Scholar highlights Ayyubid legacy, challenges of distinguishing it from Mamluk period

Jordan Times

22-05-2025

The Ayyubid castle of Ajloun, located in the northwestern part of Jordan, overlooking the Jordan Valley (Photo courtesy of ACOR)
AMMAN — For Professor Bethany Walker from Bonn University, it is a true challenge to differentiate some pottery objects whether they belong to Ayyubid (1171-1260) or Mamluk (1250-1517) period. Walker wants to separate two periods that are often called Ayyubit-Mamluk and belong to Middle Islamic era.
"Ayyubid period was much shorter than Mamluk period," Walker said during the lecture " Jordan in the Ayyubid Age" held at the Department of Antiquities of Jordan on Wednesday, adding that if one excavates on the Mamluk site they will not find many remains older than the Mamluk period.
Mamluk's powerful visual presence in Jordan also underlines Ayyubid Sultanate contribution, Walker continued, adding that Mamluks re-used Ayyubid buildings.
"Vernacular buildings didn't change much from 12th until early 20th century in Jordan," Walker said, noting that to differentiate between these two periods became a challenge.
The Ayyubids laid foundation for administrative buildings, fortresses and castles, as well as way stations for pilgrims and store houses for agricultural produce.
They invested in network of roads and castles, reviving the world economy. One of the achievements of the Ayyubids was the beginning of the sugar industry in Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea area, where the sugar technology was brought from the Indian Subcontinent (sugar canes).
"The major achievement of the Ayyubids in Jordan was economic," Walker stressed, adding that agricultural sector flourished during their reign.
Rural area was economically stimulated to produce certain types of crops during that period.
"The most active of the Ayyubid rulers was AlMu'azzam (1218-1227) who ruled from Damascus," Walker said, noting that in the early decades of the 13th century Karak became a scientific and educational centre.
However, there are no architectural traces of these activities as no remains of madrasas and hospitals survived to our days.
Al Mu'azzam built villages and the state stimulated different types of migrations to urban and rural centres.
Nasser Dawoud in 1244/1245 renovate the Karak Castle, adding that palatine halls at Karak and Shobal castles represent the Ayyubid architecture.
Regarding the Ayyubid bathhouse, Walker said:" It's relatively small, with three to four rooms."
The Mamluks would tear down old, decrepit buildings and reuse the material for new structures, and that is one of the reasons why it is often difficult to distinguish which building belonged to the Ayyubid and which to the Mamluk period.
"In some textual documentation there is evidence of these demolitions, like in chronicles, where villages around the Shobak Castle are mentioned. Here we have accounts what still functions and what is in ruins," Walker said, adding that ruins had a commercial value as a building material.