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Jordan Times
23-03-2025
- General
- Jordan Times
Reevaluating Ayyubid-Mamluk pottery: New insights into continuities in early Islamic ceramics
A Mamluk ceramic jar made around 1450 (Photo of Chris Holmes) AMMAN — In the past it was thought that Ayyubid-Mamluk pottery was completely different from preceding Early Islamic pottery because of changes in manufacture and decoration. Recently, scholars understood that some of these changes were out-growths of the preceding period. Brown said that there is enough current evidence to suggest radical change that characterise Ayyubid-Mamluk assemblages can in fact be traced to development within the Early Islamic period. Some of the sites currently associated with the Late Islamic period pottery culture in Transjordan include: Ajloun, Al-Lajiua Al Rujurn Al Wuayra, Amman, Aqaba, 'Arair Caro'er,) Busrq Dayr' Allg Dhiban (Dibon), Fayfatr (Feifeh), Iraq Al Amir, Jerash, Khirbat Farys, Listib, Madaba Maqabalayn, Qalat Al Rabad, Abila, and many more. The pottery of the Ayyubid-Mamluk period was distinguished by a high percentage of handmade vessel forms and by a proliferation of painted geometric decorations, said historian Philip R. Drey, adding that this trend began in 11th and 12th centuries during Fatimid dynasty and Crusaders. "From the Hellenistic through the Early Islamic periods the dichotomy between wheel-thrown vessels, which constituted the majority of ceramics and hand-made vessels was primarily functional. Large vats, basins, and storage jars tended to be hand-constructed, while virtually all other household ceramics were wheel-thrown," Drey underlined. The historian added that during the Ayyubid -Mamluk period this coexistence of wheel-thrown and hand -constructed ceramics continued, yet there were changes in both the proportion and kinds of vessels manufactured with these techniques. In contrast to the previously established trend handmade pottery heavily dominated Ayyubid-Mamluk assemblages, while wheel-thrown wares play a much lesser role. Further contrast is emphasised by the fact that the same general repertoire of forms was produced by both technologies. "Thus, by the inception of the l3th century, the association between manufacturing techniques and specific vessel forms, which had long characterised ceramic vessel manufacture in southern Levant, is no longer evident," Drey said. The pottery assemblage of the Ayyubid-Mamluk period can best be described by first dividing the corpus into wheel made and handmade technologies (and in some cases, mold made), then continuing with further description as done in the previous period characterisations. "Four types of wheel made wares have been identified: glazed ware, plain ware, plain industrial ware and Sgraffito ware," Drey said, noting that wheel made ware colours included light-coloured wares, mostly buffor pink tones, and red wares. The hard, thin, red, glaze-covered Sgraffito ware included designs carved through a light slip into the darker clay surface below. A large percentage of Ayyubid-Mamluk vessels were handmade, sometimes using pieces of cloth in the production process. Rudimentary construction techniques included coiling and partial use of rotational devices. Modelling with clay slabs was more a common technique, especially in making painted closed forms, Drey underlined. "In general, firing quality during the Ayyubid-Mamluk period was medium. Cores sometimes occurred. Glazed ware vessels were evenly fired," Drey said, noting that the firing of handmade vessels varied widely: some poor and some excellent, but the majority were well fired although a core was sometimes present. 'Due to changes in manufacturing technique as well as surface treatment, on close examination much of the Ayyubid-Mamluk pottery looked very different from that of the preceding period,' Drey underlined.
Jordan Times
17-03-2025
- General
- Jordan Times
Excavation in Jerash uncovers Islamic-Period mint, insights into city's economics
AMMAN — Scholars involved in excavation of Jerash, ancient Gerasa, discovered an Islamic-period mint in the city. Copper coins were issued in both a pre-reform and post-reform series. "This seemingly straightforward discovery, overlooked due to the close similarity of Jerash coin types to the much larger production from Baysan, marked a major step forward in the identification of a significant role for Jerash in Islamic times," said the professor Alan Walmsley from the Macquarie University in Australia. The professor added that the minting of coins was an indication of wider administrative and geopolitical strategies, from which a comprehensive programme of urban development could be expected, and probably one compatible with the urban layout of Anjar. Jerash issued coins in the same style as the more prolific coppers of Baysan/Scythopolis as Baysan was an important Early Islamic town, with a hilltop governor's madina. The pre—reform types follow the heavy fabric of the Justin II and Sophia Byzantine series, which was clearly very popular in the area well after their distribution and, thereafter, co-circulated with the first Umayyad issues. The preference for two figures on the obverse of the coppers may have led to a brief production at, or for, Jerash of an unusual "Double Standing Caliph" type often found there, Walmsley elaborated. The professor added that the post reform issues are stylistically more regular, although still on the large size; a degree of coinage uniformity in Bilad Al Sham was not achieved until the end of the Umayyad period. "Not entirely clear is why some of the district towns were authorised to issue coins and others not, while other issues had a non-urban attribution, but to some degree, it must indicate varying levels of administrative function, social rank, and group identities," the scholar said. Taking into consideration the historical and numismatic material previously mentioned, and after fruitful discussions with Jordanian colleagues, who interpret this enigmatic coin as an accession issue of AD685 in which the two figures represent Abd Al Malik Ibn Marwan as caliph and his brother, Abd Al Aziz, as his designated successor. 'The Islamic Jerash Project sought to look beyond the mosque to set it within other urban features of Late Antiquity, such as streets, markets, baths, palaces, churches, and residential quarters,' Walmsley maintained. The professor noted that it was never intended to simply excavate a mosque in isolation, unlike, in many cases, the earlier excavation of churches and Roman—period monuments at Jerash; rather, it set out to place the building within a wider urban context over the longue durée. "To achieve this goal, we had to not only investigate what was below the mosque but also what lay around it — that is to say horizontally — and to link both the 'down' and 'around' through stratigraphic and chronological comparisons," the professor said. "The objective was to build a settlement profile for downtown Jerash that, through applying the principles of archaeological and architectural stratigraphy, spanned hundreds of years," Walmsley highlighted. Talking about the souk during the Islamic period, the scholar emphasized a discovery of a row of shops along the eastern wall of the Phase-2 mosque, and in them a number of marble tablets with shopkeepers' accounts in proficient Arabic, revealed the central role played by the mosque in the daily operation of the marketplace. "From this, it became abundantly clear that the Jerash mosque had been deliberately situated at this location in the commercial heart of the town. This arrangement mirrored those known for other Early Islamic towns such as Damascus, Aleppo, Al Fustfit, and — somewhat later — Fatimid Cairo," Walmsley said. The professor added that it was decided to investigate this area in more detail, as well as the mosque shops, a row of shops across the street (on the east side) were excavated. "The changes at Jerash were sympathetic to the original urban plan and intensified commercial activity in the town centre; social and economic life continued to do well in Jordan after the arrival of Islam, whereas earlier opinions assumed general social and economic decline," Walmsley concluded.
