CLASS SESSIONS – Topics, Readings and Assignments:
Week 1: Preliminaries
1/26: Course Introduction – “The Things We Make, Make Us”
1/28 Archaeology – Approaching the past through material remains
The Strengths and Limits of Archaeology.ppt
YouTube Video of the Jeep "Things We Make" commercial
Readings:
• Carefully read through this syllabus and come with any questions to the second session.
• Nicolle, D. 2003. Historical Atlas of the Islamic World. Checkmark Books (at this point I ask you only to skim through this volume to get a sense of the geographical and cultural diversity of the regions that form the Muslim world. We will read specific essays from this book throughout the course as appropriate.)
Week 2: Preliminaries continued
1/31: The Islamic tradition
2/2: Geography and Territory of the Muslim World
2/4: Lab #1 – Introduction to the collection
Geography and the Territory of the Muslim World.pdf
This is the page for the map assignment
Readings:
• Milwright, M. 2010. Introduction to Islamic Archaeology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (Ch. 6)
• al-Muqaddasi (1994). The best divisions for knowledge of the regions : a translation of Ahsan al-taqasim fi marifat al-aqalim. Reading, UK, Centre for Muslim Contribution to Civilisation: Garnet Publishing. (selections)
• Walmsley, A. 2007. “Material Culture and Society.” In Early Islamic Syria: An archaeological assessment. 48-70, London: Duckworth. (read this for Friday’s lab session)
Week 3: Establishing a Discipline
2/7: The world before Islam – A picture of late antiquity East and West
2/9: Defining Islamic Archaeology (discussion session)
2/11: Lab #2 – Exploring the objects, searching for parallels.
IslamicArchaeologyDiscussionSession.pptx
Readings:
• Kennedy, H. 2004. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates : The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century. 2nd ed. London: Longman (1-14 “The matrix of the Islamic World”) – read for Monday
• Milwright, M. 2010. Introduction to Islamic Archaeology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (Introduction, pp 1-23)
• Northedge, A. (1999). Archaeology and Islam. Companion Encyclopedia of Archaeology. G. Barker. London, Routledge: 1077-1107.
• Walmsley, A. (2004). Archaeology and Islamic Studies: The development of a relationship. From Handaxe to Khan: Essays presented to Peder Mortensen on the occasion of his 70th birthday. K. v. Folsach, H. Thrane and I. Thuesen. Aarhus, Aarhus University Press.
Reading Questions for Week 3 articles.doc
Week 4: Frameworks of an Historical Archaeology
2/14: Archaeology and the study of early Islamic History
2/16: Islamic Historiography
2/18: Discussion of Moreland’s Archaeology and Text (discussion session)
Readings:
• Johns, J. (2003). "Archaeology and the History of Early Islam." JESHO 46(4): 411-436.
• Ibn Khaldun, M. (1958). The Muqaddimah : an introduction to history. New York, Pantheon Books. (selections)
• Moreland, J. 2001. Archaeology and Text. London: Duckworth
Archaeology and Early Islamic History.pdf
Week 5: Arabia – Where it all began
2/21: No Class
2/23: Mecca and Medina – The sacred precincts of Islam (al-haramayn)
2/25: The origins of the mosque and its later institutional role
Readings:
• Peters, F. E. (1998). Introduction. The Arabs and Arabia on the Eve of Islam. F. E. Peters. Burlington, Vt., Ashgate: xi-xlix
• Sauvaget, J. (2002 [1947]). The Mosque and the Palace. Early Islamic Art and Architecture. J. Bloom. Burlington, VT, Ashgate: 109-148.
• Walmsley, A. and K. Damgaar (2005). "The Umayyad congregational mosque of Jarash in Jordan and its relationship to early mosques." Antiquity 79: 362-378.
Lecture notes about Mecca and Medina.doc
lecture Notes for Muhammad, Islamic State, Conquests.doc
EarlyIslamicMosque_InstitutionalRole.pdf
Week 6: Continuity and Rupture in the Early Islamic Landscape
2/28: Urban transformations and Muslim settlement
3/2: Conquest and colonialism - Landscape continuities and disruptions
3/4: Lab #3 What we can learn from old pots
Readings:
Readings:
• Kennedy, H. (1985). "From Polis to Medina." Past and Present 106: 3-27.
• Whitcomb, D. (1994). "Amsar in Syria? Syrian cities after the Conquest." ARAM 6: 13-33.
• Mason, Robert. 1995. “New Looks at old Pots: Results of Recent Multidisciplinary Studies of Glazed Ceramics from the Islamic World” Muqarnas 12: 1-10
Recommended Reading:
• 'Athamina, K. (1986). "Arab Settlement During the Umayyad Caliphate." Jerusalem Studies of Arabic and Islam 8: 185-207.
Week 7: The Umayyad Dynasty
3/7: Umayyad Monumentality - Case study of the “desert castles”
3/9: Lab #4: Pottery drawing and description
3/11: Quiz #1 note: I will be out of town so I will have a colleague proctor the exam
Readings:
• Nicolle, D. 2003. Historical Atlas of the Islamic World. Checkmark Books (Chapter 3)
• Whitcomb, D. (1994). "Amsar in Syria? Syrian cities after the Conquest." ARAM 6: 13-33.
• Khoury, N. (1993). "The Dome of the Rock, the Ka'ba, and Ghumdan: Arab Myths and Umayyad Monuments." Muqarnas 10: 57-65.
• Bacharach, J. (1996). "Marwanid building activities: speculations on patronage." Muqarnas 13: 27-44.
Recommended Reading:
• Hillenbrand, R. 1982. “La Dolce Vita in early Islamic Syria: the evidence of the later Umayyad Palaces.” Art History 5:1, 1-35.
Week 8: Urbanism in the early Muslim world
3/14: The problem of the “Islamic city”
3/16: Amsār and early urban foundations: The case of Fustat
3/18: Lab #5: Consumption Practices (a practical discussion)
Readings:
• Abu-Lughod, J. L. (1987). "The Islamic City--Historic Myth, Islamic Essence, and Contemporary Relevance." International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 19(155-76).
• Northedge, A. (1992). Archaeology and New Urban Settlement in Early Islamic Syria and Iraq. The Byzantine and early Islamic Near East: Land use and settlement patterns. G. R. D. King and A. Cameron. Princeton, NJ, Darwin Press. 2: 231-266.
• Sheehan, Peter. (2010) Babylon of Egypt : the archaeology of old Cairo and the origins of the city. Cairo: AUC Press (selections)
• Al-Jahiz. (1999 {late 8th century}). Avarice and the Avaricious (Kitab al-Bukhala). Trans. Jim Colville. (selections) (Read for Friday’s lab session)
• Bulliet, R. W. (1992). Pottery Styles and Social Status in Medieval Khurasan. Archaeology, Annales and Ethnohistory. A. B. Knapp. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. (Read for Friday’s lab session)
The misr of Fustat.pdf
Early islamic city presentation 2011.pdf
Week 9: Urban life
3/21: Baghdad and Samarra – The birth of the royal city under the Abbasid Dynasty
3/23: Al-Qahira (Cairo) – The Fatimid Empire and its capital
3/25: Domestic architecture and the space of everyday life (Discussion session focused on the Goitein reading)
Readings:
• Nicolle, D. 2003. Historical Atlas of the Islamic World. Checkmark Books (Chapter 4)
• Northedge, A. (2005). "Remarks on Samarra and the archaeology of large cities." Antiquity 79: 119-129.
• Goitein, S. D. 1967. A Mediterranean society : the Jewish communities of the Arab world as portrayed in the documents of the Cairo Geniza. Berkeley, University of California Press. Volume 4 “Daily Life” pp. 1-81.
• Documentary: Living With The Past: Historic Cairo. Maysoon Pachachli (director) 2008
Week 10 Spring Recess
Week 11: The Edges of Empire
4/4: Frontiers and Fortifications
4/6: The view from Muslim Spain
4/8: Lab #6:
FrontiersFortifications_Andalus.pdf
Readings:
• Kennedy, Hugh. 2005. Muslim Military Architecture in Greater Syria from the Coming of Islam to the Ottoman Period: From the Coming of Islam to the Ottoman. (selected articles)
• Henderson, J. et al. (2005). "Experiment and innovation: early Islamic industry at al-Raqqa, Syria." Antiquity 79: 103-45.
Week 12: Contact with the West
4/11: Archaeology and the Crusader Principalities
4/13:
4/15: Lab #7: Project preparations
Readings:
• Boas, A. J. (1999). Crusader archaeology: the material culture of the Latin East. London: Routledge. (Chapter 4)
• Ellenblum, R. (1996). "Colonization Activities in the Frankish East: The Example of Castellum Regis (Mi'ilya) " English Historical Review: 104-122.
• Abu-Lughod, J. L. (1989). Before European Hegemony: The world system A.D. 1250-1350.Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Pages 3-40, 102-134, 137-151,185-245)
• Milwright, M. 2010. Introduction to Islamic Archaeology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (Ch. 8)
Week 13: Islamic archaeology in Sub-Saharan Africa and the question of cultural syncretism
4/18: Mediterranean Trade in the Mamluk Age
4/20: Discussion of Abu Lughod’s Before European Hegemony (discussion session)
4/22: Gold, Scholars, and the Kingdoms of West Africa The Red Sea and East African coasts
Readings:
• Insoll, T. (2003). The archaeology of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Chapters 1, 7 and 9)
Week 14: New Directions in Islamic Archaeology
4/25: Ottoman period archaeology
Draft of Paper #2 due to your writing fellow and cc'd to Prof. Straughn
4/27: The Politics of Islamic Archaeology
This session to be held at Professor Straughn's house: 22 Eames St. for BBQ starting at 6pm
4/29: Review Session
Readings:
• Milwright, M. 2010. Introduction to Islamic Archaeology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (Ch. 8)
• Baram, U. and L. Carroll eds. (2000). A historical archaeology of the Ottoman Empire: breaking new ground. New York: Kluwer Academic. (Chapters 1, 5, 6, 10 and 11).
• Silberman, N. A. (1989). Tobacco Pipes, Cotton Prices, and Progress (Ch 13). Between past and present : archaeology, ideology, and nationalism in the modern Middle East. New York: H. Holt. (pages 228-243)
• Straughn, Ian. forthcoming. “The Contemplation of Ruins: Heritage Practice and the Cosmopolitanism of Cairo’s Islamic Past.” contribution for Heritage Cities and Places, ed. D. Fairchild Ruggles, Springer.
Week 15: Reading Period'
5/2: Presentations of Lab projects
5/4: Presentations of Lab projects
5/6: ***Quiz #2***
***Lab Projects due 5/6 Friday***
*** Paper 2 due 5/9 at 5pm ***
