The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine.

• Author: Bahat, Dan
• Position: Book review

The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine. By JODI MAGNESS. Winona Lake, Ind.: EISENBRAUNS, 2003. Pp. xi + 223, illus., CD. $49.50.

In the last decades several studies have been published dealing with the question of the manner in which the transition from the Byzantine to the Islamic period in Israel/Palestine occurred, thus increasing awareness of various aspects of this period. Especially noteworthy is the series published as Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. These and other works have brought to light the problems involved in the process of turning a Christian country, part of the Byzantine Empire, into an entirely Moslem land. Magness' book is the latest contribution to the investigation of this phenomenon. She bases her study mostly on the southern part of the country (the Negev), where lavish archaeological surveys were executed. The main part of the book is an analysis of the results of those surveys. Since the author is today one of the top authorities on the pottery of this transitional period, the book will become, no doubt, a handbook for every scholar of the period.

Generally speaking, it is accepted that the country still enjoyed a certain prosperity after the Moslem conquest and that it was only during the Abbasid period (starting in A.D. 750) that its decline started. This is also the conclusion of this book, based on data from the surveys. The author makes good use of them; this is what they are for, after all. But there is a problem: Archaeological excavations of sites previously surveyed reveal different features. The author realizes this and refers to some excavated sites: Tel 'Ira, the Nestorian monastery at Tel Masos, and Har Beriah (pp. 53-59), all of which have more or less the same date of decline (the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century), which is slightly too early for the Abbasid period (and thus requires explanation for the abandonment of settlements in the late Umayyad period).

The south (or Darom as it is named in the Byzantine period) takes up the major part of the book (pp. 1-5, 9-74, 93-194). The author studies many aspects of this area, such as the Roman border fortifications, challenges the various surveyors and their theories (sometimes completely unfounded!) and compares rural and urban settlements. In a discussion of the Arab infiltration into the country and more precisely into its southern parts, one would expect at least a mention of the many Safai and...