The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine

The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine

Author: Gideon Avni

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2014-01-30

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 0191507342

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Using a comprehensive evaluation of recent archaeological findings, Avni addresses the transformation of local societies in Palestine and Jordan between the sixth and eleventh centuries AD. Arguing that these archaeological findings provide a reliable, though complex, picture, Avni illustrates how the Byzantine-Islamic transition was a much slower and gradual process than previously thought, and that it involved regional variability, different types of populations, and diverse settlement patterns. Based on the results of hundreds of excavations, including Avni's own surveys and excavations in the Negev, Beth Guvrin, Jerusalem, and Ramla, the volume reconstructs patterns of continuity and change in settlements during this turbulent period, evaluating the process of change in a dynamic multicultural society and showing that the coming of Islam had no direct effect on settlement patterns and material culture of the local population. The change in settlement, stemming from internal processes rather than from external political powers, culminated gradually during the Early Islamic period. However, the process of Islamization was slow, and by the eve of the Crusader period Christianity still had an overwhelming majority in Palestine and Jordan.


The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine

The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine

Author: Jodi Magness

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2003-06-23

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 157506538X

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There is a common perception that the Muslim conquest of Palestine in the seventh century caused a decline in the number and prosperity of settlements throughout the country. The role played by archaeology in perpetuating this view, claims Magness, is particularly insidious, because it is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as providing “scientific” (and therefore “objective”) data. Thus, archaeological evidence is frequently cited by scholars as proof or confirmation that Palestine declined after the Muslim conquest, and especially after the rise of the Abbasids in the mid-eighth century. Instead, Magness argues that the archaeological evidence, freed insofar as possible of political and/or religious biases, supports the idea that Palestine and Syria experienced a tremendous growth in population and prosperity between the mid-sixth and mid-seventh centuries. Such a radical shift in the interpretation of the evidence guarantees that this volume will be a benchmark with which future interpretations must reckon. The book includes a CD with map and key, which provides additional information regarding the sites studied and the area examined.


Settlement and Urbanization in Early Islamic Palestine, 7th-11th Centuries

Settlement and Urbanization in Early Islamic Palestine, 7th-11th Centuries

Author: Hagit Nol

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-04-01

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 1000568989

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This volume follows the changes that occurred in central Palestine during the longue duree between the 7th to the 11th centuries. That region offers a unique micro-history of the Islamicate world, providing the opportunity for intensive archaeological research and rich primary sources. Through a careful comparison between the archaeological records and the textual evidence, a new history of Palestine and the Islamicate world emerges – one that is different than that woven from Arabic geographies and chronicles alone. The book highlights the importance of using a variety of sources when possible and examining each type of source in its own context. The volume spans ancient technologies and daily life, ancient agriculture, and the perception of place by ancient authors. It also explores the shift of settlements and harbors in central Palestine, as well as the gradual development of a new metropolis, al-Ramla. Settlement and Urbanization in Early Islamic Palestine will be of particular interest to students and scholars of the history of Islam or the history of Palestine, or anyone working more generally in the methodology of historical research and integrating texts and archaeology.


Early Islamic Syria

Early Islamic Syria

Author: Alan Walmsley

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2013-11-20

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 1472537769

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After more than a century of neglect, a profound revolution is occurring in the way archaeology addresses and interprets developments in the social history of early Islamic Syria-Palestine. This concise book offers an innovative assessment of social and economic developments in Syria-Palestine shortly before, and in the two centuries after, the Islamic expansion (the later sixth to the early ninth century AD), drawing on a wide range of new evidence from recent archaeological work. Alan Walmsley challenges conventional explanations for social change with the arrival of Islam, arguing for considerable cultural and economic continuity rather than devastation and unrelenting decline. Much new, and increasingly non-elite, architectural evidence and an ever-growing corpus of material culture indicate that Syria-Palestine entered a new age of social richness in the early Islamic period, even if the gains were chronologically and regionally uneven.


The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Author: Jodi Magness

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780802826879

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Magness (early Judaism, U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), who has extensive archaeological experience in the area, has written a popular account of the archaeology, meaning, and controversies surrounding the Dead Seas Scrolls and the archaeological site of Qumran where they were found. Without sacrificing content, Magness turns this story into a fascinating page-turner. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


The Archaeology of the Holy Land

The Archaeology of the Holy Land

Author: Jodi Magness

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-08-27

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0521124131

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An introduction to the archaeology and history of ancient Palestine, from the destruction of Solomon's temple to the Muslim conquest.


The Social Archaeology of the Levant

The Social Archaeology of the Levant

Author: Assaf Yasur-Landau

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-12-20

Total Pages: 941

ISBN-13: 1108668240

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The volume offers a comprehensive introduction to the archaeology of the southern Levant (modern day Israel, Palestine and Jordan) from the Paleolithic period to the Islamic era, presenting the past with chronological changes from hunter-gatherers to empires. Written by an international team of scholars in the fields of archaeology, epigraphy, and bioanthropology, the volume presents central debates around a range of archaeological issues, including gender, ritual, the creation of alphabets and early writing, biblical periods, archaeometallurgy, looting, and maritime trade. Collectively, the essays also engage diverse theoretical approaches to demonstrate the multi-vocal nature of studying the past. Significantly, The Social Archaeology of the Levant updates and contextualizes major shifts in archaeological interpretation.


Facts on the Ground

Facts on the Ground

Author: Nadia Abu El-Haj

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2008-06-24

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0226002152

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Archaeology in Israel is truly a national obsession, a practice through which national identity—and national rights—have long been asserted. But how and why did archaeology emerge as such a pervasive force there? How can the practices of archaeology help answer those questions? In this stirring book, Nadia Abu El-Haj addresses these questions and specifies for the first time the relationship between national ideology, colonial settlement, and the production of historical knowledge. She analyzes particular instances of history, artifacts, and landscapes in the making to show how archaeology helped not only to legitimize cultural and political visions but, far more powerfully, to reshape them. Moreover, she places Israeli archaeology in the context of the broader discipline to determine what unites the field across its disparate local traditions and locations. Boldly uncovering an Israel in which science and politics are mutually constituted, this book shows the ongoing role that archaeology plays in defining the past, present, and future of Palestine and Israel.


Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit

Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit

Author: Jodi Magness

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2011-04-12

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 0802865585

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The intersection of archaeology and text in the late Second Temple period -- 2. Purifying the body and hands -- 3. Creeping and swarming creatures, locusts, fish, dogs, chickens, and pigs -- 4. Household vessels: pottery, oil lamps, glass, stone, and dung -- 5. Dining customs and communal meals -- 6. Sabbath observance and fasting -- 7. Coins -- 8. Clothing and tzitzit -- 9. Oil and spit -- 10. Toilets and toilet habits -- 11. Tombs and burial customs -- 12. Epilogue: the aftermath of 70.