, Middle Egypt, have ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of 0.70794–0.70798, and low elemental strontium, consistent with the use of limestone or limestone‐rich sand in the batch. High‐magnesia glasses based on plant ash, from Banias, Israel, have ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of 0.70772–0.70780, probably reflecting the isotopic composition of the soils that were parental to the plants that were ashed to make the glass. Strontium and its isotopes offer an approach to identifying both the raw materials and the origins of ancient glasses, and are a potentially powerful tool in their interpretation.