Category Archives: Archaeology and Antiquities

The Mischief of ISIS

Archaeology and Antiquities, Architecture, Iraq, Syria, Teaching Resources


al-Qubba Husseiniya, a Shia shrine, being blown up in the city of Mosul.

Hollywood is known for creating absurd scenarios, especially with special effects of explosions and cars flying through the air. The real damage is done in war with bombs ripping apart buildings and bodies. And then there is the wanton destruction of buildings out of sheer hatred. The would-be caliphate that has taken nominal control of a large swathe of Syria and Iraq is an affront to everyone, including fellow Muslims in Syria and Iraq. There will be no new caliphate created out of such callous regard for human life and eventually the rebel leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will follow Saddam Hussein to the netherworld. But the destruction in the meantime is mean indeed. In addition to the men gunned down in Mosul and elsewhere, bulldozers and bombs are destroying some of the splendid Iraqi shrines from the real caliphates. It is a sad day (far too many sad days, weeks, months and years) for Syria, Iraq, Muslims worldwide and the entire world. But the leader of ISIS cannot erase history, no matter how many shrines and mosques he blows up.

South Arabian Agriculture

Agriculture, Archaeology and Antiquities, Yemen

The following is the abstract of a Yemeni MA thesis on agricultural crops in ancient South Arabia.

زراعة المحاصيل الزراعية في اليمن القديم
الباحث: أ / ليبيا عبد الله ناجي صالح دماج
الدرجة العلمية: ماجستير
الجامعة: جامعة صنعاء
الكلية: كلية الآداب
القسم: قسم التاريخ
بلد الدراسة: اليمن
لغة الدراسة: العربية
تاريخ الإقرار: 2009
نوع الدراسة: رسالة جامعية

الملخص:
موضوع هذه الدراسة “المحاصيل الزراعية في اليمن القديم” لا تتناول ماهية تلك المحاصيل فقط وإنما تتناول كل ما يتعلق بها من كافة الجوانب، من حيث البدايات الأولى لظهور الزراعة في اليمن القديم، والآراء المختلفة والمتباينة حول ذلك، وما كان يزرع من محاصيل آنذاك. وكذا بداية ظهور الري والاعتماد عليه في سقي المزروعات. بالإضافة إلى توضيح الوسائل المستخدمة في العملية الزراعية خلال تلك الحقب الزمنية. ثم تدرس باستفاضة المواسم الزراعية وفصول السنة وشهورها، بالإضافة إلى مصادر المياه المتمثلة بالأمطار وطرق الري المختلفة والمتناسبة مع هذا المصدر، منذ سقوطها على الجبال وانحدارها نحو الأودية وحتى وصولها إلى الأراضي الزراعية. وكذا المصدر الثاني وهو المياه الجوفية، وما يتطلب من حفر أبار لاستخراج تلك المياه من باطنها. كما تتطرق الدراسة إلى كيفية تقسيم المياه بين الأراضي الزراعية، والقائم بتلك العملية.
Continue reading South Arabian Agriculture →

40 Maps that Explain the Middle East

"Arab Spring", Arab-Israeli Conflict, Archaeology and Antiquities, CyberOrient, Islamic History, Syria, Teaching Resources

There is a very interesting set of 40 maps that Max Fisher has put together on one website to explain the history of the Middle East. Check it out here.

Below are Map #7 and Map #23

What the Middle East looked like in 1914

This is a pivotal year, during the Middle East’s gradual transfer from 500 years of Ottoman rule to 50 to 100 years of European rule. Western Europe was getting richer and more powerful as it carved up Africa, including the Arab states of North Africa, into colonial possessions. Virtually the entire region was ruled outright by Europeans or Ottomans, save some parts of Iran and the Arabian peninsula divided into European “zones of influence.” When World War I ended a few years later, the rest of the defeated Ottoman Empire would be carved up among the Europeans. The lines between French, Italian, Spanish, and British rule are crucial for understanding the region today – not just because they ruled differently and imposed different policies, but because the boundaries between European empires later became the official borders of independence, whether they made sense or not.

Syria’s refugee crisis

Syria’s civil war hasn’t just been a national catastrophe for Syria, but for neighboring countries as well. The war has displaced millions of Syrians into the rest of the Middle East and into parts of Europe, where they live in vast refugee camps that are major drains on already-scarce national resources. This map shows the refugees; it does not show the additional 6.5 million Syrians displaced within Syria. Their impact is especially felt in Jordan and Lebanon, which already have large Palestinian refugee populations; as many as one in five people in those countries is a refugee. While the US and other countries have committed some aid for refugees, the United Nations says it’s not nearly enough to provide them with basic essentials.

Mormons in Marib

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land, Yemen


N-H-M in Sabaean

Not being a resident of Utah, I sometimes forget that there are people who take The Book of Mormon (the original and not the Broadway play) seriously. There is a passage in 1 Nephi 16:34 that suggests the place of Ishmael’s burial: “And it came to pass that Ishmael died, and was buried in the place which was called Nahom.” So where might Nahom be? Well, why not Yemen? That is the argument in an article by Warren Aston, who traveled to Yemen and found an inscription on an alter at Marib that referred to Nihm, a tribe. Thus, The Book of Mormon is verified, as innumerable Mormon websites attest, including one on Wikipedia.

There is indeed a Yemeni tribe called Nihm, part of the Bakil confederation. But why exactly would Ishmael end up getting buried in Yemen? There is certainly no indication in the Old Testament of Ishmael going to Yemen. Genesis 25:17 reads “And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.” I sort of doubt that the priestly authors mention of “his people” meant the Sabaens down in Yemen. And in Islam Ishmael stops at Mecca. So either the Torah is wrong, Islamic tradition is wrong or the 19th century Book of Mormon is wrong. And, of course, given that this legendary material, they may all be wrong. There are indeed skeptics of Nephi.

The placename fallacy has a long history in pseudo-archaeology. One can rather easily manipulate major biblical placenames in Arabia. The Lebanese scholar Kamal Salibi played this game to the hilt in his imaginative The Bible Came from Arabia. Two individuals in Bahrain have continued the theme. It is difficult to dismiss the political motive (that Abraham and Moses were not herding their flocks and refugees respectively to ancient Israel) that no doubt underlies such attempts to rewrite history. Certainly there is no archaeological evidence for these bizarre claims. And just as certainly there is no end of lunatic archaeology in sight.

UPDATE:
Dr.Mohammed Maraqten, who has excavated at Marib, sends the following details about the altar:

This altar is from Barʾān Temple (Arsch Bilqis), ca. 6 Century B.C. and still in situ.
The complete filiations of the dedicator of this altar to Almaqah reads: Bʿṯtr / bn / s¹wdm / bn / nwʿm / nhmyn
The partly damaged letters are / N / and / H / (like Arabic Hirra) and the complete word is NHMYN and has for sure NOTHING to do with Biblical NḤM with / Ḥ / and the Canaanite root NḤM. The root is NHM and not NḤM.
Two possibilities to understand this word:
– NHMYN (al-NihmÄ«) is Nisbe to the very famous and many time attested in the inscriptions, in the Islamic period and still in the same place northeast of Sanaa. Also the Nisbe NHMYN is attested may times.
– NHMYN is a designation of a profession “Stonemason”, Munahhim or Muhandis, the verb NHM is well known in the inscriptions and the Arabic sources as a Yemeni term in the meaning of “to dress stones”.

Creating and Preserving Cultural Heritage in the Arab World

"Arab Spring", Anthropology/Sociology, Archaeology and Antiquities, Architecture, Conferences and Talks, Egypt, Syria, Yemen



Illegal excavations and military use have recently endangered Palmyra, Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Photo: UNESCO/Ron von Oers

by Shatha Almutawa, American Historical Association, April 2014

A car bomb exploded outside the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo on January 24, 2014. The Egyptian Heritage Rescue Team arrived on the scene and began to assess the damage and prepare artifacts to be moved to another building. Trained by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, the Egyptian volunteers worked with museum staff until all the artwork was safely relocated.

In Syria, following the destruction of the minaret at Aleppo’s Umayyad Mosque last spring, people made their way to the mosque to save the stones for later rebuilding. Some lost their lives in the process. The mosque had been used by rebels, the Syrian army was attacking from the outside, and fighting continued as volunteers worked to protect the stones. As political instability continues in the wake of the Arab Spring, cultural heritage sites and objects are often endangered.

Scholars and activists working on issues relating to the preservation of cultural heritage in the Middle East convened on February 28 at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery to discuss the Arab Spring’s impact on monuments, historic neighborhoods, and culture in the region. Lisa Ackerman, executive vice president and chief operating officer at World Monuments Fund, spoke about the importance of providing training to communities around historic sites in times of peace and after conflicts, so that locals can preserve their own heritage. She also mentioned the reality that in times of war, troops are trained to find strategic locations to use as bases; historic sites, as she explained in a later e-mail, “are often located in strategic positions with existing infrastructure, such as roads and nearby accommodations, or, as we’ve seen in Syria, are often situated at the highest points, providing a location advantage.” As an example, the US Army in Iraq chose Babylon for its Camp Alpha, which resulted in damages to its ancient walls and gates. Continue reading Creating and Preserving Cultural Heritage in the Arab World →

المخطوطات اليمنية إرث حضاري أصيل يزين مكتبات العالم

Archaeology and Antiquities, Islamic Texts, Yemen


More than 10,000 Yemeni manuscripts have disappeared over the last 10 years, many of them destroyed by extremists opposed to Zaydi-Shiism and its intellectual heritage.

السبت, 22-مارس-2014
الثوتة نوز.نت
–
يعتبر اليمن موطنا للمخطوطات والرقائق القرآنية بامتياز، حيث إن التاريخ والموروث الحضاري العربي الإسلامي بكل تجلياته ، وجد بيئة حاضنة لم تكشف لحد اليوم عن كامل أسرارها وكنوزها النادرة التي لا تنضب .
ورغم تعرض المخطوط اليمني لعملية نهب منظمة إبان الاستعمار البريطاني ، قدرت بأزيد من 60 ألف مخطوطة على الأقل ، إلا أن الوثائق اليمنية غير المكتشفة أكبر بكثير مما سلط عليه الضوء .
وتتوزع المخطوطات اليمنية في العالم بين مختلف المكتبات والمراكز المختصة بشكل رسمي ØŒ فنجد أن مكتبة “الأميروزيانا” التي تأسست عام 1609 في مدينة ميلانو ØŒ تزخر لوحدها بأكثر من 1700 مخطوط يمني في مختلف مجالات العلم والمعرفة ØŒ بالإضافة إلى آلاف الوثائق اليمنية التي تنتشر على مكتبات قارات العالم بأكمله .
ومن المكتبات العالمية التي تحتضن في أروقتها مخطوطات يمنية ، نذكر: مكتبة الفاتيكان في إيطاليا ، مكتبة الإسكوريال في إسبانيا ، المكتبة الوطنية في باريس ، مكتبة الكونغرس في واشنطن ، مكتبة برلين ، المكتبة السليمانية في تركيا ، إلى جانب مكتبات في الهند وباكستان وبريطانيا وإيرلندا.
وقد شكل العثور بالصدفة على مجموعة من المخطوطات في سطح الجامع الكبير بصنعاء قبل أكثر من 40 عاما ، وضمت في مقتنياتها 40 ألف مخطوط بينها 12 ألف رق جلدي قرآني ، إضافة نوعية تنضاف إلى كنز يتراوح عدده بين 300 ألف إلى مليون مخطوط يمني ، كما صرح بذلك المستشرق الألماني (أريو ان) .
وتمتلئ المكتبات اليمنية العامة والخاصة بآلاف الكتب التي سهر على تأليفها علماء وعالمات يمنيات منذ بزوغ فجر الإسلام إلى العصر الحديث .
Continue reading المخطوطات اليمنية إرث حضاري أصيل يزين مكتبات العالم →

MET Conference on Islamic Art, Culture and Politics

Archaeology and Antiquities, Architecture, Art, Conferences and Talks, Miniatures


Prince in a Garden Courtyard. Folio from an illustrated manuscript (detail). 1525-30, Iran. Opaque watercolor, ink, gold, and silver on paper, 8 9/16 x 4 3/4in. (21.7 x 12.1cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund, 1911 (11.39.1)

Islamic Art, Culture, and Politics: The Connections

Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 6 pm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

With Peter Brown, Yasmine El Rashidi, Haleh Esfandiari, Shaul Bakhash, and Navina Najat Haidar, Curator, Department of Islamic Art

The New York Review of Books and Met Museum Presents examine the living traditions of the Islamic world, in the setting of modern conflict and variations in Muslim culture. Editor Robert Silvers brings together a group of contributors for a panel discussion on the interconnectedness of art and ethos.

Save $5 per ticket with code NYRB14 at metmuseum.org. Offer expires March 30.