The present article aims to present the results of archaeological interventions carried out at the Islamic Watchtower of Murta in 2020 and 2022, within the context of the research conducted for the author’s doctoral dissertation: “A Organização do Território no Sudoeste do Ġharb Al-Andalus—povoamento rural e paisagens fortificadas na kūra de Alcácer do Sal” (SFRH/BD/117606/2016; COVID/BD/151702/2021), under the scientific guidance of Professor Dr. Rosa Varela Gomes. The archaeological site, where there is currently a mill from the Medieval and Modern times, built upon the remains of a previous structure, is situated on a high hill, near the Sado River. From it a wide visual range over the river and the Atlantic Ocean is obtained, as well as the Arrábida Mountain Range and the Castles of Alcácer and Palmela, former fortifications erected during the Emirate of Córdoba. During the 9th century, the western region of Al-Andalus, where Alcácer is located, was targeted by Viking attacks, which persisted throughout the subsequent centuries, compelling the Umayyad power of Córdoba, under the rule of ᶜAbd al-Raḥmān II, to invest in the defense of these coastal areas by installing a network of watchtowers and ribats for their protection. Taking into account these events that marked the territory under study, and the strategic importance of that site in the communication between two important fortifications, such as the Castles of Alcácer and Palmela, archaeological excavations were carried out on the site with the aim of verifying the typology and chronology of the structure that lay beneath the current mill. The work carried out allowed the foundations of the tower that previously stood there to be uncovered (possessing a circular plan, with a diameter of 8 m), and the study of the collected materials made it possible to confirm an Islamic occupation between the 8th/9th and 13th centuries.

During the project of excavation and restoration of Qasr al-Hallabat, directed by the author, a unique Umayyad stone-carved wellhead (Latin, puteal) was retrieved from the cistern of the main court of the Qasr, broken into pieces. Its relevance is due not only to its uniqueness, being the only Umayyad period wellhead preserved from Bilād al-Shām, but also to the singular architectural decoration carved on its walls, which helps us, on the one hand, to delve into the variegated sources that contributed to the formative period of Islamic architecture and visual culture, offering new and outstanding conclusions. On the other hand, it allows us to understand the subsequent evolution of the decorative elements and patterns applied to Medieval Islamic wellheads, thus filling an evolutionary gap in the chrono-typological sequence between Late Antique and Early Medieval wellheads, an issue that will be analysed in a separate paper. In this paper, we will focus on the analysis of the artefact itself, on the sources of its applied decoration, and the hydraulic water collection system to which it belongs, thus providing a comprehensive technical, historical, and artistic context to it.

The Kei Islands in eastern Indonesia form part of a vital trade route connecting various regions of the Maluku Islands, and as such were also central to the Islamization of the region. Islamic archaeological research in the region aims to explore the processes by which this happened and the paths it followed, although the subject remains underinvestigated. As an area comprising many large and small islands, the uniqueness of the Kei Islands adds to the attraction of researching inter-island relations in the past, especially in the context of Islamic cultural contact and inter-island trade. Research for the current study was conducted through archaeological surveys and excavations, combined with an oral history approach, to gather information about how cultural interactions and regional trade dynamics promoted Islamization. Archaeological surveys identified relevant sites associated with traces of Islamization, while excavations provided concrete material data related to past community life. Meanwhile, oral traditions have preserved local narratives that are not recorded in written historical accounts but that live on in the collective memory of the local community. The research offers a new understanding of the role of villages and the dynamics of the Islamization process in the maritime communities of the past. It also highlights the importance of the Kei Islands as a meeting point for various cultural and religious influences and their significant role in connecting multiple regions in Maluku.

This paper explores how and why the Umayyad-era Ibn ʿAdabbas Mosque (9th century CE) and the later Great Almohad Mosque (12th century), both in Ishbīliyah (Seville), incorporated Classical and Christian materials into their structures, and why the newer mosque also included elements of older Islamic buildings. The title, “not only spolia”, reflects how acts of selection or rejection can be materialized in multiple ways, such in site location and in construction materials, as well as in the spolia proper itself. We start by analysing how sites for the mosques were selected, showing how archaeological evidence refutes traditional narratives. Then, we explain the functional context of spolia at the Ibn ʿAdabbas Mosque and at other mosques in the city, in contrast to the symbolic purpose of spolia at the Almohad, where materials from other Islamic sites were used extensively. Our discussion sheds light on the presence of capitals from the royal city of Madinat al-Zahra in the Great Mosque’s minaret (today the Giralda bell tower of Seville Cathedral) and of Roman spolia at the base of the tower, as well as of the conscious decision to relocate elements from the Ibn ʿAdabbas Mosque such as the older building’s minbar, maqsura and sabīl. We conclude by showing how this approach can be applied more broadly to various areas and periods, and we contrast churches and mosques in Ishbīliyah/Seville with mosques in the Maghrib.

In the period ca. 1880 to 1930, thousands of south Asian men migrated to Australia to work in the transport industry as cameleers in the country’s arid interior, particularly within the growing mining industry. Most of these men were Muslims, and they maintained their faith by constructing mosques where they travelled and worked throughout the country. An historical archaeological study of three mosques in Western Australia revealed considerable detail about the men’s religious lives and the elements of Asian Islam that were imported into Australia. These three mosques showed active Islamic life across Australia, possibly with a detailed Islamic landscape in Coolgardie. Mosques were devoted to specific tribal groups, to the veneration of an unnamed pir or ‘saint’, and to the needs of travelling, working Muslim cameleers for prayers in a remote trackside location. The principal mosque in Perth in Western Australia was built in 1905, and was closely styled after the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore (many cameleers would have been familiar with Lahore). Other mosques from the period express a very Australian, vernacular influence: Queenslander-style mosques on stilts and, in Western Australia, mosques commonly built of corrugated sheet iron. Pressed metal sheeting, a common and cheap article of architectural ornamentation at the time, may have become a style of beautifying mosques while maintaining the Muslim prohibition on representations of humans. Cultural/religious practices were also changed: Christian Australians participated in some Muslim religious activities, seemingly very different to how it likely happened in the Asian homelands.

Archaeological and historical sources describe differently the course of events that occurred during the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem. Was the transition from the Byzantine to the Islamic period a short and dramatic event or a long and steady process? This study aims to examine the Islamic cultural influences over Jerusalem during the Byzantine/Umayyad period and later post-earthquake of the 8th century CE. Thus, we carried out a study of Mount Zion’s (seasons 2018 and 2019) faunal assemblages, analyzing the species discovered at the site, their demography and distribution between the different architectural contexts. The focus was on evaluating the cultural identity and economic preferences of the local population. The remains we found indicate that the economy was based mainly on caprines, pigs and fish. As the site was located inside the Jerusalem walls, the locals gained their meat supply from the local markets and might have been involved in agriculture outside the walls. Although the site experienced architectural alterations between the two periods, the Christian population remained, and their faunal economy did not change from the Byzantine period till after the earthquake.

Archaeological fieldwork in Israel has testified to the presence of a variety of imported glazed table wares of the 19th and first half of the 20th century—notably from the northeast Mediterranean, Europe and the Far East—in numerous locations, including in rural sites of various ranks. The influx of import of these ceramics to the southern Levant and their widespread use reflect the intensifying commercial activity in the eastern Mediterranean and the gradual processes of globalization and quasi-Westernization or modernization among certain local populations. This article examines the extent of use of imported table wares among 19th to early 20th-century Palestinian Arab rural societies, the modes of use of these vessels in food consumption contexts, and consequently the power of foreign (culinary) objects to modify local (dining) traditions. These aspects are investigated by using archaeological materials, historical photographs and some written testimonies. This review shows, on the one hand, that imported table wares were integrated into local kitchens and functioned alongside locally-produced vessels. On the other hand, although many of these imports—specifically the European ones—were originally designated for individual eating, it is shown here that their influence on local, well-rooted traditions of communal dining was minor, especially among the great majority of the countryside population.

The Continuity of Pre-Islamic Motifs in Javanese Mosque Ornamentation, IndonesiaHee Sook Lee-Niinioja.Archaeopress, 2022. xii, 280 pp., 81 figs., 22 tables. £52.00/£16.00.Pb ISBN-13: 9781803270487. e-book ISBN-13: 9781803270494.

Archaeology is in a unique position to offer a material culture based perspective on Islamization and conversion to Islam, particularly in regions where historical sources might be limited or absent. This is explored with reference to two archaeological areas, Gao in Mali, and Harlaa in Ethiopia to assess if similar material markers can recur archaeologically through evaluating mosques, Muslim burials and Arabic epigraphy, settlement structure and domestic architecture, animal and plant remains, ceramics, and miscellaneous artifacts potentially suggestive of Islamization in both regions, primarily for the period between the 11th–13th centuries CE. It is concluded that the evidence from Gao and Harlaa attests the variety of interpretations of Islam that exist, but, correspondingly, through the recurrence of key markers such as mosques, Muslim burials, and Arabic epigraphy, also affirms material similarity, yet without having to make course to a unitary and erroneous concept of “African Islam.”

This paper offers a study of a particular assemblage of ceramics retrieved in a pit in the Islamic town of Madinat Ilbirah (Granada, Spain) to analyse the processes of formation of the archaeological record. This can in turn provide interesting information on the patterns of use and discard of ceramics, and so contribute to a general picture of quotidian social practices in an Islamic town. The theoretical apparatus of the paper combines insights extracted from the works of M. B. Schiffer, well known for his contribution to the study of site formation processes, and methodological ideas by C. Orton, specialist on quantitative analysis of ceramics. These ideas have been circulated and debated by archaeologists for decades, but they have been scarcely applied to the debate on Islamic ceramics in al-Andalus. In this study they are adapted to the particular conditions of the pit assemblage in Ilbirah. The results of this analysis show that the deposit of ceramics found in the pit contains elements of two well-defined periods of early Islamic al-Andalus (late Emiral, 850–925, and Caliphal, 925–1025), and that there are at least three moments of accumulation. The earliest and latest moment of accumulation were built over a relatively long number of years, but the intermediate moment seems to correspond to a process of discarding of the elements of a single domestic unit over a period of about five to ten years. The main aim of this paper is to draw attention to the possibilities and the need of advanced quantitative research in pottery studies. It is hoped that this study will inspire similar works in other Islamic sites, so that significant comparisons can be built.