ISLAMAFR: Conquest, Ecology and Economy in Islamic North Africa: The Example of the Central Medjerda Valley

伊斯兰堡：伊斯兰北非的征服、生态和经济：以中部梅杰尔达山谷为例

• 批准号: AH/T012692/1
• 负责人: Corisande Fenwick
• 金额: $ 36.26万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FT012692%2F1
• 关键词: ISLAMAFR; Conquest; Ecology; Economy; Islamic

The Muslim conquest of North Africa and subsequent regime changes resulted in widespread changes in urbanism, agriculture and regional economies which are fundamental to understanding the development of North African society, united under Islam. Recent synthetic studies, including by the joint PIs, challenge what has long been the textbook understanding of the collapse of Roman rule and the impact of the Muslim conquests in North Africa, in which the eighth and ninth centuries have often been seen as a dark age. Ongoing excavations by the PIs at the important, neighbouring urban centres of Simitthus (Chimtou) and Bulla Regia (Hammam Darraji) in NW Tunisia directed by von Rummel and Fenwick respectively, have highlighted the complexity of urban trajectories, technological innovation and environmental change in the medieval period.The proposed project will build on these findings, addressing a fundamental gap in our understanding of cultural, economic and landscape transformations in medieval North Africa. Moving beyond the simple question of urban continuity or collapse in late antiquity and the early medieval period, it will investigate the extent to which the Muslim conquests and subsequent regime change represented a force of economic and social transformation. This will be assessed by tracking long-term changes in settlement patterns, landscape use, patterns of exploitation and technology in the central Medjerda valley, the famed granary of Roman and Islamic Africa. The project will evaluate five sites with different trajectories in the medieval period: Bulla Regia (Hammam Darraji), Simitthus (Chimtou), Thunusuda (Bordj Hallal), Belalis Maior (Henchir El-Faouar) and Vaga (Béja), conducting topographic and geophysical survey in order to identify suitable zones for excavation. Following this evaluation, the sites will be targeted with a systematic sampling strategy aimed at recovering a stratified material culture sequence and a high density of plant and animal remains associated with occupation sequences. Environmental data will be extracted from the sites' hinterlands to understand changing climatic and environmental conditions. This data will be synthesized with relevant Latin, Greek and Arabic sources to assess the full extent of the transformation resulting from the Muslim conquest of North Africa, subsequent regime change and the spread of Islam. The results will be contextualized within broader trends in the Mediterranean and the Islamic world which characterize the 'first Islamic millennium'. This project will ultimately result in both a fundamental advance of our understanding of Islamic North Africa and a new interpretative framework which can be applied to other regions of the Islamic world.

穆斯林对北非的征服和随后的政权更迭导致了城市化、农业和区域经济的广泛变化，这些变化对于理解在伊斯兰教下团结起来的北非社会的发展至关重要。最近的综合研究，包括联合PI的研究，挑战了长期以来对罗马统治崩溃和穆斯林征服北非的影响的教科书理解，其中8世纪和9世纪经常被视为黑暗时代。私人侦探正在Simitthus（Chimtou）和Bulla Regia等重要的邻近城市中心进行挖掘（哈曼Darraji）在西北突尼斯分别由冯Rummel和芬威克，突出了城市轨迹，技术创新和环境变化在中世纪时期的复杂性。拟议的项目将建立在这些发现，解决我们对文化，中世纪北非的经济和景观变化。超越了古代晚期和中世纪早期城市延续或崩溃的简单问题，它将调查穆斯林征服和随后的政权更迭在多大程度上代表了经济和社会转型的力量。这将通过跟踪Medjerda山谷中部的定居模式、景观使用、开发模式和技术的长期变化来评估，Medjerda山谷是罗马和伊斯兰非洲的著名粮仓。该项目将评估中世纪时期具有不同轨迹的五个地点：Bulla Regia（Hammam Darraji）、Simitthus（Chimtou）、Thunusuda（Bordj Hallal）、Belalis Maior（Henchir El-Faouar）和Vaga（Béja），进行地形和地球物理调查，以确定适合挖掘的区域。在进行这一评价之后，将对这些地点采取系统的抽样战略，目的是恢复分层的物质文化序列和与占领序列有关的高密度动植物遗骸。环境数据将从场地的林地中提取，以了解不断变化的气候和环境条件。这些数据将与相关的拉丁文、希腊文和阿拉伯文来源综合起来，以评估穆斯林征服北非、随后的政权更迭和伊斯兰教传播所造成的全面变革。研究结果将结合地中海和伊斯兰世界的更广泛趋势，这些趋势是“第一个伊斯兰千年”的特征。这一项目最终将从根本上推进我们对伊斯兰北非的理解，并建立一个可适用于伊斯兰世界其他地区的新的解释框架。

项目成果

Urban transformation in the Central Medjerda Valley (north-west Tunisia) in late antiquity and the middle ages: a regional approach

古代晚期和中世纪中部梅杰尔达山谷（突尼斯西北部）的城市转型：区域方法

• DOI: 10.1017/lis.2022.17
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Libyan Studies
• 作者: Fenwick C