Synthetic studies of key historical periods

This topic differs from the above as its focus is on examining, for example, the economy, society and culture of a single historically defined period. The theme is part of the joint British Mediterranean Institutes collaborative projects, designed to help synthesise the results of many of the surveys undertaken under the auspices of the group.
CBRL has been supporting the following projects:

Aqaba Castle, Jordan (2000-2005)
Prof Denys Pringle (Cardiff University)
Prof Johnny De Meulemeester (Heritage Dept Walloon Government and Ghent University)
Department of Antiquities, Jordan
Post-excavation work forming part of an archaeological assessment to characterize and date the late Mamluk castle’s phases of structural development and investigate the remains of earlier structures beneath it. The aims of the 2003 project were: to finish the survey and analysis of the standing structure; to determine whether there was any direct structural connection between the earlier excavated phases and the present building by excavating a larger area in the north-western part of the castle; and to attempt to broaden our knowledge of the pottery and material culture of Ayla/al-‘Aqaba from the end of the Fatimid period onwards.

Borders of Arabia and Palaestina
Dr. Kate Da Costa (University of Sydney)
Developing a new archaeological methodology to more accurately detect the lines of Roman provincial borders. Although the Roman Empire was divided into some 50 provinces by the reign of Diocletian, and 100 provinces by 400 AD, we do not know the actual lines of the borders between them. Luckily, there is abundant archaeological evidence in the form of local ceramics. Trade in these ceramics was limited and distorted by customs duty on major provincial borders. Our case-study will sample sites, and determine whether their ceramics are Palaestinian or Arabian. The border of the provinces must lie between them.

Field Survey of Medieval Rural Settlements in Safita and ‘Arima castles, Syria
Balazs Major (Cardiff University, PhD Project)

Homs Citadel, Syria
Dr Geoffrey King (SOAS)
Post-excavation study of finds from Homs excavations in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Completion of registration and study of pottery, glass and other material excavated in preparation for second interim report and final publication

Khirbat Faris Post Excavation and Publication Project
Alison McQuitty (CBRL Honorary Fellow)

Land of Carcemish
Tony Wilkinson (University of Edinburgh)
Sub-surface investigation of the buried landscape of the area around Carcemish in Syria

Ottoman Hajj Forts in Jordan (2002-2005)
Dr Andrew Petersen (UAE University, Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University)
Team members: Pierre Brun (UCL), Ahmad Shurma (Dept of Antiquities of Jordan) and Ifan Edwards (Cambrian Archaeological Projects)

Publication of Jarash Hippodrome Excavations 1984-1996
Dr Antoni Ostrasz (d.1996) (DoA [1983-1996], University of Warsaw)
Ina Kehrberg (CBRL, DoA [1983-1998], University of Sydney)
The importance of the publications of the Jarash Hippodrome lies in its unique architectural components, their study and the complete material history of the site from pre-construction, to planning and building, to chariot racing and industrial occupancy allowing a rare and complex insight into workshop organizations and mass production of ceramics in the first seven centuries AD. Unlike most monuments at Jerash and other Jordanian Decapolis cities, the hippodrome encapsulates an uninterrupted and integer sequence of commercial enterprises, political events, cultural trends, and natural disasters which befell and shaped the townships of Roman Gerasa and Byzantine Jarash from the Early Roman period to the Umayyads

Roman Settlement and land use in the Faynan
Hannah Friedman (Leicester University, PhD Project)
 

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