In Search of Sibākh: Digging Up Egypt from Antiquity to the Present Day
Issue: Vol 3 No. 1 (2016)
Journal: Journal of Islamic Archaeology
Subject Areas:
Abstract:
Excavation and survey reports from Egypt make regular reference to sabakhīn digging and its disruption of the archaeological site’s stratigraphy. This search for agricultural fertilizer, and the resulting destruction of stratified contexts, was commonplace throughout Egypt in the 19th and 20th centuries. The appreciation, however, of the value of salt- and nitrogen-rich sediments often found in ancient ruins is specifically attested in medieval manuals that address issues of agricultural soil quality in Egypt. The exploitation of ruins has likely been a long, ongoing process in Egypt’s history, much to the detriment of studying the medieval period from an archaeological perspective. Particularly disturbed, in many cases, are the most readily available layers at or near the surface, which contain evidence of Egypt’s more recent past. In light of this history of disruption and the interpretation of sibākh in archaeological contexts, our view of late antique and medieval occupation in Egypt should be reconsidered, or perhaps, reimagined.
Author: Anthony T Quickel, Gregory Williams
References :
Adams, W. Y.
1986. Ceramic Industries of Medieval Nubia. Memoirs of the UNESCO Archaeological Survey of Sudanese Nubia, 2 vols. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
Aksamit, J.
2011. “The necropolis at Tell Edfu: An overview.” Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 20: 379–386.
Alston, Richard.
2001. “Urban Population in Late Roman Egypt and the End of The Ancient World.” In Debating Roman Demography, edited by Walter Scheidel, 161–218. Leiden: Brill.
Arnold, F.
2003. Elephantine XXX. Die Nachnutzung des Chnumtempelbezirks. Wohnbauten der Spätantike und des Frühmittelalters. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.
2014. “Abbasid influence in Egypt? Archaeological evidence from Elephantine and Abū Mīnā.” In Beiträge zur islamischen Kunst und Archäologie, vol. 4, edited by J. Gonnella, R. Abdellatif and S. Struth, 168–179. Wiesbaden: Reichart Verlag.
Bacharach, J. L.
2002. “Introduction.” In Fustat Finds: Beads, Coins, Medical Instruments, Textiles, and Other Artifacts from the Awad Collection, edited by J.L. Bacharach, i–xi. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
Bailey, D. M.
1998. Excavations at el-Ashmunein V. Pottery, lamps and glass of the late Roman and early Arab periods. London: British Museum Press.
1999. “Sebakh, sherds and survey.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 85: 211–218. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3822437
Budge, E. A. W.
1920. By Nile and Tigris: A Narrative of Journeys in Egypt and Mesopotamia on Behalf of the British Museum between the Years 1886 and 1913. London: John Murray.
Bresc, C.
2008. “Quseir al-Qadim: A hoard of Islamic coins from the Ayyubid period.” Revue numismatique 6(164): 407–436. http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/numi.2008.2858
Cooper, R. S.
1973. “Ibn Mammati’s rules for the ministries: Translation with commentary of the Qawānin Al-Dawāwīn.” Unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of California.
1977. “Agriculture in Egypt, 640–1800.” In Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Vorderen Orients in islamischer Zeit, edited by B. Lewis. 188–204. Leiden: Brill Press.
Davoli, Paola.
2012. “The Archaeology of the Fayum.” In The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt, edited by Christina Riggs, 152–170. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.013.0011
El Daly, O.
2005. Egyptology: The Missing Millennium: Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writings. London: UCL Press.
Fernandes, L.
1987. “The foundation of Baybars al-Jashankir: Its Waqf, history and architecture.” Muqarnas 4: 21–42.http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1523094
Frantz-Murphy, G.
1986. The Agrarian Administration of Egypt from the Arabs to the Ottomans. Supplément aux Annales Islamologiques, Cahier No 9. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale.
Gascoigne, A. L.
2002. “The impact of the Arab Conquest on Late Roman settlement in Egypt.” Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Darwin College, University of Cambridge.
2005. “Dislocation and continuity in early Islamic provincial urban centres: The example of Tell Edfu.” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 61: 153–190.
Gayraud, R. P. and J.-C. Tréglia.
2012. “Céramiques d’un niveau d’occupation d’époque mamelouke à Istabl Antar/Fostat (Le Caire, Egypte).” In Actes du IXe Congrès International de l’AIECM2: Venise, 23-29 novembre 2009, edited by S. Gelichi, 297–302.
2014. “Amphores, céramiques culinaires et céramiques communes omeyyades d’un niveau d’incendie à Fustat-Istabl ‘Antar (Le Caire, Égypte).” In LRCW4, Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean, Archaeology and Archaeometry. The Mediterranean: a Market without frontiers, BAR International Series 2616 (I), edited by N. Poulou-Papadimitriou, E. Nodarou, and V. Kilikoglou, 365–375. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Gayraud, R. P., J.-C. Tréglia, and L. Vallauri.
2009. “Assemblages de céramiques égyptiennes et témoins de production, datés par les fouilles d’Istabl Antar, Fustat (IXe–Xe siècles).” In Actas del VIII Congreso internacional de cerámica medieval en el Mediterráneo: Ciudad Real-Almagro, del 27 de febrero al 3 de marzo de 2006, edited by J. Zozaya, M. Retuerce, M. A. Hervas, and A. de Juan, 171–192. Ciudad Real: Asociación española de arqueología medieval.
Gempeler, R. D.
1992. Elephantine X. Die Keramik römischer bis früharabischer Zeit. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.
Goitein, S. D.
1983. A Mediterranean Society. Vol. 4, Daily Life. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Hanna, A. B.
1956. “The nature of the Saline (Sabakh) soils of Iraq and their desalinization.” M.S. Thesis, Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soils, University of Arizona.
Hinds, M., and E. Badawi.
1986. A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic: Arabic-English. Beirut: Librairie du Liban.
Hölscher, U.
1954. The Excavation of Medinet Habu 5. Post-Ramessid Remains. Oriental Institute Publications 66. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Kennedy, H.
2011. “The feeding of the five hundred thousand: Cities and agriculture in Early Islamic Mesopotamia.” Iraq 73: 177–199.
Kubiak, W. B.
1970. “Medieval ceramic oil lamps from Fusṭāṭ.” Ars Orientalis 8: 1–18.
Lythgoe, A.
1918. “An exhibit illustrating the daily life of the Ancient Egyptians.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 13(12): 283–288. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3253631
Magness, J.
2000. “Late Roman and Early Islamic pottery from Middle Egypt and some Palestinian connections,” Review of “Excavations at al-Ashmunein.” Journal of Roman Archaeology 13: 812–817. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1047759400019747
al-Makhzūmī, Abū al-Ḥasan ibn ʿŪthmān.
1986. Kitāb al-minhāj fī ʿilm kharāj miṣr. Edited by by C. Cahen. Supplément aux Annales Islamologiques, Cahier No 8. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire.
Ibn Mammātī, Abu al-Makarim Asʿad ibn Muhadhdhab.
1943. Kitāb qawānīn al-dawāwīn Edited by A. S. Atiya. Frankfurt: Institute for the History of Arabic-
Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University.
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad.
1883. Lisān al-ʿArab. 18 vols. Beirut: Dār Ṣādr.
al-Maqrīzī, Taqī ad-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʿAli.
2000. Kitāb al-mawāʿiẓ wa-l-iʿtibar bi-dhikr al-khiṭaṭ wa-l-āthār. 2 vols. Cairo: Maktabat al-Thaqāfah al-Dīnīyyah.
Moeller, N.
2004. “Evidence for urban walling in the Third Millennium BC.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 14(2): 261–265. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0959774304220169
Monchamp, J.
2011. “Contribution à l’étude de la céramique médiévale égyptienne: chrono-typologie des céramiques issues des fouilles de la muraille ayyoubide du caire (fin xe - début xvie siècles).” Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Sorbonne, Paris.
Müller-Wodarg, D.
1954. “Die Landwirtschaft Ägyptens in der frühen Abbāsidenzeit 750-969 n. Chr. (132-358 d. H.).” Der Islam 31: 174–227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/islm.1954.31.2-3.174
Muhs, B.
1994. “The Great Temenos of Naukratis.” The Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 31: 99–113. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/40000672
Pinder-Wilson, R.H., and G.T. Scanlon.
1973. “Glass finds from Fustat: 1964–1971.” Journal of Glass Studies 15: 12–30.
Pradines, S., et al.
2009. “Excavations of the Archaeological Triangle: 10 years of Archaeological excavations in Fatimid Cairo (2000 to 2009).” Mishkah 4: 193–234.
Pradines, S., B. Michaudel, and J. Monchamp.
2002. “La muraille ayyoubide du Caire: les fouilles archéologiques de Bab al-Barqiyya et Bab al-Mahruq.” Annales Islamologiques 36: 287–337.
al-Qalqashandī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī.
2010. Ṣubḥ al-aʿsha fī ṣināʿat al-inshāʾ. 16 vols. Cairo: Dār al-Kutub wa-l-Wathā’iq al-Qawmīyyah.
Quickel, A. T.
2015. “Farm to fork: Cairo’s food supply and distribution during the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517).” M.A. Thesis, Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations, The American University in Cairo.
Rabie, H.
1981. “Some technical aspects of agriculture in Medieval Egypt.” In The Islamic Middle East, 700–1900: Studies in Economic and Social History, edited by A. L. Udovitch, 59–90. Princeton, NJ: The Darwin Press.
Ibn Rasūl al-Ghassānī.
Bughyat al-falāḥīn fī al-ashjār al-muthmira wa-l-rayāḥīn, MS Ahmed III 2432.
Raymond, A.
2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rosser-Owen, M.
2012. “From the mounds of Old Cairo: Spanish ceramics from Fustat in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum.” In 1st International Conference of the European Network of Museums of Islamic Art. REMAI Actas, Alhambra 25–27 April 2012, 163–187.
Scanlon, G. T.
1971. “The Fustat mounds: A shard count 1968.” Archaeology 24(3): 220–233.
1974. “The pits of Fusṭâṭ: Problems of chronology.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 60: 60–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3856171
Schanz, M.
1913. Cotton in Egypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Manchester: Taylor, Garner, Evans, and Company. http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.20668
Sheehan, P.
2010. Babylon of Egypt: The Archaeology of Old Cairo and the Origins of the City. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.5743/cairo/9789774162992.001.0001
Strange Burke, K.
2004. “Quseir al-Qadim.” In The Oriental Institute 2003–2004 Annual Report, edited by G. J. Stein, 124–131. Chicago, IL: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
2007. “Archaeological texts and contexts on the Red Sea: The Sheikh’s house at Quseir al-Qadim.” Unpublished PhD thesis, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Chicago.
al-Ṭabarī, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr, Tāʾrīkh al-rusul wa’l-mulūk.
1992. The History of al-Ṭabarī: The Revolt of the Zanj, vol. XXXVI, edited and translated by D. Waines. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Thompson, G. R. and J. Turk.
1998. Introduction to Physical Geology. Fort Worth: Saunders College Publishers.
Treptow, T.
2015. “A history of excavations at Fustat.” In A Cosmopolitan City: Muslim, Christians, and Jews in Old Cairo, edited by T. Vordestrasse and T. Treptow, 99–110. Chicago, IL: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
van der Veen, M.
2011. Consumption, Trade and Innovation: Exploring the Botanical Remains from the Roman and Islamic Ports at Quseir Al-Qadim, Egypt. Journal of African Archaeology Monograph Series. Frankfurt am Main: Africa Magna Verlag.
Vordestrasse, T.
2015. “Reconstructing houses and archives in Early Islamic Jēme.” In Household Studies in Complex Societies: (Micro) Archaeological and Textual Approaches, edited by M. Müller, 409–436. Chicago, IL: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Wade Haddon, R.
2002. “More thoughts on Early Abbasid Lustre Wares in the Egyptian context.” In Historians in Cairo: Essays in Honor of George Scanlon, edited by J. Edwards, 1–16. Cairo: The American University of Cairo Press.
al-Waṭwāṭ, Jamāl al-Dīn.
1990. Manāhij al-fikar wa mabāhij al-ʿibar. 2 vols, edited by F. Sezgin. Frankfurt: Johann Wolfgang Goethe University.
Wilfong, T. C.
1989. “Western Thebes in the seventh and eighth centuries: A bibliographic survey of Jême and its surroundings.” The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 26(1–2): 89–145.