The rarity of material evidence for the religion of Islam during the rst seventy years of the hijra (622-92 CE) has been used to attack the traditional positivist account of the rise of Islam. However, the earliest declarations of Islam are to be found on media produced by the early Islamic state. It is therefore mistake to read too much signi cance into the absence of such declarations prior to the formation of that state by ®Abd al-Malik (685-705 CE). There is little prospect that archaeology will uncover new evidence of Islam from the rst seventy years.Le manque de donn es mat rielles sur la religion de lÕIslam pendant les sept premi res d cennies de lÕh gire (622-92) a t utilis pour r futer la th orie positiviste traditionelle de lÕessor de lÕIslam. Cependant, les premi res d clarations de lÕIslam sont ˆ trouver dans des oeuvres produites par lÕEtat islamique ˆ ses d buts. Il est donc erron dÕattribuer trop de senŝ lÕabsence de telles d clarations avant la formation de cet Etat par ®Abd al-Malik (685-705). Il y a peu de perspectives de nouvelles d couvertes arch ologiques sur lÕIslam des sept premi res d cennies.
In the late eleventh century, Sicily - originally part of the Islamic world - was captured by Norman, French and Italian adventurers, led by Roger de Hauteville. For the next 150 years, Roger and his descendants ruled the island and its predominantly Arabic-speaking Muslim population. Jeremy Johns' 2002 book represents a comprehensive account of the Arabic administration of Norman Sicily. While it has generally been assumed that the Normans simply inherited their Arabic administration from the Muslim governors of the island, the author uses the unique Sicilian Arabic documents to demonstrate that the Norman kings restructured their administration on the model of the contemporary administration of Fatimid Egypt. Controversially, he also suggests that, in doing so, their intention was not administrative efficiency but the projection of their royal image. This is a compelling and accessible account of the Norman rulers and how they related to their counterparts in the Muslim Mediterranean.
An article in volume xl of these Papers recorded something of the programme of work which is being undertaken by the British School at Rome, in collaboration with the Italian authorities, on the site of the earthquake-shattered medieval town of Tuscania, in the province of Viterbo some 90 kilometres north-west of Rome. In this article David Whitehouse has given a preliminary sketch of the magnificent series of medieval and post-medieval pottery, the recovery and evaluation of which constitutes one of the most challenging aspects of the situation created by the earthquake. The bulk of this pottery comes from pits which, having outlived their original function as storage pits, reservoirs or cess-pits, were backfilled with material which, though containing a few earlier pieces (as is almost inevitable on an urban site), was in almost all cases broadly homogeneous. In archaeological terms these are closed groups affording a remarkably clear terminus post quem non for the contents of each pit.Much of the pottery from these pits is most attractive work, finding a ready market, and in a country where free enterprise flourishes and the State archaeological authorities are grossly understaffed, it is often a matter of hours between the discovery of a fresh pit and the disappearance of its finer contents. For this reason alone a high priority had from the start to be given to helping the staff of the Superintendency in the race to recover as many intact or near-intact groups as possible. On two occasions, in mid-winter 1972–73 and again later in 1973, groups of pits were cleared, on the first occasion by Peter Donaldson, John Morrish and Laura Glashan, and on the second by Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord, in both cases with the invaluable help of Sig. Enzo Marziale. Since then Sig. Marziale has himself recovered a number of other pits of which the lower parts were undisturbed, of which enough remained of the contents to justify their treatment as significant archaeological groups. Almost all of these pits contained, in addition to pottery, a wide range of other domestic throw-outs, notably broken glass vessels, small metalwork objects and organic refuse.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.