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Johnny De Meulemeester
The author reviews the development of Islamic archaeology in Spain, Portugal and Morocco through its publications and eldwork, identifying research themes such as ceramic studies, fortied settlement and landscape archaeology, irrigation and urban archaeology. Features excavated in Spain or Portugal can best be understood through ethno-archaeological studies of the Moroccan landscape and its living traditions. Keywords: Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Islamic, medieval archaeology
Introduction
This short article outlines published sources for the study of the archaeology of the medieval Islamic period in Spain, Portugal and Morocco (Figure 1), and then highlights some of the themes of current research. Medieval archaeology in the region was born out of an art historical approach to monumental buildings, which in places still enjoys a leading role. For example, the Deutsche Archologische Institut (German Archaeological Institute) in a Madrid recently published an overview of Islamic architecture and art objects (Ewert et al. 1997). The architectural history of the Moorish periods is also well documented (e.g. Barrucand & Bednorz 1992, re-issued by Taschen in 2002). But more recently, medieval archaeology has matured to a full discipline. The regionalisation of the Spanish state, after the Franco era, created a direct stimulus for the new regional authorities to look to their roots and pay more attention to their own specic history than to their Roman or prehistoric past. Islamic archaeology has consequentially established itself as a part of the study of the peninsulas eight centuries of Moorish rule (on the evolution of Spanish medieval and Islamic archaeology, see, e.g. Glick 1995: ch. XI-XXI [in English] and Salvatierra Cuenca 1990, especially from p. 69 onwards). The rst investigations in medieval archaeology led to the publication of the Boletin de Arqueologa Medieval (vol 1 in 1987) by the Asociaci n Espa ola de Arqueologa Medieval. o n The development of the subject is also owed to the organisation of a regular conference, Congreso de Arqueologa Medieval Espa ola, which met for the rst time in Huesca in 1985; n the rst conferences comprised three main sections: Visigothic (Reino Visigodo), Islamic (al-Andalus) and Christian (Reinos Cristianos) archaeology, although these subdivisions are now superseded. Since Huesca, different series of local, regional, national and international meetings have been programmed. The different colloquia give an overview of the activities
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History of Europe, Universiteit Gent, Blandijnberg, 2, B-9000 Gent, Belgium (Email: Johnny.DeMeulemeester@ugent.be)
Received: 26 January 2004; Accepted: 27 May 2004; Revised: 23 June 2004 antiquity 79 (2005): 837843
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in Islamic archaeology over the last 20 years: Madrid in 1987, Oviedo in 1989, Alicante in 1993 and Valladolid in 1999. References to work on Islamic period Spain can also be found in the al-Andalus section in the conferences on peninsular archaeology (e.g. Barroca et al. 2000), and since 1994, by the University of Jan yearly edited e volumes Archaeologa y territorio medieval (Archaeology and medieval territory). An overview of Islamic rural archaeology in the peninsula is given in some articles in the Ruralia series (the Jean-Marie Pezes Conferences on Medieval Rural Archaeology; Figure 1. Map of the area: 1. Valle de Ricote (Murcia); 2. Assif Marghane (Ouarzazate); 3. Salts (Huelva). e Bazzana & Poisson 1996 [with extensive bibliography]; Bazzana 1998, 2002). In Portugal the growth of Islamic archaeology has been fairly similar, although chronologically speaking a little later, to the Spanish development. A journal for medieval archaeology, Arqueologia Medieval (vol I, 1992), was created by the archaeological centre in Mertola, one of the pioneers in Portuguese medieval and certainly Islamic archaeology, under the directorship of Cludio Torres (for an overview of the evolution of Islamic archaeology in a Portugal, see Catarino 1997: 24-31). The universities of Coimbra (see Catarino 1997) and Lissabon have also delivered very important research programmes for the Islamic period, for example, Rosa Varela Gomess work (Lissabon) on the castle of Silves and its area, and her more recent work on the west coast of the Algarve (Varela Gomes 2002; Ferreira Fernandes 2002). A bibliography on Portuguese rural Islamic archaeology can be consulted in Boisellier (1996); see also the more historical, but for archaeologists important, publications of Boisellier (1999) and Picard (2000). In Morocco, the study has developed from the Colonial period with a strong emphasis on ethnological parallels in which the country is exceptionally rich. Since the beginning of the colonial period, French scholars (and Spanish in the north) have studied Moroccan history through ethnographic research and through studies of material remains and buildings (for an overview see Hassar-Benslimane 2001a). The archaeologists of the Institut National des Sciences de lArchologie et du Patrimoine continue this tradition. e In Morocco, research is often more directly linked to survey (e.g. Bazzana et al. 1984; Redman 1984; El Boudjay 2002; Bokbot et al. 2002; Carbonero Gamundi et al. 2002) and excavations of historical sites, such as Belyounech (Hassan-Benslimane 2001b), alBasra (Benco 2002), Sijilmassa (Messier & Mackenzie 1998, 2002), Rabat (Erbati pers. comm. 2003) and Qsar Es-Seghir (Redman 1986; Meyers 1989; see also Bokbot et al. 2002; Benhima 2002). Ethno-archaeological investigations using contemporary or recent evidence are important, for example, studies of potters and ceramic production (Bazzana et al. 2001; El Hraki & Montmessin 1998; El Hraki et al. 2001). Important articles can be consulted in the Bulletin dArchologie Marocaine (vol XIX e published in 2002). Research programmes have been carried through in collaboration with
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Table 1. Themes of the Castrum conferences Castrum 1, Lyon 1982 (1983): Habitats fortis et organisation de lespace en e Mditerrane mdivale; e e e e Castrum 2, Paris 1984 (1988): Structures de lhabitat et occupation du sol dans les pays mditerranens. Les mthodes et lapport de larchologie extensive; e e e e Castrum 3, Madrid 1985 (1988): Guerre, fortication et habitat dans le monde mditerrann au Moyen Age; e e Castrum 4, Erice & Trapani 1988 (1992): Fronti`re et peuplement dans le monde e mditerranen au Moyen Age; e e Castrum 5, Murcia 1992 (1999): Archologie des espaces agraires mditerranens au Moyen Age; e e e Castrum 6, Erice 1993 (2000): Maisons et espace domestiques dans le monde mditerranen e e au Moyen Age; Castrum 7, Rome 1996 (2001): Zones c ti`res littorales dans le monde mditerranen au o e e e Moyen Age: dfense, peuplement, mise en valeur; e Castrum 8, Baeza 2002 (in preparation): Chteaux et fortications urbains. a
French, Spanish and American researchers, often in the framework of the Unit Mixte e de Recherche 5648 du CNRS in Lyon. Articles about new work in Islamic period Spain, Portugal and Morocco can also be found since 1990 in the periodical Archologie islamique. e
Themes
Medieval archaeology, and Islamic in particular, has been heavily inuenced by French researchers working in collaboration with the Casa de Velzques, the French School in a Madrid and the UMR 5648 (Lyon II/EHESS). Their inuence at international conferences of Castrum and in the meetings on medieval ceramics (including Islamic ceramics) of the western Mediterranean, often guided further research (Table 1). Andr Bazzana, Patrice e Cressier, Philippe Snac (archaeologists) and Pierre Guichard (historian) for Spain and e Christophe Picard and Stphane Boisselier (both historians) for Portugal have delivered e important study programmes in Islamic archaeology and history. The subjects treated in Islamic archaeology differ little between Portugal and Spain, where in several autonomous regions rescue excavations take priority over thematic research based on the denition of archaeo-historical problems, something which is apparently a pan-European policy, or at least a pan-European feature of archaeology. Apart from general studies in landscape archaeology, the main themes addressed on the peninsula have been fortied settlements and castles, in particular. A basic synthesis is Bazzana et al. (1988), and for a more recent overview, the publication of the recent Pamela conference held in 2000: Mil anos de forticacoes na Pennsula ibrica e no Magreb (a thousand years of fortication in e the Iberian peninsula and the Maghreb) (Ferreira Fernandes 2002). The village with its rural houses and way of life (Bermudez Lopez & Bazzana 1990) was considered in the conference on Formas de habitar e alimentacao na Idade mdia (way of life and food consumption in the e middle ages) held in Mertola in 1996 and published as the Portuguese Arqueologia medieval 4 (see also Bazzana & Poisson 1996; Bazzana 1998, 2002). A basic bibliography of research on irrigation and hydraulic systems will be found in Barcel (1989), Bazzana (1994), Bazzana o et al. (1997), Cara Barrionuevo & Malpica Cuello (1995), Collective (1995), Kirchner & Navarro (1994), Bazzana & De Meulemeester (1998) and Malpica Cuello & Trillo San Jos e
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Figure 2. Medina Salts (Island of Salts, Huelva). The Almohad fortress and the excavations of the town. e e
(2002). Studies of building and construction materials include the important publication on earth building in Mediterranean areas by Hammam (1999). Urban archaeology has, of course, a special place, bound as it is to rescue excavations. In general, medieval towns continued to be occupied up to the present day, so that medieval features are covered and/or disturbed by later structures. Urban archaeology, through the agency of several urban archaeology departments and institutions, saw an important growth exemplied in a series of papers presented at symposia and conferences (Espalza 1991; Macas 1996; Cara Barrionuevo 2000; Mazzoli-Guintard 2000; Passini 2001; Martnez Enamorado & Torremocha Silva 2002; see also the urban chapter in the Archaeologa y territorio medieval volumes). Some Spanish sites were not re-occupied after the Christian conquest and present exceptional opportunities for excavations. An example is provided by the Salts project (Huelva/Andalucia, Spain). e The Muslim town of Shaltish is located on Salts island situated near the conuence of the e Rio Tinto and the Rio Odiel, where the latter ows into the Atlantic (Figure 2). The town occupies an area of about 6 ha. Before the arrival of the Muslims the site had been occupied in protohistoric Tartessian times, and Strabo mentions a Roman presence. Arab chronicles describe Salts as an open town without a defensive wall. There was a harbour and, amongst e its industrial activities, iron production was of the greatest importance. Agriculture and animal breeding completed the resources of the inhabitants. The Vikings attacked the town twice. But it ourished during the Almohad period in the second half of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth century, when a rectangular castle also protected the town. In about AD 1250, Castillian troops conquered Salts, and the town was abandoned. As e
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the site was never re-occupied, its thirteenth-century urban layout remains well preserved beneath the topsoil. Systematic excavations began in 1988 and have lasted for 10 years under the direction of Andr Bazzana. Apart from some trial trenches opened for stratigraphic reconnaissance, e the main object of the excavations was to get a better understanding of the apparently orthogonal plan of the town obtained through geophysical mapping. In general, the houses have a classical layout with rooms around a central or lateral patio; they have a latrine on the street side and the entrance hall is placed in a way that it blocks an inside view from the street. Apart from the patio and the entrance hall, a kitchen, water supply systems, and sleeping and living rooms are present in almost every house. The internal organisation depends mostly on the size of the house and on the wealth of its owners. The results show that the original orthogonal layout became less ordered from the twelfth/thirteenth century onwards, due to overbuilding of public spaces and streets and reorganisation and partition of the original buildings.
Conclusion
The Iberian peninsula and Morocco offer exceptional opportunities for archaeological research into the material culture of Islamic periods and cultures. The presence of large numbers of Berber clans and tribes in the Iberian peninsula since the eighth century and the domination of parts of the peninsula by Almoravid and Almohad dynasties of Moroccan origin provide direct links between the history and archaeology of both areas. Often, archaeological features excavated in Spain or Portugal can best be understood by looking at them through ethno-archaeological studies of features in the Moroccan landscape and its living traditions (see De Meulemeester 2005). The conferences on ceramics of the western Mediterranean were held at Valbonne in 1978 (1980); Toledo 1982 (1986); Siena & Faenza 1984 (1986); Lisboa 1987 (1991); Rabat 1991 (1995); Aix-en-Provence 1995 (1997). References
Barcelo, M. 1989. El dise o de espacios irrigados en n al-Andalus, in El agua en zonas aridas: arqueologa e historia. Almera: Instituto de Estudios Almenenses vol. I xv-l. Barroca, M., A. Malpica Cuello & M. Real. 2000. 3 Congresso de Arqueologia Pennsular, Actas Arquelogia da Idade Mdia da Pennsula Ibrica, e e vol 7. Porto. Barrucand, M. & A. Bednorz. 1992. Larchitecteure maure en Andalousie. K ln: Taschen Verlag. o Bazzana, A. 1994. La peque a hidrulica agrcola en n a al-Andalus. Ciencias de la naturaleza en al-Andalus, III-Textos y estudios: 317-35. Madrid: C.S.I.C. 1998. Villages et terroirs andalous: quelques aspects du peuplement mdival et de lexploitation agraire e e dans al-Andalus. Ruralia II, Pam tky Archeologick a e Supplementum 11: 140-51. 2002. La maison rurale dans la pninsule ibrique: un e e atelier dethno-archologie. Ruralia IV, Pam tky e a Archeologick Supplementum 15: 216-31. e Bazzana, A., P. Cressier, L. Erbati, Y. Montmessin & A. Touri. 1984. Premi`res prospections e darchologie mdivale et islamique au Nord du e e e Maroc. Bulletin dArchologie Marocaine XV: e 367-450. Bazzana, A., P. Cressier & P. Guichard. 1988. Les ch teaux ruraux dal-Andalus. Histoire et archologie a e des hus n du Sud-Est de lEspagne. Madrid: u Collection de la Casa de Velzquez, n 19. a Bazzana, A. & J. de Meulemeester. 1998. Irrigation systems of Islamic origin in the Valle de Ricote (Murcia, Spain). Ruralia II (Spa 1997), Pam tky a Archeologick Supplementum 11: 152-60. e
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Kirchner, H. & C. Navarro. 1994. Objetivos, mtodos y prctica de la Arqueologa hidrulica. e a a Arqueologa y territorio medieval 1, Actas del coloquio Problemas en arqueologa medieval: 159-82. Macas, S. 1996. Mrtola isl mica. Estudo histricoi e a o arqueolgico do Bairro de Alc ova (sculos XII-XIII). o ac e Mrtola. e Malpica Cuello, A. & C. Trillo San Jose. 2002. La hidrulica rural nazar. Anlisis de una agricultura a a irrigada de origen Andalus, in C. Trillo San Jos e (ed.) Asentamientos Rurales y Territorio en el Mediterr neo Medieval, Serie de Arqueologa a Medieval 4: 221-61. Granada. Martnez Enamorado, V. & A. Torremocha Silva i (ed.). 2002. La ciudad en al-Andalus y el Magreb. II Congreso internacional (Algeciras, 1999). Algeciras. Mazzoli-Guintard, Ch. 2000. Ciudades de al-Andalus. Espa a y Portugal en la poca musulmana n e (s. VIII-XV). Granada. Messier, R. & N. Mackenzie. 1998. Archaeological survey of Sijilmassa, 1988. Bulletin dArchologie e Marocaine XIX: 257-92. 2002. Sijilmassa. An archaeological study 1992. Bulletin dArchologie Marocaine XVIII: 267-88. e Meyers, E. 1989. Ceramic technologies of medieval northern Morocco, in Ch. Edman (ed.) Medieval archaeology, papers of the seventh annual confrence of the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies: 75-95. Binghamton. Passini, J. (ed.). 2001. La ciudad medieval: de la casa al tejido urbano. Actas del primer Curso de Historia y Urbanismo Medieval organizado por la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. Cuenca. Picard, Ch. 2000. Le Portugal musulman (VIII` XIII` e e si`cle). Loccident dal-Andalus sous domination e islamique. Paris. Redman, Ch. 1984. Survey and test excavation of six medieval Islamic sites in northern Morocco. Bulletin dArchologie Marocaine XV: 311-49. e 1986. Qsar es-Seghir: An Archaeological View of Medieval Life. New York. Salvatierra Cuenca, V. 1990. Cien a os de n Arqueologa medieval. Perspectivas desde la perifera. Granada: Jan. e Varela Gomes, R. 2002. Silves (Xelb), una cidade do Gharb Al-Andalus: territrio e cultura. Lisboa: o Instituto portugus de arqueologia, Trabalhos de e Arqueologia 23.
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