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Islamic societies of the past have often been characterized as urban, with rural and other extra-urban landscapes cast in a lesser or supporting role in the studies of Islamic history and archaeology. Yet throughout history, the countryside was frequently an engine of economic activity, the setting for agricultural and technological innovation, and its inhabitants were frequently agents of social and political change. The Islamic city is increasingly viewed in the context of long and complex processes of urban development. Archaeological evidence calls for an equally nuanced reading of shifting cultural and religious practices in rural areas after the middle of the seventh century.
Landscapes of the Islamic World presents new work by twelve authors on the archaeology, history, and ethnography of the Islamic world in the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and Central Asia. The collection looks beyond the city to engage with the predominantly rural and pastoral character of premodern Islamic society. Editors Stephen McPhillips and Paul D. Wordsworth group the essays into four thematic sections: harnessing and living with water; agriculture, pastoralism, and rural subsistence; commerce, production, and the rural economy; and movement and memory in the rural landscape. Each contribution addresses aspects of extra-urban life in challenging new ways, blending archaeological material culture, textual sources, and ethnography to construct holistic studies of landscapes.
Modern agrarian practices and population growth have accelerated the widespread destruction of vast tracts of ancient, medieval, and early modern landscapes, highlighting the urgency of scholarship in this field. This book makes an original and important contribution to a growing subject area, and represents a step toward a more inclusive understanding of the historical landscapes of Islam.
Contributors: Pernille Bangsgaard, Karin Bartl, Jennie N. Bradbury, Robin M. Brown, Alison L. Gascoigne, Ian W. N. Jones, Phillip G. Macumber, Daniel Mahoney, Stephen McPhillips, Astrid Meier, David C. Thomas, Bethany J. Walker, Alan Walmsley, Tony J. Wilkinson, Paul D. Wordsworth, Lisa Yeomans.
"This welcome volume seeks to bring the approaches of landscape archaeology to the rich dataset offered by the rural communities of the Islamic Middle East. Through chapters addressing fundamental social and economic matters-mining and manufacturing, water management, the animal economy, the actuality of burial practices-the contributors deploy and confront both archaeological and documentary evidence in ways that will interest a broad readership."
"This rich and carefully assembled volume is diverse in its theoretical and methodological approaches and scope. It opens numerous windows into the field of Islamic archaeology, suffusing it with fresh new possibilities and horizons. Each study grounds the history of Islamic societies in a rich and dynamic landscape. The volume should be indispensable to all scholars and students of Islamic studies."
Preface
—Stephen McPhillips and Paul D. Wordsworth
Introduction
—Tony J. Wilkinson
PART I. HYDROECONOMIES: MANAGING AND LIVING WITH WATER
Chapter 1. The Materiality of Ottoman Water Administration in Eighteenth-Century Rural Damascus: A Historian's Perspective
—Astrid Meier
Chapter 2. The Islamic Occupation of Qatar in the Context of an Environmental Framework
—Phillip G. Macumber
Chapter 3. Water Management in Desert Regions: Early Islamic Qasr Mushash
—Karin Bartl
PART II. AGRICULTURE, PASTORALISM, AND SUBSISTENCE
Chapter 4. Faunal Distributions from the Southern Highlands of Transjordan: Regional and Historical Perspectives on the Representations and Roles of Animals in the Middle Islamic Period
—Robin M. Brown
Chapter 5. Zooarchaeological Perspectives on Rural Economy and Landscape Use in Eighteenth-Century Qatar
—Pernille Bangsgaard and Lisa Yeomans
PART III. LANDSCAPES OF COMMERCE AND PRODUCTION
Chapter 6. Beyond Iron Age Landscapes: Copper Mining and Smelting in Faynan in the Twelfth to Fourteenth Centuries CE
—Ian W. N. Jones
Chapter 7. Ceramic Production in the Central Highlands of Yemen During the Islamic Period
—Daniel Mahoney
Chapter 8. Harnessing Hydraulic Power in Ottoman Syria: Water Mills and the Rural Economy of the Upper Orontes Valley
—Stephen McPhillips
PART IV. TRANSIENCE AND PERMANENCE: MOVEMENT AND MEMORY IN THE LANDSCAPE
Chapter 9. The Architectural Legacy of the Seasonally Nomadic Ghurids
—David C. Thomas and Alison L. Gascoigne
Chapter 10. The Northern Jordan Project and the "Liquid Landscapes" of Late Islamic Bilad al-Sham
—Bethany J. Walker
Chapter 11. "Presencing the Past": A Case Study of Islamic Rural Burial Practices from the Homs Region, Syria
—Jennie N. Bradbury
Chapter 12. Sustaining Travel: The Economy of Medieval Stopping Places Across the Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan
—Paul D. Wordsworth
Conclusion. Some Reflections on Rural Islamic Landscapes
—Alan Walmsley
Glossary
List of Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments