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If we review the historiography on Islamic urbanism, one of the fundamental issues from the pioneering studies to the contemporary critic has been the supposedly static character of the medina, an issue which has also been raised in recent critical discussions regarding the relevance of the notion of the timeless Islamic city. 1 Today, almost all scholars accept that the medina is not an immutable entity and that it is untenable to argue that in the medieval period the medina was like the traditional examples which have survived to the twentieth century. Nevertheless, no doubt due to the diffi culty of gathering relevant data, an explanation of the original character of these medinas and the processes by which they evolved into the archetype described by early Orientalist scholars has yet to appear. 2 Most scholars accept that Islamic cities did not originally resemble those of the nineteenth century, and that they were not constructed with disordered cores, dead-end alleys, and quarters, which are supposedly characteristic of the Islamic city. We felt the subject needed to move forward, and we wanted to answer questions such as "What were the fi rst cities founded by Muslims like? How did they evolve over time, up to the point at which they took on the appearance described by earlier scholars?". We therefore published in 2003 a comprehensive article entitled "Sobre la Ciudad Islámica y su Evolución", and in the following year a summary called "Evolución del Paisaje Urbano Andalusí: de la * Translated by Glaire D. Anderson.
The Agdal is a royal estate located south of Marrakesh, founded by the Almohad caliph Abu Yaʿqub Yusuf (r. 1163–84). Its current walled perimeter contains 340 hectares, mostly orchards that have been cultivated uninterruptedly, and more than 40 preserved buildings, with numerous archaeological remains scattered throughout its interior. This article is a continuation of one published previously in Muqarnas 34 (2017), which focused on the history of the estate and provided an analysis of the written sources. In this second part, we present an archaeological and architectural study of the Agdal from the material record that we documented in two archaeological surveys carried out in 2012 and 2014. We discuss the complex hydraulic system that has sustained the estate, the internal organization of the enclosures and plots, its diverse agricultural production, the configuration of palatine architecture and spaces for animals, as well as the successive historical transformations of the Agdal.
The Agdal is an enormous estate, located south of Marrakesh, that has survived from the twelfth century to the present. Historically it was used for agricultural production and related functions, and included pleasure gardens, pools, mills, and seasonal residences. This study presents the results of a multi-year survey of the Agdal’s water bodies, its place within the regional hydraulic system of khaṭṭāras, cultivation practiced there throughout the centuries, and the internal organization of its land and more than forty buildings. This archaeological approach is joined with a study of manuscript and published sources to give a comprehensive history of the Agdal, one of the most important historic landscapes in the Islamic world.
In the summer and autumn of 1910 Postinspektor Schild found a small cemetery of the Middle La Tène Period (Reinecke, Phase C) on his property at Munich—Obermenzing, Upper Bavaria. Eight graves were discovered by him; one, if not two of them were cremation burials. A number of the graves yielded no goods or were at best but meagrely furnished and had either previously been disturbed or had belonged to poor people. Later, in 1913 and in 1914, G. von Merhart (on what must have been one of his earliest excavations) continued work there with the aid of Schild. Nine more graves were discovered, two being cremation, the others inhumation burials. It is of interest that the three richest burials all housed cremations. Apart from two graves found by Merhart, this cemetery is as yet unpublished, though references to it have appeared in various periodicals.The material from the site is in the possession of the Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Staatssammlung, Munich, and I am more than indebted to its director, Doktor O. Kunkel, for his kindness in allowing me to publish the grave from this cemetery which forms the theme of this paper. My thanks are also due to two other friends, Doktor W. Krämer and Doktor H. Müller-Karpe for help on a number of points and for placing the respective records of the Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege and of the Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Staatssammlung at my disposal.
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