Islamic Archaeology Day 2024

The eighth annual Islamic Archaeology day hosted by SOAS and UCL will be held at the UCL Institute of Archaeology on Saturday 9th March 2024, 11-6pm. The workshop presents papers on the latest archaeological research across the Islamic world and is followed by a drinks reception.

**For reduced early-bird tickets, please register by Sunday February 18th 2024**.

Organisers: Corisande Fenwick (UCL), Hugh Kennedy (SOAS/UCL), Veronica Occari (UCL), Scott Redford (SOAS), Viva Sacco (UCL), Paul Wordsworth (UCL)

Programme

Session 1 (Chair: Hugh Kennedy, SOAS/ UCL)

11:00 Welcome & Introduction (Corisande Fenwick, UCL)

11:15 Extraordinary investment: urban infrastructure and religious architecture in the desert town of Dandanakan (Turkmenistan)

Martina Rugiadi (The Met, New York), Paul Wordsworth (UCL), Mukhammed Annaevich Mamedov (National Administration for the Protection, Study, and Restoration of Cultural and Historical Monuments of Turkmenistan), Rejep Jepbarov (State Historical and Cultural Park “Ancient Merv”, Turkmenistan)

11:40 Christian peasants in Al-Andalus: new light on Islamization from Tózar (Granada, Spain)

Luca Mattei (University of Granada)

12:05 Linking settlement patterns and irrigation networks in the Otrar Oasis (Kazakhstan)

Katie Campbell (Cambridge), Serik Akylbek (Otrar State Archaeological Museum), Mark Macklin (Lincoln), Willem Toonen (VU Amsterdam), James Thomas (Lincoln), Davit Naskidashvili (Ghent), Karl Smith (Oxford), Ali Seraliyev (Gumilev Eurasian National University, Astana)

12:30 Archaeology & the Crusades. The Case of Kinet (Turkey)

Scott Redford (SOAS)

1:00 Lunch

Session 2 (Chair: Viva Sacco, UCL)

2:00 Glass in transition: the transformation of the glass economy in Sicily during the Islamic period

Francesca Colangeli (University of Genoa)

2:25 The technology of polychrome glazed ceramics in Ifrīqiya: new data from the Medjerda Valley (Tunisia)

Veronica Occari (UCL), Heike Möller (DAI Berlin), Corisande Fenwick (UCL), Patrick Quinn (UCL), Ian Freestone (UCL), Moheddine Chaouali (Institut National de Patrimoine, Tunis), Philipp von Rummel (DAI Berlin)

2:50 Used and re-used: ceramic repairs on East and Southeast Asian ceramics from Bahrain

Yiying Li (University of Exeter)

3:15 Reflections on glass: the compositions, trade and possible meanings of Islamic glass bangles

Charlotte Nash (University of Kent/ British Museum)

3:45 Tea break

Session 3 (Chair: Scott Redford, SOAS)

4:15 Archaeobotany and agricultural change at Bardha’a (Azerbaijan)

David Stone (The Discovery Programme: Centre for Archaeology and Innovation Ireland)

4:40 The Ottoman ruralscape: new data from Tell Zeyd (Iraq)

Cristina Tonghini (Ca’ Foscari University), Jacopo Boschini (Ca’ Foscari University), Rita Dal Martello (Ca’ Foscari University), Onur Usta (Çanakkale University)

5:05 The last of the Persian Gulf’s sewn boats: recording the survivors of an ancient nautical technology

John P Cooper (University of Exeter), Alessandro Ghidoni (University of Exeter), Shadi Kalantar (University of Naples ‘l’Orientale’) and Chiara Zazzaro (University of Naples ‘l’Orientale’).

5:30 From Ottoman laws to illustrated periodicals: Ottoman responses to the neglect, looting and preservation of Islamic antiquities

(Ozan Huseyin, SOAS)

6-7pm Reception

7 :15pm Dinner (for those who have pre-booked).