Remarks on Samarra and the archaeology of large cities

Northedge, Alastair

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00113742

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Such growth culminated in the massive urbanisation of the Early Islamic cities of Samarra and Baghdad. Although these urban expansions are not necessarily comparable, for example the mega sites of the Abbasid period, specifically Samarra, include huge areas allocated to palaces and military compounds [ 53 , 54 ], they demonstrate eloquently that imperial urban growth consistently outstripped earlier phases. Finally, a poorly resolved phase of decline after 1000 AD corresponds to the Middle Islamic period and the Mongol invasions when, in addition to a lack of settlement data, there was an absolute decline as well as a fragmentation of the earlier Islamic empires.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long Term Population, City Size and Climate Trends in the Fertile Crescent: A First Approximation

et al. 2016

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Over the last 8000 years the Fertile Crescent of the Near East has seen the emergence of urban agglomerations, small scale polities and large territorial empires, all of which had profound effects on settlement patterns. Computational approaches, including the use of remote sensing data, allow us to analyse these changes at unprecedented geographical and temporal scales. Here we employ these techniques to examine and compare long term trends in urbanisation, population and climate records. Maximum city size is used as a proxy for the intensity of urbanisation, whilst population trends are modelled from settlement densities in nine archaeological surveys conducted over the last 30 years across the region. These two measures are then compared with atmospheric moisture levels derived from multiple proxy analyses from two locations close to the study area, Soreq Cave in Israel and Lake Van in south-eastern Turkey, as well as wider literature. The earliest urban sites emerged during a period of relatively high atmospheric moisture levels and conform to a series of size thresholds. However, after the Early Bronze Age maximum urban size and population levels increase rapidly whilst atmospheric moisture declines. We argue that although the initial phase of urbanization may have been linked to climate conditions, we can see a definitive decoupling of climate and settlement patterns after 2000 BC. We relate this phenomenon to changes in socio-economic organisation and integration in large territorial empires. The complex relationships sustaining urban growth during this later period resulted in an increase in system fragility and ultimately impacted on the sustainability of cities in the long term.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This not only enabled the massive growth of cities, but also permitted production to be shifted from place to place as centres of government and economy were re-located (e.g. from Samarra to Baghdad [ 53 ]). However, such expansion appears to have come at a cost.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long Term Population, City Size and Climate Trends in the Fertile Crescent: A First Approximation

et al. 2016

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“…), the location of its city walls at different periods, the arrangement of the water supply and the location of the Crusader castle. Beyond these questions is the problem of why the city contracted from a settlement covering an area of more than a million square metres to an area of less than 250 000 square metres (see also Northedge 2005).…”

Section: A Case Studymentioning

confidence: 99%