Review of Excavations at Tall Jawa, Jordan. Vol. 4. The Early Islamic House by P.M. Michèle Daviau.

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
A. Asa Eger, Full Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Central Transjordan in the Early Islamic period has received steady attention from archaeologists, who have filled in much-needed information on its cities, palaces, waystations {qusur), and Christian churches. Surveys and excavations at 'Amman, Jarash, Hisban, Madaba, Qasr al-Hallabät,and Umm al-Rasas have yielded new evidence on Umayyad settlement, early Islamic urbanism, and Islamic-Christian cultural exchange. Nonetheless, how rural communities fared during and after the Islamic conquests in this region and in relation to these more prominent sites is not well reflected in the archaeological evidence. What is assumed is that the countryside remained predominantly Christian. Yet the intricate interplay of Christian-Islamic transition, not always a linear or predetermined process, has remained elusive, complicated by such factors as the presence of the Arab Christian Ghassanid tribes who gradually converted. Departing from the oft-discussed religious and ethnic transitions of the landscape, the material culture of transition presents us with another set of questions entirely. The publication of Êccavations at Tall Jawa, Jordan, Volume 4: The Earty Islamic House is, therefore, an important contribution that adds not only to the growing body of evidence for central Transjordan, but also to our understanding of non-urban Islamic archaeology and the seventh- to eighth-century transition.

Additional Information

Publication
Language: English
Date: 2013
Keywords
archaeology, book reviews, Jordan, central transjordan, early islamic period, oriental research

Email this document to