Archaeological evidence of an early Islamic monastery in the centre of al-Qusur (Failaka Island,Kuwait)

The history of Christianity in the Gulf is still largely unknown since both archaeological and written sources are sparse. Many questions remain about the development and disappearance of Christian communities, as well as their form. A few sites were identified as Christian because of the discovery of churches or crosses. A church was excavated at al-Qusur (Failaka Island, Kuwait) by the French Mission to Kuwait in 1988–1989. Since 2011, a new French–Kuwaiti Archaeological Mission in Failaka (MAFKF) has aimed to better understand the site’s phasing and organisation. The discovery of a large refectory and a small tripartite building that is most probably a monk’s cell, as well as the reinterpretation of a church-like building as a structure perhaps dedicated to the spiritual education of monks has demonstrated that at least the central part was a monastery, making it the second Christian settlement in the Gulf to be proven to be a monastery.     

A consideration on the interest of a pottery typology adapted to the late Sasanian and early Islamic monastery at al-Qusur (Kuwait)

Since 2011, the French–Kuwaiti Archaeological Mission in Failaka has aimed at defining the function and the chronology of al-Qusur, located in the middle of Failaka Island (Kuwait). The central part of the site appeared to be a monastery, mainly occupied in early Islamic times. The creation of a site-specific pottery typology adapted to this settlement was one of the main objectives of the team. This typology is still in progress and the present paper will highlight the variety of questions that it can address. Certain pottery types provide new information about the monastery’s foundation, probably at the end of the Sasanian period, and abandonment, maybe during the ninth century AD. Pottery studies are also crucial for a better understanding of the monastery’s economic life and the eating practices of the monks. The question of the local or regional provenance of the pottery provides an insight into the inclusion of Failaka in exchange networks.     

Building a cross-border territorial strategy between four countries: wishful thinking?

Since 2010 and the launch of the METROBORDER project, funded by ESPON, Luxembourg and the neighbouring regions in Belgium, France and Germany have pursued the objective of creating a cross-border polycentric metropolitan region. In order to achieve this goal, the political actors have decided to elaborate a cross-border territorial strategy to bring more coherence and cohesion to a cross-border region characterized by its strong functional integration, due to the very high number of cross-border commuters. This paper reflects the approach that we have followed, as external advisors, to animate the debate between the stakeholders and to provide evidence for the decision-making process. Its objective is to examine the content of this cross-border territorial strategy and to question whether such a strategy between four countries is at all possible, efficient and able to answer to challenges of cross-border integration. An analytical framework has been designed, taking into consideration different approaches of cross-border integration, in order to examine, in a critical way, the content of the cross-border strategy.