Die Fundmünzen von Harrān und ihr Verhältnis zur lokalen Geschichte
During the 1940s and 1950s D. Storm Rice and Seton Lloyd, together with the Turkish Antiquity Authority, undertook archaeological excavations in Harrān. With the exception of two preliminary reports and a few articles, the excavations remain largely unpublished. The 264 coins constitute an independent source on the regional, political and economic history of Harrān. For the Umayyad and early Abbasid period, the coins constitute a source on the pattern of the city's regional integration. Two-thirds of the coins date from the Ayyubid period. The circulation is characterized by a competition of different coinages: first, those which were struck for the political entities to which Harrān belonged; and second, imported coins, i.e. of Byzantine and Rūm-Saljūq origin. Third, copper coins from Northern Syria, despite the fact that the Diyār Mudar and Northern Syria belong to different branches of the Ayyubid dynasty. Two dirhams of the Saljūq prince al-Malik Mas‘ūd, who resided in Mosul between 504/1111 and 511/1118, are historical documents of importance.
An Eleventh-century Pottery Production Workshop at al-Raqqa. Preliminary Report
AbstractThis article is a preliminary report on an assemblage of pottery found at al-Raqqa in the course of excavations earned out in 1995 as part of The Raqqa Ancient Industry Project. The assemblage was excavated from a pottery production area located in the modern suburb of Mishlab; it includes a large number of pottery wasters of an early sgraffito ware variety which had been labeled elsewhere as Shahin ware. Various examples of kiln furniture are also published. The pottery excavated has been attributed to the eleventh century; the material evidence related to this period in northern Syria is still very little known
Planning Sāmarrā’: A Report For 1983–4
The remarkable ruin-field of the Abbasid city of Sāmarrā’, on the banks of the Tigris 125 km north of Baghdad, and the residence of eight Caliphs between 221/836 and 279/892, is one of the most significant Islamic archaeological sites. But in neither Arabic nor western languages is there an adequate overall description of the remains. It was for this purpose that at the end of 1982 the president of the State Organization for Antiquities and Heritage, Dr. Mu’ayyad Sa‘id Bassim, agreed to a project of planning the remains of Sāmarrā’ from historical air photographs, as an adjunct to the major project of the State Organization there, the “Project for Developing the Twin Cities of Sāmarrā’ and Mutawakkiliyya”. There are two basic reasons why a project of this kind is important at present. The first is that even 75 years after Viollet put his first soundings into the Jawsaq al-Khāqānī there is much that remains untouched and unplanned, although the plan is there to see on the surface. The second is that many archaeological sites in the Arab world are being affected by the tremendous pace of development of the past few years. Sāmarrā’ is more vulnerable than most, because of its vast size, and because the modern small town of Sāmarrā’ is placed in the middle of it. Naturally modern Sāmarrā’ wishes to grow. Although it is fortunate that a development agreement has been successfully concluded between the municipality of Sāmarrā’ and the State Organization for Antiquities, a kilometre of ruins in each direction has been destroyed, and the dumping of rubbish from the town continues in further areas. Moreover, the wall mounds at Sāmarrā’ can be easily destroyed by ploughing; and agricultural development, even in the relatively barren landscape of the east bank of the Tigris, is an important factor. Archaeological remains which are well known are less likely to be destroyed than those which are not.