Islam as an archaeologically detectable practice

An understanding of the doctrine and legal aspects of Islam are well developed (Bowie 2000:25). As many Islamic laws are concerned with behaviour and practices, Islam can be seen to emphasise orthopraxy, or relying on the observance of correct behaviour in order to observe god (Lindsay 2005:22). This is easily exemplified by the observance of the ‘Five Pillars’ outlined in section 2.2.2.1. Much other behaviour is ritualised including diet, culinary habits and the division of male and female space. This creates a link between behaviour, belief and practice. It is the material expression of these beliefs and Islam as either items (e.g. prayer beads) or symbols (e.g. gender division) that are recordable in the archaeological record (Alexander 1979). The degree of material observance can therefore be compared against religious documentation and reasons for variation can then be explored.

Considering the size of the worldwide Islamic population and the popularity of

archaeology, the archaeology of Islam seems to have somewhat failed to flourish (Petersen 2005:100). Excavations of Islamic places (e.g. Samarqand in modern Uzbekistan) in the late 19^th century tended to focus on artefact recovery rather than the nature of Islam (Vernoit 1997:1). The Archaeology of Islam has a long tradition in contributing to art history of the Middle East (Vernoit 1997); however contributions to overall Islamic history are recent phenomena (Waines 1995:2, Walmsley 2007:15). Multiple reasons have been posited to be the cause of this. Early excavations were a result of the expansion of

European economic and political interests in Africa and Asia (Milwright 2010:13). Gaining knowledge about Islam specifically was not an agenda. As with all branches of

archaeology, Islamic sites suffered from treasure hunting. Many large sites in the later 19^th early 20^th century were poorly funded and excavated in order to obtain artefacts for museums and personal collections (Vernoit 1997:4).

A further problem was that Islam is still a living tradition/religion, which some argued did not need investigating. Ancient traditions/cultures were of greater interest to the public and, as a result, their antiquities were more prized and Islamic archaeological material often was ignored. This certainly occurred at Kom el-Dikka, Egypt, where more prized Roman material lay below Islamic levels. Although Islamic layers were identified at Tal al-Safiyya, Gaza, little attention was paid to the material in the early 20^th century report (Milwright 2010:11).

Political reasons also impact on the investigation of Islam. Archaeology has frequently been used to define and reinforce national identities (Diaz-Andreu 1996). At times, racist attitudes towards Islamic societies prevented Islamic archaeology from becoming a significant research area. For example, study of the Islamic past of Spain was largely neglected until the 1970s as it did not fit with the modern Catholic Spanish identity, which was thought to be descended from the pre-Islamic Roman and Visigothic periods (Carvajal Lopez and Jimenez Puertas 2011, Diaz-Andreu 1996). Study of Islam was actively

discouraged until the end of the Franco era and the regionalisation of the Spanish state (De Meulemeester 2005:837). An opposite situation is identified in Iraq where, in archaeology,

emphasis was placed on features of Arabness and Islamic identity in order to create a unified Iraqi identity (Haider 2001).

Another interesting phenomenon is the use of archaeology to reinforce religious belief.

Unlike biblical archaeology, Islamic archaeology has not suffered from this preoccupation with Petersen (2004:859) presenting just a handful of cases from Palestine. Debated land claims in the Middle East may play a role in some archaeology undertaken in that region. A lack of interest in Islamic archaeology in this respect could relate to ideals that within Islam there is no need for god to justify himself or prove his existence. In fact very few scholars of Islamic archaeology are Muslim.

One of the most persistent problems preventing rich and holistic studies of Islam lies within the academic sphere. First, most of the world’s largest research institutes are situated in the West, and Islam has not been within their immediate scope. Secondly, Insoll (1999:4) suggests that scholars of Islam are often highly specialised and divided into different departments. For example, experts in Arabic may work in a language department and links between them and archaeology per se, may not be well established. Connections between archaeology and history have not always been strong, leaving material without a historical context and vice versa. Furthermore research into Islam has tended to be unifocal,

focussing on a single type of evidence such as buildings (Stiernlin 1996), ceramics (Edwards 1999), linguistic (Corriente 1992), artistic (Jayyusi 1992) or faunal (Lentacker and Ervynck 1999). This is not an efficient method of data analysis and subsequently fails to maximise knowledge of Islamic society and development, particularly when we consider that Islam may impact on material culture in different ways, depending on its link to

religious ideology. Other problems include poor publication, or complete failure to publish, a problem not limited to Islamic archaeology alone. Vernoit (1997:8) highlights this as a problem in Iran and Walmsley (2007:19) at Baysan in Palestine.

Islamic Archaeology is now a maturing discipline (Milwright 2010:20). Archaeologists are beginning to work with historians to provide context to the material. Studies have begun to move away from purely identifying Islam in the material record, to looking at the social

impact of Islam on newly conquered regions. This is essentially a shift from identifying the existence of Islam as a set of material-cultures to one that explores Islamic identity. This has been achieved through analysis of material culture changes, their adaption over time and how this reflects changing social organisation (e.g. Carvajal Lopez and Jiminez Puertas 2011, Edwards 1999). Walmsley (2007:29) highlights that Islamic archaeology is no longer being considered as a ‘gap filler’, seemingly between more important periods of history, and original research questions and themes that address the Islamic world and its wider impact are being produced (Vernoit 1997:8, Whitcomb 2004:7).

Insoll’s (1999) Archaeology of Islam is one of the first books dedicated to the investigation of Islam in the archaeological record beyond the analysis of architecture. Greatly

influenced by Alexander’s (1979) work, Insoll highlights how the religion of Islam is accessible in the archaeological record. He discusses how all material culture is shaped and changed by Islam based on the notion that religion (and in particular Islam) can be used as a key structuring principle through which to view material culture. While this is true, we need to be aware that societies are not the sum total of religion. Indeed other scholars do take a less religiocentric approach, seeing Islam more as a part of a wider cultural package (Boone 2009, Milwright 2010). The importance of Islam on the development of material culture, and therefore as the expression of Islamic identity, is still recognised.