boone&benco - islamic settlement in north africa and the iberian peninsula

7/27/2019 Boone&Benco - Islamic Settlement in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula

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Islamic Settlement in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula

Author(s): James L. Boone and Nancy L. BencoSource: Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 28 (1999), pp. 51-71Published by: Annual ReviewsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/223388

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Annu. Rev. Anthropol.1999. 28:51-71Copyright? 1999by AnnualReviews. All rightsreserved

ISLAMICSETTLEMENTN NORTH AFRICAAND THEIBERIANPENINSULAJamesL.Boone' andNancy L. Benco21AnthropologyDepartment,Universityof New Mexico,Albuquerque,New Mexico,87131, and 2AnthropologyDepartment,George WashingtonUniversity,Washington,DC, 20052; e-mail: [email protected];[email protected] Words: medieval period, Islam, archaeology, Spain, Portugal, Morocco

* Abstract This article reviews some of the major archeological researchand resulting current debates that center around the nature of the formation ofIslamic society in the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula from the seventh cen-tury AD through the later Middle Ages. Over the last two decades, archeologyhas played an increasingly importantrole in working out the details of how thisgreat cultural transformation occurred and has led to considerable revision ofhistorical interpretations of the medieval period in the wester Mediterraneanregion. On a more general anthropological level, research in both regions pres-ents a remarkablepotential to contribute to the literature on the archeology ofethnicity, and to research into the impact of changing religion and ideology onsuch diverse areas of human activity as household organization, gender rela-tions, settlement location and spatial organization, and ceramic production anddistribution.

CONTENTSIntroduction .................................................... 52The Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya) .................. 52Regional SettlementPatterns .......................................... 53UrbanArchitecturaland Spatial Organization ............................ 57The Iberian Peninsula ............................................ 59TheGuichardHypothesis ..................... ........................ 60Archeological Application of the GuichardHypothesis ..................... 61SegmentaryOrganizationRevisited ..................................... 63Conversionas a Mechanismof Islamization .............................. 64

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52 BOONE&BENCODomestic Material CultureContinuityand Changeas EvidenceforContinuityand Conversion ..................................... .... 65

Conclusion .................................................. 67INTRODUCTION

By the late seventh centuryAD,Arab and Bedouin forces emanatingfrom theArabcapitalof Damascus had reached the farwest (Maghribal-Aqsa) of NorthAfrica.InAD711, Araband Berberforces crossed over into the IberianPeninsulaand, within a few years, had capturedevery extant city south of the Pyrenees.These initial foraysset in motionhistoricaldevelopmentsthat over the next sev-eral hundredyears would result in the complete social, political, and culturaltransformation f the far western Mediterraneanandscape.Inboththe MaghrebandAndalusia,independent slamic statesdevelopedthat combined culturalandideological elements importedfrom the Middle East as well as indigenous ele-ments.By the end of the thirteenthcentury,Islamic dominanceendedin the Ibe-rianPeninsula,but Islam remains the dominantreligious andpolitical system inthe Maghreb. Although written documentationprovides a broadoutline of themain political developments associated with the formation of Islamic states,archeologistshave played an increasingly important ole over the past two dec-ades in workingout the details of how this greatcultural ransformation ctuallyoccurred.This article reviews some of the major archeological research andresultingcurrentdebatesthatcenter around he natureof the formationof Islamicsociety in the Maghreband the IberianPeninsula.

THE MAGHREB MOROCCO,ALGERIA,TUNISIA,AND LIBYA)As theArabsmoved across North Africa in the seventhandeighthcenturies,theyencounteredan arrayof indigenousBerber,RomanizedBerber,and Byzantinepopulationsliving within a complex mosaic of varying social, economic, relig-ious, and political forms. Duringthe next few centuries,the Arabs, serving ascatalysts, transformedthis disparate landscape into one that was distinctlyMaghrebianandIslamicinnature.Theprocessby which thischangeoccurredhasbeen the focus of a small but growingnumberof archeologicalresearchprojectsin the Maghrebover the past two decades. This review examines this body ofresearch n termsof two generalresearch nitiatives:regionalsettlementpatternsand urbanarchitectural ndspatialorganization.Geographically, heMaghrebencompassescurrent-dayMorocco,Algeria,andTunisia.Althoughtechnicallynot partof the Maghreb,Libya is also includedinthis review.Physically,theMaghrebpresentsa formidablebarriero communica-tion andsettlement.Itcovers about900,000 km2wedgedbetweenthe Mediterra-nean Sea and the SaharaDesert, stretching romthe Gulf of Syrteson the east to


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MEDIEVALSLAMICETTLEMENTthe Atlantic Ocean on the west. The region is dominatedby rugged mountainchains (the Atlas, Rif, and Kabylie) thatrun southwestto northeastand cut theregionin half. To the northarenarrowcoastalstrips,alluvialplains,andhighlandplateaus.To the south are the steppesand desert.East-west movement across theregion is limited to the plateaus,the Tazacorridor,and the Mediterranean oast;north-southmovement is restricted o a few mountainpassesor the Atlanticcoast.Ingeneral, archeologicalresearchon theIslamicperiodin theMaghreb s atanearly stage of development,unlike that in Iberia(see below) and the Near East(King& Cameron1994).With a few exceptions,the field is still centeredontradi-tionaldescriptionsof monumentsandarchitecture ndcontinuesto be plaguedbya lack of good ceramicand architectural equencesderived fromwell-controlledstratigraphic xcavations. This state of affairs stems largely froma sharp mbal-ance in researcheffortsduring he Frenchcolonialperiod.For most of thetwenti-eth century, French classical archeologists dominated the field-as they dotoday-directing their attention o Romanperiodsites, withresearchagendasthatsought parallelsbetween Rome's colonization of North Africa and theirown. Inrecentyears,however,two trendshave emergedthatpromiseto improvethe stateof Islamic archeology.Classical archeologistsinterested n the longue dureeareundertakingdiachronicstudies of regional settlementpatterns,some of whichextendinto the medievalperiod (Barkeret al 1996, Dietz et al 1995, Mattingly&Hitchner 1995, Stone 1997). In addition,more Islamic archeologistsare beingtrained nnew nationalarcheologyinstitutes e.g. inMorocco),whichpromisestoinfuse the field with new energyand ideas.

RegionalSettlementPatternsStudies of Islamicsettlementare moreadvanced n Moroccothan n anyotherpartof the Maghreb.Long-termexcavations atthe Islamic-Portugueseportcity, Qsares-Seghir, on the Straits of Gibraltar,and subsequenttest excavations at othermedieval sites in northernMorocco were designedto test ideas aboutthe growthof cities and statesin theIslamicperiod(Redman1983, 1983-1984, 1986). Basedlargelyon thisresearch,an important onceptualmodel was formulated hatcon-tinuesto shapethe direction of archeologicalresearch(Boone et al 1990).This model identifies two differentpolitical and economic contexts thatgaverise to two distinctive urbansettlementsystems. Underthe initial Islamic state,formed around he ArabIdrisiddynasty (eighthto mid-eleventhcenturyAD),cit-ies emergedwithin the context of a predominantlyagrarianpolitical economy.The state apparatus equired o accumulate andcentralizeagricultural urplusesfromthehinterlandsgave rise to a multitieredsettlementhierarchy hatconsistedof the centralstatecapital (Fez), provincialcapitals(such as al-Basra andNakur,discussedbelow), and smallertowns andvillages surrounding ach center.By themid-ninthcentury, rans-Saharanold, ivory,and slave traderouteshadbegunto shift from an easterlydirectionfromNiger to Egyptto amorenortherlydirectionthroughMoroccoandinto thewesternMediterraneanBasin. Religious-political movementsfoundedby Berbertribalgroupsoriginatingon the northernedge of the Saharaarose to controlandprotectthis trade. Underthe subsequent

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Almoravid, Almohad, and Merinid dynasties (mid-eleventh through fifteenthcenturyAD),the stateapparatusnecessaryto controlthis lucrativetrade andtheneed formilitaryforces to protect t across the diverse tribalmosaic of centralandnorthernMoroccogave rise to adifferenturban ystem-one thattook the formofa"primate"ettlementsystem consistingof avery largeurbancenter(e.g. Fez andMarrakech), nd a few smaller urbansettlements.In severalcases, it appears hatthese secondaryurbancenters,whichmayhaveposed a threat o the centralstate,were actually abandoned or destroyed duringthis period. Hence, Boone et al(1990) see thepoliticaleconomyof the medieval MoroccanIslamicstateshiftingfrom what D'Altroy & Earle (1985) have called a staple finance system to awealth (or trade)financesystem.Boone et al (1990) identifiedthree kinds of geographicalcontextsin medievalMoroccowhere trade-based ities mighthave emerged; hese were located attheinterfacesof, or discontinuitiesbetween,distinct economic spheres.The firstwasinland Morocco, where dynastic states and their capitals were established tofacilitate the long-distancetrade between the West African and Mediterraneaneconomic spheres.The secondwas on theperipheryof these states(e.g. the Medi-terraneanand Atlantic coasts and the northernedge of the Sahara),where tradeentrepotsemergedto facilitatethe transshipment f goods and services fromonesphereto the next. A thirdinterface existed between urban and ruraleconomicsectors.The model tookthe issue of urbanization ne stepfurther,dentifyingfac-tors that enabled some cities to survive, while others declined, during majorpolitical shifts. These favored dynastic cities that were economically well-integratedwith their hinterlands,and trade-basedcities that were politicallyautonomous,as manymedieval entrepotsperiodicallywere.Boone et al testedthe model using both documentaryandarcheologicaldata.Urbansettlementsize estimates(usuallybasedon the numberof hearths,or domi-ciles) recordedby Arab geographersat differentpoints in the medieval periodshowedanabruptdrop n the numberof mid-sized(secondary)centersduring heAlmoravid-Almohadperiod (eleventh to thirteenthcentury), precisely the timethat settlementwas predictedto shift towarda primate pattern.Historical andarcheologicalevidence,drawnfromRedman'stest excavationsat severalmedie-val sites (al-Basra, Nakur, and Badis), also supportthis decline: Two of theagrarian-based,medium-sizedtowns, al-BasraandNakur,were abandoneddur-ing the Almoravid-Almohadperiod.Redman(1983) has also used potteryfromthe excavationsto monitorthe cit-ies' integrationwith local populationsand their involvement in long-distancetrade.Although this use of ceramics to measurecomplex social and economicrelationships s problematic,the analysis provides some interestingresults.Forexample, two urbansites (Qsar es-Seghir andal-Basra)showed low proportionsof handbuiltwares (presumablymade in ruralareas),which he suggests reflectweak ties with their ruralhinterlands.In the case of agrarian-basedal-Basra,which relied on agricultural urplusesfromits countryside, his mayhaveprovenfatal,causingthe city to decline. In the case of Qsares-Seghir,a coastalentrep6t,theserural inks were less important ndthecity survivedupto late Islamictimes.


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MEDIEVALSLAMICETTLEMENTThis model continues to framearcheologicalsettlementstudies in Morocco.In1998, Ennahid aunchedan archeological surveyof an importantmedieval trade

routein northernMorocco-the route from Fez to Tangier.Having developed aset of expectationsfrom the model, Ennahid has been examiningthe impactofpolitical and economic change from the ninth to the fourteenthcenturyon thelocation,nature,andlongevityof settlementsalongthe traderoute.Because of thelarge size of the study area-a 200-km transect Ennahidhas been employingextensive survey techniques,using documentaryevidence drawnfrommedievalArabhistories andgeographiesas well asmodemtoponymicevidence,to identifypotentialmedieval sites and then following this up with ground survey.Ennahid(1995) used these techniquesin a preliminary tudyin the areaaroundal-Basra.By far themost comprehensiveIslamic settlementworkin the Maghreb s thatof Cressier. Since the 1970s, to the present,Cressier has been surveyinga long,but narrow,swath of ruggedland (about5000 km2) between the MediterraneanandRifMountains,and fromTetouan nthe west to Melilla intheeast(Bazzanaetal 1983-1984, 1991; Cressier 1992b, 1995; Cressier et al 1992). Echoing thework done by Redman,Cressier'sprojectfocuses on the developmentof medie-val cities intheregionand theirties withal-Andalusandwith localBerbergroups.Cressier'smethodology relies on a close readingof historicaldocuments,topo-graphicmaps, and aerialphotos, followed by field survey.He also has collectedsurfaceartifactsandexcavatedsoundingsat some of the largersites.Cressierproduceda detailed, diachronicpictureof medieval Islamic settle-ment in the region-the only studyof its kind in the Maghreb.Accordingto hisresearch,the process of urbanizationbegan with the arrivalof the Arabsin theninthcenturyAD. Duringthe initialphase of settlement(the Idrisidperiod,ninthto theeleventhcentury),urbansettlementwas concentratednlandandawayfromthecoast. Several smallcities were established n the fertilealluvialvalleys of theRif Mountains.Some were builton the sites of importantBerbermarketsorinter-tribal contact points, thus underscoringthe involvement of local tribes in theurbanprocess.Thecity of Nakurserved as the dynasticcapitalof theKingdomofNakur,locatedin the vicinity of current-dayAl Hoceimaand foundedby a coali-tion of Berbersand Arabsin the eighthcentury.Duringthe second phase (mid-eleventhto fifteenthcenturyAD),political andeconomic power shifted to the coast when the Almoravids expandedpoliticalcontrolnorthward ntoal-Andalus.A stringof portcities, interspersedwith smalltowns andvillages, were builtalongthe Rifiancoast;they served as shipbuildingcenters and fishing ports, where marineresources were tradedfor timber andothermaterials from the mountains.Some, like Badis, served as transshipmentpoints in long-distancetradenetworks.The coastal cities reached theirpeak intermsof size andfortificationsduringthe Merinidperiod.Duringthe finalphase (fifteenthto sixteenthcenturyAD),settlementalongthecoast disappearedas a resultof the SpanishReconquistaandPortuguese expan-sion into Morocco. The Rifian coast essentiallybecame a no-man's-land.Settle-ment shifted back to the interior,where once-decliningtowns were repopulatedandnew cities, like Chefchaouan,were builtby Muslimrefugees from Spain.

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56 BOONE& BENCOCressier found thatthroughout he medieval period,relations between urbaninhabitantsand ruralBerber populationswere symbiotic, although sometimes

conflicting (see also Brett& Fentress1996). Manyof the towns were builtby, orin close associationwith, local Berbergroups;sometimesthey were establishedon the sites of former Berber markets. When they were first constructed,manytowns incorporatedocal architecturalechniquesandbuildingmaterials n theirstructures;heir inhabitants elied heavily on local craftproducts,such as hand-builtpottery.However,as the cities grew, new architectural tyles and technolo-gies were introduced,replacing the old ones. In contrast, rural populationscontinuedto use traditional echnologies throughout he medievalperiod,under-scoringthe strongconservatismprevalent n the countryside.Cressier also found thatthe medieval settlementpatternsalong the Moroccancoast differed n significantways from those foundinAndalusia,especially in theinterior,despiteobvious similaritiesin topography,climate, andgeology. Com-paredwith therelatively sparsesettlementdistributionn the interiorof Morocco,medieval settlementin Andalusiawas denser and more diverse, the urbannet-workwas farmorecomplex,and theubiquitousassociationof rural ortressesandtribalvillages and associatedterritories i.e. thehisn/qaryacomplex,discussedinmore detailbelow) hasno counterpartnMorocco.Some of these differencesmaybe historical:Duringthe Romanperiod,the settlementdistribution n Andalusiawas very dense, whereasin Moroccothere was no settlementat all in the moun-tain areasandvery little, if any, along the Rifian coast.The settlementpicture in northernMorocco is being roundedout with anarcheologicalsurveyof the Sebouand Loukkos riverbasins in the Gharb,under-way since 1982, by Frenchand MoroccanClassical-periodarcheologists(Aker-raz & Lenoir1990,Akerraz& Rebuffat1991,Rebuffat1992,Limane &Rebuffat1992).Thesurveyhas uncovereda dense concentration f Romansites around hecity of Volubilis, the ancientcapitalof RomanTingitane,located in the agricul-turallyrich Seboubasin.A few (14) of the 300 recordedsites areIslamic,andtheypromiseto providesome informationabout the patternof Islamic settlement onthe broadalluvialplains of Morocco.

Elsewherein theMaghreb,settlementstudiesthat dealwiththe Islamicperiodare rare.Thereare,however,a few, undertakenby ClassicalorByzantineperiodarcheologists, that extend their interpretiveanalyses into the medieval period,albeit sometimesbriefly (e.g. Barkeret al 1996, Dietz et al 1995, Pringle 1981,Sjostr6m1993). In addition o these is anewly launchedsurveycarriedouton theislandofDjerba, off the Tunisiancoast, that focuses on bothclassical andmedie-val Islamicsites (R Holod & E Fentress,unpublisheddata). They areusingmod-ern surveytechniques,includingintensive coverage of 1-km-widetransects aidacrossthe islandatregular ntervals.Of all these surveys,however,themost com-prehensiveis the UNESCO-sponsoredprojectin the pre-desertregion south ofTripoli in Libya (Barkeret al 1996). Directedby Britisharcheologistsbetween1979 and 1989, this model survey provided 100% coverage in sections of a75,000-km2 area, systematic surfacecollections and test excavations, environ-mental studies, remote sensing, and scientific materials analysis. Of 2500


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MEDIEVALSLAMICETTLEMENTrecordedsites, several hundredwere identified as Islamic. In a supplementarystudy, Sjostr6m(1993), who compileda catalogueof sites drawnfromhistoricalrecords,early surveys,and theUNESCOproject, ists 628 known lateRomanandIslamic sites in the wider Tripolitaniaregion. The UNESCOproject,which cen-tered on ancient farming in a desert margin zone, found a major disjunctionbetween Roman andmedieval Islamicagriculturalystems.Roman farmers ntheregion cultivated tree crops, especially olive trees for oil, on a large scale forexportto otherpartsof theRomanempire(Mattingly1994). Incontrast,medievalIslamic farmers andpastoralistspracticedsubsistencefarming,growing cerealsand herding goat and sheep. Urbanlife continued,althoughon a reducedscale.There is evidence thattown dwellers were engaged in long-distancetrade net-works across North Africa and the Sahara. A merchant'shouse at Ghirza, animportantpre-desertRoman settlementthat was reoccupiedin medieval times,containedcoins struck n Baghdad, mported abrics,and fine pottery,although twas not clear whattradegoods were produced n exchange.In summary,the number of settlement studies encompassingthe transitionfromRomanto medieval times intheMaghreb s growingand theresultspromiseto be enlightening.In general,these studies follow a methodologythatcombinesthe richcorpusof historicalevidence available for the Roman andmedievalperi-ods with modem archeological survey techniques. However, all of the stud-ies-from Morocco to Libya-are marredby the lack of good ceramic andarchitecturalequencesfor the Islamicperiod.Withoutthis information, t is dif-ficult, if not impossible,to distinguishIslamicsites fromthosebelongingto othertime periods(e.g. to the late Roman,Byzantine,or precolonial).It is even moredifficultto reconstruct,archeologically,fine temporaldetail(e.g. theperiodwhena site was settled, expanded,rebuilt,or abandoned).Althoughsome progressontypologies and sequences for potteryand architecturehas been made over theyears (Benco 1987, Cressier 1995, Pringle 1981, Vitelli 1981, Daoulatli 1980),muchworkremainsto be done on this front.

UrbanArchitecturaland SpatialOrganizationIncrossingNorthAfrica,theArabsfaced the choice of settlingdown in an exist-ing Roman orByzantinetown, manyof which were still inhabited,or of buildinga new town in a new location. Archeological and historical evidence indicatestheydidboth.Some groupsmoved into old Romantowns, like Setif andCherchelin Algeria, andimposedtheir own architecturalensibilities andneeds on the old(Benseddik & Potter 1993, Mohamedi& Fentress 1985, Mohamedi et al 1991,Potter 1995). Othergroupsbuilt completely new towns, such as al-Basra, Fez,Qsar es-Seghir, and Sigilmasa in Morocco (Benco 1987, 1989, 1990, 1994; LeToureau 1961;Messier & Mackenzie 1998;Redman1986).The archeological excavations at Setif, located between the Kabylie Moun-tains andthe SaharaDesert in Algeria,providea remarkableook at the transfor-mation of a Roman city by medieval residents.Excavated as a salvage projectbetween 1977 and 1984, the area of excavation was located in the center of

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modem-daySetif.An importantRomancity, Setif continued o be occupied,on areducedscale, until the Arabconquest,when sections were rebuilt.The series ofexcavatedIslamic houses, which date to the tenth and eleventh centuries,wereconstructedon top of a late Romanbath,incorporatingts walls and vaults. TheIslamichouses were built as blocks, sharingone or two walls withneighborsbutnotcommunicatingwiththem,andseparatedby narrowpebbledstreets.Theyfol-lowed a uniformIslamiccourtyardhouse layout,characterized y a large,centralcourtyard urrounded n three or four sides by long narrowrooms,which servedas sleeping/receptionrooms (with raisedplatforms),kitchens,andpossibly ani-mal pens. The courtyards ontainedsmall domestic storagepits and wells. Entrywas througha bent-axis corridordesignedto give thefamily privacyfromthe out-side. Walls invariablywere constructedof pise (rammedearth)on top of stonefoundations,coveredwithplasterorclay. The earliestwalls consistedof recycledhigh-qualityRomancutstone,butlater ones wereonly of uncutstones. Theroofswere coveredwith flat tiles with holes, probably o allow fornailingthem to roof-beams. Althoughthese houses resembledRoman houses in some ways (e.g. theuse ofpise, a centralcourtyard), he overall layoutandbuildingtechnology dif-fered in significantways, indicatinga breakin traditions:The courtyardswerelargerthan in Roman houses; rooms led only to the courtyardand not to eachother;the entrywaywas angled;second floors were rare;androomswere mark-edly narrower becausesingle, rather handouble,beamswere used for roofing).In general,the Islamichouses were closed in on themselves andfamily life wascentered n the large,interiorcourtyard.Preciselywho builtthe Islamichouses-local Berbers(Kutama),Arabimmigrants,or descendentsof Romansstill livingin Setif-is an interestingquestion. If it was the Kutama,who controlledtheregion at the time, then they were alreadyindistinguishable rom otherIslamiccitizens (Mohamediet al 1991:282).The results of archeologicalwork at the Portuguese-Islamicsite of Qsar es-Seghirin northernMoroccoprovidea good look at the spatial layoutof a medie-val city (Redman1986). The excavationsexposed morethan 5000 m2, or about18%of the 3-ha site. The Islamic levels datedto the late Almohad andMerinidperiods(ca 1200-1458 AD), when urbandevelopmenton theMediterraneanoastreachedits peak. The Portugueseoccupation lasted until 1550, when the townwas abandoned.Unlike Setif, Qsar es-Seghir was built on an unoccupied site,althoughtherewas a Romangarum productionsite nearby.The majorIslamiccentral nstitutions-mosque, hammam(publicbath),and centralmarket-werelocatednearthe geographicalcenterof the walled city andhad access, via wideavenues,to the two main gates. The centralmarket'smain streetwas lined withsmallshops,includingseveralpublicovens. Thehammamconsistedof a seriesofvaultedroomsthat includedcold, warm,andhot rooms;anundergroundurnacewas adjacentto the hot room. The mosque had three sections: an entryway,anopen brick-pavedcourtyard,and a five-aisle prayerroom with a qibla wall ori-ented55? southeasttowardMecca. The Islamichouses, thoughsimilar n plantothe Setif courtyardhouses, were smallerand most had second floors. They alsohadfairlyelaboratebrick,tile (zellij), orwooden floorsandwalls with alternating


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MEDIEVALSLAMIC ETTLEMENTbrick andstone, reflectingboth the greaterurbanwealth and local availabilityofwood resources on the Mediterranean oast.

Theongoing excavationsat the Islamiccity of al-Basraon the Atlanticcoastalplain in northernMoroccoprovideanotherglimpse at Islamic urbanarchitectureandlayout(Benco 1987, 1990, 1994). Establishedca AD 800 on a new site, possi-bly neara Berbersettlement, he city of al-Basrawas rebuiltat least two timesbe-fore it was abandonedaroundAD 1100-1200. The walled city sprawledacross30hectares,with residentialareas locatedin the center and an industrialzone on thewest. Therewereprobablyopenareasalongthewalls where orchardsandgardenswere planted, as in medieval Fez (Le Toureau 1961). The excavations haverevealed a residential structurewith a small, plastered courtyardand bent-axiscorridorbut none of the correspondingrooms.A secondpartiallyexposed struc-ture has a typical courtyardhouse layout,but its large size, flagstone pavement,andelaborateunderground-waterystem suggestsanother unction. Thebuildingtechnologies, however, resemble those used at Setif, withpise and stone walls,simple plaster,earthenor stone floors, andtiled roofs, althoughthe al-Basra ilesare curved. The significant differences in architectureand layout between al-Basra and Setif on the one hand,andQsares-Seghiron the other,seem to derivefrom differentfunctions,i.e. agriculturalownsversus commercialentrepotsand,consequently,to differentconcentrationsof wealth and access to exotic materials.Temporaldifferencesmay also be a factor.Insummary,archeologicalexcavationsatIslamicsites, orIslamiccomponentsof othersites, haveyielded substantial nformationon urbanarchitecture ndspa-tial organization.This materialmustnow be synthesizedandsupplementedwithrecent architecturalstudies of medieval North Africa cities and houses (e.g.Revault et al 1985) to betterunderstand he factors that lie behind the variability,anduniformity, n Islamicurban ayoutandstructures.

THE IBERIAN PENINSULAAside from the Balkan region of southeasternEuropeand Sicily and southernItaly,the IberianPeninsula s the only regionof theEuropean ubcontinentwhereIslamicsocial, political, and culturaldominancewas establishedforanylengthoftime. The transition from Late Antiquity to the Medieval period in westernEuropenecessarilyinvolves two centraldevelopments: he destructionanddisap-pearanceof social, economic, and fiscal structuresof the Late Roman Empire,characterizedby a slave-based mode of production;and their replacementbymedieval feudalstructures,based on serfdomand the coercive political authorityover tenantsby a localized seigneurie(Wickham 1984:6). In the IberianPenin-sula, this simple characterization f the transition s profoundly complicatedbythe introductionand establishment of social, political, and economic structuresassociated with theMusliminvasions andsubsequentestablishmentof anIslamiccentralizedstatein al-Andalus.Here,the historicaldevelopmentof a large portionof the Peninsulawas characterizedby the establishmentof a tributary tate basedon triballyorganizedproduction(discussed in more detailbelow).

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60 BOONE& BENCOWithin this framework,there has been a longstandingdebate over how theIslamicperiodis to be interpretedn the context of the long-termhistorical devel-

opmentof Iberiansociety and culture.Partof this debate nvolves the questionofthe degree to which feudal versus tribal(usually termedsegmentary)structuresplayed a part n this development.Moregenerally,however,the debate has beenconcerned with the degreeto which Islamizationin the IberianPeninsula was aprocessof conquest,in-migration,demographicand culturalreplacementor con-version,andadoptionandassimilationof Islamic cultureandlanguageby indige-nous Hispano-Romans.That such a debate exists may come as somethingof asurprise o readerswho are awarethata greatdeal of documentary videnceexistsfor this period, but it serves to remindus that migration/independent doptiondebates arenot limited toprehistory,nor arethey necessarilyresolvedby themerepresenceof historical documentation.In much scholarlywork of the nineteeth and earlier twentiethcenturies,theIslamic period was considered as a kind of foreign occupation-a historicalparenthesis-without lastingculturalordemographiceffects to the Hispaniccul-tural radition. nits mostconservativeform,this traditionalist iew of continuityheld that a Hispanic culturaland racial core had its origins in pre-Romantimesand had remainedmore or less intactthrougha series of alien expansionistepi-sodes that included the Romans,the Visigoths, and the Muslims. Theprevailingview was that the vastmajorityof thepopulationduring he Islamicperiodwas ofindigenous origin and that Muslims entered the Peninsulaslowly and in smallnumbers and were graduallyassimilated, and that after a few generations,theMuslim invadershad married nto and allied with Hispano-Roman amilies andwere "Hispanicized" ClaudioSanchez-Alboroz 1956;an extendedreview andcritiqueof these issues is foundin Guichard1976:15-51).

The GuichardHypothesisIn the mid-1970s, the historianPierre Guichard(1976, 1977) presenteda sus-tainedand detailedargumentagainstthe traditionalist iew of the Islamicperiodin the IberianPeninsula. Drawing heavily on structural-functionalistheory insocial anthropology,Guichardargued hatthe Islamic and Christiancivilizationswere based upon opposing structuralprinciplesof organization n the domesticdomain,and that the principlesof organizationwere reflected in differences insystemsof descent(patrilinealvs bilineal), theorganizationof kin groups(corpo-rate descent groupsvs bilateralkindreds),marriagepatterns,the public role ofwomen, and notions of honor(a more detailedaccount of this frameworkcan befound in Goody 1984:10-13, who actually calls into questionthe depthof theoppositionbetweenthe two systems).Oneimportantmplicationof thisargumentis that because the two systems are structurallyopposed at the most basic level,verylittleintheway of assimilationoreven syncretization ouldhaveoccurred.

Furthermore,Guichardargued hatthedemographicandsociopolitical impactof the Arab and Berber invasions after AD 711 was much greaterthanthe tra-ditionalist accounts had allowed. The basic elements of this argumentcan besummarizedas follows. First,Arab and Berberprinciplesof clan endogamydis-


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couraged intermarriagewith indigenous peoples and effectively limited theamount of culturalassimilation that could have takenplace. Second, drawingonMurphy's & Kasdan's (1959) analysis of Bedouin kinship and sociopoliticalorganization,Guichardarguedthat segmentarylineage organizationfacilitatedthedefense,expansion,andgrowthof these groupsoncetheyarrived n thePenin-sula (1976:257, ff). Finally, thenumberof in-migratingArabs andparticularlyofNorth AfricanBerberswas actually quitelarge,in thehundredsof thousands,notin the few tens of thousandsenvisioned by the traditionalists(Guichard1976:456-57). Thus, duringthe two or three centuriesfollowing the first invasions,Arab andBerber Muslimsbecame a demographic,as well as a political andcul-tural,majority n the Peninsula.Thepublicationof Guichard'sworkin themid-1970s galvanizedIslamic stud-ies on the IberianPeninsula,coinciding as it did with the end of the Franco andSalazar/Caetanoegimesin SpainandPortugal,which,atleastindirectly,haddis-couragedmuch serious or sustainedhistorical or archeologicalresearch of theIslamicperiod.This is not to saythattherehasbeenwholesale acceptanceof all ofGuichard's argumentsregardingthe processes by which Islamic civilizationbecame established in the IberianPeninsula.AlthoughGuichard'sgeneral posi-tion thatIslam had a decisive andlasting effect on the medieval developmentofIberiancivilization is not questioned,those aspectsof his argument hatdealwiththe relative importanceof cultural and demographicreplacementvs conversionandindigenousadoptionof Islamicreligion,culture, anguage,and social organi-zationhave beenparticularly ubjectto some revision.Althoughthe details of allthese argumentscannot be reviewed here, the following examples of how thedebatehasplayedout overthe lastdecade will serve as anintroductionthereaderis referred o Glick 1995 for a more extended review of these issues).

ArcheologicalApplicationof the GuichardHypothesisTheeffect of Guichard's deas hasbeenparticularly trong ntherapidlydevelop-ing field of Iberian slamicarcheology,andperhapsnowherein the worldhas his-toricalarcheology played a morepivotal role in therewritingof a nation's socialandculturalhistory(Glick 1995:12-13).Bazzana et al (1988) have attemptedto operationalize Guichard'shypothe-sis concerningthe cultural and demographicprocesses throughwhich Islamicculturebecame implantedon the Iberianculturallandscapeby focusing on therelationshipbetweencastles-termed husun(hisn, sing.) in Arabic-and the sur-roundinghinterland omposedof smallvillages calledalquerias (fromtheArabical-qarya). Theirprogramof researchinto the hisn/qarya complex was largelyinspiredby Toubert's(1973, 1990) concept of incastellamento,the reorganiza-tion of European settlement during the ninth through the eleventh centuriesaroundhilltop fortifications, or castles, which imposed feudal dominance ondependentvillages within their jurisdiction. However, in contrastto northernEuropeand Italy,where incastellamentorefersto a system in which hinterlandswere organizedandcontrolledby a seigneurial(i.e. feudal)regime,Bazzana et al(1988) have tendedto view the Iberianhisn/qaryacomplex as the expressionof

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segmentarytribalorganization,which, as explainedabove, is a key element ofGuichard'soriginal hypothesis concerninghow Islamic culturebecame estab-lished in Iberia. Underthis system, the inhabitantsof the alquerias were free ofany feudal-likeobligationsto a regionallord,orqaid, andheld and farmed andscollectively. Thehisn in turnwas, at least in the earliest centuriesof the medievalperiod,a fortifiedrefugebuilt andmaintainedby the tribalcollectives as protec-tion in times of disorder,not as a means of implementationof controlby a higherauthority. The hisn/qarya complex has been extensively documented in theLevantine Peninsula, particularly n the areas aroundValencia, Alicante, andAlmeria(Bazzanaet al 1982, 1988; Cressier1992a,b, 1998a,b).This programhas been met with resistanceon several fronts,particularlybySpanish investigators,some of whom arguefor a more feudal-likearrangement,at least in some regions of the Peninsula.For example, Azuar Ruiz (1982) hasargued hatthehisn/qaryacomplex representsanimplementation f local controlby aqaidwho actedas arepresentative f a centralizedurban-based tate.Insomecases, qaids may have attainedsuchpower andindependenceas to become trueMuslim senores (Azuar Ruiz 1982:40). This argument, however, does notexclude the possibility that organizationat the local level was tribal in nature.Elsewhere,AzuarRuiz (1989:411-423) has shown,baseduponan extensive set-tlementsurvey in the Denia Peninsula(southernAlicante), that incastellamentodid not occurthere until at least the end of the tenthcentury,which is too late toaccount for the Berbermigrationsof the eighth century.Furthermore,he con-structionof castles continuesintothe elevenththrough he thirteenthcenturyandseems to be tied to deliberatedefensive policies implementedby the thenAlmo-ravid-andAlmohad-controlled entralstate andnot to local tribalorganizations.Hence, AzuarRuiz argues for a widening of Guichard'shypothesis into a per-spective that would admit that the husunmay have functionedin any one of anumberof sociopolitical ways, dependingon the time periodandthe prevailinglocal social and economic conditions(a point on which Bazzanaet al agree)(seeBazzana et al 1988:25-43 for a detailed response to earlierversions of AzuarRuiz's and others' critiquesof theirprogram).

Acien Almansa (1984, 1989) has presenteda similar view, arguing for anongoing dynamic of interactionbetween in-migratingArab and Berbergroups,who weretriballyorganized,andindigenousgroups,who haddevelopeda proto-feudalorganization n the periodjust priorto the invasions. Acien Almansa fur-ther arguesthattribalorganizationcould well have been a social adaptationofconvertedindigenouspopulations(muwalladun)as well. This is a criticalpointthat deserves some furtherdiscussion. Throughoutmuch of the debate,segmen-taryand feudalorganizationsoftenappear o be conceptualizedas if theyweretheresultof the playingout of culturallyspecific mentalstructures,andas such con-stituteparticular ndinalienablecharacteristics f aparticular ocioculturalmen-talite (for example, as in Guichard'sorientalvs occidental structures).Thesecontrastingforms of organizationmight more profitablybe seen in behavioraltermsas variationson a more-or-lessuniversalset of organizational trategies hatare availableto any humangroup,subjectto the influence of variousaspects of


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MEDIEVALSLAMICETTLEMENTlocal political, economic, and environmentalconditions. Such a perspectivewould admitthepossibilitythatsegmentary, ribalorganization ould havedevel-oped more or less independentlyamong indigenousruralIberianpopulationsaswell, partlyin responseto the disappearanceof Romanregionalpolitical control,and partly,perhaps, througha process of culturalsyncretizationresultingfromcontact with in-migratingArab and Berbergroups.It would also admitthepossi-bility that gradationsbetween segmentary(i.e. communallybased land tenure)and feudal (individuallybased landtenure)could exist, as they almost certainlydid in the medievalperiod.

SegmentaryOrganizationRevisitedIt remainsto be said that the programof Bazzana et al strongly implies that thehisn/qarya complex constitutes of itself evidence for segmentary, or tribal,organization(see for example Bazzana et al 1988:35). Clearly,however, incas-tellamentocanbe reflective of both feudalregimes,as it is in Europenorthof thePyrenees and in Italy, and of segmentary,tributary tates, as it may well be insome areasof al-Andalus.Inthisrespect,it is worthaddingherethatBazzana et al(1988) themselves point out that the hisn/qaryacomplex is virtuallyabsent innorthernMorocco, an area where the kind of segmentarytribal sociopoliticalorganization they envision almost certainlyexisted in the medieval period andcontinued to exist into the earlytwentiethcentury.Hence, regardlessof whethersegmentary ribalorganizationconstituteda salient featureof Andalusisociety inthe medieval period, the appearanceof the hisn/qarya complex still must beexplainedin terms of responseto social andpoliticalconditionsthatexistedin thePeninsula itself.Thebest evidence for extensive Arab and Berbersettlement n the hinterlandsand forsegmentaryorganization n generalcomes inthe formof numerousBerberand Arab place names, particularly hose in the form of the toponym, whichincludesthe prefixBeni- (which means "descendantsof' in Arabic)andoften ispairedwith a name derived from a particularBerber or Arabclan or confedera-tion. For example, Benicasim is derived from Banu Qasim, a groupof KutamaBerbers from northernMorocco (Glick 1995:31). Beni- place names are quitenumerousin the easternand southeasternareas of the Peninsula;they are alsocommon inAlgeriaand Morocco. There s also documentary videnceinthe formof tribalregistriesthat indicates where in the Peninsula Arab and Berber tribessettled(Taha's 1989historyis basedon suchregistries).Thetoponymicandtribalregistryevidence has not, however, gone uncontested(Collins 1989:139, Glick1995:33-37, Rubiera de Epalza 1984). Criticism has taken two general forms.First, much of the tribaldocumentationwas actuallywritten down hundredsofyearsafterthe initialAraband Berbersettlement ookplace in the eighthcentury.The later Islamic period was a time of intense political conflict, duringwhichclaims for land rights were often reinforced with claims to pure Arabic andArabized-Berberdescendence;historiesof the IberianPeninsuladuring hisperi-od may well have been constructed n orderto subvertcompetingclaims to landrightsand legitimacy to power while reinforcingthe significance of the histori-

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64 BOONE& BENCOan's or his patron'sown claims. Second,while the Beni- place namesmay wellindicate initial Arab or Berbersettlementin the early period, the names tell usnothing about whether tribal organization of villages continued unchangedthrough hesucceedingcenturiesof Muslimdominance,or whether ntermarriageand culturalassimilationbetweenmigrantsandindigenouspeoples occurred.Whatis needed is the developmentof more specific archeologicalcorrelatesthat would distinguishtribalorganization,as opposedto proto-feudalandfeudalorganization.Boone (1994, 1996) hasargued orautonomous, ribalorganizationin the LowerAlentejoof Portugal,an areawheresettlementsurveyhas revealedaremarkablydensedistribution f Islamicperiodhamletsandvillages beginninginthe seventhcenturythat were abandonedby the thirteenth entury.Herethe pro-ductionregime was one of extensive agro-pastoralism ather han the intensiveirrigationagriculture haracteristic f the coastalregionin easternSpain.Excava-tions atthe eleventh to twelfthcenturyvillage site of AlcariaLonga(locatednearMertola,districtof Beja, Portugal)has revealed arelativelyhigh incidenceof sil-ver jewelry, including perforatedsilver coins, recovered fromdepositionalcon-texts indicative of loss duringuse (i.e. while beingworn).Boone arguesthatsuchjewelry represents,amongotherthings, a strategyof agro-pastoralistso convertsurplusaccumulatedduring good years into durableform (silver), and that thisdurablewealth was retainedby the primaryproducersthemselves rather thanextracted n the form of rentby dominant andowners.This patternof personaladornment esemblesthat observedin women amongthe tribally organizedBer-bers of MoroccoandAlgeria,whereit constitutesa sign of a family's wealthandprosperityand is not the kind of personal,publicly displayed wealth normallyassociatedwith dependentpeasantsof feudalEurope.On the otherhand,there isconsiderableevidence at Alcaria Longa of material culturecontinuitywith theLateRomanperiod(i.e. AD450-711) in terms of ceramicvessel formsandcon-struction echniques,and of some aspectsof householdorganization see furtherdiscussionbelow), whichsuggeststhatthe inhabitants fAlcaria Longamayhavebeen convertedMuslims of indigenousorigin-i.e. muwalladun. Thatthese vil-lagerswere Arabized s strongly suggestedby an incisedArabic nscription oundon a locally producedrooftile recoveredfrom one of the housecompounds.Thereis in fact some documentaryevidence to supporta muwalladorigin for at leastsome LowerAlentejan populations.For example, IbnQasi, the local leader of aSufic revolt aroundAD1140 andbrieflythe leaderof a local taifa statein Mertola(the dominantcentralplace of the region),was himself of muwalladorigin.Oneof theperforated oins recoveredat AlcariaLongawas a silverqiratstruck n thenameof IbnQasi. Hence, thepictureemergingin the LowerAlentejoof Portugalis one of a mixture of material culturalcontinuity, adoptionof Islamic culturalpractices,and tribalsocial organization.

Conversion as a Mechanism of IslamizationAs discussed above, in-migrationand subsequentdemographicand culturalre-placementfigured strongly in at least the earliest versions of Guichard'sargu-ment. The fact is, however, that there were at least several million indigenous


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MEDIEVALSLAMICETTLEMENTinhabitantsof the IberianPeninsulaat the beginningof the Islamicperiod[Glick(1979:35) estimatesseven million], and some attentionmust be paidto the issueof how they figure into the subsequentIslamization of medieval Iberiansociety.Explanatoryemphasisof the conversionof indigenousIberianpopulationsin al-Andalustakes its most balanced and elegant form in Bulliet's (1979) "curve ofconversion"model. Based on the conceptof innovationdiffusion,Bulliet arguesthat the rate of conversionto Islam was determined oremostby theprobabilityofexposureof Muslims to non-Muslims.Hence,at thebeginningof the Islamicperi-od, when there were relatively few Muslims relative to nonMuslims,the rateofnew conversionswas low because of the low incidence of contact between indi-viduals of the two groups.But as more conversionsoccurred,the probabilityofnew conversionsincreasedas well, and the rate of conversionsbeganto increaseexponentially.This shift to an exponentialphase appears o have occurred n themid- to lateninthcentury.Eventually,themajorityof thepopulationconverted oIslam, with a remaining permanentreligious minority of Christians and Jews.Hence the curve of conversion follows a typical logistic curve.Using datedgene-alogies andotherliterarysources,Bulliet calibrated he curve of conversionin al-Andalusby monitoringchanges in the incidence of Hispano-Romanand Arabicnamesthroughtime.

Domestic MaterialCultureContinuityand ChangeasEvidence for Continuityand ConversionBulliet's model has not figured stronglyin directingPeninsularresearchtowardIslamization, but it has the potential for archeological application. As Glick(1995:60) has pointedout, conversionto Islamin the medievalperiodwas not amerereligiousconversion buta social conversion as well, because it involvedtheadoptionof the Arabic languageas well as Islamic culturalpractices.Hence, tothe extent thatthese new practicesarereflectedin materialculture, heconversionmodel may well lend itself to operationalizationn archeologicalterms.As sug-gested above, in areas where Islamization nvolved the conversionof indigenous

populations,some everyday aspects of domesticmaterialculture-such as utili-tarian ceramic forms and production techniques, and house construction andcooking practices-might be conservative and show considerable continuity.Others,moreclosely tied to Muslimpractice,such as the separationof male andfemale activities (i.e. householdspatialorganization)andfood serving practices(vessel forms associated with communalpresentationof food), would be altered.Of course,there arereallytwo issues to dealwith here: One is variableethnic ori-gin (indigenousvs Arab or Berber),and the other is the adoptionof Islamic cul-turalpractices.This adds considerablecomplexityto theproblem,as indicated nthe examplesbelow.Delineation of changes in ceramic productionand distributionpatternscanpotentially shed much light on the degree of cultural continuity or rupturebetween the Late Roman and Islamic periods.Because in many cases Islamiza-tion involved the influx of new populationsinto the Peninsula,one might expect

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66 BOONE& BENCOnew ceramic traditions to have followed. For example, traditionalBerbers inNorthAfrica have maintaineda remarkablypersistentandconservativetraditionof household productionof hand-formed ceramics (Balfet 1965, Redman &Myers 1981) for use in cooking andwaterstoragethat extendsbackto before theRomanoccupation,as evidencedby hand-formedwaresrecoveredat the Romanprovincial capitalof Volubilis, and throughthe Arabizationof the Maghreb,asevidencedby the occurrenceof hand-formedwaresatthe earlyIslamiccity of al-Basra (Benco 1987) and in medieval Islamic levels of Qsar es-Seghir (Myers1984). This traditionhas survived several waves of modernizationbeginningasearlyas theeighteenthcentury when,forexample,theBritish-stylecopperteapotwas widely adopted).IfNorth AfricanBerbers ndeed wereresponsibleformuchof the ruralsettlement of Iberiaduringthe Islamicperiod,one might expect thatthey would have broughtwith them the traditionof household productionofhand-formedpottery.The picturethat is emerging,however, is much more complex. An excellentreview of earlyIslamicperiodceramicproduction echnologyand distribution nthe southeastern Peninsula has been presented by Gutierrez Lloret (1988,1996:31-70). Extensivestudies of the earlyPaleoandalusi equencein southeast-ernSpain(Acien Almansa 1986, Guti6rrezLloret1988, 1992, 1996) have shownthatby the end of the LateRomanperiod(AD450-711), wheel-madepotterypro-duction hadnearlyceased and was only revived again in the late ninth andtenthcenturies,duringthe consolidationof the Ummayadcaliphatecenteredin Cor-doba, perhapsas a responseto the conditions under which populationdensitieshadagainincreasedandtradenetworksreformed o thepointthat suchindustriescould be supported. n the earlyPaleoandalusiperiod (AD 711 to ca 900), hand-formed and slow-wheel (tornolento) industriesareindicativeof culturalcontinu-ity in indigenous populations,not of culturalcontinuity n in-migratingBerbers,since hand-formedwaresappear o be absentin areas whereit has been hypothe-sized that Berbersettlementoccurred Acien Almansa1986). Elsewhere,Zozaya(1969) has arguedthat the influx of Berber ceramic vessel formsanddecorativestyles is signaled by the appearanceof buff-colored jars (jarritas) with red-painted designs- forms that are wheel-thrown ratherthan hand-formed.Whyhouseholdbased,hand-formed eramicindustriesdo not appear n Berber settle-ment areas in Iberiawhen it is such a persistenttraditionamongNorth AfricanBerbers is an interestingquestionthat has not reallybeen addressed.The adoptionof Islamic social practicesin both urbanandruralcontextsmaybe signaledby theappearanceof distinctiveglazed,polychromefood vessel serv-ing forms-conical bowls, platters,pitchers,tureens-in the late ninth and tenthcenturies(Gutierrez-Lloret1992). These formsareindicativeof the adoptionofcommunalformsof food service andhospitality. Althoughthey may not consti-tuteproof of Islamization n all cases, they are clearlyassociatedwith medievalMuslim food preparation ndservingpractices.Continuityandchangein ruralhouseforms canpotentiallyprovideclues as tothe ethnic origins of ruralpopulationsin the medieval period. Majorwork onhouseformsand construction echniques n theIslamicperiodhasbeen carriedout


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by Andre Bazzana(1992). It has been argued hat the L- orU-shapedhouse com-poundbuilt arounda private patio is a good example of a North AfricanBerberimportinto the IberianPeninsula.The organizationof four completehouseholdcompounds uncovered at Alcaria Longa, Portugal (Boone 1993, 1994, 1996),mayconstituteevidenceforIslamizationof LowerAlentejanruralsociety. TheL-or U-shaped positioning of two or three separatestructuresarounda commonpatioorcourtyards reminiscentof theBerberRifiancourtyardormdescribedbyMikesell (1961:74), and it is also foundin other areas aroundnorthernMorocco.Myers (1979; Redman et al 1982) arguedthatthe L- or U-shapedcompoundisactually a ruralpermutationof the urban Islamic house, which is organizedarounda central interiorcourtyard,with distinctly separate ood preparation ndsleeping areas.Guests are entertainedand food is served and eaten either in thecourtyardor in one of the sleepingrooms,neverin the kitchen.The separationofkitchen, food-serving,and sleeping areasindirectlyreflects the strictseparationof the activities of men andwomen in traditionalMuslimsociety. However,morerecent excavations of seventh- andeighth-century uralvillage sites carriedoutbyBoone in the same area(JL Boone, unpublisheddata)begin to suggest that theMoroccanhouseformmaybe apermutation f an earlier ndigenoushouseform nthatregion.

CONCLUSIONIslamicarcheologyin the Maghrebandthe IberianPeninsulahas developedonlyin the pasttwo decades;virtually everythingof consequencewas publishedafter1980. Despite its recent appearance,however, Islamic archeology has alreadyplayed an important ole in shapingourinterpretations f the developmentof themedievalworld andwill certainlycontinue to contribute o contemporary ware-ness of cultural heritage and national identity in both regions. The focus ofresearch n the two regionsdiffersin many respects.Because MoroccoremainsaMuslimcountry,the process of Islamization n the Maghrebdoes not presentthe"mystery"that it does in the Iberian Peninsula. The issue of interaction andassimilationbetweenMuslimsandChristians akeson a differentsignificance inSpain and Portugal.There is a much strongeremphasison urbanismandurbansites inMorocco,partlybecause of the intereston thepartof the investigatorswhohave carried out researchthere, and partlybecause great cities were built (andsome later abandoned)duringthe Medieval period in a land where previouslytherehad been relativelyfew.On a more generalanthropological evel, research n both regions presentsaremarkablepotentialto contribute o the literatureon the archeologyof ethnicity,and to research nto the impactof changing religionandideology on suchdiverseareas of humanactivity as household organization,genderrelations, settlementlocation and spatial organization,and ceramic productionand distribution.Asmore regional syntheses appear,such as GutierrezLloret's (1996) study of lateRomanandIslamic Tudmir Alicante),the potentialfor comparativestudies will

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improve. The main barrier to the entry of Islamic archeology into the mainstreamof American and British archeological research, of course, has been that themajority of the primary sources are published in Spanish, French, and Catalan andhave rather limited distribution outside the countries where they are published.Glick's (1995) recent review of the current state of the field in Spain has provideda welcome beginning to making this literature more accessible.

Visit the Annual Reviews home page at www.AnnualReviews.org.LITERATURE CITEDAci6n AlmansaM. 1984. La formaciony de-strucci6nde al-Andalus.InHistoria de losPueblos de Espaia. Tierras Fronterizas(I): Andalucia, Canarias, ed. M Barcel6.1:21-46. Barcelona:Argos VergaraAci6n Almansa M. 1986. Ceramica a tornolento en Bezmiliana. Cronologia, tipos ydifusi6n. In I Congreso de ArqueologiaMedievalEspaiola, 4:243-67. Huesca:Acien AlmansaM. 1989. Poblamientoy forti-ficaci6n en el surde al Andalus. La fortifi-cacion de un pais de Husun. In III Con-greso de Arqueologia MedievalEspahola(III CAME), 1:135-50. Oviedo: Univ.OviedoAkerrazA, Lenoir E. 1990. Volubilis et sonterritoire au Ier siecle de notre ere. In

L'Afrique dans l'Occident Romain: IerSiecle av. J-C.-IVe Siecle ap.J-C:Actes duColloque, pp. 213-29. Rome: EcoleFrangaisede RomeAkerrazA, Rebuffat R. 1991. El Qsarel Ke-bir et la route interieure de Mauretanie

Tingitane entre Tremuli et Ad Novas. InHistoire et Archeologie de I'Afrique duNord:Actes duIVe ColloqueInternationalReuni dans le Cadre du 113e CongresNational des Societes Savantes, Stras-bourg,5-9 Avril 1988, pp. 367-408. Paris:CTHSAzuar Ruiz R. 1982. Una interpretaciondel"Hisn"Musulman en el ambito rural.Rev.Invest. Ens. Inst. Estud. AlicantinosExcma.Dip. Prov. Alicante, 2:33-41Azuar Ruiz R. 1989. Denia Isldmica: Ar-

queologia y Poblamiento. Alicante: Inst.Cult."JuanGil-Albert"Balfet H. 1965. Ethnographicalobservationsin NorthAfrica andarcheological interpre-tation.In CeramicsandMan,ed. F Matson,pp. 166-77. Chicago:AldineBarkerG, GilbertsonD, JonesB, MattinglyD.1996. Farming the Desert: The UNESCOLibyan Valleys Archaeological Survey,Vols. 1, 2. Tripoli:UNESCO, Dep. Antiq.Soc. LibyanStud.Bazzana A. 1992. Maisons d'al-Andalus:HabitatMedievalet Structuresdu Peuple-ment dans I'Espagne Orientale. Madrid:casa de VelasquezBazzanaA, CressierP, ErbatiL, MontmessinY, TouriA. 1983-1984. Premiereprospec-tion d'archeologie m6di6vale et Islamiquedans le nordduMaroc(Chefchaouen-OuedLaou-Bou Ahmed). Bull. Archeol. Maro-caine 15:367-50BazzanaA, CressierP, GuichardP. 1988. LesChdteauxRuraux d'Al-Andalus: Histoireet Archeologie des Husun du Sud-Est deI'Espagne.Madrid:casa de VelasquezBazzana A, Cressier P, Touri A. 1991. Ar-cheologie et peuplement: les mutationsmedi6vales, le cas de Targha. In Jbala:Histoire et Societe: Etudessur le MarocduNord-Ouest,pp. 307-29. Paris: CNRSBazzana A, Guichard P, Segura Marti JM.1982.Du Hisn MusulmanaucastrumChre-tien: le chateau de Perpunchet (Lorcha,Prov. de Alicante). Melanges Casa Velas-quez, 17:449-65


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