Islamic Art and Archaeology in Palestine

Myriam Rosen-Ayalon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781315425955
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

Despite political upheavals under Muslim domination in the Middle Ages, Palestine was a center of great artistic activity recognized for its incredible dynamism. Its unique contribution to the Islamic "macrocosm, " however, never became the subject of extensive study. Numerous archeological excavations on this relatively small geographic area reveal the existence of extremely well preserved monuments of high architectural quality and exceptional religious value. This is what Myriam Rosen-Ayalon exposes in this thorough introduction to Palestinian Islamic art and archeology. In chronological order she presents here for the first time the multifaceted and long-lasting achievements of Islamic art in Palestine, filling the gap of years of neglect on the subject.

19Chapter One

The Pre-Islamic Period and the Beginnings of Islamic Occupation

ARAB PENETRATION AND INFILTRATIONS

Ancient sources indicate that the presence of “Arabs” in the region of “Palestine” can be dated to the first millennium BCE.¹ Without going that far back, there is evidence that Arab Bedouin tribes played a considerable role in the southern part of the country, in the Negev and the Sinai, several centuries before the Muslim occupation. These Bedouins were also known as “Ishmaelite Arabs.”² They are described as early as the fourth century CE, and continue to be mentioned in later centuries primarily because of their raids on sedentary villages throughout the country, and as far away as Syria.³ This harassment of civilian populations, especially in the south, was often accompanied by lengthy incursions that constituted a forerunner to the future great waves of Arab penetration.

These warlike incursions did not prevent new or existing trade routes between Arabia and Palestine from enabling the circulation of spices, textiles, and other goods. Countless caravans journeyed through the Arabian Peninsula from Mecca, and Gaza was one of their main destinations.⁴ This major marketplace apparently experienced a period of great prosperity, even benefiting the family of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam. Having already been subjected to Persian occupation, Gaza surrendered to the Arab invaders without a fight. The inhabitants of Ayla, a city on the tip of the Red Sea, aligned themselves 20with the Muslims as of 630, thus opening to Islam the southeast route and the road to Palestine, and indeed the new armies would penetrate the country from the south.

THE NEGEV

Since the 1980s a series of studies have focused on the south of the country, and the central Negev in particular.⁵ Although the published findings are still not complete, the reports nevertheless provide key information about Islamic archaeology. Not surprisingly, researchers have not drawn unanimous conclusions about these finds, but nevertheless a certain consensus emerges as to the period and certain features of the discoveries.

The terrain shows numerous traces of ancient agricultural settlement. More specifically, there are areas surrounded by low stone walls containing openings; some researchers argue that these are the vestiges of houses, whereas others believe they are simply enclosures. In several cases the walls are found in groups, sometimes connected by a common wall with no openings. When they are attached to each other, these constructions sometimes form long rows. Many of these have a platform, which is generally raised and circular—in Hebrew, bima (pl. bimot). At numerous sites, stelae have been found upright, leaning, or lying down, sometimes as part of the entrances. Some researchers claim that they are related to a betyl⁶ cult, whose roots are found in pre-Islamic tradition.

The terraces are especially interesting in terms of the objects, particularly the pottery, found there. This is because pottery is characteristic of the beginning of the Islamic era, that is, the seventh and eighth centuries. Complete oil lamps or fragments with molded decorations, often bearing inscriptions in Arabic or even Greek, as found elsewhere, have been discovered.⁷

Another remarkable archaeological find is the presence of several hundred examples of graffiti engraved on the rocks of the region.⁸ Although inscriptions like these have been found at other sites in Palestine, their presence in the Negev is particularly striking.⁹ Despite the existence of several dates, these graffiti raise numerous questions about chronology and paleography. They often include animate motifs, such as small human figures and horsemen or camels. The images are not necessarily integrated into the inscriptions, most 21of which are written in Arabic, although some are Thamudean or Safaitic. Are these the reflection of an art form of a few nomadic tribes? Unfortunately, current research cannot provide a satisfactory answer. However, it is likely that they are a local art form from the pre-Islamic period, which the Arabs call Jahiliya, or the “period of ignorance.”

THE SASSANID OCCUPATION

The period preceding the Muslim occupation coincides with the decline of the Byzantine era in Palestine, at a time of instability stemming from various causes. The first was a series of earthquakes in Palestine that took place in 551, 633, and 659 and which doubtless resulted in turmoil.¹⁰

The second was the plague. Sources tell us that this deadly disease struck the region of Syria between 542 and 749, in seven-year cycles.¹¹ Obviously Palestine was not spared, and mention is made of an epidemic that affected Emmaus shortly after the beginning of the Muslim occupation.¹²

But the greatest calamity to befall Palestine on the eve of the Muslim occupation was clearly the Sassanid invasion. At that time Palestine was experiencing such disorder and lawlessness that anarchy is the only term that applies.¹³ Riots and bloody events were the backdrop for the arrival of the Persians in 614. They conquered Jerusalem and carried off the Holy Cross as booty. The wave of destruction that followed in their wake laid the groundwork for another invasion that took place 20 years later—the Islamic invasion.

Several sources provide information on the 14 years of Persian occupation in the region, from 614 to 628. All concur in describing the widespread destruction of churches and the massacre of the Christian population. Nevertheless, it is surprising that there are almost no archaeological remains of the Sassanid presence in seventh-century Palestine, despite all the excavations conducted in the country and in Jerusalem. A few “tidbits” can perhaps be associated with this period, but they may also be the result of migrations or exchanges along the trade routes.¹⁴

The Sassanid destruction left many churches in ruins, and these remained so at the time of the Muslim conquest. An exception is the Holy Sepulchre, which was restored by Modest, the archbishop of Jerusalem.¹⁵

22Although the Muslim conquest was not accompanied by such devastation, the new Islamic era was built upon a country in ruins. Despite earthquakes, epidemics, military unrest, nomadic infiltrations, and the Sassanid occupation, there is a certain archaeological continuity between the end of the Byzantine era and the beginning of the Muslim period. One can nevertheless imagine the suffering of the population and the breakdown of the social system during these troubled times. It was a bloodied, inert country that witnessed the arrival of the Arab troops.

THE MUSLIM CONQUEST

It thus comes as no surprise that the sources report no bloody battles, and no resistance on the part of the population or its leaders. Certain revisionist historians have used this to suggest that the Muslim occupation did not take place at the generally accepted dates, and that it was the result of a slow, peaceful process.¹⁶ What is accurate is that there is no “layer of destruction” between the Byzantine archaeological layer and those associated with the Arabic period.

Here we need to go back several centuries, and take into account an ancient layer considered to be the oldest Arab layer in Palestine, predating the infiltrations of nomadic tribes and the massive arrival of Islamic troops;¹⁷ namely, that of the Nabatean kingdom,¹⁸ that extraordinary political entity whose days were ended by the Romans in the year 106. Certain ancient Nabatean cities, such as Kurnub (Memphis), Oboda, and Nessana continued to play a major role in the south of the country after the Byzantine era, and their history extends up to the Muslim era. But they are few in number and their history dies out completely in the Umayyad era. Nevertheless, proof of the existence of this sequence provides us with the factors that influenced the Muslim heritage and certain artistic traditions linking the Nabateans to the Umayyad period.¹⁹ Thus, it demonstrates that the new presence meshed with a process that had begun long ago.

Rather than entering into the controversy on the origins of the new faith of Islam,²⁰ I will focus on the development of Islam in Palestine. The notion of continuity mentioned above can also be found in other areas linked to the beginnings of Islamic civilization.²¹ The results of excavations and surveys 23conducted in the south suggest that there was a certain phase of Jahiliya specific to the country. Thus, there was a manifestation of the pre-Islamic period that extended beyond the official date of the Muslim conquest of the country.

In the Negev, Arab nomads were free to move about wherever they pleased. These tribes had no major settlements and what archaeologists have found are probably their enclosures.²² It is difficult to view these enclosures as sedentary buildings. By contrast, large-scale farming was a hallmark of certain Nabatean cities, which continued to exist after the Muslim conquest.

The graffiti discovered on the rocks in this region are most likely associated with this period. These probably date back to the Arab infiltrations in the south on the eve of the Muslim conquest, and continued long after. Written primarily in Arabic, but also in Thamudic, these graffiti, some of which are dated, provide further indications of a continuity that lasted several centuries.²³

Finally, the upright stelae, which are most likely associated with a pagan cult, appear to have survived beyond the year 638, at which date the Muslims completed their conquest of Palestine. This is a local manifestation of continuing Jahiliya. This feature is mentioned here once again to stress the prolongation of an Arab pre-Islamic chapter that extended beyond the phase that gave rise to Islam. It was, however, a period that can also be termed “Arab”: Both the cultural and the artistic production were still closely tied to demographic features and cultural expression drawing on pre-Islamic Arab roots. Later, when a stratified political system was set up, and in particular the Umayyad dynasty, it is more accurate to begin to refer to a “Muslim” period.

THE NESSANA PAPYRI

From 1935 to 1937, the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem conducted major excavations in the northern church of Nessana. These yielded a wealth of nearly 200 documents, some intact and some fragmentary. This trove of information shed new light on the end of the Byzantine period between 512 and 789, but contained an unfortunate gap for the years 608 to 674.

Written in Arabic and in Greek, the Nessana documents confirmed the use of Greek well after the Muslim conquest. The finds include literary and religious texts, and in addition to interesting details on the agricultural life of the 24southern communities, there is valuable information on daily life in the Negev from the sixth to the seventh centuries.²⁴ Given the lack of written material for this period, these documents are crucial to reconstructing the beginnings of the Islamic occupation of Palestine and provide a new perspective on the transitional years between the Byzantine period and the Islamic period.

The documents include instructions from the Muslim governors’ headquarters in Gaza to their agents in the Negev. There are also tax receipts, deeds of sale, and even records of harvests. Other official documents are for ownership of goods or farmlands. We learn about the crops grown at the time, the different types of farming, existing access roads, and even the use of boundary stones marking the borders of properties. In short, the documents present an extraordinary picture of life at that time in the Negev region.

25Chapter Two

The Umayyad Period: Identity and Grandeur

THE UMAYYAD era was the crucible in which Muslim art was forged. This chapter does not deal with theories of its emergence under the Umayyads¹ but rather focuses on the more specific features of artistic creation in Palestine at that time.

The Muslim armies completed their conquest of Palestine in 638. However, the Umayyad dynasty only appeared in 661. The intervening years were something of a continuation of the pre-Islamic Arab stra...