Settlement and Urbanization in Early Islamic Palestine, 7th-11th Centuries

This volume follows the changes that occurred in central Palestine during the longue duree between the 7th to the 11th centuries. That region offers a unique micro-history of the Islamicate world, providing the opportunity for intensive archaeological research and rich primary sources. Through a careful comparison between the archaeological records and the textual evidence, a new history of Palestine and the Islamicate world emerges - one that is different than that woven from Arabic geographies and chronicles alone. The book highlights the importance of using a variety of sources when possible and examining each type of source in its own context. The volume spans ancient technologies and daily life, ancient agriculture, and the perception of place by ancient authors. It also explores the shift of settlements and harbors in central Palestine, as well as the gradual development of a new metropolis, al-Ramla. Settlement and Urbanization in Early Islamic Palestine will be of particular interest to students and scholars of the history of Islam or the history of Palestine, or anyone working more generally in the methodology of historical research and integrating texts and archaeology.

Hagit Nol is a Marie-Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, where she studies the distribution of early mosques. She is interested in early Islam, in economic and social history, and in the diffusion of knowledge and ideas. When she has time, she reads novels or watches Scandinavian TV series. In between, she raises two teenagers.

1. Introduction 2. Settlement during early Islam: history and historiography 3. The research area 4. The Big Data 5. Technologies and daily life 6. Settlement patterns through archaeological evidence 7. Settlement patterns through texts 8. Conclusions. Index