Islamic Glass in the Making

The ancient glass industry changed dramatically towards the end of the first millennium. The Roman glassmaking tradition of mineral soda glass was increasingly supplanted by the use of plant ash as the main fluxing agent at the turn of the ninth century CE. Defining primary production groups of plant ash glass has been a challenge due to the high variability of raw materials and the smaller scale of production. Islamic Glass in the Making advocates a large-scale archaeometric approach to the history of Islamic glassmaking to trace the developments in the production, trade and consumption of vitreous materials between the eighth and twelfth centuries and to separate the norm from the exception. It proposes compositional discriminants to distinguish regional production groups, and provides insights into the organisation of the glass industry and commerce during the early Islamic period. The interdisciplinary approach leads to a holistic understanding of the development of Islamic glass; assemblages from the early Islamic period in Mesopotamia, Central Asia, Egypt, Greater Syria and Iberia are evaluated, and placed in the larger geopolitical context. In doing so, this book fills a gap in the present literature and advances a large-scale approach to the history of Islamic glass.

Sources on the History of the Berber Tribal Confederation of Ṣanhāja in the Middle Ages: The Issue of Reliability

The indigenous population of North Africa was represented by various Berber tribes, most of which belonged to three large genealogical confederations - Ṣanhāja, Zenāta and Maṣmūda. The question, which the author of the present research examines, is the origin of the Ṣanhāja tribe, its ethnicity and possible ties with Arab tribes that migrated from territories of modern Yemen in the early Islamic period. This work reveals a range of problems associated with the authenticity of sources, the availability of copies, authors, translations. The medieval history of the Maghreb and Berber tribes is a promising, however, still insufficiently studied field for research. Understanding a recon- struction of the historical process, its features, ambiguity, and methodology in the light of the undertaken research appears to provide a necessary basis for formation of a correct approach to the study of sources. This article discusses the issue of historical authenticity and the genealogy of Ṣanhāja confederation as well as the origin of this ethnonym.

Egypt in the Roman and Late Antique World

Following a short section summarizing the interpretative contributions of the book as a whole, this chapter takes a wider perspective, drawing on the material studied in the preceding chapters to first compare Egypt to the wider Roman world, and, second, examine the transition from the Roman to late antique period and beyond in Egypt. First, the overall contribution of the book is emphasized: a new interpretation which takes a social archaeology approach to everyday life. The point is also made that the work is grounded in a careful re-evaluation of object dating, and informed by neglected archive information. In addition to providing a secure foundation for the book, this fundamental research provides an important resource for future studies. Next, evidence for both similarities and differences to wider Roman culture is presented, and the multiple ways in which Roman-style material culture may have functioned within the social context of Egypt are examined. Finally, the relationship between the objects studied and wider social changes is investigated; the transition from the Roman to the late antique period, and beyond. This includes a consideration of the impact of Christianity, and wider evidence, through dress objects, of shared culture across the Byzantine Christian world, as well as evidence of economic change at the end of the Byzantine period in Egypt. Some aspects of continuity and change into the early Islamic period, as reflected through the material studied, are also briefly considered.

Environment in the Islamic City of Termez (Uzbekistan)

The aim of this paper is to understand the ways of life for the inhabitants of Termez (Uzbekistan) and its surrounding environment through the analysis of the zooarchaeological, charcoal, and ceramic material found inside a domestic combustion structure (tannur) dated to the early Islamic period (8th and 9th centuries AD). The tannur was located in a manufacturing area outside the city walls of old Termez, discovered during the 2018–2019 archaeological campaigns of the Uzbek-Spanish team IPAEB. The analysis of the charcoal hints at an abundance of local floral taxa that was used as firewood. The faunal remains indicate the presence of birds, mammals and fish at the site. The zooarchaeological study reveals the exploitation of the fluvial resources through the presence of fish of the Cyprinidae family in the vicinity of the Amu Darya. The scarcity of cut marks on and thermoalteration of the mammalian remains inside the tannur lead us to believe that the presence of the bones inside the container is related to their disposal rather than the use of the oven for cooking. Finally, the ceramic items collected in the tannur belong to the same wares and types identified in the assemblages collected from a workshop area at the site and are typical of the early Islamic period.

FTIR BONE CHARACTERIZATION AND RADIOCARBON DATING: TIMING THE ABANDONMENT OF BYZANTINE PIGEON TOWERS IN THE NEGEV DESERT, ISRAEL

ABSTRACT Various archaeological and historical evidence shows that the marginal area of the Negev desert of southern Israel enjoyed great agricultural prosperity in the Byzantine period (4th–7th centuries CE). Among the different types of agricultural installations are pigeon towers, which were built near the fields to produce fertilizer to enrich the nutrient-poor desert soils. Such extensive specialized agriculture practice was much less applied in the Negev in the successive Early Islamic period in the mid-7th century. Here we recovered in situ pigeon bones from five pigeon towers in the Negev, applied multiple characterization methods (FTIR, grinding curve, and C/N ratio) to estimate the preservation of bones, and achieved absolute dating for the abandonment of the towers. The obtained dates indicate rapid decline of agricultural activities in the second half of the 6th century CE and beginning of the 7th century. These findings, together with other evidence for Byzantine decline of agricultural hinterland and urban dysfunction of the settlements, suggest that the farming activities in the Negev declined in the Late Byzantine period (550–640 CE) and support the hypothesis that climatic-driven causes were the main trigger for the eventual cultural-societal decline of the Negev region.

ISLĀTTIL PEṆKAḶIṈ PORUḶĀTĀRA URIMAIKAḶ: ORU ILAKKIYA MĪḶĀYVU [ECONOMIC RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN ISLAM: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE]

The discourse on economic rights of the woman is one of issues spoken today. Islam as code of the life expands in its all aspects, addresses genuine concern about economic rights of the woman. This paper aimed at examining the Islamic perspective on the women economic rights based on review of prevailing literatures and textual sources of Islam. Building a natural and balanced human society is primary mission of Islam through its divine guidance. Islam recognizes the natural abilities of both male and female and assigns their roles in a society. In Islamic social system both genders have their own and unique roles in human development in the meantime both have their rights. The Islamic perspective on economic rights of the woman is derived its basics from the interpretation of the Islamic textual sources primarily al-Qur’an and historical experience of model Islamic society in early Islamic period. The concepts of inheritance, mahr etc. in practice ensure the distribution of wealth to female proportion of the Muslim community and enable them to maintain and involve in the growth.

Glassware of Medieval Shamkir Town of Early Islamic Period

The author studies the collection of glassware of the 8th–10thcenturies, found in the medieval town of Shamkir, which is located in the western region of the Republic of Azerbaijan. On a functional basis, this collection is represented by tableware, perfumery and drugstore dishes. Drinking vessels prevail among tableware. Perfumery and pharmaceutical utensils are represented mainly by samples of bottles. In the manufacture of glassware, various manufacturing techniques were used, in particular, blowing into a mold and free blasting. The techniques of stretching, welding, polishing, grinding were also used. Glassware of Shamkir belongs to the chemical class Na–Ca–Si with a predominance of the type Na (K)–Ca(Mg)–Al–Si. Most of the glass vessels were decorated with relief geometric ornaments in the form of ovals, circles, and radiating figures, "vortical rosette", "honeycomb" ornaments. The rich raw material resources, professional traditions and innovations which existed here created favorable conditions for the development of glassware production. In the everyday life glassware for various purposes was widely used. Material evidences testify to a great shift in the glass production of Shamkir in the 8th–10th centuries and the production of glassware had a prominent role in the city's economy.