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Related papers
From Africa to Ifrīqiya: Settlement and Society in Early Medieval North Africa (650–800) (2013)
Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean , 2013
North Africa is rarely mentioned in scholarship on the medieval Mediterranean. This paper demonstrates the potential of archaeology for understanding the impact of the Arab conquests on settlement and society in seventh- and eighth- century North Africa. Despite difficulties in dating early medieval occupation, synthesis of the available evidence reveals that the Arab conquest was not catastrophic for settled life. Mapping the distribution of urban sites across North Africa shows that the majority of Byzantine towns were not abandoned but remained significant centres. The rural evidence is less clear, but suggests a relatively busy countryside of estates, farms and fortified villages. The paper then presents three detailed case-studies of the towns of Tocra, Sbeïtla and Volubilis in the early medieval period, before considering more broadly the evidence for fortifications, religious buildings (churches and mosques), housing and production in towns. It concludes with some preliminary observations on the nature of Arab rule in North Africa from the perspective of the archaeological evidence.
This paper presents an overview of ceramics, economy, and trade in North Africa from the Vandal to the early Arab periods (up to the early eleventh century), tackling both the transition from the Byzantine to Arab occupation and the first centuries of Arab rule. Whereas the excavations at Bir Ftouha (Carthage) and at Ṣabra al Mansūriyya provide fairly solid insight into the late tenth and eleventh centuries, and the fifth to seventh centuries have considerable archaeological documentation with respect to North Africa and its economic connections with the rest of the Mediterranean and beyond, it was clear from the outset that bridging the eighth to mid-tenth centuries is problematic. This essay will demonstrate that part of the difficulty is a lack of coherent excavation strategies and an overly synthetic, selective publication of the ceramics and it will outline some of the themes that would be fruitful to investigate in the future. Continuities and discontinuities within Africa-Ifrīqiya of ceramic production, diet, cuisine, and culinary practices are explored here, the last illustrated by the distinctive ceramics repertoires necessary for the processing and cooking of food; so are possible links between contemporary Arab cultures manifest in Ifrīqiya, al-Andalus, and Sicily, across the water. It is with the mapping of culinary culture and its accessories that I believe we shall best be able to understand the Arab (and Berber) communities of North Africa, with respect to their origins, development, and interaction across the Maghreb and the Islamic West.
To cite this article: Cyrille Aillet (2012): L'aventure ibadite dans le Sud tunisien: Effervescence d'une région méconnue, Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean, 24:1, 113-114 To link to this article: http://dx.
The Arab Conquests and the End of Ancient Africa?
A Companion to North Africa in Antiquity
This chapter in the Blackwell Companion to North Africa in Antiquity, examines and provides a critical overview of the impact of the Arab conquests on North Africa, which all too often has been viewed by classical scholars as marking the 'end' . It provides a brief introduction to the historical background of Africa under the caliphate before turning to tackle five key areas of scholarly debate: urban collapse and continuity, the transformation of the classical city, the countryside, the economy, and religious change. Integrating both archaeological and textual evidence for this pivotal period.