British Foundation for the Study of Arabia

BULLETIN OF THE SOCIETY FOR ARABIAN STUDIES

Number 16 ISSN: 1361-9144 2011 £5.00

British Foundation for the Study of Arabia (BFSA) The Society for Arabian Studies

BFSA Trustees Society for Arabian Studies President Ms Beatrice de Cardi President Miss Beatrice de Cardi Chairman Dr Derek Kennet Chairman Dr. St. John Simpson Honorary Secretary Mrs Ionis Thompson Dr Noel Brehony Honorary Treasurer Mr Simon Alderson Dr Rob Carter

Mr William Facey Dr Lucy Blue; Dr Rob Carter; Dr. Nadia Durrani, Dr Noel Guckian Mr. William Facey, Dr. Nelida Fuccaro, Dr. Noel Dr Robert Hoyland Guckian, Dr Steffen Hertog; Dr Derek Kennet; Dr Mr Michael Macdonald James Onley; Ms. Sarah Searight, Mrs. Janet Dr St. John Simpson Starkey; Dr Lloyd Weeks; Dr Shelagh Weir; Dr Lloyd Weeks Prof. Tony Wilkinson

Bulletin of the Society for Arabian Grants Sub-Committee Studies Dr St John Simpson (chairman); Editor Dr Lucy Wadeson Ms Sarah Searight; Dr Nelida Fuccaro; Dr Nadia Book Reviews Editor Mr William Facey Durrani; Dr Derek Kennet

Notes for contributorsBritish to the Archaeological Bulletin Mission in Yemen (BAMY) The Bulletin depends on the good will of Society members andChairman correspondents Prof. Tony to provide Wilkinson contributions. News, items of general interest, ongoing and details of completed postgraduate research, forthcoming conferences, meetings and special events are welcome. Please contact the Honorary Secretary, Ionis Thompson. Email [email protected]

Applications to conduct research in Yemen Applications to conduct research in Yemen should be made to the Society‘s sub-committee, the British Archaeological Mission in Yemen (BAMY). Contact Professor Tony Wilkinson, Durham University, Department of Archaeology, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE. Tel. 0191 334 1111. Email [email protected]

Grants in aid of research Applicants are advised to apply well ahead of the May and October deadlines. Full details on p. 3.

Applications for official sponsorship Expeditions and individuals may apply for official sponsorship from the Society for research projects if helpful in obtaining funds from other sources or permission from foreign governments. Sponsorship signifies the Society‘s approval of academic content but not financial support. Applications should be submitted on the relevant form, available from the Hon. Secretary at the address below, and sent to the Grants Sub-Committee: Dr St John Simpson, Middle East Department, The British Museum, London, WC1B 3DG, UK. Email [email protected]

Membership Membership details are available from Ionis Thompson, the Honorary Secretary, at the address below or on the Society‘s website. For membership renewals contact the Treasurer, Simon Alderson, at the address below, or email: [email protected]

The Honorary Secretary, Society for Arabian Studies c/o The London Middle East Institute School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Thornhaugh Street, London, WC1H 0XG, UK Email: [email protected] Web: www.societyforarabianstudies.org

Bulletin of the Society for Arabian Studies ISSN: 1361-9144. BFSA Registered Charity No. 1003272

CONTENTS

CONTENTS ...... 1 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES ...... 21

EDITORIAL ...... 2 SAUDI ARABIA ...... 28

SOCIETY FOR ARABIAN STUDIES YEMEN ...... 34 AWARDS AND PRIZES ...... 35 NEWS ...... 3

MONOGRAPH SERIES ...... 3 AVAILABLE GRANTS AND PRIZES 35

SOCIETY GRANTS-IN-AID 2010-11 ...... 3 CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS

GRANT-IN-AID REPORTS ...... 3 2010–11 ...... 40 BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL MISSION IN COMPLETED CONFERENCES ...... 40 YEMEN (BAMY) ...... 6 UPCOMING CONFERENCES 2011 ...... 40 LECTURE REPORTS 2010 ...... 6 BOOK REVIEWS ...... 43 LECTURE PROGRAMME 2011 ...... 10 NEW PUBLICATIONS ON ARABIA .. 59 ARABIAN NEWS AND RESEARCH .. 12 NEW BOOKS 2010–11 ...... 59 ARTS ...... 12 OTHER SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS WILDLIFE ...... 15 OF INTEREST ...... 61 OTHER GENERAL NEWS ...... 15 JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES ...... 61 NEWS AND RESEARCH BY COUNTRY ..... 17 SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATIONS BAHRAIN ...... 17 AND OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES 62 KUWAIT ...... 18 OBITUARIES ...... 64 OMAN ...... 18

QATAR ...... 20

Front Cover: Three generations in a street in San‘a, Yemen, in the 1970s. Photograph by courtesy of Hugh Leach, whose new book, Seen in the Yemen: Travelling with Freya Stark and Others, is due for publication by Arabian Publishing in April 2011 (ISBN 978-0-9558894-5-5).

EDITORIAL Since Sarah Searight wrote her last sponsorship of the LSE Kuwait Programme. Chairman‘s Message in the 2010 Bulletin Also, of course, we hold most of our lectures much has been happening behind the scenes in conjunction with the London Middle East to further the merger between the Society and Institute at SOAS, with which we are the Seminar for Arabian Studies, to which she affiliated, and this gives us both publicity for referred in that report. A new body has now the lectures and ensures we have a room at been incorporated with charitable status, the SOAS in which to hold them. British Foundation for the Study of Arabia. In this issue of the Bulletin, under the The Society forms part of the new body but heading of relevant countries, we have tried to members will not have detected any change in include some details of donations to various the activities we have undertaken over the academic bodies within the UK. The Bulletin past year as these have continued as before. also draws attention to a range of Meanwhile, however, the new body, BFSA developments within Arabia in the field of for short, has been preparing to start the work contemporary culture, notably in the field of for which it was created, to attract funding in literature and the arts. order to expand and promote British research We have been able to award fewer grants in the Arabian Peninsula. This, it is hoped, than usual this year, owing to our financial will result in a heightened profile for Arabian position which is, temporarily we hope, studies both here and abroad. weaker than before. Despite an exceptionally The lecture programme has been a strong field of applicants, only one has been particularly full one this year, ably organised awarded, to Dr. Lucy Wadeson (see page 3). by Dr. James Onley of Exeter University. We very much hope this situation will shortly Talks have ranged from archaeology in improve, under the dynamic new leadership Ancient South Arabia to life in pre-oil of the BFSA. Kuwait, from the Shia in Saudi Arabia to Thanks are due to all our contributors, bureaucrats in that country and, finally, to the without whom the Bulletin would not exist. life and work of Lord Belhaven among the For those who would like to contribute to next Yemenis. Most of these lectures have been year‘s issue, please feel free to email Lucy: shared with other societies, such as the [email protected] . British-Yemenis, in order to increase our audiences and to share the costs. We have also this year been grateful to receive sponsorship for two of our lecturers: Farah al Nakib received sponsorship from the Kuwait Embassy, and Steffen Hertog received the

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SOCIETY FOR ARABIAN STUDIES NEWS

The Society was founded in 1987 with the of the Society‘s decision within six weeks of purpose of encouraging interest and research those dates. The grant will be held for twelve into the archaeology, history, culture and months from the date of receipt of the award. environment of the Arabian Peninsula – Recipients will be required to provide a Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, written report on their research with an the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The account of the expenditure, to be submitted Society publishes this annual Bulletin, within six months of the expiry of the period organises regular lectures and a biennial for which the grant was made. Successful conference, and supports field projects in and applicants will also be required to submit a publications on this region. Full details of the summary of their research for publication in Society‘s aims and activities can be found on the next issue of the Society‘s Bulletin and its website: www.societyforarabianstudies.org may be asked to lecture to the Society on the subject of their research. MONOGRAPH SERIES In 2004, the Society launched a Monograph GRANT-IN-AID REPORTS Series with the aim of publishing peer- Thanos Petouris is a PhD candidate in reviewed research-based studies, conference Middle Eastern Politics at SOAS. He received proceedings, archaeological excavation or a grant towards his doctoral research, entitled, survey reports, and theses comprising an The Anti-Colonial Movement in Aden and the important synthesis or a significant addition to Protectorates of South Arabia (1937-67). knowledge. The scope encompasses the My doctoral research concentrates on archaeology, early history, ethnography, explaining the processes leading to the epigraphy and numismatics of the Arabian formation of a distinct South Arabian / South Peninsula and related matters. The Series now Yemeni national identity in the course of has nine titles, published by Archaeopress decolonisation in Aden and the Protectorates (B.A.R. International Series); these are listed of South Arabia between the years 1937- on the back cover of the Bulletin. 1967. The reason for choosing this topic is SOCIETY GRANTS-IN-AID 2010-11 that since decolonisation there have been The Society is pleased to announce that a numerous instances during which the notion grant has been awarded to Dr Lucy Wadeson of being South Yemeni has been used as a (University of Oxford) for her project The way of expressing political dissent, and for Funerary Topography of Petra. This project the politicisation of grievances against the examines the development of the cemeteries government of the unified Yemeni state. at Petra, the effect of the environment on the Thus, by tracing the origins of South Yemeni form and location of the tombs, and the nationalism in decolonisation and examining functioning of tomb complexes, with aims of the idea of a South Yemeni identity as a enhancing knowledge of Nabataean funerary distinct form of political expression, my study practices, urban development and cultural aspires to contribute to the wider debate on identity. the politics of the modern Yemeni state, and The Society for Arabian Studies normally colonial studies in general. has two rounds of applications, with deadlines The argument my thesis is putting of 31 May and 31 October of each year, and forward is that in order to explain the we support research on all aspects of the mechanisms that are at work during archaeology, history, culture and environment decolonisation and result in the formation of a of the Arabian peninsula. Applications should particular national identity, one ought to study be submitted to Dr St John Simpson at the nature of the political discourses that are [email protected] (cc. in action, and the social circumstances within Sarah Searight: [email protected]) and which they materialise. This means that the further details can be found on the Grants South Yemeni identity cannot be dealt with as page of the Society for Arabian Studies a monolithic, static attribute of individuals, website: but as a dynamic synthesis of different ideas http://www.societyforarabianstudies.org/grant constantly defining what can be identified as s.shtml. Applicants will normally be informed

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belonging to the South Yemeni national declarations, among others, from the period identity. under study. Thus, by looking into the politics of the anti-colonial, liberation movement, and its constituent organisations we can establish the essence of the various discourses that determined the emergence of the South Arabian identity. We assume, therefore, that the South Arabian movement ought to be treated primarily as a sui generis case of anti- colonial struggle, in the course of which a particular national identity was developed as the product of a discursive process. The grant-in-aid-of-research given by the Society formed an important contribution towards the expenses of a full year of fieldwork research, which I spent in Yemen collecting materials for this study. The aims of my field research were twofold; to Figure 1. FLOSY (Front for the Liberation of interview surviving protagonists of the South South Yemen) graffiti from the 1960s on a Yemeni anti-colonial movement, and to trace block of flats on Aydarus St, Crater. documentary material in various public and private collections in the country. Despite Public sources of historical information, initial reservations that either prospect on the other hand, though numerous by name, interviewees would not be keen to participate are relatively poor when it comes to the in the research, or that archival resources documents they hold, and their state of would be scarce, and difficult to access, the preservation. Much was lost during different field proved much friendlier to the researcher, regime shuffles in the former PDRY, but the but at the same time not unchallenging. final blow came with the 1994 civil war, the Regarding the interviews, my main aim torching of the Aden National Library, and was not only to meet as many of the surviving subsequent plundering of what had been left political actors as possible, but also to put of the British archives, and of some private together a representative, and balanced collections. sample of the people who participated in the To conclude, a preliminary assessment of most important political movements, in both both the documentary, and oral historical Aden, and the former Protectorates. By material that I have had the opportunity to travelling as far as Soqotra, and the collect over the course of this year points not Hadhramaut, as the security situation in the only towards a very modern, anti-colonial country permitted, I have been able to political movement that developed over a long interview Yemenis from almost all of the period of time in South Arabia, but also one southern regions. with profound ideological and political Private archival sources proved a real connections with the rest of the region, and treasure trove of documents that have not yet the world in general. Hence, this research has been published, or indeed analysed. This is been instrumental in helping to understand the mainly because of the tendency of individuals social, and ideological characteristics of the to collect contemporary materials, and movements and their membership, and to preserve them in private, most of the time disentangle complex historical occurrences, without the knowledge of the state itself. especially regarding the relations these Since these are completely un-catalogued movements had with their Arab and Third collections, I am sure there is plenty of World counterparts. material left behind in rooms, and drawers Thanos Petouris that the extremely helpful, but volunteer, staff did not open for me; however I feel I have already put together a very good selection of political pamphlets, and revolutionary

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A grant-in-aid of research was awarded to defined North African type – the Aterian – Eleanor Scerri, a PhD student at the Centre and subsequently, researchers have used this for the Archaeology of Human Origins report to build definitive theories about the (CAHO) at the University of Southampton, to nature of the Arabian Palaeolithic. During my support her research on Early Lithic trip to Dammam I was given the opportunity Assemblages in Saudi Arabia. to analyse the McClure collection and The Arabian Peninsula is only recently incorporate it into a database which runs becoming aware of the importance of its statistical comparisons between known Palaeolithic past and its role in the great Aterian assemblages from north-east Africa. I drama of modern human origins and was also given the opportunity to analyse dispersals. This is in large partly due to lack further collections from the same region that of research in the region and the fact that were hitherto unknown and uncatalogued and modern humans were thought to have exited which proved to contain pieces of great Africa via a Levantine corridor which interest. bypassed Arabia completely. Archaeo-genetic Initial results suggest strong similarities research has challenged this interpretation, with lithic collections from north-east Africa revolutionising our understanding of modern (Egypt and Sudan). This indicates that at least human origins, and bringing Arabia into the one thread of modern human movement out spotlight as the ‗tricontinental nexus‘ of of Africa may be presented by a north- human dispersal. This has resulted in a flurry easterly migrating group who potentially of research activity in the region which has entered Arabia from the North via the Sinai identified both material culture cognates with route. Currently archaeology is focused on other areas, and independent trajectories of investigating the so- called ‗Southern Route‘ development, calling for a specific Arabian across the Bab al-Mandab into Yemen and chronology. With respect to the former, little to no work has been conducted similarities have been observed between investigating whether the Arabian Palaeolithic assemblages in the African Horn region and is related to north-east African cultures. Arabia, between Southern Arabia and the Understanding the exact route/s of modern Levant, between north-east Africa and the human dispersal is crucial to accurately Levant, and between north-east Africa and reconstructing modern human dispersal and Arabia, highlighting the complexity of the colonisation. Furthermore, understanding the different threads of evidence. My ongoing specific role Arabia played in preparing doctoral research at the Centre for modern humans to disperse in multiple Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO) at directions across the Old World, eventually Southampton University examines this latter reaching the New, is of vital importance in thread, and is attempting to compare very this context. early Late Pleistocene archaeology in north- Following my data collection, I was east Africa with contemporary stone tool kindly invited by the Saudi Commission for cultures in Arabia in order to assess whether Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) to visit the there is any relationship between the two. Museum in Riyadh to look at further These stone tool cultures existed at the crucial collections and to give a lecture at King Saud time of modern human dispersal out of Africa University. During my visit to the museum in (circa 100,000– 30,000 years ago) but despite Riyadh, I was given the opportunity to discuss this there have been no attempts to my initial research findings with Professor systematically compare techno-typologies Ghabban who kindly agreed to fund vitally from these regions, despite reports made in important CAHO-SCTA collaborative the mid 1990s of North African ―Aterian- research investigating the Palaeolithic of type‖ assemblages found in the Rub Al-Khali. Arabia through several seasons of intensive The Society‘s Grant funded a research survey, with the aim of locating and trip to Dammam in Saudi Arabia in order to excavating stratified Middle Palaeolithic sites. investigate these claims, following my The long term aim of the collaboration is to extensive research into the nature of the provide a chronology of the Arabian Middle Aterian sensu stricto in north-east Africa. The Palaeolithic, together with any independent McClure 1994 collection is important because trajectories of development and cognates with it reported a surface assemblage as a well other regions. This current and future research

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would not have been possible without an For those interested in visiting Yemen, the initial grant from the Society for Arabian American Institute for Yemeni Studies has a Studies. This research trip has not only new director, Stephen Steinbeiser, who has provided crucial data for my doctoral research been in residence since January 2009. Anyone but has also supplied a great opportunity for wishing to visit the country would do best to future research that will provide major new contact him, the British Council evidence for one of the most important ([email protected]), or the questions in archaeology and resident directors of the French or German Palaeoanthropology. The results of the initial Institutes before travelling. investigation and analysis will be presented in Tony Wilkinson

January during the Arabian Palaeolithic session at the CAHO 10 year anniversary LECTURE REPORTS 2010 symposium (http://caho10.wordpress.com/). Eleanor Scerri 21 January 2010: Ancient South Arabia and the Near East Alexandra Porter BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL Alexandra Porter is a Research Assistant at MISSION IN YEMEN (BAMY) the British Museum

BAMY operates under the auspices of the South Arabia does not even feature on many Society for Arabian Studies and is responsible maps of the ancient Near East. Scholars have for screening all British research carried out not recognised the significance of South in Yemen in the fields of archaeology, Arabia in the ancient Near East due a limited history, epigraphy, numismatics, pre-Islamic knowledge of this area. However, in recent and Islamic architecture and all manuscript decades there have been astonishing and museum-based studies. developments in the understanding of the This has been another disappointing year region, as a result of archaeological for archaeological work in Yemen. In addition excavations and the enormous quantity of to the current demonstrations, there have been written sources that have been discovered. a number of incidents such as the attack on This information demonstrates that South the motorcade of the British Ambassador on Arabia had a strong cultural identity April 26th 2010, and another attack on the characterised by unique and original features British Deputy head of mission on October but was at the same time part of the broader 6th 2010. In addition, the US embassy in historical and cultural system of the ancient Sana‘a closed for two days in January 2010 Near East. In this lecture we outlined the and there is currently a ban on using State history of interaction between the Fertile Department-funded fellowships for travel to Crescent and South Arabia. We examined the Yemen. Consequently, at the present time, models of migration vs indigenous American fieldworkers are seeking funds for development in the origins of the ancient working in countries other than Yemen. South Arabian civilisation, the role of the Moreover, two major figures in the incense trade in the rise of the South Arabian archaeology of Yemen have died recently (see kingdoms, and the various influences also Obituaries). Dr. Selma Al-Radi, who is reflected in ancient South Arabian art. well known for her restoration of the Amiriya madrasa in Rada' passed away on October 7, 17 February 2010: 2010. In addition, Professor Alessandro de ‘That Was How We Lived’: Reconstructing Maigret, best known for his pioneering work Urban Space and Everyday Life in Pre-Oil on the prehistory of Yemen and his volume Kuwait Arabia Felix: An Exploration of the Farah Al-Nakib Archaeological History of Yemen (see New Farah Al-Nakib is a PhD student in the Publications section) died in February Department of History at SOAS. Her thesis is 2011. Both were incredibly energetic entitled, ‘The Making of Modern Kuwait City, archaeologists who had a major impact on the 1896-1986.’ development of Yemeni archaeology; they As part of the Society for Arabian Studies will be deeply missed. annual lecture series, I gave a talk entitled: ‗That was how we lived‘: reconstructing

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urban space and everyday life in pre-oil audience, and the feedback I received during Kuwait.‘ The talk was based on a group of the discussion was extremely valuable. oral histories I gathered in the spring of 2009, Farah Al-Nakib through a research grant provided by the SAS, as part of my doctoral research on the urban 17 March 2010: history of Kuwait City. My lecture focused Between Notables and Revolutionaries: A specifically on how these interviews Political Sociology of Shia Communities in conducted with members of Kuwait‘s urban Eastern Saudi Arabia population who were alive in the pre-oil (i.e. Toby Matthiesen pre-1950) era have contributed to my research Toby Matthiesen is a PhD candidate in the on the spatial organization and social life of Department of Politics and International urban quarters in the pre-oil town. Based on Studies at SOAS. His thesis explores, ‘The the memories and life experiences of the Shia of Saudi Arabia: Identity Politics, people I interviewed, I first mapped out the Communalism and the Saudi State’. socio-spatial organisation of the town‘s main The Shia communities in the Eastern Province quarters, identifying particular patterns of of Saudi Arabia underwent profound socio- settlement while simultaneously challenging economic changes in the 20th century. In the existing assumptions about the distribution of Ottoman period, local notable families the pre-oil urban population in residential worked together with Ottoman officials and in areas (namely that neighbourhoods were 1913 these notables submitted peacefully to divided by tribal, religious, and ethnic Ibn Saud. Although the important background, which my findings revealed was administrative posts in the Eastern Province not the case). were given to Saudi allies from Najd, these The public life of the urban quarters was notables continued to play an important role also addressed, with specific attention given throughout the first half of the 20th century. to the social networks and community The post of the Shia Qadi, for example, was services that structured neighbourhood life in constantly occupied by some of the main Shia Kuwait Town before oil. In the absence of notable families. This Shia elite benefited state welfare, urban quarters functioned as the from the oil boom and managed to get townspeople‘s primary vehicle for the mutual relatively high posts in the oil industry. Many provision of moral and material aid, while members of these families were also drawn also providing numerous public services like into the various leftist groups active in the education, sanitation, and security. Anecdotal Eastern Province such as the Communists and and ethnographic material from the people I the Baathists. interviewed served as the basis for the The Shia Islamist movements that emerged discussion, which was supplemented with in the 1970s, however, started struggling photos and maps of the old town providing against this Shia elite as much as against the the audience with a visual impression of the state. Although in al-Ahsa and Tarout, for spaces, scenarios and people being examined. example, descendants of the main notable This analysis of urban quarters before oil families were recruited into these movements, has played an important role in my ongoing the bulk of the activists in Qatif stemmed investigation into the impacts the advent of oil from other families. After the death of some had on the built environment, processes of of their leaders and the return of the Shia urbanisation, and urban experiences in Islamist opposition from exile in 1993, the Kuwait. By understanding how political role of these notable families has neighborhoods were organised and functioned diminished. before oil, I am able to more critically analyse Toby Matthiesen how residential patterns changed after 1950 due to state housing policies, and how the shift from community welfare to state welfare impacted the patterns and practices of everyday life in Kuwait. This lecture allowed me to share some of my preliminary findings on these issues with a knowledgeable

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26 May 2010: The author is a Lecturer in the Department of How Pearl Fishing Shaped the Societies of Government at the LSE. He was previously the Gulf, From the Neolithic to the 20th Kuwait Professor at Sciences Po Paris and a Century Lecturer in the School of Government and (This lecture was shared with the Bahrain International Affairs at the University of Society) Durham. Dr Rob Carter In his lecture, Steffen Hertog presented some The author is an archaeologist and historian of the historical research from his recent book based at Oxford Brookes University who about the politics of the Saudi state. The book, specialises in the history and prehistory of ―Princes, Brokers and Bureaucrats‖ (Cornell Arabia and the Persian Gulf. He has been University Press) is based on two years of researching the historic and prehistoric pearl field research in Saudi Arabia between 2003 fishery since 2005, and is currently and 2008, work in about a dozen archives as completing a book on the subject, to be well as more than 100 interviews. It analyses produced by Arabian Publishing. both the creation of the modern Saudi The pearling industry of the Persian Gulf is of bureaucracy from the 1950s on and its role in immense antiquity, going back over 7000 current economic policy and state-business years to the Stone Age. The peoples of the relations. Gulf then gathered and wore pearls, along Dr Hertog, a board member of the with other elaborate combinations of shell Society for Arabian Studies and lecturer at the jewellery, and may even have traded them by London School of Economics, focused in sea with their neighbours in southern Iraq. In particular on the early stage of Saudi state- later centuries, the pearls of the Gulf were building in the 1950s and 1960s, recounting a well known to the Achaemenids, the Greeks number of critical junctures at which the core and the Romans, and famed for their quality power structure of the Saudi state as we know and abundance. The industry continued to it today took shape. thrive after the coming of Islam, with pearls The early Saudi bureaucracy was being treasured possessions of the Umayyad characterised by enormous plasticity, as and Abbasid Caliphs and their courtiers. Gulf rapidly increasing oil rents from the late pearls flowed in increasing quantities into the 1940s on made new administrative international markets from China to Europe, institutions bargaining chips in games of and by the 18th century AD the settlement rivalry and power balance among senior patterns of the Gulf had begun to change in princes and a few select commoners – in a order to accommodate a voracious global political context in which few social forces demand. outside of the ruling elite had developed an Numerous coastal settlements sprang up effective claim on the new resources. which specialised in pearl fishing, and most of Government agencies were repeatedly the modern towns of the Gulf owe their created, abolished, split, and merged as a origins to the pearl fishery. The cash function of the shifting princely politics of the economies of the Arab states along the Gulf day, gaining stability only in 1962 as a result littoral soon depended almost entirely on of a stable royal balance of power organised pearls, and the crash in global pearl markets, by Crown Prince Faisal, who had prevailed prompted by the advent of Japanese cultured over King Saud in his struggle for controlling pearls in the 1920s and 30s, brought both an the state apparatus. It was then that the end to the industry and the onset of great political dispensation which we know today hardship. Many of the coastal towns may have was defined: huge Ministries of Defence and disappeared entirely, but for the income Interior controlled by senior Sudairi princes derived from oil exploration concessions, allied to Faisal, a large National Guard under followed by the advent of oil revenues. control of Prince (now King) Abdallah, and Rob Carter technocratic line ministries that were largely reserved for commoners. Institutions of 12 November 2010: pivotal importance under Saud, like the Royal Princes, Brokers and Bureaucrats: Oil and Guard, in turn disappeared or were cut to size. the State in Saudi Arabia Increasing oil rents and the royal elite‘s Dr Steffen Hertog political autonomy had allowed for repeated

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reshuffling of jurisdictions. On the level of successful regulatory reforms, industrial individual institutions, senior players projects and infrastructure initiatives in Saudi similarly enjoyed large leeway in defining Arabia since 2000 have been implemented by internal structures of authority and resource ‗islands of efficiency‘ independently of the allocation. This allowed many of them to turn rest of the bureaucracy, while policy agencies under their control into fiefdoms initiatives outside of these enclaves, used for the cultivation of personal clienteles especially those involving a larger number of as well as personal enrichment. government agencies, have often faltered. At the same time, however, leading Steffen Hertog princes used some of the oil surpluses to task technocratic confidants with the building of 8 December 2010: ―islands of efficiency‖ – organisations in Belhaven of Arabia: The Scottish Lord Who charge of priority policy areas with autonomy Loved the Mountain Arabs to hire competitively, acquire critical Trevor Mostyn technical expertise and act independently Trevor Mostyn is a reporter, author, and from the rest of the bureaucracy. The most publisher. He is the author of eight books on notable early example was central bank the Middle East, including Coming of Age in SAMA, set up by a trusted American advisor the Middle East (1987), Egypt's Belle Epoque in the 1950s and still rated by many as the (1989), Censorship in Islamic Societies best central bank in the MENA region. Later (2002). His latest book, The Girl from examples from the 1960s and 1970s include Katamon, a novel set in the Palestine the Institute of Public Administration, the Mandate, will be published in February. Royal Commission for the industrial cities of At the end of his career Alec Hamilton, later Jubail and Yanbu, the Saudi Ports Authority, Lord Belhaven & Stenton, was invited by the and state-owned heavy industry giant SABIC. Governor of Aden, Tom Hickinbottom, to The shape of today‘s Saudi state can still visit. Hickinbottom had been staying on be traced back to this personalised and Belhaven's farm in Scotland. Belhaven contingent state-building process. It has led to promised discretion, sensitive to his a very heterogeneous, fragmented state reputation for outspokenness. ‗In that case I apparatus, some parts of which function very don‘t want you,‘ replied Hickinbottom. ‗It is well, while others are opaque and slow- for your opinions I want you and you can moving. The state remains highly centralised express them as freely as you like.‘ Belhaven around a few royal patrons, with little accepts. communication between institutional He sets out his story by saying that when ‗fiefdoms‘ at lower levels, making policy he lived at Wishaw, a house his family coordination very difficult despite the internal laments that he neglected, then sold, his efficiency of some parts of the bureaucracy. second wife Cyrilla Binns, whom he met at The history of the Saudi state shows that the War Office after losing his leg, would differently from what the theoretical literature place obstacles of prams between him and his would make us believe, it is difficult to whiskey. Did she not know that ‗a hidden generalise about the impact of oil income on bottle of whiskey cries to heaven?‘ asks institutions, be it negative or positive. Instead, Belhaven. oil has given ruling elites a wider set of Travellers in Arabia boast of their institutional options to choose from, and has exploits. Not Belhaven, who describes his allowed them to pursue patronage politics, the years commanding the camel corps of the building of personal empires, and the creation Aden Levies, then as political officer in the of efficient administrations all at the same West Aden Protectorate, with comical time, albeit in different parts of the state. modesty. His riding is so awkward that the Dr. Hertog closed his presentation with a tribes shout ‗Watch out. Here comes Ham!‘ brief outline of how the historically grown His horse Flags makes him inspect his troops structures of the Saudi state affect modern- at a gallop, doing "Capriole leaps". On leave day policy-making, the kingdom‘s investment in Somaliland, he tries to outwit his naval environment and its future reform prospects – colleague who returns laden with game and issues that his book engages with in more boasts of ‗neck shots‘, by shooting a leopard. detail. He explained how most of the Belhaven‘s stratagems to ensnare it are so

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complex that, believing there to be two exits the disputes can be settled until everyone in to the leopard‘s cave, he aims at a second exit, the district is dead.‘ Five cartridges and one wounding his Somali servant, while the for the deed was the price of a murder. leopard escapes through a third. The Aden Belhaven knew as a subaltern Back in the Protectorate, as Belhaven in 1931 was not a colony but a settlement passes under the dangerous Merkula gorge, a administered by a resident under the shot rings out. His holster is empty; he has Government of Bombay. Later it would shot himself in the foot. When he reaches the become a Crown Colony and the Political Qateibi tribe they say, ―Verily he is divided Resident, then the beloved Sir Bernard Reilly, among himself. Will you make peace with known as Pop, would become Governor. The yourself now, Oh Hamilton.‖ He laughs with British business community was barely a them. hundred. Key to Britain‘s impact was a light He wants to bring the sort of peace to the bomber squadron of the RAF and a Battery of Western Aden Protectorate (WAP) that Artillery under RAF command. Belhaven‘s Harold Ingrams would bring to the East Aden job was to ensure that casualties were Protectorate. In a grove called Ba Kharaba, minimal. He noted that tribes liked to be sacrosanct to travellers, where no violence is bombed on occasion as this was their only allowed, four merchants from Upper Yafa and way of submitting and saving face (fi’ll wijh). al-Qara are killed and two wounded. The He had a complex relationship with Col. felons, the Haidara Mansur, are ordered to M.C. Lake, Robinson‘s predecessor. pay a huge fine or be bombed. Belhaven and Belhaven describes Lake‘s Arabic Office. A his servant Ali occupy a fort overnight where document lands on Belhaven's desk. It reads, their guard is shot through the stomach. The ‗After compliments, the Arwali demand a gift following day Belhaven tells the Haidara of arms and gun powder. If they do not shaikh, ‗We will destroy your forts and leave receive this they will make pillage on the your tribe landless.‘ He makes them collect all road.‘ Written across it in Lake‘s neat hand- the women‘s jewelry to pay the fine. After writing are the words ‗Refused. M.C. Lake.‘ this he is a marked man. Belhaven had strong political views. With During the Second World War Field Reilly he visited the Imam Yehya in San‘a. Marshall Wavell responded to Belhaven‘s He was disgusted with an Imam who own initiative and asked him to return to preferred ‗hostages in chains to fighting men‘ Aden to create armed dhows to harry the and hated his imprisonment "of young Italians. There his foot festers and, on his children in dark and fettered walls with heavy return to England, his leg is amputated. He iron chains" but curiously admired Yehya‘s orders the nurse to give it to him so that he ‗vigour and courage‘. can keep it in a jar. The request is refused. Today Al-Qaeda is being established by The tribesmen loved Belhaven. His the US-born Anwar al-Aulaki in the Aulaki commanding officer Lt. Col. Robinson heartlands of southern Arabia, a region where tempted his Qateibi servant Thabit with Belhaven and others had once brought peace. promotion. ‗With Hamilton you will eat His books on Arabia are The Uneven Road lizards, pittance, illness…. with this red man (John Murray 1955) and The Kingdom of of violent temper and of a race [Scottish] Melchior (John Murray, 1950). which we in England have proved for Trevor Mostyn hundreds of years to be utterly reckless and savage ! Choose!‘ LECTURE PROGRAMME 2011 ‗I go with Hamilton‘ said Thabit. ‗Then go to Gehennum (Hell),‘ roared Robby 13 January 2011: good-humouredly. Belhaven had an affair Cosmology and Commerce in the Ancient with a tribesgirl. One day he found a sack Near East before his door. In it were her bones. Dr David Wengrow, Reader in Comparative South Arabia‘s blood feuds were barely Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, stoppable. When asked to study the Fadhli University College London. Yafa‘I dispute, which would later trouble 6:00pm in the Stevenson Lecture Theatre, Harold Ingrams, Belhaven tells his boss British Museum. bluntly, ‗….there is no way in which any of It was through contact with their gods that the

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ancient societies of the Middle East expressed their uniqueness, their distinct attachments to 25 May 2011: land, origins, and place. Yet in the temples of Language and Identity in the Arabian Gulf Mesopotamia and Egypt, the earthly bodies of Professor Clive Holes, Khalid bin Abdullah the gods were ritually manufactured, Al Sa‘ud Professor for the Study of the nourished, and cared for in similar ways, Contemporary Arab World, University of using similar materials that could not be Oxford found locally in either area. In seeking to 6:00pm in the Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS. understand the roots of cultural difference— Over the last fifty years, the Arabian Gulf has, the distinctive ‗forms‘ of Egyptian and little by little, taken on a regional identity that Mesopotamian civilisation—we are therefore to some degree now supersedes that of the drawn into a world of mixtures and states that compose it. Politically, this was borrowings, in which the neighbouring symbolised in the mid-1980s by the formation regions of Arabia and the Levant played of the GCC. More recently, at grass-roots pivotal roles. level, the forces of internationalisation and Dr. Wengrow's lecture explored the globalisation have brought radical change to cultural forces that bound together the Bronze social relationships, employment patterns and Age societies of the Near East, and how those family structures. This lecture highlights the connections force us to rethink the nature and effects these changes are having on the evolution of 'early civilisations'. His talk was relationship between language and identity in based upon arguments presented in his new the Gulf, and pays particular attention to three book: What Makes Civilization? The Ancient phenomena: the recession of local linguistic Near East and the Future of the West (Oxford identities in favour of regional ones; the University Press, 2010), copies of which were spread of global English; and pidginisation as on sale at the venue. This lecture was held in a consequence of labour migration from South conjunction with the Council for British Asia. One of the consequences of the latter Research in the Levant and the Palestine two phenomena is a widespread anxiety at Exploration Fund. government level about the very survival of Arabic as a national language, particularly 28 April 2011: among the upcoming generations. This lecture Ancient Dilmun: The Earliest State in is organised in association with the London Arabia and the Vast Mound Cemeteries in Middle East Institute, SOAS. Bahrain Steffen Terp Laursen is an archaeologist at Note from the Honorary Secretary the Moesgaard Museum, Denmark and a PhD In addition to the Society‘s own lecture candidate in Prehistoric Archaeology at the programme, Society members are sometimes University of Aarhus. invited to attend lectures and talks organised 5:30pm in the Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS. by other societies. Members with email Humankind‘s earliest-known written accounts addresses can be sent notice of these lectures record how the Dilmun state played an as they arise, often at very short notice. It is important role in Sumerian commerce and impractical to send notices to those with only mythology. The Dilmun state emerged around postal addresses. Any members who are not 2000 BC, centred on Bahrain. At its height, receiving such notices but who would like to its culture stretched from Bahrain in the south, do so are asked to send a current email to Kuwait in the north, and the Eastern address to me at: [email protected] Province of Saudi Arabia in the west. Steffen Ionis Thompson Laursen will present fascinating archaeological evidence –– art, temples, settlements, and the famous Dilmun burial mounds –– to shed light on the remarkable early history of Bahrain. This lecture is co- sponsored by the Bahrain Society and organised in association with the London Middle East Institute, SOAS.

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ARABIAN NEWS AND RESEARCH

The first parts of this section give general with the QMA, Shaikha Al Mayassa, plans coverage of activities throughout the Arabian moved forward to create a public institution. Peninsula, while archaeological activities are The main inaugural exhibition "Sajjil: A covered in a following country-by-country Century of Modern Art," presents more than section. 240 historical works by 100 artists, divided into broad themes - family, portraiture, ARTS landscape, individualism – representing Notions of Qatar pivotal moments in the development of Arab Under the cloudy and dark skies of London in modernism throughout the 20th century. mid-winter, if one were to mention the name Curated jointly by three people, University of Qatar, it would perhaps conjure up a variety North Texas art history professor Nada of notions from immense wealth emanating Shabout, Wassan Al-Khudairi, Mathaf‘s Chief from its legendary oil and gas reserves to the Curator and Acting Director and Deena Renzo Piano designed Shard, rapidly thrusting Chalabi, the exhibition, by virtue of its title up to dominate the City skyline. Or perhaps Sajjil (meaning the act of recording), the omnipresent Al Jazeera TV; the IM Pei emphasises the several common moments that designed iconic Museum of Islamic Art, and justify the discussion of a collective Arab even the more recent and laudable triumph of identity, whilst simultaneously aiming to give winning the bid to host the beautiful game in Arab modern art its historical place within a 2022. Rarely however, until the end of last wider tradition of art history. year, did it bring to mind a paradigm of Two other inaugural shows are being cultural excellence in the rarefied world of presented in temporary gallery spaces in front contemporary art. of the Museum of Islamic Art: "Interventions: All this however was to change with the a dialogue between the modern and the official opening by Shaikh Hamad Bin contemporary," Dec. 30, 2010 - May 28, Khalifa al Thani, Emir of Qatar, of the Mathaf 2011, also curated by Nada Shabout, which Arab Museum of Modern Art on 14th features newly commissioned as well as December 2010. The giant sized, 59,000- works from the Mathaf collection by five square-foot museum is located temporarily in influential Arab modernists (Dia Azzawi, a former school building on the outskirts of Farid Belkahia, Ahmed Nawar, Ibrahim el- Doha in Education City. Designed by the Salahi and Hassan Sharif); and "Told / Untold French architect Jean-François Bodin in / Retold: 23 stories of journeys through time association with Burns and McDonnell, the and space," Dec. 30, 2010 - May 28, 2011, building includes galleries on two floors, a curated by international art curators and cafe, a museum shop, a research library and consultants, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, an education wing. Construction of a future, presenting new works in a conceptually permanent home for the museum is promised inspired story telling framework by 23 artists at a later date. with roots in the Arab world, including The collection, now managed by the Qatar Ahmed Alsoudani, Ghada Amer, Kader Attia Museums Authority under the Chairmanship and Walid Raad. of Her Excellency Shaikha Al Mayassa bint The QMA are at pains to emphasise the Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the daughter of importance of promoting contemporary Arab the Emir owes its existence to another Qatari Art and attracting a global audience –as royal, a cousin of the Emir, His Excellency Shaikha Mayassa states ‗With the opening of Shaikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali al Mathaf, we make Qatar the place to see, Thani. Over the past two decades, Shaikh explore and discuss the creations of Arab Hassan has been assembling a holding of over artists of the modern era and our own time.‘ 6,000 works in a private museum, as well as QMA‘s CEO Abdulla Al Najjar further offering a residency program for refugee Arab explains its mission is to build understanding artists, with the aim of providing an overview across borders and welcome the world to of Arab art from the 1840s to the present. In Doha. Mathaf fulfils this mission and does so 2004, he offered the entire collection to the with the element of innovation toward which Qatar Foundation and in 2009, in partnership we always aspire. All stirring stuff and one

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gets the distinct impression aimed at sending sixteen and then a shortlist of six. The Prize is a shot across the bows of the flagship outpost awarded to a work rather than a novelist, and Museums which its neighbour Abu Dhabi is of the six shortlisted novelists this year two building on the reclaimed Saadiyat Island. come from Egypt, two from Morocco, one But who are these Museums for and will from Sudan and one from Saudi Arabia. The they really continue to attract an audience Saudi is Raja Alem, one of two women whose once the post inaugural excitement has died work has been shortlisted. Her novel, The down? Contrary to the cynical views most Doves’ Necklace, is about a romance between often espoused in the media that these Gulf a Saudi woman and a German man set against States are merely trying to buy culture to a background of Makkah with themes promote a Western tourist industry, Edward touching crime, religious extremism and the Gibbs, Worldwide Head of Sotheby‘s Islamic exploitation of foreign workers. Art, put forward his view in a recent Financial Each of the shortlisted novelists receives a Times article ‗But it is not for us. It is for cheque for US$10,000. In addition the winner people from the Middle East and Indians and will receive US$50,000, with the probability Chinese and Russians. They are not trying to of translation of the winning work into attract American tourists. They are looking English and other languages. The award of the ahead and the future is Asia, whether you like Prize is the major, but not only, activity of it or not. And the Asians will come in their IPAF. In the autumn of 2009 and the autumn millions.‘ He may have a point. Sotheby‘s of 2010, IPAF coordinated a workshop (or experience of an auction in Doha in 2008 in nadwa) for younger Arab writers. They were which they tried to promote Western art as already established writers and were invited to well as a smattering of Middle Eastern art, attend on the recommendation of the IPAF was, to put it mildly, not a great success. In judges. Seven attended the second workshop December 2010, however, they changed in October 2010 at Qasr al-Sarab, the luxury tactics, held a sale entitled Hurouf (The Art of oasis hotel in the Liwa, in the western region the Word) focused on Arab and Iranian of Abu Dhabi Emirate. This was thanks to the calligraphy, which turned out to be a runaway patronage of HH Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayed triumph. Al Nahyan. Two of the seven were from the It seems that only time will tell but for the Arabian Peninsula: Mariam al-Saeedi from immediate future, by inaugurating the Mathaf the UAE, and Wajdi al-Ahdal from Yemen. Museum, the Qataris have certainly Wajdi had been chosen earlier in 2009 as one contributed enormously to a greater of the thirty-nine most promising Arab writers understanding of contemporary Arab Art. under forty years of age – the Beirut39, as Janet Rady they quickly came to be called. At the workshop, each of the writers International Prize for Arabic Fiction produced work that was discussed by their (IPAF) and Workshop (nadwa) for Young colleagues and by two more established Arab Writers writers, the Egyptian Mansoura Ezz Eldin, In March 2011, the winner of the fourth and the Lebanese, Jabbour Douheihy. International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) Meanwhile the fruits of the 2009 nadwa have will be announced in Abu Dhabi. The Prize, been published. Emerging Arab Writers 1, popularly though incorrectly called the Arab edited by Peter Clark, was launched at the Booker, because of its links with the Man Sharjah Book Fair in October. This includes Booker Prize, has matured into the most stories – in the Arabic original and with prestigious literary prize in the Arab world. It English translations – by the eight participants has been funded by the Emirates Foundation, in the first nadwa, including three from the but has maintained its independence and Arabian Peninsula: Nadiah Alkokabany from integrity. Last year‘s winner was the Saudi, Yemen, Nasser al-Dhaheri from the United Abdo Khal, whose winning novel, She Arab Emirates, and Mohammed Hasan Alwan Throws Sparks, has been banned in both (another one of the Beirut39) from Saudi Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Arabia. There were well over a hundred novels Traditionally, Egypt has been in the submitted for consideration in this year‘s vanguard of Arab literary developments. cycle. Of these there was first a long list of Egyptians were the first two winners of the

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International prize for Arabic Fiction, and is fed to the West via the popular media. The there are two Egyptian writers in the shortlist extraordinary mix of contrasts, culture and for 2011. But what the Prize has brought out history was not lost on the artists who found a is the wealth of literary talent and promise rich vein of subject matter at every turn. The throughout the Arab world, not least from the eight artists include: Arabian Peninsula itself. The cultural map of Philip Braham the region is changing. http://www.philipbraham.com/ Peter Clark Charles Foster-Hall http://www.charlesfoster-hall.com/ Exhibition of Saudi Antiquities Charlotte Jaunez An unusual exhibition of Saudi Antiquities, http://cargocollective.com/charlottejaunez showing many pieces never seen before inside Aurelie Pedrajas or outside Saudi Arabia, has been touring http://aurelie.pedrajas.free.fr/ European capitals. It appeared at the Louvre Philippe Bichon last summer with the title Roads of Arabia. It http://www.globecroqueur.com/ was planned that the exhibition would travel Stéphanie Ledoux to Barcelona, and then Berlin. Its present title http://stephanieledoux.canalblog.com/ is Saudi Archaeological Masterpieces David González-Carpio Alcaraz Through the Ages. For more details see the http://www.davidgca.com/ website of the Saudi Commission for Tourism Eduardo Laborde and Antiquities: www.scta.gov.sa. http://www.eduardolaborde.es/ The exhibition ran from 1– 27 February Reverse Orientalism – 8 Artists in Yemen 2011 at the l‘Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris: In July 2010, the Yemeni Government invited 1, rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard 8 artists from Europe to visit Sana‘a to paint Place Mohammed V for 3 weeks and present a short exhibition for 75236 PARIS CEDEX 05 the Sana‘a Summer Festival. Yemen, often Tel. 0140513838 referred to as the poorest countries in the Middle East, has one of the richest surviving The Abu Dhabi Book Fair cultural heritages in the region. While The fair was organized by KITAB, a joint neighbouring countries have recently been venture between ADACH (Abu Dhabi throwing up glass and steel skyscrapers Authority for Culture and Heritage) and the almost overnight, the people of Yemen have Frankfurt Book Fair. It was held in Abu been building 10-storey tower-houses for the Dhabi in March 2010. It gathered exhibitors last 2 millennia, offering the affirmation from across the Arab world. There was a needed for the birth of modernist 20th century strong presence of US, UK, German, Indian high-rise architecture. and French publishers. The fair aims to At least as striking as their architecture promote the trade of rights between Arab and are the Yemenis themselves, hospitable and world publishers. The fair coincided with both cultured in a way that only those used to the Shaikh Zayed Award and the Arab Man travel are capable. If Yemen is a country Booker, or IPAF. For further information, see dating back to the time of the giants and the the website: http://www.adbookfair.com/cms/ tribe of ‗Ad, from whom the Yemenis claim to be descended, it is also a land of travellers 2010 Shaikh Zayed Book Awards and and seafarers, following in the footsteps of Lectures Ahmad ibn Majid, the brilliant 15th century The Middle East Centre at Oxford University navigator who charted the seas from Africa to hosted two lectures on May 12 organised Indonesia and without whose maps Vasco de jointly with the UAE's Shaikh Zayed Book Gama may never have found his way to India. Award, presented by Egyptian Dr. Ammar Ali It was an inspired idea to invite 8 Hassan and Emirati Qais Sedki. Hassan had figurative painters from France, Britain and won the Award's ‗Best Contribution to the Spain to depict Yemen as they saw it, each Development of Nations‘ 2010 prize for his with their own particular approach and point book The Political Establishment of Sufism in of view, a form of ‗reverse Orientalism‘, Egypt, while Sedki was awarded the top prize sending back a different image of Yemen than

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for ‗Children's Literature‘ for his manga transmission between wild and domestic (graphic novel) Gold Ring. species, including humans. The event was moderated by Dr. Eugene Some governments have recognised the Rogan, Director of the Middle East Centre, need to tackle these conservation issues and who underscored the important role played by over the last 10-15 years a number of projects the Award through the last four sessions and working with both captive and free-living hailed the additions given by the prize- wildlife have been established in the region. winning books to various fields of knowledge. In addition to these publicly funded projects Hassan's talk focused on how the research of there are many privately funded zoological his book was compiled and the various ways collections, large commercial breeding it was met following publication. The Award projects for falcons and houbara bustards and had praised the book as ‗a remarkable an ever-increasing number of ‗exotic‘ animals addition‘ to Muslim Sufism studies. The kept as pets by the rapidly expanding author shed light on some of the positive roles population of the region. played by Sufism in Egyptian civil society An extremely useful quarterly bulletin of since the second century of the Islamic wildlife news, Wild Life Middle East calendar and up to today. (www.wmenews.com) keeps abreast of the Meanwhile, Emirati author Sedki described situation and also reviews new publications. the process of writing and publishing his The latest volume (Vol. 5. Issue 3, Dec 2010), original children's book, whose Arabic text available to download from the website, was illustrated with Japanese drawings. Sedki covers the following topics: also discussed possible ways of promoting  Distribution & abundance of greater children's books in the Middle East, a task he flamingo in Abu Dhabi, UAE stressed relies on many factors that are  Status and ecology of brown bears in beyond the control of good authors. But Sedki Iran also stressed the need for authors and  Distribution update of the Arabian publisher to make books more entertaining for wolf from Saudi Arabia children and easier to read.  Oman trains Yemeni conservationists The event is the second lecture of such in leopard research cooperation between the Award and Oxford  Raptor trade in Kuwait bird market University. Rashed Saleh al-Oraimi, General  Rhodococcus equi infection in Secretary of the Award, praised the welcome Blanford‘s foxes infected with and support received at Oxford University. distemper virus The event was attended by Mohamed Al  News and reviews: Using drop nets to Attaiba, the Charge d'Affaires at the UAE capture free-ranging wildlife Embassy to London, and other figures,  News and reviews: Diseases and publishers and members of the press. The medical management of houbara Award had previously organised similar bustards and other otididae; 12th events in Cairo, Kuwait, Beirut, New York, conservation workshop on the fauna Los Angeles and Frankfurt amongst other of Arabia, first announcement; Feline cities. For a complete list of winners see: infectious peritonitis in cheetahs in http://www.zayedaward.com/en/CycleDetails. the UAE aspx?cycleID=29&t=A

WILDLIFE OTHER GENERAL NEWS

There are great pressures on the environment and wildlife throughout the Middle East. The Opening of the Centre for the Study of rapid pace of economic development, the Islam fragility of the natural ecosystems and low To mark the foundation of the Centre for the population densities are factors making many Study of Islam (University of Exeter), under indigenous species vulnerable to extinction. the directorship of Professor Robert Gleave, The expansion of human populations and the there was an inaugural lecture in the Institute increasing contact between domestic and wild on Thursday 27 January, given by Professor animals has also increased disease Robert Hoyland (University of Oxford) on: The Language of the Qur'an and Ancient

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Middle Eastern Storytelling. To coincide with can find more details on their website: this event, the exhibition From Here To http://www.britishcouncil.org/new/ Eternity opened in The Street Gallery. This These links between Gulf states and exhibition combined the art of Dr Elaine British educational organisations will be Goodwin and the calligraphy of Mohamed further strengthened, particularly by Abaoubid. improving collaboration on higher education, research and development. There is great Launching of Journal of Arabian Studies potential for more and bigger collaborations The Exeter Centre for Gulf Studies will be on culture. While the British Council is launching the first issue of the Journal of working closely with Gulf states, there will be Arabian Studies (Routledge) at the annual future opportunities to strengthen these ties. Gulf conference. JAS is the only journal The British Museum Hajj Exhibition in 2012, focusing on the Arabian Peninsula, its for instance, will be a totemic project, and surrounding waters, and their connections other potential exhibitions to and from the with the Western Indian Ocean (from West Gulf States will be explored. The British India to East Africa), from Antiquity to the Museum will act as a consulting partner to the present day. It covers a wide range of topics, Shaikh Zayed National Museum, due to open in all disciplines in the social sciences and the in 2013. In addition to providing some humanities. It presents the results of new exhibits on loan, the British Museum will observations and original research, providing provide advice and training on the set up and authoritative information in an accessible way curating of exhibitions. to appeal to the general reader as well as the specialist. JAS follows in the footsteps of Centre of Islamic Studies Arabian Studies (Cambridge, 1974–1990) and The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of New Arabian Studies (Exeter, 1994–2004), Islamic Studies has been established in although it breaks new ground by Cambridge to replace the Centre of Middle incorporating social science subjects and Eastern and Islamic Studies. extending the journal‘s scope to the present day. The Arabian Horse Middle East states are showing increasing New Middle East Centre interest in the heritage and breeding of In May 2010 the London School of purebred desert Arabian horses. In Saudi Economics launched its Middle East Centre, a Arabia the 4th annual Al Khalediah multi-disciplinary research centre focusing on International Horse Show attracted both history, political economy, society, international and local attendees at the Al environment, law and international relations Khalediah Farm near Riyadh. Hosted by in the modern Middle East. It has been funded Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the by the United Arab Emirates‘s Foundation for Festival showed and judged horses raised and Philanthropy, as well as by The Aman Trust, a trained in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States. philanthropic organisation operating in the This year, in addition to the 12 classes of fields of health care, education and food Arabian fillies, colts, mares and stallions, security throughout the Middle East and there were four categories of Saudi Desert South Asia. Bred Arabians judged by officials from Italy, the UK and UAE. Cultural Links Between the UK and Gulf A delegation of the Asil Club, led by its States chairman Dr. Georg Olms, attended the The UK has significant educational links with Festival and made official visits to other stud the Gulf States, with approximately 20,000 farms around Riyadh. The Asil Club is an Saudi students, and over 8,000 Qatari students international association for the preservation studying in the UK each year. A number of and rearing of the Asil Arabian, defined as a top British schools including Repton and horse whose pedigree is exclusively based on Sherbourne, have already established Bedouin breeding of the Arabian peninsula. campuses across the region. The British In other developments, there are plans to Council is one of the leading providers of establish a Museum of the Arabian Horse at English language teaching in the GCC. You the historical UNESCO World Heritage site

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of Al-Diriya on the northwestern outskirts of filled with heritage buildings and sites. The Riyadh. The King Abdulaziz Horse Centre nomination is for a joint Environmental and (KAAHC) in Dirab, where nearly 200 Heritage Listing. In October an assessor was Arabians are stabled, has been developed with sent out from ICOMOS to do an evaluation of new facilities, including an equine veterinary the bid and the verdict will be announced at centre. As a department of the Ministry of next year‘s UNESCO meeting, which will be Agriculture, KAAHC preserves and improves held in Bahrain. the pure-bred Arabian in its homeland and is At the UNESCO meeting in Brazil in responsible as a member of the World August, Shaikha Mai, Minister of the newly Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO) for appointed Ministry of Culture in Bahrain, was registering the Kingdom‘s Arabian horses. named Chairperson of the UNESCO World The United Nations runs its only Arabian Heritage Committee. In addition, Dr Isa horse project at KAAHC and the successful Amin, long-time Chairman of the Bahrain breeding and preservation program has Historical and Archaeological Society, was recently been extended for a further term. appointed Undersecretary of Culture, and Dr This year the World Arabian Horse Abdulla Sulaiti became the new Director of Organization (WAHO) Conference will be Archaeology and Heritage. Other staff were held in Doha, Qatar, in early November, also appointed and confirmed, leading to the hosted by the Qatar Race and Equestrian formation of a new, energetic team at Bahrain Club. The Conference will include WAHO National Museum. World Registrars Meeting, cultural and The pearling project is thus well underway Arabian horse-related events and visits to with much activity occurring in the heritage Qatari stud farms in a country which is now areas of Muharraq. As part of the project, famous world-wide for the quality of their three archaeological excavations were home and desert-bred Arabian horses. undertaken. The first was at Fakhro Amarah WAHO has the responsibility of ensuring in the Muharraq Suq. This building was the that standards acceptable to all its Registering warehouse and main building premises of Authority Members are established and Yousif A. Fakhro, a timber merchant who maintained in the matters of regulations, supplied the pearling dhows. The second was methods of registration and production of at Bu Maher Fort, an extremely important part Stud Books. Previous biannual WAHO of the defensive network of historic Bahrain Conferences have been held in Bahrain and dating back to at least the 16th century. (1998), Istanbul (2002), Damascus (2007) and The third excavation has been started at the Muscat (2009). house of Yousif A. Fakhro, an historic house Peter Harrigan demonstrating the architecture of a wealthy merchant of the height of the pearling epoch NEWS AND RESEARCH BY in the early twentieth century. Several COUNTRY restoration projects are also underway at some of the heritage buildings connected with the BAHRAIN project. 2010 has been a very active year in Bahrain There was also much excitement when with respect to Archaeology and Heritage. At Bahrain was awarded the Golden Lion at the the beginning of the year a nomination was Venice Biennale of Architecture, in Bahrain‘s made to UNESCO for World Heritage Listing first year at the competition. The award was for the properties of the heritage of pearling in given for an installation showcasing the Bahrain. Entitled ‗Pearling, Testimony of an informal fishermen‘s majalis built by the Island Nation,‘ the nomination encompasses people of Bahrain in between all the modern several urban properties in Muharraq developments, in order to continue their connected with different aspects of pearling, access to the sea, thus amply demonstrating from Bu Maher Fort in the south to the Siyadi this year‘s theme: ‗People Meet in family Majlis, House and Mosque in the Architecture‘. Bahrain‘s representation at the north, as well as three of the oyster beds that Biennale was spearheaded by Shaikha Mai provided the pearls in Bahrain‘s northern and so the award was a fantastic start for the waters. The three km long trail connecting all new Bahrain Ministry of Culture. the urban properties leads through an area

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In addition, the usual programme of dating back to the fifth millennium B.C. The archaeological activities carried out every team is directed by Dr. Piotr Bieliński. year in Bahrain has not been neglected and French Team: Four members of the there have been several other excavations French team will continue working on Failaka undertaken. Most notably there was a Island for the sixth season under Dr. Hélène considerable excavation at the tell at the Tree David‘s supervision. They started work on of Life, confirming the presence of an Islamic November 2, 2010 and this season‘s activities settlement dating to the 16th century AD. will be focused on aerial photography, finds Other excavations were undertaken of burial drawing, and finalising site plans. mounds at Janabiyah, an Islamic settlement at British Team: The second season for Hillat Abd Al Saleh and an area within the this team started on December 15, 2010. Dr. buffer zone of Qalat al Bahrain (a World Derek Kennet is leading 15 members from Heritage Site since 2007). Durham University to excavate Kazma on the There have also been excavations at some mainland. of the Royal Burial Mounds in A‘ali. A team Italian Team: On January 6, 2011, the from the Directorate of Archaeology Italian team initiated their second season of excavated one mound and other staff assisted excavation. Dr. Gianluca Grazielli from the team of archaeologists from Moesgard Perugia University is excavating at Qurainiya Museum in Denmark, under Steffen Laursen, on Failaka Island, with his team of 16 who excavated two other mounds. The Danish members. team were able to produce detailed mapping Georgian Team: The first season for the of the mounds using a total station theodolite Georgian team will start on March 5, 2011. and were thus able to virtually reconstruct Dr. David Lordkipanidze from the Ministry of digital images of what remains of the original Culture will be leading 16 members on a mounds, allowing estimates to be made of the research study on Failaka Island. original size and structure of these Polish Team: Another Polish team of 12 magnificent tombs. Much of the activity members, directed by Dr. Lukasz Rutkowski started in 2010 is ongoing and 2011 looks to of the Oriental Research Centre (Warsaw), be an even more active year for archaeology will be excavating Subiya in a location called and heritage in Bahrain. ―Rukamat Sakhriya.‖ The team will start Claire Reeler work on March 7, 2011. Khalid Farhat KUWAIT Excavation News KFAS Generosity The excavation season in Kuwait lasts every The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement year from October until April, and the current of Sciences (KFAS) is financing the Kuwait season started on October 16, 2010 with the Programme at the London School of Danish team. Seven teams consisting of 79 Economics in the University of London; it is members will start the season at seven also supporting the Oxford University Centre different sites, four of which will be initiated for Islamic Studies. on Failaka Island while the rest are on the mainland. The season‘s teams are listed below OMAN according to their starting date. In 2010, a number of archaeological activities Danish Team: The team of eight were carried out in the Sultanate of Oman specialists from Moesgaard University, under the supervision of several bodies. The Aarhus, will continue their excavation for the following is a brief description of these fourth season under Dr. Flemming Hojland. activities: The team is working on a Bronze Age site on Failaka Island. Archaeological teams in Oman under the Polish Team: The fifth season of the supervision of the Ministry of Heritage and Polish team started on October 27, 2010, with Culture eight members from the Oriental Research A local archaeological team from the centre in Warsaw City. Excavation will take Department of Archaeological Studies and place in Subiya on the Kuwait mainland, Excavations at the Ministry of Heritage and Culture carried out a survey and rescue

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excavation at the area within and around the finds were reported, including pottery sherds, Sohar Industrial Port during November 2009 soft stone vessel fragments, beads, human and October-November 2010. The site bone fragments, and fragments of bronze consists of clusters of tombs from the 2nd weaponry. millennium BC, which are located within the Ongoing surveys and excavations by the boundaries of the Sohar Port to the north of American Archaeological team are taking falaj al-Suq archaeological area. place in Bat, one of the Omani UNESCO In November 2009, the Department World Heritage Sites, at Ibri of al-Dhahirah started a short survey in the area and Region. The team excavated some Hafit- excavation in two tombs. The tombs were Umm an-Nar towers such as Kasr al-Khafaji tentatively dated to the Wadi Suq period (Tower 1146) and al-Matariya tower (Tower I based on structural comparisons with those 147). The 2010 fieldwork focused on excavated in the same area by the Danish continuing the investigation of the mud brick expedition in the 1970s. Due to the discovery architecture at al-Matariya tower dated back of a large number of tombs distributed all to the Hafit Period and the excavation at Kasr over the area, the team divided the whole area al-Khafaji at trench A as well as investigating into five parts (A-E). As a result of this short Structure 1156 on the settlement slope. In fieldwork in 2009, extensive excavation was addition, a general survey at the area of Bat as carried out during the period from October to well as a skeletal study of human bones November 2010. It was made in parts A, C recovered from one of the tombs are being and E in which 57 tombs were dug. Other conducted by members of the team. The work tombs (e.g. in parts B and D) are planned to at Kasr al-Khafaji yielded imported third be excavated in the near future. Excavated millennium BC ceramic, indicating evidence tombs are oval in shape with an east-west or for contact with the Indus and Southeast Iran. north-south orientation. Archaeological finds It also retrieved layers, showing evidence for included bone fragments, skulls, fragments of Hafit occupation as well as remains of glass vessels, beads (from gold, silver, structures that were built in several phases carnelian and shell) and bronze and iron just outside the tower during the Umm an- earnings and rings. The excavation also Nar period, indicating a long-term use of this yielded horse teeth in a tomb with two burial monument. Radiocarbon dates from Kasr a1- chambers, one for a man and the other for a Khafaji suggest that there was a level of horse. activity in this tower during the Hafit and Another local archaeological team from Umm an-Nar periods. Moreover, excavation the Department of Archaeological Studies and at al-Matariya yielded evidence for Excavations at the Ministry of Heritage and occupation of the same place for over a Culture carried out a rescue excavation in millennia (during the whole 3rd millennium October-November 2010 in a palm-date BC) in which the excavated trenches yielded garden in Khor al-Hamam at Walayat Saham both mud brick and stone architectural along the Batinah coast. The site was elements in several phases as well as samples discovered by coincidence when the owner for radiocarbon dates, indicating both Hafit was digging in the ground and found a and Umm an-Nar occupation. number of pottery vessels and weaponry. He Other archaeological teams working reported the discovery to the Ministry of under the supervision of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture who sent a team to carry Heritage and Culture include a British team out an immediate rescue excavation. The total (al-Hajar Project) working in Salut at Bahla, a excavated area was around 8,800 square French team working in Qalhat and an Italian metres. The excavation yielded a number of Team which is carrying out excavation in the pottery vessels and bronze spearheads dated Ras al-Hadd area. to the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. A French team carried out a survey in Archaeological Works carried out by the Adam in the ad-Dakhiliyah Region during Department of Archaeology at Sultan January and February 2010. The results of the Qaboos University investigation yielded a number of lithic sites, The Department of Archaeology at Sultan Hafit cairns, Umm an-Nar tombs and Iron Qaboos University carried out an Age settlement remains. A number of surface archaeological investigation during the period

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13th January to 3rd February 2010 in the (www.oman.org.uk; Duncan Allen is the western part of Ja'alan (particularly Ja'alan administrator in residence). Bani Bu Hasan) in al-Sharqiyah Region. This investigation represents the first season of an QATAR ongoing two-seasons project that is funded by Qatar Museums Authority Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. The team Qatar Museums Authority [QMA] is was led by the main investigator Dr. Nasser continuing to work on developing a range of Said al-Jahwari and assisted by Mr. Nasser world-class museums. The Museum of Hamed al-Hinaei, Mr. Yaqoob Abdullah al- Islamic Art [MIA], designed by IM Pei, Bahri and Mr. Yaqoob Mohammed al-Rahbi opened in November 2008 and the education from the Department of Archaeology at the wing opened in 2009, offering courses for College of Arts and Social Sciences. The school students, lectures and art classes. The work included an investigation in the Wadi al- MIA has hosted a number of exhibitions, Jufr where some rock art was recovered. including Pearls in the first six months of Investigations were also made in areas 2010. In the winter months of 2010-2011 the surrounding Wadi al-Jufr where extensive MIA was the venue for an exhibition A tomb-fields were encountered and consisted Journey into the World of the Ottomans of thousands of tombs from the late 4th-early rd mounted by the future Orientalist Museum, 3 millennium BC (Hafit Period). These including paintings from the collection of the tombs are one of the important archaeological Orientalist Museum, Doha, in addition to features of the area's landscape, which have loans from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and been mapped in order to understand their private collections. distribution and density. So far, eight areas Mathaf, The Arab Museum of Modern Art, were surveyed, forming a total of around 24 2 opened in December 2010 in temporary km . All archaeological finds from the tombs‘ premises designed by JF Bodin to house surfaces were collected. The tombs do not exhibition galleries, an education wing and appear to be associated with settlements and research library. Mathaf was established as a are widely spread across the area, similarly to joint collaboration between QMA and QF and that noticed in other parts of Oman, in which aims to become the leading voice on Arab the reasons behind this absence cannot be modern and contemporary art in the region. completely understood. The project is The new National Museum of Qatar is ongoing and work will continue in other parts currently under construction. The museum that have already shown indication for a high first opened in the 1970s in a restored palace, ratio of tombs. with buildings constructed to house the Nasser Said al-Jahwari maritime collection and a display on the oil Head of Archaeology Department industry. These are now demolished and the College of Arts and Social Sciences palace is being retained as part of a complex Sultan Qaboos University designed by Jean Nouvel and inspired by the interlocking curved planes of sand roses. New Professorships Housing twelve galleries, the museum is The Sultan of Oman has endowed two scheduled to open in December 2014. More professorships within the University of information about this and other museums can Cambridge. The first is His Majesty Sultan be found on the website Qaboos Bin Sa‘id Professorship of Modern http://www.qma.com.qa Arabic Studies, with Professor Yasir Suleiman as the first holder of the Chair. The University of Wales Archaeological second, which was to be finalised in February Excavations 2011, is His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Chair of Excavations directed by Dr Andrew Petersen Abrahamic Faiths and Shared Values. continue in 2011 at two Islamic sites on the In 2010 His Majesty also donated £91 north west coast of Qatar, Ruwayda and million to the Anglo-Omani Society for the Rubayqa, on behalf of the QMA by the purchase and running costs of an Oman University of Wales in collaboration with the Centre at 34 Sackville Street in London, to be University of Copenhagen. Excavations at administered by the Anglo-Omani Society Ruwayda will focus on defining specific buildings within the large fortress first

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excavated in 2009. Outside the fortress work Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime will be carried out on the site of the mosque Archaeology (HWTMA). as well as a series of other structures next to Frances Gillespie the waterfront. Excavations at Rubayqa will define the extent of the settlement in advance Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing of proposed construction work. The priority The Qatar Foundation and Bloomsbury for the 2010-2011 season will be to determine Publishers have formed a joint publishing the earliest occupation of the site and the venture, Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation sequence of construction. The first Wales- Publishing. Its focus is on publishing books Qatar Archaeology Conference organised by of excellence and originality in six main A. Petersen took place in Cardiff in areas: fiction and non-fiction for adults and September 2010, giving archaeologists children, educational books for schools, working on coastal sites in both regions an academic books for universities and classics opportunity to compare their work. of Arabic literature and reference books.

University of Copenhagen Archaeological UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Excavations Sharjah Museums Excavations directed by Prof. Alan Walmsley The collections care management team at are continuing at the abandoned pearling and Sharjah Museums Department has had an trading city of Zubara, once the largest exciting and productive year within Sharjah‘s pearling centre in the region. Representatives 16 museums as illustrated by some of the from QMA, UNESCO and the University of work undertaken at Sharjah Archaeology Copenhagen are currently working on Museum with the documentation of display developing a nomination file to propose collections, a major overseas loan and in- World Heritage listing for Zubara, which if depth training to aid recording of collections. completed will be submitted to the WH The documentation, assignment of Centre in Paris in February 2011. museum identification numbers and marking and labelling of the museum‘s 1500 display The Qatar Remote Sensing and National objects was successfully completed. There Historic Environment Record have been several training workshops, some This project, now in its third year, is a in cooperation with the Goethe institute for a collaboration between QMA and the large number of museum staff including University of Birmingham. During the first photography, technical illustration and two years a national database for material identification. The workshops archaeological sites in Qatar was established. brought in specialists from overseas This season some of the newly discovered (Germany and UK) which were supported by sites will be subject to excavation, particularly in-house expertise in our continuing efforts those considered under threat from proposed towards best practice in our family of developments. These sites include late first museums. millennium BC burial cairns and the first This year we saw two of our prized ABT flint site to be discovered in the north of objects; the Horse Bridle trappings and a Qatar which has to date produced over 1500 silver horse shaped spout both from Mleiha, worked lithics and the largest collection of Sharjah, travel to Lexington, USA for the obsidian and Ubaid pottery from Qatar. Kentucky Horse Park‘s International Museum The project has also been analysing of the Horse exhibition ‗Gift of the Desert: commercially acquired geophysical data to The Art, History and Culture of the Arabian map the former sub-aerial landscapes of the Horse‘. The exhibition was held at the same Gulf and has to date mapped extensive areas time as the 2010 World Equestrian games. to the north and northwest of Qatar. In There were more than 400 pieces from over addition, the project has highlighted a number 15 countries and 27 lenders in this exhibition. of anomalies believed to be shipwrecks and The horse bridle is a show stopper with its various unidentified features. During the beauty, technology and use of precious metal. forthcoming season, these anomalies will be This unique opportunity to display significant ground-truthed in collaboration with the objects overseas also helps highlight the cultural depth of the region. Both objects were

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excavated by Sharjah Antiquities Directorate. The behind-the-scenes element of any loan is a surprisingly lengthy and complex process and the end result is only the tip of the iceberg.

Figure 3. Image of large stud SM1994-104/7- 15

Figure 2. Image of Bridle trappings and silver horse spout on display at Kentucky.

In the preparation of the objects we had the opportunity to remove the items from display for a detailed examination to record their condition and prepare loan documents. The borrowing institution was required to submit a Facilities report demonstrating appropriate levels of care, security and environmental Figure 4. Image of silver horse spout control before agreement to lend was SM1986-1 confirmed by His Highness Shaikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Sharjah Museums We took the opportunity to have new Department and Sharjah Antiquities acrylic mounts made for the objects in order Directorate. to provide better support and improve Looking at the loan items prior to lending presentation. The mounts were also designed we were able to remind ourselves of the to be easily packed and transported. The show complexity of the 2000 year old technology. case environment (temperature and humidity) The understanding of the techniques and was monitored prior to the loan and these nature of the objects has opened up an conditions were maintained throughout transit opportunity for further investigation and and the loan period using conditioned silica research. The horse bridle pieces were also x- gel. The objects were packed in bespoke rayed using our unit acquired during the last packing and hand-carried in two cases by two year. The horse bridle trappings (circa 150 couriers. The local flights within the USA BC to 200 AD) consist of four copper alloy required two seats to be purchased per courier rings and ten iron studs. Two of the studs are to ensure the cases could be taken into the approximately 150mm in diameter and the cabin. The cases were always hand carried smaller eight are in the region of 50mm in and carefully placed. The supporting diameter. specialist art handlers always made sure that The studs are decorated with a layer of the couriers could give top priority to these gold foil over their top surface depicting a precious objects for their return safely to floral motif. The detail of this decoration is Sharjah. It was a great accomplishment for the also worked into the iron beneath. The horse team and highlights how far we have come in spout (circa 100 BC to 100 AD) is designed developing the skills and knowledge of our as the front half of a horse made in silver with current staff and particularly UAE nationals in areas of gilding remaining. this field of work. Hazelle Page Sharjah Museums Department

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The British Cemetery at Sharjah Abu Dhabi and the Louvre Abu Dhabi as part (Dr Badwawi spoke about this cemetery at of a Cultural District. length at the Seminar of Arabian Studies Surrounded by lush gardens, the design of Conference in July 2010) the Zayed National Museum features five The small British community at Sharjah soaring pavilions, representing the feathers of needed a church as well as a cemetery. They a falcon‘s wing, reaching a height of 124 were established, according to Rev. Ernesto of metres. Scheduled for completion in 2014, the St. Martin's Church in Sharjah, in the early Zayed National Museum stands as a symbol 1930s. The small graveyard is a valuable of the modernity of the UAE, and its rapid source of history, telling us a great deal about progression over the past forty years. The British presence in the Gulf during that era. museum will showcase Shaikh Zayed‘s story Furthermore, it reflects upon important events and the lasting influence of his reforms. in the history of the Gulf. It contains many Shaikh Zayed‘s concept of a modernised clues and symbols that might shed more light nation determined by strong guiding on the history of the area. There are more than principles of education, culture, faith and the 72 graves divided into two graveyards within protection of the environment made him a the same cemetery. One is cared for and respected world leader. clean, but the other is old and crumbling. The museum, designed by Prizker Prize The old crumbling, decaying cemetery winning architect, Lord Norman Foster of contains more than 50 headstones. They are Foster & Partners, following an international mainly without inscriptions or names on the competition, is being developed by Tourism headstones, and the place is used as a Development & Investment Company dumping area for the church. Most of the (TDIC), the master developer of Saadiyat graves are covered by grass that grew over Island. The Zayed National Museum utilises time. The headstones were simple; often just sophisticated architectural techniques with a made of bricks to mark the graves. special focus on environmental sustainability, However, some barely legible names were which was an essential element of Shaikh able to be deciphered, such as that of Captain Zayed‘s worldview. H.W. Brammall D.S.O., D.S.C. who was born The British Museum is providing expert on 27th February, 1906 and died at sea on 10th advice and counsel on the development of the February, 1967. Also, there is Edward James Zayed National Museum and is helping to Horne, who died on 4th October 1964 at the realise the vision of this museum in age of 36; Frederic Johnston who died on 23rd translating the values of Shaikh Zayed into an of February 1967; and Mike David Attfield, interpretive plan that will enhance the core who died in 1970. messages of a national museum. There are twelve non-World War Service The heart of the museum lies in the Shaikh burials in the care of C.W.G.C. at Sharjah Zayed: Life and Times gallery. Here the life Cemetery. Most of them were part of the story of Shaikh Zayed and his unification of British Gulf Command that was first run from the UAE will be told through film, audio and Aden, and after 1967, from their Headquarters multimedia with artefacts drawn from in Bahrain, as well as Sharjah. collections in Abu Dhabi, the UAE and Dr Saif al Badwawi abroad. Visitors will come to know Shaikh Zayed and experience at first-hand his The Zayed National Museum challenges and triumphs as he successfully (Based on a press release issued by TDIC, 25 worked to forge the nation. November 2010) The Shaikh Zayed Library is the natural The Zayed National Museum is the UAE‘s complement to the Shaikh Zayed: Life and first national museum. It will feature the life Times Gallery. The gallery will present the and achievements of the founding President of principal narrative of man and state, and the the United Arab Emirates, the late Shaikh library will enable visitors to learn more about Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004) and Shaikh Zayed and his transformative role in will bring to life the UAE‘s rich history and the history of Abu Dhabi. Research facilities culture. The museum will be located on will provide access to original and electronic Saadiyat Island alongside the Guggenheim historical and cultural sources and will link the museum to worldwide research centres.

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A gallery devoted to Falconry and documents drawn from across the UAE, and Conservation will focus on Shaikh Zayed‘s set alongside contextual objects from around passion for falconry and appreciation of the the globe, will chart this long history from natural world, its conservation and 200,000 BC to the creation of the modern preservation. Falconry has been practised for state by Shaikh Zayed who established the thousands of years, not just in the Middle East country as a significant player on the global but across the world and has inspired great stage. works of art and literature. Falconry was Science and Learning: Shaikh Zayed was practised in the region to supplement the passionate about education; he transformed a meagre diet available in the desert and society based on traditional learning to a eventually evolved into a pastime enjoyed by nation where widespread literacy and many. Its popularity brought increasing numeracy led to a fully fledged contemporary awareness of the need to manage the natural knowledge society. The value of education environment. Shaikh Zayed not only that inspired him drew on a long tradition of understood the importance of the conservation Middle Eastern scholarship. Visitors to this of wildlife and the land, which became a gallery will encounter fascinating artefacts central tenet of his philosophy, but he also from the fields of science and learning. recognised the need to preserve falconry as Interactive exhibits will also permit them to Global Heritage. The falconry gallery will be engage directly with scientific tools and supported by a programme of live techniques, trying their hand at historical interpretation, including live bird-handling mechanisms for telling the time or using sessions and flying displays in an adjoining traditional methods to navigate the sea and the outdoor arena. desert. The core values of Shaikh Zayed Faith and Islam: Shaikh Zayed was a introduced in the narrative of the lower floor profoundly religious leader and his galleries will be carried through in more detail humanitarianism was based on the tenets of in the upper floor galleries: Islam. Providing a contemplative space, the Land and Water: Archaeological, historical displays will encourage visitors to learn not material and interactive displays will show just the meaning of Islam, as conveyed how people in the past learned to use, through the life and actions of Shaikh Zayed, cultivate and trade the region‘s key resources. but its history, practice and place among the The good husbandry of land and water was many faiths in the modern UAE. Islam has admired by Shaikh Zayed, and alongside his been an essential element of continuity in a wise use of oil and water resources, visitors region that has witnessed extraordinarily rapid will learn how he built a framework that has change. Longstanding religious practice will established the UAE as a leader in sustainable be demonstrated through beautifully development. calligraphed manuscripts, models of mosques People and Heritage: Shaikh Zayed and other honoured objects, while understood the importance of the values and contemporary photography, voices and film heritage of his people. Success in the modern will convey the expression of Islam today, world had been underpinned by an emphasis where faith infuses every aspect of life in the on human relationships and connections modern UAE. between different groups. Patterns established Alexandra Porter in the pre-oil era, when lives were closely identified with the seasons and the landscape, Work on Sir Bani Yas Monastery Resumes have produced a social cohesion that Excavation at the 7th-8th Century Christian invigorates the country today. monastic site on Abu Dhabi's western island History and Society: Shaikh Zayed was of Sir Bani Yas resumed at the end of 2009, instrumental in the discovery of major under the aegis of the Government-owned archaeological sites in the UAE that Tourism Development and Investment fundamentally rewrote the history of the Company, TDIC. Three seasons of work had region and its connections with the wider been completed by the end of 2010, with a world. The land that makes up the modern fourth season planned for early 2011. UAE has a long history of human settlement. Project Director is Peter Hellyer, formerly Rich archaeological material and historical Executive Director of the Abu Dhabi Islands

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Archaeological Survey, ADIAS, which species for the UAE, an updated annotated discovered the site in 1992 and undertook Checklist of UAE dragonflies and shorter several seasons of excavations in the mid- notes on insects and lepidoptera. 1990s, while the Archaeology Director is Dr. Joseph Elders, site director in the 1990s, who Emirates Bird Records Committee is now Major Projects and Archaeology Oscar Campbell ([email protected]) Officer for the Church of England. Other team has succeeded Simon Aspinall as Chairman of members include Dr. Elizabeth Popescu, of the EBRC. Neil Tovey has also joined the Oxford Archaeology East, and Dana Committee, following the resignation of Goodburn-Brown, as head of conservation. Stephen James. Work on the monastic site was resumed on Peter Hellyer the instructions of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al New Journal - Liwa Nahyan, with the objectives of continuing Abu Dhabi‘s National Centre for excavations, undertaking conservation of the Documentation and Research (NCDR) has exposed buildings and making the site recently introduced a new journal, Liwa, a bi- accessible to visitors. annual historical journal covering a wide Sir Bani Yas Island, formerly the private spectrum of subjects: ‗it has rapidly become wildlife reserve of the late UAE President, an essential point of reference for Gulf Shaikh Zayed, who sponsored the 1990s work regional studies in history, diplomatic at the site, is now being developed as a tourist exchanges, archaeology and heritage,‘ writes destination by TDIC. Geoffrey King, helping to reshape analysis of The focus of recent work has included the region‘s past, less heavily dependent on completion of the excavation of the church British source material. Liwa 1 includes that forms the central component of the essays on SE Arabian Islamic architecture, on monastery complex, the clearing of the Portuguese administration of pearl fisheries, adjacent courtyard and excavation of a range on the NCDR programme to preserve the oral of buildings to the south of the church. The history of the UAE, on the Yemeni tribal church itself has been covered with an open- ancestry of some of the oldest families on the sided roof while the team of conservators has Gulf coast. Liwa 2 includes an obituary of undertaken remedial work on the exposed Ezzedine Ibrahaim by Zaki Nusseibeh, walls. highlighting the Arab world‘s last half- Continuing studies of pottery from the site, century of diasporas. undertaken by Dr. Robert Carter (Oxford Brookes University), and of comparable Research carried out in 2009/2010 by the monastic sites in the Arabian Gulf suggest Department of Antiquities and Museums, that the monastery was probably founded by Ras al-Khaimah, UAE around 600 AD and was abandoned by around Rescue Excavation in Wadi Sifuni 750 AD. Comparisons of the decorated plaster Due to the planned installation of an oil with material from other sites as well as pipeline, a rescue excavation was carried out reviews of the literature, indicate that the by the Department of Antiquities and monastery belonged to the Church of the East Museums in Wadi Sifuni, southern Ras al- (also known as the Nestorian Church), which Khaimah. A total of 11 round stone structures, flourished in the Arabian Gulf before the 2-3m in diameter, were excavated and coming of Islam and then gradually faded documented. The absence of any finds can be away. TDIC are currently working on plans explained by their bad preservation, which for a dedicated display centre. left them open to all weather conditions, and their erection on a low wadi terrace. We `Tribulus' assume that they were originally used as `Tribulus', journal of the Emirates Natural tombs and their grave goods and human bones History Group, PO Box 45553, Abu Dhabi, washed out during heavy rains and high levels U.A.E. Volume 18 (2009) appeared in early of flowing water inside the wadi. This 2010, with papers including geological conclusion is supported by the observation of descriptions of the islands of Belghelam and sweet water snails inside them, indicating the Al Aryam, new gecko, snake and grass

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presence of standing water over a longer stone mosque was finally built in the 19th period of time. century. It had to be altered several times, due to its foundations‘ instability, which also Restoration of the National Museum caused the final collapse of the mosque. The documentation and restoration work However, its rows of decorated arches are inside the historical fort, which houses the unique in the UAE and architectural parallels National Museum of Ras al-Khaimah, was can be found in Omani and Saudi Arabian continued. Both towers, the facade and mosques. various rooms were authentically restored, using traditional material and methods. This Finally the return of Julfar al-Mataf material included one of the fort‘s oldest parts, an from Japan! upstairs room, which originally served as a One of the most famous historical places private majlis for the late ruler‘s family, along the southern Arabian Gulf is the situated in close proximity to the big defence medieval trading town of Julfar, mentioned in tower. It is decorated with highly decorative, historical sources since the beginning of arched niches, which originally served as Islam. Iraqi, British, French, German and windcatchers (badgeer). They are a Japanese excavations since the 1970s have significant part of past traditional architecture produced valuable information about this city and very typical for Ras al-Khaimah‘s old and its far eastern trade. However, the town. Japanese excavators, Tatsuo and Hanae Sasaki from Kanazawa University, Fahlain Mosque Excavation notoriously refused for more than ten years to Inside the palm gardens of Fahlain, the area of return the finds, which they had originally a 19th century stone mosque is currently being taken to Japan for study and restoration more excavated by the Department. Already than 20 years ago. It was therefore a great surveyed in 1995/96 during the ‗Ras al- success and joy, that Christian Velde, Khaimah Mosque Survey‘, it had been further Resident Archaeologist of the Department of photographically documented by the Antiquities and Museums, finally succeeded Department in 2000, at which time the in getting hold of 58 boxes from Japan, mosque had already partly collapsed. After a containing 600 kg of archaeological material, total collapse in 2009, the Architectural which had originally been excavated in Julfar Heritage Department Dubai, under the al-Mataf during 1989-93. Sadly, the long direction of Rashad Bukhash, decided to awaited possibility of finally showing the undertake restoration work, without informing artefacts to a wider public audience inside the and consulting the Department of Antiquities National Museum was quickly limited. After and Museums in Ras al-Khaimah. Although being dumped in Japan for nearly 20 years illegal by Ras al-Khaimah regulations, they and, contrary to their original promises, NOT started to dig holes, using incompetent and being treated at all, the many metal finds unguided workers, in order to look for (coins, jewellery, tools etc.) came back in foundations. This work destroyed older layers such a devastated state, that it is unclear if and did irretrievable damage to the they can be saved at all. archaeology of Fahlain. After being alerted, Emergency Excavation in Julfar al-Nudud the Department stopped their illegal doings A planned desalination plant in the area of and began investigations and archaeological Julfar al-Nudud led to a three-month excavations, which are still ongoing and have emergency excavation in Spring 2010. An so far produced interesting preliminary international team of archaeologists, results. geophysicists and magnotometre specialists A sequence of several mosques on top of was directed by Dr Robert Carter from each other could be unearthed: initially a Oxford Brookes University, who has small mudbrick mosque was built, which was successfully worked with the Ras al-Khaimah later enlarged towards an adjacent wadi into a Department of Antiquities and Museums in bigger mud brick mosque with impressive the past. The main aim was the clarification of stone foundations along the wadi. This the former harbour entrance, which is mosque was again enlarged by the addition of completely silted up today, and the a pillared mud brick porch. On top of this a understanding and dating of the medieval

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sequences of Julfar al-Nudud in regard to Shaikh Sultan Bin Saqr al-Qasimi: in Julfar al-Mataf. memoriam The excavation fieldwork was completed In December 2009, H.H. Shaikh Sultan bin by a two-month study season in the autumn Saqr al-Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Ras al- with detailed studies of animal bones, Chinese Khaimah and former Head of the Department porcelain, glass, pottery, coins etc., assisted of Antiquities and Museums, died of a heart- by conservators, a draftswoman and finds attack. His sudden and untimely death came photographer. Although we await the final as a great shock for the Department‘s staff, results, preliminary conclusions indicate that who had recently visited him in order to Julfar al-Nudud dates from the 14th to the end discuss various aspects concerning historical of the 15th century AD. photographs of Ras al-Khaimah‘s Fort. Shaikh Sultan was an outstanding Research Visitors personality and valuable source of local Dr. Rob Carter from Oxford Brookes heritage in the ever- changing, modern UAE. University, who is doing extensive research He treasured the history and traditions of his on Gulf pearls through the millennia, visited country and would always surprise us during the Ras al-Khaimah Museum in 2009 to study the many years of our acquaintance with his its various tools, which were involved in pearl wide-ranging, practical knowledge about the fishing, sorting and selling. Beatrice de Cardi, Emirates‘ past. He enjoyed visiting the OBE, FSA catalogued archaeological finds excavations, always bringing delicious from excavations in Ras al-Khaimah for the khaleeji coffee in a dalla with him to refresh Department‘s database in 2009. the exhausted archaeologists. His knowledge A French archaeological team, led by Dr. of UAE heritage was varied and often Vincent Charpentier from the University of surprising. Watching me once cleaning the Paris, undertook an extensive survey of the wall of a 3rd millennium BC tomb, a Jebel Ma‘taradth, its surroundings and characteristic ‗feeding shell‘ fell out from Neolithic stone material in 2009 and 2010. A between the stone layers. Used in prehistory great variety of chalcedony, both in colour to feed liquid to babies and therefore also part and quality, was extensively used and traded of infant burials, he told me to my great during the Neolithic period, as could be seen astonishment that this tradition lived on until from the finds of hundreds of stone tools and recently and was also used by the Bedouin their production flakes. A second French until the early 20th century. When I began my archaeological team, led by Dr. Sophie Mery, research on traditional Emirati jewellery, it University of Paris and head of the French was he who informed me about a local plant Archaeological Mission to the UAE, used to clean tarnished metal in the past and I undertook a survey and small scale excavation am most grateful for his kindness in of Neolithic sites in Ras al-Khaimah in Spring introducing me to jewellery of his late mother, 2010. Shaikha Noora. Dr. Helen Walkington and Dr. Adrian He loved joking and enjoyed feeding me Parker, both geomorphologists from Oxford and my husband with chocolate and the iftar Brookes University, did a Palaeolithic survey sweet lugaimat, eager to discuss the recipe in southern Ras al-Khaimah in Spring 2010. with us. Our last meeting, shortly before his Lesley Gregoricka, PhD student in sudden and untimely death, was filled with Anthropology at Ohio State University, laughter and amusement and will always started her work in 2009 on the teeth from the remind us of his joyful character. We will 3rd and 2nd millennium BC tombs in Shimal. miss his humour, curiosity and warmth of She continued in Spring 2010, sorting huge heart. With him a major part of Ras al- amounts of human bone material in an Khaimah‘s past has died. impressively short time. Her results will be Imke Moellering compared with teeth from other sites in the UAE, in order to compare their hidden information on health, diet and food origin. Christian Velde, Ahmad Hilal, Imke Moellering

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SAUDI ARABIA several royal inscriptions and remains of statues similar to those discovered at the site Tayma Oasis of al-Khuraybah, Dedan. During this period, In 2010, the Orient Department of the German the temple was connected by a 15 m long Archaeological Institute, Berlin (Germany), tunnel to a well, probably providing water for and the Antiquities and Museums Sector of ritual activities in and immediately outside the the Saudi Commission for Tourism and building, as shown by gutters inside and a Antiquities, Riyadh, jointly conducted two number of small channels and large basins further seasons of excavation and study outside the building. The two earlier (Spring) and building conservation and occupational levels (E: 4 and E: 5), probably training (Autumn) at Tayma. The King Saud of a mid-1st millennium BC date, will be University, Riyadh, acts as partner of the investigated in the coming seasons. project. Funding was provided by the German In Autumn 2010 a team of building Research Foundation (DFG) and the Official conservators and archaeologists further Development Assistance (ODA) of the developed and implemented the existing German Federal Foreign Ministry. This year's programme aimed at completing the fieldwork at this multiperiod site focused on conservation of the temple E-b1. the remains of Tayma‗s Occupational Periods Conservation measures aimed at preserving 4 (Early Iron Age) and 3 (Late Iron Age until this important building were carried out using Late Antiquity / pre-Islamic period). exclusively locally available natural Excavations in an Early Iron Age (12th to resources, free of any chemical additives. 9th century BC) building complex (Area O), Numerous items from the new excavations located between the outer and inner walls of at Tayma were (and are presently) on display the central archaeological area, continued. at the exhibitions Roads of Arabia / Routes The complex is surrounded by a substantial, 2 d'Arabie in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and m thick, almost rectangular (ca. 35 x 38 m) in the Galeria La Caixa, Barcelona, Spain. For enclosure. The first identified building (O-b1) further information, see: of this complex has been completely www.dainst.org/index_3258_de.html excavated. Typically painted pottery bowls Dr Arnulf Hausleiter with the representation of birds and geometric Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut patterns, Egyptian/Egyptianising objects and some with clear Levantine similarities were Report on the Archaeological Activities at recovered from its rooms. Its precise function Mada’in Salih still to be defined, the inventory of the Madâ‘in Sâlih, ancient Hegra, is one of the building shows a clearly international five sites which are being excavated in character. It may have been a place for the northwest Saudi Arabia, along with Taymâ, repeated consumption of liquids (as evidenced al-‗Ulâ (ancient Dadan), Mâbiyât (ancient by a large numbers of standardised small Qurah) and al-Jawf (ancient Adumatu). The undecorated ceramic beakers) and destination excavation project is placed under the aegis of of prestige goods. Traces of any productive the Saudi Commission for Tourism and activities have not been identified. Antiquities and of the French Ministry for This one phase complex was destroyed by Foreign Affairs. It receives financial support fire, and, during the Hellenistic period, an from various public bodies and private inhumation cemetery covered the entire area. sponsors. Hegra is a Nabataean and Roman Anthropological and archaeological study of settlement which is not far from the supposed this cemetery is in progress. On the southern frontier of the Nabataean Kingdom northeastern part of the central mound of on the one hand and of the Roman province of Tayma (Area E), stratigraphic excavations Arabia on the other. continued in the large ca. 500 m2 large temple Madâ‘in Sâlih is located at the foot of a building (E-b1) and its surroundings. Four large basaltic plateau, the Harrat al-‗Uwayrid, building stages of occupational level 3 (E: 3a- which culminates at 1,400 m above sea level. d) cover a chronological range from the It lies more or less in the centre of a large period of the dynasty of Lihyan (ca. 4th to plain bordered on the west by the Harra and 2nd century BC) until the post-Nabataean / on the north, east and south, by lower Late Antique era, the former attested by sandstone massifs. The site is therefore in a

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gutter and it receives the rains which come this very brief report and only a few remarks down from the west and the east. These feed a will be presented here. water table which was only 10 m deep at the The excavations in the Jabal Ithlib area, beginning of the 20th century. The water and in a rock-cut chamber cut in an isolated collection system was not based, as in Petra, outcrop south of it (Ith78), have shown that in on rock-cut cisterns and canalisations, but on the Nabataean period, this Jabal contained at the digging of wells dug partly into the soft least six installations used by religious sediments which cover the natural bedrock symposia, i.e. either open air or roofed and partly in the bedrock itself. The presence triclinia, rooms associated with one or several of these wells shows that Hegra was primarily niches containing betyls, water basins and an oasis. Nabataean inscriptions. Four new such Apart from the oasis, which occupies installations have been discovered so far. The mainly the northern and western parts of the excavation of these installations, as well as of site (Fig. 5), Hegra is made of three elements: the rock-cut cistern, has also shown that they the residential area, the Jabal Ithlib (which have not been used since the beginning of the contains most of the religious monuments) 2nd century AD. They have thus been and the necropolis, the tombs of which are cut abandoned far earlier than the rest of the site. into the sandstone outcrops which surround One is of course tempted to connect this with the area of the living. the creation of the Roman province of Arabia in AD 106. Excavations have been undertaken in three different monumental tombs. One of them, IGN 125, belongs to a type of tomb characteristic of the earliest use of the sandstone cliffs, that is a non-decorated funerary chamber which contains only pit tombs. Unfortunately, no dated material was found inside the tomb and the question of the date of the early use of the sandstone cliffs (pre-Nabataean or Nabataean?) will have to be answered in subsequent seasons of the project. The main operation was undertaken in Tomb IGN 117 (Jaussen & Savignac C14), a façade tomb dated to AD 60/61 by the inscription carved on it, JSNab 26. The excavation of this tomb has not been completed yet but the excavation revealed so far sixty-four individuals, of which thirty- eight were adults and twenty-six were

immature individuals. An under- Figure 5. Madâ’in Sâlih map of the site. representation of young children was noted,

which could reflect a different funerary Between 2008 and 2010, and thanks to the treatment for age groups 0 and 1-4 years. The agreement which was signed in 2007 between oldest burial was made in the pit dug in the the project directors (Laila Nehmé, Daifallah northwest corner of the funerary chamber. It al Talhi, François Villeneuve) and the probably corresponds to the family Department of Antiquities (now Saudi occupation during the Nabataean period Commission for Tourism and Antiquities), we which, according to the information in the undertook three excavation seasons in inscription, began with its construction by eighteen different areas located in the Hînat, daughter of Wahbû, in AD 60/61 or a residential area, in the Jabal Ithlib and its little later. In a subsequent phase, after it was surroundings, in the area of the tumuli, west abandoned and robbed, making the chamber of the site, and in the monumental tombs resemble a giant ossuary, the tomb was reused (Fig. 5). The results of these eighteen for the burial of three individuals whose excavations areas cannot be fully presented in

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skeletons were found in their primary positions. The excavation yielded an enormous amount of leather and textile fragments which are under study. In the residential area, which lies in the centre of the site and covers a surface of about sixty hectares, several trenches were opened, including along the ancient city wall. The latter have shown that the rampart was built in the 1st century AD and that it was used, not very actively, for a period prior to the 2nd century AD. It was built in mudbricks, its wall was of varying thickness (from 1.50 to 2.35 m) and it had no foundations. Figure 7. Madâ’in Sâlih Area 1: general view Apart from the trenches which were after the 2009 season. opened along the rampart, six areas were opened in various places within the city wall, At the end of the 2010 season, the two of which are sufficiently well advanced to existence of six phases, which belong to a propose a brief summary of the results single architectural programme, was obtained. Area 1 (Figs. 6-7) is located in the established. The study of the pottery from northwest part of the urban centre, circa Area 1 is not complete for all phases but it 130 m south of the city wall. The excavations seems that Phases 3 and 4 should be dated to have exposed a domestic building developing the 1st century AD and Phase 6 to the 6th/7th along what has been interpreted as a street, centuries AD. The walls which belong to with a northern and a southern quarter on each Phases 1 and 2 were entirely built in side of it. mudbricks. Phase 2 is particularly interesting because it is characterized mainly by postholes, with or without a stone setting, which may belong to mobile installations such as tents. Mubrick walls with a stone base appear in Phase 3 and it becomes possible to draw the outlines of a building with several rooms bordered on their northern side, by a street which reaches a crossroads on the east. From Phase 3 onwards, one notices a systematic succession of floor layers sealed by thick destruction layers of melted mudbricks. This and other evidence, such as the continuous use of earlier walls and the fact that few archaeological artefacts were left behind, suggest an uninterrupted occupation from Phases 3 to 5 at least. In Phase 6, the building is made of eleven rooms and a possible courtyard. A large number of artefacts were found on the floors and the material appears to have been abandoned in the places where it had been used. Terraces or upper floors where domestic activities took place are attested. Area 2 (Figs. 8-9) 150 m southeast of Area 1, was also excavated over three seasons. It revealed, on each side of a northwest – southeast passage, domestic remains which Figure 6. Madâ’in Sâlih Area 1: Phases 1-6. are significantly different from each other. South of the passage they consist mainly of

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mudbrick structures, with no well defined For complete versions of previous reports, floor levels or even door thresholds (only the see: http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs- lower segments of the walls were preserved) 00542793/fr/ and http://halshs.archives- whereas north of the passage, the stone ouvertes.fr/halshs-00548747/fr/. See also architecture is much better represented, as http://wikis.ifporient.org/archeologie/index.ph well as the floors. In this area, five main p/Accueil for further information. architectural phases have been distinguished, Laila Nehmé from the 2nd half of the 1st century BC until (on behalf of the project team) the 5th/early 7th centuries AD. Maritime Research: the MARES Project on the Farasan Islands

1. General Report by Peter Harrigan. 2. Detailed Report by Dr. John Cooper

1. MARES is a three-year, multi-disciplinary, multi-period project focusing on the maritime traditions of the peoples of the Red Sea and Arabian-Persian Gulf. It draws on ethnography, archaeology, history and linguistics, seeks to understand how people have inhabited and navigated these seascapes in late antiquity and the medieval period, and examines how they do so today. The first MARES visit to Saudi Arabia and the Farasan Islands in January was led by Professor Agius, Al Qasimi Professor of Arabic Studies & Islamic Material Culture Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter. He was accompanied by Dr John Cooper, also of IAIS, and visiting researcher, Peter Harrigan. The visit followed meetings in Riyadh with the director of Figure 8. Madâ’in Sâlih Area 2: Phases 1-4. Antiquities Professor Ali Al Ghabban, and a resulting agreement signed between the SCTA and the MARES Project. After preliminary surveys and interviews conducted on the main island a second visit was made in May 2010 with a MARES team of four (Professor Agius, Dr John Cooper, Dr Chiara Zazzaro and Lucy Semaan of IAIS). The MARES project is funded by the Golden Web Foundation, based in Cambridge, UK www.goldenweb.org. For further details, see: www.projects.exeter.ac.uk/mares, and Dr. Cooper‘s report below.

2. The objectives of the ethnographic research were to investigate maritime practice and traditions including boatbuilding, pearl diving, and the poetry and songs of the sea. The archaeological programme comprised a preliminary survey of the main islands of Figure 9. Madâ’in Sâlih Area 2: general view Greater Farasan and Segid, and a logging and after the 2009 season. basic documentation of the sites visited.

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The building of wooden boats has largely Saudi Arabia. Beverly J. Swartz and Elinor ceased in the areas surveyed. There are no Nichols consigned 15 cases of items through boatyards active in the Farasan Islands, and the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC to the only one in the al-Hafa district of Jizan: even Saudi Commission for Tourism and there, only steel-hulled vessels are built today, Antiquities (SCTA). They include mounted though wooden boats are sometimes still and framed arrowheads and flint tools, a repaired. The yard stopped building variety of stone tools, pieces from an ancient traditional za‘īmas and sanbūks some 15 years glass bracelet, clay jars and pot sherds, bronze ago. The fishing harbour at al-Hafa is today tools, basalt grindstones and two stones with dominated by fibreglass vessels, the larger inscriptions. ones of which mimic the form of the wooden Beverly J. Swartz of Sarasota in Florida shū‘is of the Gulf. lived in Dhahran from 1958 to 1984 with her Remarkably, a small number of people on husband and their three children. ‗We loved the Farasan Islands continue to dive for the desert and spent countless days traveling, pearls, though largely on a hobbyist basis. exploring, camping and "pot picking‖ and so The wider large-scale pearl industry that once amassed a collection of artefacts. I decided to operated on the islands is no more, and it has return these to their rightful homeland instead left few direct material traces, although the of risking their being tossed out by future ornate houses of pearl traders can still be generations.‘ seen. The MARES ethnographic research One of her favorite pieces is ‗a tiny green involved interviews with former and present glass bottle, in perfect condition with no pearl traders and divers on the islands. cracks or chips, only 1 3/4" high and a 1 1/2" The archaeological sites recorded during wide bowl with a slender neck.‘ It was found, the MARES survey were known to local almost buried in sand, on a camping trip in people and the Saudi archaeological April, 1968 at Jebel Berri, near Jubayl by her authorities. However, only a few have been husband, Carter, and son, Scott. Other documented, and fewer still studied in detail favourite finds include beads of many types by archaeologists. The sites included and hundreds of blue, green, black, turquoise numerous settlements containing buildings and decorated bracelet pieces, some perhaps formed of large ashlar blocks, wells, including from the early Venetian period, transported by one whose shaft was decorated in an ancient camel caravan across Arabia. In addition there South Arabian style, and a hewn cave. A large are bronze tools, copper pieces, a delicate stone anchor was also discovered at one site. spoon, a small handled-cup; probes, needles Ceramic evidence pointed to contact with and a seal with Arabic calligraphy. Axum, Rome, Byzantium, and the Gulf. Full The decision to return their collections was results of the MARES survey will be made when Nichols and Swartz met several published in Atlal, the Saudi Arabian years ago. The two agreed that with archaeological journal. advancing age and waning connections with Saudi Arabia, returning the pieces to their 7th century Village Discovered rightful home was the most sensible solution. Saudi Arabia has announced the discovery of According to Swartz their treasures were a 7th century AD village, which has been admired by many people, both during their 26 unearthed in the Raaka district, Dammam, years in Arabia, and on display in their homes near the shores of the Arabian Gulf. The site since retiring from Aramco. But she adds, contains a compound village, with more than ‗Unfortunately, being novice treasure hunters, 20 houses, containing rooms and we neglected to assign definite locations and accommodation units, in which coins, coordinates of sites where artefacts were fragments of pottery, limestone (steatite), and found, except for some general areas.‘ glass pieces dating back to the 7th & 8th Working through Dr Zahir Othman the century AD were found. (former) director general of Al Turath Foundation in Riyadh, Art Clark of Saudi Saudi Artefacts Returned to Riyadh Aramco World Magazine in Houston and staff Two American wives of former Saudi of the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC, Aramco employees have returned their they obtained the approval last year for the collections of artefacts and antiquities to items to be air-freighted to Riyadh. The

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Swartz collection consisted of six ‗fair-sized continuing to educate citizens and expatriates boxes‘ and the heavy stone items from of the importance of reporting finds and not Nichols were packed into nine boxes. disturbing or removing artefacts. There are Elinor Nichols of Bailey Island, Maine also plans to set up a special wing in the lived in Dhahran from 1956 to 1970 where National Museum in Riyadh to showcase her husband Dr Roger Nichols was director of special donations of Saudi artefacts and an Aramco-financed research project to study antiquities. trachoma in the Kingdom. Both had an Peter Harrigan interest in archaeology and extensive fieldwork and numerous family desert trips King Abdulaziz Centre for Knowledge and resulted in a significant collection of Culture, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia archaeological finds. Saudi Aramco is building a major new The Nicol‘s collection is made up cultural development in Dhahran as part of its primarily of larger stone items including 75th anniversary gift to the nation. It includes basalt and limestone grindstones. One pair of a large state-of-the-art museum, a children‘s limestone grindstones weighs 36 pounds and discovery zone, a library and archive, a has the centre holes of each stone theatre, a cinema, food and retail outlets, and lined with metal. This grindstone was found landscaped parklands. in the desert near the fortresses of the Serrar London‘s Natural History Museum‘s Escarpment, west of Al Jubayl in the Eastern (NHM) Planning and Design Consulting unit Province. Also in the collection is a 40-pound has been working with the Saudi Aramco basalt bowl-shaped piece with handles from team to develop concept and design plans for Madain Salih. Among the most notable items a 1,300-metre-square museum gallery within are two stones with inscriptions. The larger of the Centre. The gallery will be a celebration the two returned in the Nichols‘ collection, of Saudi Arabia‘s rich natural history and its hewn from a block of red sandstone, is integral role in the country‘s culture and approximately two feet long and one foot high society. To create a rich and unique cultural and weighs 50 pounds. It was found on 30 experience, NHM has been working with the December 1969 by the Nichols on the slopes Stuttgart-based exhibition design firm, Atelier of Jabal Ghunaym near Tayma Oasis. Bruckner, along with local communities and Michael Macdonald of the Faculty of subject experts, including NHM scientists and Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford independent museum consultant William has examined photographs of the piece and Facey. states that the inscription on this Tayma Stone The Centre aims to be a powerful catalyst was recorded in situ seven years earlier in for new ideas, perspectives and cross-cultural 1962 by Professor Fred Winnett (published in relationships, promoting social progress, Near and Middle East Series, 6, University of intellectual achievement and tolerance – both Toronto Press, 1970). MacDonald, an expert cultural and intellectual. Its wider remit is to in history, languages, and writing-systems of encourage positive change in Saudi society, Syria and Arabia from about 1000 BC until and to create visitor experiences that spark the early Islamic period, confirms that is individual engagement, and ultimately certainly in the Taymanite script used in and transformation in mindset, attitudes and around the settlement in the mid sixth century behaviour. Images and further information BC. Both Swartz and Nichols have notified can be found on the Centre‘s website: their fellow Aramco annuitant friends, with http://en.culturerocks.com/ whom they shared desert camping trips, of their return of artefacts to KSA, hoping to encourage them to consider doing the same with their own collections. The head of the SCTA, Prince Sultan bin Salman, is also taking steps for the commission to urge both former foreign residents in Saudi Arabia as well as Saudi citizens and expatriates to return items taken from sites in the Kingdom, as well as

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YEMEN Soqotra is an archipelago of four islands in Due to the unstable political situation in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also Yemen, conducting archaeological and other called Soqotra, is about 95% of the landmass historical work has been challenging and will of the archipelago. The island is very isolated remain so. See Tony Wilkinson‘s report and through the process of speciation, a third above (p. 6). However, the following can be of its plant life is found nowhere else on the reported: planet. It has been described as the most alien-looking place on Earth. Botanical field Soqotra Island Discoveries surveys led by the Centre for Middle Eastern A Russian archaeological team has unearthed Plants - part of the Royal Botanic Garden of an ancient city on Soqotra Island. After four Edinburgh - indicate that 307 out of the 825 years of archaeological excavations, the (37%) plant species on Soqotra are endemic Russian team managed to discover an ancient i.e. they are found nowhere else on Earth. city called Khajlah, located near Hidibu city, One of the most striking of Socotra's plants the main city on the island. The city dates is the dragon's blood tree (Dracaena from the second century AD, according to the cinnabari), which is a strange-looking, team's expectation. umbrella-shaped tree. Its red sap was thought The team said that the remains of the to be the dragon's blood of the ancients, exposed ancient houses, roads, alleys and sought after as a medicine and a dye. squares indicated that the city had been an (Yemen News Agency) administrative, religious and cultural area for http://www.sabanews.net/en/news231597.htm the entire island. In a related context, the Tourist office on the island said that about 2,590 tourists visited Soqotra last November.

Arthur Probsthain Bookseller /Art Gallery

Specialists in Oriental, Middle East & Africa

Tea and Tattle Tea Room

Located below the bookshop 41 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3PE Opposite the British Museum

BOOKS, MUSIC, ART, FOOD & DRINK www.apandtea.co.uk

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AWARDS AND PRIZES

Arab-British Culture and Society Award British-Yemeni Society Awards The Arab British Centre is pleased to announce In 2010 the British-Yemeni Society revived Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival (LAAF) as their annual essay competition and winner of the 2010 Arab British Culture and implemented a research grant. First prize Society Award. The annual award of £5000 is (£500) for the essay was awarded to Shuaib made to an individual or organisation which, in Almosawa for his Yemen's Abandoned the opinion of the judges, has made an Children and second prize (£250) to outstanding contribution to the British public's Muhammad Awadh al-Aulaqi for his Thoughts knowledge and understanding of the life, from Yemen. This year's academic grant (£500) society and culture of the Arab people. was awarded to Thanos Petouris for fieldwork The judges unanimously chose the LAAF towards his PhD thesis, ―The Anti-Colonial in recognition of the wide range of shows and Movement in Aden and the Protectorates of activities from throughout the Arab World South Arabia 1937-1967.‖ which it organises during its annual festival, and the large and growing audiences it attracts. Qatar Foundation Through its concerts, dance shows, art and Dr James Onley, the Director of the Centre for photographic exhibitions, poetry readings and Gulf Studies, won a $147,828 US grant from plays held in many Liverpool venues, and its the Qatar Foundation for an archival outreach programmes in schools and other digitalisation project on Qatar. centres, it has introduced Arab culture to many thousands of adults and children, and played an Rawabi Holding Awards important role in increasing appreciation of These awards, hosted by the Saudi-British Arab life and culture and combating prejudice. Society, are awarded annually to 2 British subjects who have made a significant contribution to Saudi-British cultural relations. The 2011 prizes were presented to Dr Venetia Porter and Mr. Robert Lacey. AVAILABLE GRANTS AND PRIZES

Arab-British Culture & Society Award 2011 World and the United Kingdom: Baroness Nominations for the Arab British Culture & Helena Kennedy QC (Chair); Dr Venetia Society Award open on 31 January 2011. The Porter; Heather Masoud; James Neil; Samuel £5,000 Prize celebrates those who have Shimon; Oliver Butterworth; and Dr Shelagh contributed to the British public's Weir. For further information on the Award or understanding of the life, society and culture of the Arab British Centre please contact Imogen the Arab people. Ware (E: [email protected] or The prize is open to individuals or T: 020 7832 1310). organisations working in any field. In addition to the prize money, the Arab British Centre will Barakat Trust provide the winner with opportunities to The Trust awards a number of scholarships and promote his or her work more widely. grants to students and scholars of Islamic art Nominations are welcome either directly from and archaeology including conservation and individuals or organisations that wish to be post-doctoral fellowships. Grants have covered considered for the award or from third parties conservation programmes; documentation of who want to nominate a particular individual or archives; events; exhibitions and museums; organisation. A nomination form is available to lectures; colloquia and conferences; download from the website: scholarships towards a Master of Studies http://www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk/ course in Islamic Art History and Architecture The closing date for nominations is 4 at the University of Oxford; scholarships and March 2011. The winner of the 2011 prize will grants for post-graduate and post-doctoral study be chosen by a panel of distinguished experts and research fellowships; travel and field trips; with knowledge of the cultures of the Arab archaeological projects; and prizes to students

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at accredited schools and universities. The Email [email protected] Barakat Trust does not support the applied arts. Contact the Barakat Trust, The Oriental British Institute for the Study of Iraq Institute, Pusey Lane, Oxford, OX1 2LE. BISI Research Grants. Applications are [email protected]; further inform- welcomed twice a year to support research or ation on the grants at http://www.barakat.org/ conferences on Iraq and neighbouring countries not covered by other BASIS-sponsored British Academy institutions, in any field of the humanities or The Academy offers a number of academic, social sciences, concerned with any time period research and travel fellowships and other from prehistory to the present day. Awards will grants. For full details visit the British normally fall within a limit of £4,000, though Academy website. more substantial awards may be made. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide. The Institute welcomes funding applications for pilot projects, especially on the British Institute of Persian Studies theme of Exile and Return. Funding of up to BIPS welcomes applications from scholars £8,000 is available for one such project a year. wishing to pursue research in Persian Studies. The Institute offers assistance to the award- Further information is at www.bips.ac.uk. holder in drafting a full research proposal to Research Programmes. Most of BIPS‘ submit jointly to other funding bodies. research income is set aside for collaborative Applicants must be residents of the UK or, research programmes. BIPS is currently exceptionally, other individuals whose seeking to attract applications from scholars in academic research closely coincides with that three ‗umbrella‘ programmes: the history and of the BISI. Two academic references are archaeology of ancient Iran; Kingship in required. All applications and references must Persian Cultural History; Modern Iran: the idea be received by 31 January. of chivalry. BISI Development Grants. Grants are Awards and Research Grants 2011-2012. available to support development events and The second round of applications for grants to projects, such as lectures, study days, and assist scholars wishing to pursue research in all popular publications that relate to Iraq and fields of Persian/Iranian and wider Persian neighbouring countries and to the areas of world studies are invited. These are at interest covered by BISI. A Development Grant postgraduate level and include anthropology, application should normally be for an amount archaeology, art, history, linguistics, literature, up to £500. Conditions are as above, but philosophy, religion, political science and deadlines are 15 April and 1 September. cognate subjects. Please see the website for full details and Residential Postdoctoral Scholarships 2011- conditions of BISI‘s grants: 2012. The BIPS has embarked on a new http://www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/iraq/ or academic initiative in Tehran with the contact the administrator: [email protected]. appointment of two residential postdoctoral scholarships. British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Travel Bursaries. The BIPS, aware of the (BRISMES) steady interest among British undergraduates in BRISMES administers several scholarships and visiting Iran, is offering a limited number of prizes each year: bursaries in 2011/12 to encourage such visits to MA Scholarship. BRISMES offers an Iran and wider Persian world. annual Master‘s scholarship for taught Master‘s All applicants for grants must be members study at a UK institution. The Master‘s of the British Institute of Persian Studies. programme can be in any discipline but should Membership forms are available to download include a majority component specifically from www.bips.ac.uk/join/join-us. Please send relating to the Middle East. Preference will be grant application and membership forms to The given to candidates resident in the European Secretary, BIPS, The British Academy, 10 Union, and to institutions who are members of Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH. BRISMES. Application forms can be obtained from Research Student Awards. For research http://www.bips.ac.uk/story/awards-and- students based in the UK working on a Middle research-grants-2011-2012. Eastern studies topic. The annually available

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ceiling of £1,000 will either be given as a single in the Society‘s Journal) on the results of the award or divided (max. three). research assisted by the grant. Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Foundation Submission and any queries are to be BRISMES Scholarships. The purpose of the addressed to the Honorary Secretary, The scholarships is to encourage more people to British-Yemeni Society, 2 Lisgar Terrace, pursue postgraduate studies in disciplines London W14 8SJ, email 1.rebeccajohnson related to the Middle East in British @gmail.com. For full details see website universities. The scholarships will be for one www.al-bab.com/bys. academic year. The value of each scholarship will be £2,000. Two scholarships will be Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab awarded. World For full details, deadlines and conditions of CASAW, a language-based area studies all the above see the website initiative funded by the AHRC, ESRC, HEFCE http://www.brismes.ac.uk/student- and SFC, offers funding for postgraduate area/scholarships studentships and postdoctoral fellowships at the or email [email protected]. Universities of Edinburgh, Durham and BRISMES administers the British-Kuwait Manchester. Website: http://www.casaw.ac.uk/ Friendship Society Book Prize in Middle Eastern Studies, which is also funded by an Council for British Research in the Levant endowment from the Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al- (CBRL) Sabah Charitable Foundation. In each of the CBRL currently offers Travel Grants, years since the prize commenced, it has Conference and Outreach Funding, Pilot Study attracted around 30 nominations from some 15 Awards, Visiting Research Fellowships, publishers and the overall standard of entries Honorary Fellowships, Project Completion has been extremely high. The prize is awarded Awards and Project Affiliation for research that for the best scholarly work on the Middle East comes under the following themes: the spread each year. Application forms and further of early humans through the Near East from information can be found at Africa; the origins, development and practice of http://www.brismes.ac.uk/book-prize. economic and social strategies in the Middle East from earliest times to the modern day; the British-Yemeni Society Annual Academic development and workings of complex Grant societies and their products; long-term Applications are invited from anyone carrying landscape and settlement studies; the out research in Yemen or on a Yemen-related relationship between people, past and present, subject at a British or Yemeni University. and their built and natural environment; Applicants‘ nationality is irrelevant. synthetic studies of key historical periods; the Applications may be made to assist with study interface between East and West; the in any subject or field, so long as it is investigation of multiple identities in the concerned with the Yemen and is for a specific Middle East; the diachronic and synchronic qualification (e.g. BA, MA, PhD etc.) Post- study of the use of language, music and the doctoral researchers may apply, but will only written record in Middle Eastern society. be considered should no more junior applicant Further details, application forms and approach the Committee. Applications must conditions of the grant schemes are available follow normal academic procedures, i.e. an from the UK Secretary, CBRL, British abstract supported by a recommendation from Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London, the applicant‘s supervisor. SW1Y 5AH, or see: www.cbrl.org.uk Applications are to reach the Secretary to /funding_opportunities.shtm. Queries regarding the Committee by October 31 each year. The the next deadlines should be addressed to Committee will consider the applications and [email protected] make the grant by 1 January. As a condition of the grant, the successful applicant will be The Emirates Natural History Group required to make an acknowledgement of the The ENHG, the oldest NGO in the UAE grant in their thesis or dissertation. The dealing with archaeology and natural history, applicant will also be expected to make a has previously provided several other grants for presentation to the Society (to be summarised relevant research and excavations. It has also

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given grants for conservation projects Programme can offer in developing their elsewhere in Arabia, including, most recently, a proposal into a significant work of research. grant to the Yemen Arabian Leopard Project. Research Fellowships The Group‘s Conservation Fund generally The Kuwait Programme on Development, provides grants of up to £500, Applications Governance and Globalisation in the Gulf may be sent either via the Society for Arabian States wishes to announce the availability of Studies or direct to the ENHG: short-term Research Fellowships. These will be http://www.enhg.org/. based at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the LSE, and will last up to three Gerald Avery Wainwright Fund for Near months. The Research Fellowships will enable Eastern Archaeology successful candidates to pursue research into The Fund aims to encourage the study of non- specific projects relevant to the Kuwait classical archaeology and the general history of Programme. Applications are invited from Gulf the countries of the Middle East. It holds an States nationals who are post-doctoral fellows annual Schools Essay Prize, awards Research and above or practitioners engaged in relevant Grants to mature scholars and also sponsors a short and long-term research projects. post-doctoral Fellowship. Research Grant Successful candidates will have access to deadlines are on 1 April and 1 October. Visit research facilities at the LSE, will receive a the website for application forms and return flight to London, accommodation near guidelines: the LSE and assistance with daily expenses, http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/wainwright/ and be expected to participate in the Kuwait For further information contact: The Gerald Programme. Avery Wainwright Near Eastern The Kuwait Programme is a ten year Archaeological Fund, Khalili Research Centre, multidisciplinary global programme. It focuses University of Oxford, 3 St. John Street, Oxford on topics such as globalisation, economic OX1 2LG. Tel: 01865 278222. Email: development, diversification of and challenges [email protected] facing resource rich economies, trade relations between the Gulf States and major trading International Prize for Arabic Fiction partners, energy trading, security and (IPAF) migration. For more details, see The ‗Arabic Booker Prize‘ is covered above in http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/LSEKP/jobs.h the ARTS news. For further details, see: tm. http://www.arabicfiction.org/ Leigh Douglas Memorial Fund The Kuwait Programme on Development, The fund was established with donations from Governance and Globalisation in the Gulf Leigh Douglas‘s family and friends to support States at the London School of Economics continued scholarship on the Middle East. It is and Political Science (LSE): Research a charity, and has distributed more than Fellowships and PhD Scholarships £18,000 since 1990 to assist scholars and PhD Scholarships experts pursuing research, mostly on Yemen, in The Kuwait Programme on Development, fields as varied as archaeology, social Governance and Globalisation in the Gulf anthropology, folk tales, history, geography, States at the London School of Economics and linguistics, public health, and marine Political Science is pleased to announce two archaeology. Small grants have enabled scholarships for full-time PhD students of scholars to travel, conduct field research or £12,500 each per annum, renewable for up to attend conferences, which otherwise would not three years. This scholarship, which will be have been possible. Grants include: available for an Autumn 2011 start, will be The Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize. This is awarded on academic merit. The successful awarded annually to the writer of the best PhD candidates will be those who can contribute to dissertation on a Middle Eastern topic in the the Kuwait Programme‘s own research Social Sciences or Humanities. The current objectives. The selection panel are seeking to value of the prize is £500. Anyone wishing to support young and very capable researchers submit his/her dissertation for consideration who will benefit from the support the Kuwait should send a copy, together with an accompanying letter or recommendation from

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their supervisor to Professor Charles Tripp, Sir William Luce Fellowship S.O.A.S., Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, The Fellowship is awarded annually to a London, WC1X 0XG, U.K. scholar working on those parts of the Middle The deadline for submission of entries for East to which Sir William Luce devoted his the 2010 award was 31 January 2011. working life (chiefly Sudan and Arabia) and is Grants for Yemeni Studies. Each year the hosted by Durham University for a period of Leigh Douglas Memorial Fund offers two or three months from the beginning of May. The three small grants (in the region of £300) to Fellowship, tenable jointly in the Institute for assist scholars of any nationality whose Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies and research involves the study of Yemeni history, Trevelyan College, will entitle the holder to full culture, economics, politics or society. access to departmental and other University Applications should include a brief curriculum facilities. The Fellow is expected to deliver The vitae, an outline of the relevant research project Sir William Luce Lecture, which will form the and a letter of reference. There are two annual basis of a paper to be published in the Durham deadlines for applications: 1 November and 1 Middle East Papers series. May. Further enquiries and applications should For further information see: be sent by post to Dr Venetia Porter, http://www.dur.ac.uk/sgia/imeis/lucefund/fello Department of the Middle East, The British wship/. Contact Mrs Jane Hogan, Honorary Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B Secretary, Sir William Luce Memorial fund, 3DG, United Kingdom. Email Durham University Library, Palace Green, [email protected]. Durham DH1 3RN, UK. Tel. +44 (0)191 334 For further information on Leigh Douglas 1218. Email [email protected] and the Fund‘s work see http://www.al- bab.com/yemen/douglas.htm. SOAS Scholarships and Studentships The School of Oriental and African Studies, Palestine Exploration Fund University of London, offers numerous The PEF awards small grants to students and scholarship schemes with relevance to Arabian others pursuing research into topics relevant to studies. For further information see its general aims. The deadline is 31 January http://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/scholarships/ or each year. Please address applications to Grants contact The Scholarships Officer, Registry, Manager, Palestine Exploration Fund, 2 Hinde SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, Mews, Marylebone Lane, London W1U 2AA. London, WC1H 0XG, UK. Tel: + 44 (0)20 Enquiries can be addressed to the Executive 7074 5094/5091. Secretary, Felicity Cobbing. Email ExecSec Email: [email protected] @pef.org.uk. Further details and application forms can be found at: Thesiger-Oman Fellowships http://www.pef.org.uk/grants/. By the kind generosity of the His Majesty Qaboos bin Said Al Said, Sultan of Oman, the Royal Asiatic Society Royal Geographical Society offers one annual The Society offers several prizes for fellowship of up to £8,000 for geographical outstanding research in Asian studies, including research in the arid regions of the world, as a the Professor Mary Boyce Prize for an article memorial to Sir Wilfred Thesiger. The relating to the study of religion in Asia, and the fellowship will focus either on the physical Sir George Staunton Prize for an article by a aspects or on the human dimension of arid young scholar, both for articles submitted to the environments. The fellowship funds a Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. researcher with an outstanding research The Society moreover welcomes proposal, including periods of arid environment Fellowship applications from anyone with a fieldwork. To reflect Thesiger's interests, serious interest in Asian studies. For more research within the Middle East and other arid information contact Alison Ohta, Curator, regions he visited will be given priority, but Royal Asiatic Society, 14 Stephenson Way, applications for work in the world's other arid London W1 2HD. Tel: +44 (0)20 7388 4539. regions is also welcomed. Email [email protected] For more information see See also: www.royalasiaticsociety.org. http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Grants/Research/ Thesiger-Oman+Fellowships.htm.

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CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS 2010–11

5 March 2011, 9:30am – 5pm, Khalili Lecture COMPLETED CONFERENCES Theatre, SOAS, University of London A host of panels on: Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Christianity in Iraq VII Seminar Day Biographical Studies (Ilm al-Rijal), The The Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre at SOAS in Science of Narration (Ilm al-Hadith), London was the venue for the Christianity in Philosophy (Falsafa), Exegesis (Tafsir) and Iraq VII Seminar Day held on 24 April 2010. Mysticism (Irfan). The theme was the liturgical heritage of the Paper titles include: Iraqi Churches. Speakers included Dr Sebastian  ‗Idealization or Realization: Metho- Brock (Oxford), Father Baby Varghese (Kerala, dology of Ayatullah al-Khu‘i in India), and Mr Steven Ring (independent Mu‘jam al-Rijal‘ scholar, UK). Tala Jarjour (Cambridge)  ‗Shi‘i Juristic Scholarship in the discussed the musical traditions of the West 16th Century: Three Treatises on the Syrian churches. For further information, see: Question of the Legality of the Friday http://www.easternchristianity.com/ Prayer‘ Red Sea V  ‗Ibn Qawlawayh and His Legacy in A most successful fifth Red Sea conference – 17th Century Safavid Iran: The Texts of ‗Navigated spaces, connected places‘ – was Kamil al-Ziyarat as Recorded in Bihar held from 16th-19th September 2010 in the al-Anwar‘ Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies,  ‗The Four Intellectual Journeys of University of Exeter. It was organised by the Mulla Sadra: Summa Philosophia for Institute‘s Mares Project (see above, p. 31), Islam‘ headed by Professor Dionisius Agius, There will be keynote lectures by Professor supported by the Society for Arabian Studies Liyakat Takim (McMaster University, Canada) (the original initiators of the series) and and Dr Andrew J Newman (University of included a Dhow exhibition and items collected Edinburgh). Admission is free, but registration during the field work of the Mares Project. is required via email: i.panjwani@- Papers covered a wide range of Red Sea shiastudies.org.uk. For more information see: subjects (e.g. history, archaeology, trade) and www.shiastudies.org.uk. abstracts are accessible on the Mares website (www.exeter.ac.uk/mares). Professor Agius, BRISMES Conference who holds the al-Qasimi Chair of Arabic 27-29 June, 2011, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies and Islamic Material Culture at the Studies, University of Exeter Institute, has agreed to host a sixth Red Sea For details, see: www.exeter.ac.uk/iais/all- conference in Exeter in 2012. events/conferences/brismes/index.php

The 2010 Seminar for Arabian Studies Aspirations and Challenges in the Gulf The seminar was held at the British Museum in 29 June–2 July 2011, Exeter University London, 22–24 July 2010. Numerous members The Exeter Centre for Gulf Studies will be of the Society for Arabian Studies presented holding its annual conference during 29 June – their work or chaired sessions. The programme 2 July, immediately after BRISMES 2011 (also from the seminar is available online: at Exeter). The title for this year‘s conference http://www.arabianseminar.org.uk/seminar is ‗Aspirations and Challenges in the Gulf‘, 2010.html focusing on the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, and Iraq. The conference UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND programme and booking form will be available SEMINARS 2011 on the Centre for Gulf Studies website in March:www.exeter.ac.uk/iais/centres/gulf/inde x.php There is limited on-campus Shi’i Scholarship 16th Century – Present accommodation available, so please book by An international conference organised by the April to guarantee a room next to the Centre for Islamic Shi’a Studies (CISS) conference venue.

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Gulf Research Centre Conference times to the present day or, in the case of 6-9 July, 2011, University of Cambridge political and social history, to the end of the For details, see: Ottoman Empire (1922). This year‘s focus http://grcevent.net/cambridge/index.php session will be on the Nabataeans. Papers read at the Seminar are published in Gender Transformations in the Arabian the Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa Studies in time for the Seminar of the following 10-12 July 2011, University of Sana'a, Yemen year. The Proceedings therefore contains new The French Research Centre for Archaeology research on Arabia and reports of new and Social Sciences in Sana'a (CEFAS) is discoveries in the Peninsula in a wide range of calling for paper proposals for an international disciplines. conference on the theme of "Gender The Steering Committee is delighted to Transformations in the Arabian Peninsula and acknowledge the continued support and the Horn of Africa". generosity of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation and The conference will focus on recent social the British Museum. changes, spatial and social mobilities, as well http://www.arabianseminar.org.uk/ as on locations, possibly emerging and alternative places for such changes. The 2011 Annual Meeting of the American theoretical framework will involve Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) methodological reflexivity regarding our 16–19 November 2011, San Francisco, CA preconceived notions when dealing with the The annual meeting is ASOR’s and its issue of gender, especially in this region. It will affiliated research centres’ focal event of the elaborate on the centrality of the migration year. Approximately 750 scholars, students, experiences and their impact on gender and interested members of the public will come transformations. together for three intensive days of academic Papers should be grounded on fieldwork lectures, poster presentations, business studies or original written, oral or audiovisual meetings, evening receptions, and general sources and the proposals should state clearly conversation. For more information, see these sources and the methodology used. The http://www.asor.org/am/index.html. proceedings of this conference will be published in two separate Journals in English The 45th Annual Meeting of the Middle East and French, and will be compiled in a book in Studies Association Arabic. 1-4 December 2011, Marriott Wardman Park All the proposals should be submitted in Hotel, Washington DC English. The working languages of the Each fall, typically the week before conference will be English with a translation Thanksgiving, MESA members gather in a provided into Arabic. Participants should state different U.S. city for the association‘s annual very clearly in the subject of their e-mail under meeting. The meeting features panels and which of the four above themes their proposal special sessions on a variety of topics related to is intended to belong and if they wish to present Middle East studies. It is complemented by in English or Arabic. Abstracts of 300 words meetings of MESA's affiliated groups, an and a short biographical note are to be sent for exciting 4-day film festival, a comprehensive 15th of February 2011 to book exhibit featuring the latest books and [email protected]. The deadline for software in the field, and other informal events. final papers is 10th June 2011. Funds will be The meeting provides an opportunity for available for a selected number of participants. friends and colleagues from a variety of disciplines to gather to share their common The 2011 Seminar for Arabian Studies bond: the study of this important region of the 28–30 July 2011, The British Museum world. The Middle East Studies Association The Seminar is the only international forum calls for submissions from members for its 45th which meets annually for the presentation of annual meeting, December 1-4, 2011, in the latest academic research in the humanities Washington, DC. on the Arabian Peninsula (including archaeology, epigraphy, ethnography, language, history, art etc.) from the earliest

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LSE Kuwait Programme on Development and The Persian Gulf and Pacific Asia: From Globalisation in the Gulf States develops Indifference to Interdependence academic networks between LSE and Gulf 11 May 2011, 4:30–6:00pm in room STC.S75, institutions, and hosts public lectures, (The St Clements Building, LSE LSE Kuwait Lecture Series) a regular seminar Christopher Davidson (Durham University) series as well as five major biennial conferences. The next conference will take For more information contact Ian Sinclair on: place in March 2011 in Kuwait City and focus [email protected]. on 'The Transformation of the Gulf States: Economy, Culture and Society.

The next lectures in the Lecture Series are as follows: Shiism in Saudi Arabia 16 March, 2011, 4:30–6:00pm in room Graham Wallas Room, 5th Floor, Old Building, LSE Toby Mathiesen (SOAS)

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BOOK REVIEWS The Persian Gulf in History twentieth century onwards. Yet only three Lawrence G. Potter, ed. chapters of this book consider this factor, the New York: Palgrave Macmillan/St Martin’s other twelve being concerned with the pre- Press, 2009. 326 pp. Paperback. 4 tables, 5 20th-century history of the Gulf. The export of maps, 1 fig, Notes, Index. £19.00. ISBN -0-230- hydrocarbons from the Gulf, and the recycling 61282-2. of petrodollars by the rest of the world through the provision of all the accoutrements of THIS SURVEY OF the Persian Gulf from antiquity to the present (the fruit of a Gulf/2000 modern life, can be seen as simply the latest conference in Cyprus in 2004) kicks off with an staples of trade to and through the Gulf. It is the introduction by Lawrence G. Potter which is ramifications of that trade which lies at the very much his appreciation of the salient points heart of this book‘s attempt to make the case in Gulf history rather than a standard summary for it being considered ―a civilizational unit‖, as of the essays to come. He sounds a clarion call Potter puts it. Does it succeed in doing so? for the focus in this volume on ―the unifying The first part of this book deals with ―Gulf factors that have historically led to this region‘s History and Society‖, with some useful distinctiveness and not on divisions that have chapters on the pre-Sasanian and Sasanian arisen with modern statehood‖ (p. 1). Drawing periods, and the rise and fall of various Gulf on Qasimi scholarship, Potter blames the ports, from Basra to Hormuz. There are two British for shattering the ―historical unity‖ of rather nebulous chapters on ethnic identity, one the Gulf (p. 2), though he goes on to admit that of which calls for the realization of an the Khalijis (meaning, rather endearingly, the ―unimagined community‖ of Gulf residents or ―Gulfies‖) did not have ―a common identity‖ Khaliji (p. 148). William O. Beeman believes (p. 12). After all, they were divided between that the reinstatement of the Khaliji to their the northern and southern, or upper and lower, rightful eminence will improve relationships in Gulf, on both littorals; between ―Greater the region and ensure peace. Let us hope he is Bahrain‖ and ―Greater Oman‖, and between the right. The second part of this book explores the ports of Bushehr and Bandar ‗Abbas on the links between the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Persian shore. He suspects that one factor Both M. Redha Bhacker and Abdul Sheriff, in making for a sense of common identity at their respective chapters, take the Braudelian particular periods may have been when either approach of the longue durée, emphasising how Arab shaikhs or Persian governors ruled over the millennia the coastal peoples of the territories on both sides of the Gulf (e.g. when Indian Ocean have had more in common with the Qasimi shaikhs of Ras al-Khaimah and each other than with the inhabitants of their Sharjah possessed Lingeh, or the Persians own hinterlands. Trade, as Patricia Rizzo involved themselves with Bahrain). One makes clear, has provided ―a continuous link suspects that the loss of these territories, often between the Gulf and India over the centuries‖ as a result of British actions, might have (p. 190). In its wake has flowed a steady stream inspired some among the last generation of of migrant workers and mercenary soldiers Gulf Arab and Iranian scholars cited by Potter, from the Subcontinent. It has not been all one to rue the day the British sailed into the Gulf. way, for modern Saudi Arabia has used its oil The major factor making for the large-scale wealth to promote Wahhabi Islam in Pakistan. transformation of the Gulf, namely the revenue The third and final part of this book covers from the exploitation of oil and gas reserves, is the respective roles of the European powers in notably absent from this book, as Potter the Gulf, with strong chapters on the proudly makes clear. This is a peculiar Portuguese and Dutch periods. In order to omission since Potter is aware of the ―Persian restore the Ottoman Turks to their rightful Gulf‘s continued strategic significance … it is a place in the history of the Gulf, Frederick key source of the world‘s energy and was the Anscombe has perhaps overstated it, especially location of a revolution and three major wars at with regard to his criticism of the overly Anglo- the end of the twentieth century. It may well be centric historiography on the Gulf. This does the venue of future conflicts‖ (p. 17). Indeed, show a recognition of the Ottoman role in the and the hydrocarbon factor cannot be neglected Gulf, if only in relation to British interests. It is in any consideration of Gulf history from the those interests which J. E. Petersen addresses in

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his chapter on Britain and the Gulf. With Indian E-book: Moonrise Press, 2010. Available at independence in 1947 British power declined, http://www.moonrisepress.co.uk/archaeology.h though the interests, especially oil and tml. 80 pp. 32 colour photographs. £12.99. communications, remained. How to protect the ISBN 978-0-9539561-2-8 world‘s oil supplies, from the cupidity of the IN LATE 1999, when I was Executive Director larger littoral states and the rapacious appetite of the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological of the Russian bear, became the burning Survey (ADIAS), I visited Qatar to talk to the question following Britain‘s precipitate Qatar Natural History Group, run by Fran withdrawal from the Gulf in 1971. Petersen Gillespie, about the discoveries being made by does not really address this issue, believing that ADIAS on the islands of central and western it was time for the British to leave. Yet the Abu Dhabi. Prominent among the pictures used yawning strategic vacuum left by the British so in my lecture were some of the roughly 300 destabilised the Greater Gulf that it has led to stone hearths we had found, the most common five major wars in the region (if one includes archaeological feature we had identified in the Afghan conflicts) in the subsequent several years of survey work. I said, however, generation. It was not until after the Kuwait that during my own forays to sites in coastal War in 1991, as Gary Sick (the Director of areas of the northern United Arab Emirates, I Gulf/2000) makes clear, that the United States had seen no such hearths. Nor had I noted them reluctantly assumed the former British role of being mentioned in publications of excavations guardian of the maritime security, and therefore undertaken in the northern UAE. This had of the world‘s oil supplies, in the Gulf. puzzled me. This book ends with the second millennium, The next morning, Fran took me to the site which is appropriate insofar as it is a Gulf/2000 of Al-Khor, north of Doha, where a French production. It would have been helpful, team had been excavating a site dated to the however, given the book was published in Kassite period that had been a major production 2009, if Gary Sick or someone else had centre of red-purple dye from the mollusc Thais addressed the post-9/11 period, and US policy savigni. I was, however, more interested to note towards Afghanistan and Iraq. The impact of that, as I later wrote, ―clearly visible on the these wars on the Gulf has been considerable surface of both sites (Khor Ile Nord [AK-1] and and might, with profit, have been assessed in Khor Ile Sud) were typical hearths of the Abu order to round off this study. Dhabi type,‖ going on to note that Dr Robert Overall, there is a good deal of useful Carter, a member of the ADIAS team, would information on the Gulf contained in this book shortly be commencing work at Al-Khor. ―We and for that reason alone it would be a valuable hope,‖ I wrote, ―that his studies may shed addition to any khaliji book shelf. It is further light on our own hearth sites.‖ (ADIAS commendable that the assembled authors Occasional Newsletter, 1999/2000 Season, No. should have made such a concerted effort to 2, p. 4). follow their brief and to try to find unifying This book, edited by Robert Carter and themes in the subjects they have covered in Robert Killick, is the fruit of the Qatar their respective chapters. In doing so, however, Archaeological Project, QAP, which Fran they cannot help but reveal the discordances Gillespie went on to establish, and it does within and between rival cultures in the Gulf, indeed shed that further light. whether they be Iranian, Arab, Sunni–Shi‗a, or The extensive excavations undertaken by Western and Asian. Given these ructions, the QAP team focused on both the northern end which continue to destabilize the Gulf, and of AK-1 and also on AK-2, another site on the which is embodied in the growing dispute over other side of the island, producing definitive its correct geographical name, it is hard to see it evidence of occupation during the Early as ―a civilizational unit‖, despite the best efforts Dilmun (Barbar), Kassite (Middle Dilmun/Late of the editor of this collection. Bronze Age), Sasanian, and Late Islamic Saul Kelly periods. Features excavated included a total of King’s College, London. 15 stone-lined hearths and a larger structure, while a detailed ceramic typology was created Al-Khor Island: Investigating Coastal by Carter, both from excavated ceramics and Exploitation in Bronze Age Qatar from a co-ordinated surface pick-up. Robert Carter and Robert Killick, eds.

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It comes as no surprise to find that there are excavation. This book goes a long way to extensive parallels with the results from remedy that lack, showing that they are able to ADIAS work on Abu Dhabi‘s islands. It should add, very substantially, to our knowledge of be noted, however, that no definitive evidence settlement and resource exploitation in the of a Neolithic presence was identified on Al- lower Gulf over many thousands of years. Khor, in contrast to extensive evidence of Further work is clearly required. occupation at this period in Abu Dhabi, on the Peter Hellyer islands of Sir Bani Yas and Marawah, for example, nor of occupation during the Iron Age The Tylos Period Burials in Bahrain, Volume and the Hellenistic/Parthian periods, most 2: The Hamad Town DS3 and Shakhoura securely identified on Abu Dhabi‘s islands, Cemeteries such as Balghelam and Rufayq, from the C14 Mustafa Ibrahim Salman and Søren Fredslund dating of hearth deposits. Andersen, with contributions by Khaleel Al The excavations at Al-Khor undertaken by Faraj, Naseem Haider, Mohammad Hassan, the QAP team were more extensive than any Abdul Kareem Jassem, Judith Littleton, Abbas carried out by ADIAS on the islands of Abu Ahmed Salman, Abdul Rahman Sobah and Dhabi, with the exception of the Christian Dawod Yusef monastery on Sir Bani Yas, where work has Bahrain: Ministry of Culture & Information, now resumed, and on the Neolithic sites of 2009, in association with Moesgård Museum Dalma and Marawah. Much ADIAS work on and Aarhus University. 196 pp. Colour and b/w other sites, from the periods of occupation photographs, drawings and tables. Footnotes, identified at Al-Khor, has not been fully Bibliography. £30.00. ISBN 978-87-7934-512- published. Fortunately, Carter‘s own work with 6 ADIAS and, in particular, his development of THIS SUMPTUOUSLY produced full-colour the ADIAS ceramic typology, has provided him hardback volume is the companion to Dr Søren with a familiarity with the sites and material. In Andersen‘s volume on The Tylos Period consequence, he is able to note (p. 51): ―We Burials on Bahrain, Vol. 1: The Glass Vessels can conclude that the major occupation and Tableware Pottery (2007), reviewed in horizons on Al-Khor Island are mirrored in the Bulletin 14. Both are a pleasure to use and they islands of Abu Dhabi and moreover occupation are important additions to the literature on late horizons exist there, and, therefore, potentially pre-Islamic burials in eastern Arabia. Many of at Al-Khor, which are not represented in the these have been investigated on Bahrain but ceramic assemblages, particularly during the few have been published in detail. The present Iron Age and Hellenistic/Parthian periods.‖ volume concerns itself with the rescue In his Discussions and Conclusions (Chapter excavation of two clusters of mounds, one in 4), Carter notes that the Al-Khor site provides Hamad Town (11 mounds containing 244 evidence of multi-period occupation that sheds tombs) and the other at Shakhoura (18 mounds valuable light on the life of the coastal containing 563 tombs), with an appendix inhabitants of the southern Gulf over a period tabulating finds from another 101 tombs of around 4,000 years. He goes on to state that excavated within a large mound at Saar. The Al-Khor and the islands of Abu Dhabi are Hamad Town tombs were relatively small, ―parts of one greater region, sharing the same averaging only a metre in height and ecological characteristics and trajectories of occasionally reusing older Bronzer Age tumuli human habitation‖ (p. 51). – a phenomenon also noted at A‗ali and near That is now abundantly clear. That ―greater Malikiyah – and they presumably belonged to region‖ may, indeed, extend considerably villagers living on the western part of the island farther north, for in late 2000, I and Simon (although these sites have not been located). By Aspinall, also of ADIAS, found stone hearths contrast, the mounds at Shakhoura were of the ―Abu Dhabi type‖ on some of the Hawar significantly larger and were part of a more islands, between Qatar and Bahrain, that extensive cemetery previously investigated by remain, as far as I know, unexcavated. amateur, French and Belgian archaeologists. Coastal settlements, often perhaps seasonal, Tomb dimensions are tabulated along with a of the type found at Al-Khor and on the Abu summary of their contents and physical Dhabi islands have, sadly, attracted little anthropological analyses, and there are attention in terms of detailed study and numerous photographs and general mound

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plans. There is little comparative analysis, (eggs and chicken seem to occur only in Tylos either of earlier excavations on Bahrain period burials on Bahrain). Single (whether published or unpublished) or from the (unidentified) coins are also reported and were wider region (such as ed-Dur or ‗Ain Jawan), presumably interred as good-wish offerings to but the volume concludes with chapters ease the journey of the deceased to the afterlife exploring the chronological development and (and are part of a widespread phenomenon at social hierarchy of the tombs. this period from Syro-Palestine to The burials are dated by the associated Afghanistan). One mound at Shakhoura glassware and pottery between the 2nd century contained two wooden coffins identified as BC and 6th century AD. Personal adornments, Sissoo tree or Pakistani rosewood (Dalbergia ranging from beaded necklaces (of mixed sissoo), which were probably imported as materials judging by the photographs) and planks and then constructed locally; wooden copper alloy or gold earrings to bracelets (both coffins were also noted in tombs at Hamad metal and beaded) and copper alloy and silver Town where three others were recorded as finger rings, were relatively common and having been simply wrapped in mats. Some suggest that many of the dead were buried tombs contained more than one interment and clothed; the unidentified remains of cloth were in some cases the older remains were very found in several tombs. Metal spindles with carefully stacked at one end: these must surely small lathe-turned bone whorls (described as reflect family reuse and the disposition of the ―pin heads‖) were also found and may have remains illustrated in Tomb 12 in Mound 81 been interred as a symbolic gesture, much as again suggests that the later interment was these were commonly depicted on 1st- to 2nd- placed in a coffin which has totally century AD funerary reliefs of Palmyrene ladies disintegrated. of the household. Other finds include bitumen- Post-funerary rituals commemorating the lined palm-frond baskets (a feature of Bahrain deceased were evident in several tombs at burials since the Dilmun period), wooden boxes Shakhoura. These ranged from the placing of (occasionally decorated with bone inlays), upturned ash-filled bowls on top of or outside lathe-turned cylindrical containers with many of the tombs (the same practice was elaborate knobbed lids, bone dolls, painted noted in the unpublished Australian plaster statuettes (also known from Janussan) excavations of Tylos-period mounds at Saar), and clay figurines. Weapons are scarce to the addition of a fireplace in front of a cluster although a single-edged curved iron knife was of tombstones outside another. A pottery found in a grave at Shakhoura. A number of the incense-burner found outside yet another tomb burials were also accompanied by seashells: the hints at the offering of imported fragrance and illustrations show that some were cowries underlines the impression given by the size of (which were probably worn) but others were the mounds that this was originally the main oyster shells and were perhaps used as cosmetic high-status cemetery of Bahrain at this period. palettes. Some of these objects are illustrated This review gives a flavour of the Tylos and tabulated although there is no detailed period tombs from Bahrain. There is much study of these as yet and their publication here more that can be extrapolated from these is mainly based on the excavation records and reports based simply on the data presented, and photographs rather than direct study. The hopefully this volume will create a model for addition of in situ photographs of the richer further reports on the rescue excavations by the tombs is therefore particularly useful as they Bahrainis. clarify some details: ―seashells‖ described in St John Simpson some of the tables prove to be oyster shells, perhaps used as cosmetic containers; a dark Qal‘at al-Bahrain: A Trading and Military greenish whetstone in Hamad Town Mound 73 Outpost, 3rd millennium BC–17th century AD (Tomb 1) explains the reference to a ―steatite Monique Kervran, Fredrik Hiebert and Axelle pin-head‖; and a calcite ―beehive-shaped‖ Rougeulle, eds. alabastron (described as a bowl) from Hamad Turnhout: Brepols, 2005. 426 pp. Large-format Town Mound 73 (Tomb 53) is a South Arabian paperback. 136 b/w plates and 172 line import. drawings. Bibliography .€91.00. ISBN 978-2- Some of the burials were accompanied by 503-99107-8 food offerings of dates, eggs, chicken and meat

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THIS MONOGRAPH describes the excavations another contained a set of rotary querns, large directed by Kervran between 1977 and 1988 at quantities of pottery and animal bone were the Islamic shore fort and adjacent 15th-/16th- found in other contexts, including the basement century Hormuzi-Portuguese fortress at Qal‗at of the east tower (along with ten long iron al-Bahrain. These began with a re-investigation beam nails with convex heads), and as many as of the fort discovered unexpectedly by the 35 coins were found in the lowest deposits over Danish mission in 1955 and initially dated to the paved floor of one of the half-towers the 10th century (later revised to the 12th–13th marking the entrance on the west side. centuries), and ended with its complete In 1978 the Danish expedition returned to clearance. From the outset the French Bahrain and cut back part of their earlier North excavators were convinced that the architecture City Wall trench which was situated due south could not be of this date, refer to it as the Tylos of the Islamic fort. Remains of a deep stone- fort and excavated several tiny soundings inside lined trench truncating the early archaeological and outside the fort in an effort to prove a pre- deposits was initially hailed as evidence of a Islamic date of construction. The results of Bronze Age harbour wall, but the sections soon these can and have been challenged: medieval showed that this construction was very late in material was found in some primary contexts the sequence at the site and lined up with a whereas in others the earlier pottery may protruding bastion belonging to the Hormuzi- represent redeposited floor make-up; other Portuguese fort, which was surrounded by a stratigraphic connections are ambiguous in plastered moat. Suspicions that these were section and the exact nature and quantity of connected and that the trench was designed to pottery diagnostics from each are unquantified. flood the moat were tested by Kervran‘s Kervran controversially attributes expedition. The published conclusion is that it construction of the fort to a 3rd-to-5th-century was instead a dry moat for the smaller Islamic AD Sasanian phase of the Tylos period but with fort, although it does connect with the sea and it unconvincing evidence, and almost all of the does not respect the firing lines of the fort. illustrated pottery instead has good parallels Moreover, the primary fills were apparently not dating no later than the 1st–2nd century (as reached. demonstrated in an earlier review by Højlund). Research into the inlet raised questions over The excavator maintains that the fort was then the date and function of a small square tower abandoned until the mid-13th century when it lying two kilometres offshore and at the was reused without any significant architectural junction of the inlet with the edge of the coastal change as a warehouse under the Salghurid shelf. The structure is presented in this volume rulers of Fars: this claim is hard to swallow as but its date remains unclear. A low-tide visit on there is no sign of the defences either being 19 January 1981 resulted in the chance slighted or robbed and such a solid structure discovery nearby of a unique copper-coated would certainly have attracted reoccupation. wooden plaque showing the standing figure of The material belonging to the medieval phase Asclepius, dating to the Tylos period, and was often in situ but is selectively presented. It doubtless freshly dislodged from underwater includes 70 coins (mixed Chinese and sediment: the object has since disintegrated but Salgharid issues from Fars), 100 pieces of deserves proper publication as it has so far only Chinese porcelain, and a small sample of the received an illustration in Peter Vine‘s guide to glazed and unglazed pottery which includes the Bahrain National Museum (p. 63). Iranian moulded juglets and Indian cooking A late/post-medieval settlement developed pots. It is a pity that there is not a more detailed to the south of the shore fort, although which quantified study of this short-lived assemblage came first is not certain. This occupation has as there are few others of this period from the already been independently published by the region. There are no references to other finds Danish team and more has been cleared in the but it would be very odd if there were no small subsequent French excavations directed by P. finds (whether military or commercial) or Lombard. Presented here is part of a bath-house chlorite cooking pots, and in 1978 a room-full discovered unexpectedly beneath the Hormuzi of fist-sized sling-stones, some covered in fortress and partly levelled by it, plus an asphalt, was excavated next to the north wall interesting Muslim cemetery which extended (curiously not discussed in this report). Eight over the abandoned Islamic fort (and into the rooms were designed as date-syrup processors, area excavated by the Danes in 1978). Among

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the associated finds were a prayer-stone placed another construction with a semi-circular tower beneath the shoulder of a woman interred in a was exposed facing the shore fort on the west coffin (the latter is a most unusual practice in side (and along the property line of private Islam); another burial consisted of a child gardens behind), and excavations indicated that interred in a reused teak box, and several the two were connected by an abutting cross- stepped plaster cenotaphs with Qur‘anic wall with earthen floors behind. This secondary inscriptions were found. Planned physical phase would merit further investigation. anthropological study of the human remains While indebted to Kervran and her team for was ruined by unsupervised opening of the their kind support when I participated in these crates at customs; nevertheless, both genders excavations as a young volunteer, this volume were represented and the hair of some was still comes as a slight disappointment and very well preserved when they were first anticlimax. The title promises more than it exposed. delivers: the volume resembles a collection of The large fortress at the Qal‗at al-Bahrain essays with a series of edited trench summaries itself was also investigated by Kervran‘s team rather than a single integrated archaeological prior to its subsequent excavation and report. Although it contains detail about restoration by the Ministry of Information, and different aspects about life on Bahrain in the shown to have three phases of construction. late and post-medieval periods, it whets rather The first pre-dates a Portuguese assault in 1521 than satisfies the appetite and a more detailed and probably belongs to the Hormuzi period of analysis of these periods at the Qal‗at al- the late 15th or early 16th century. It was later Bahrain is overdue. renovated by the local governor, Badr al-Din, St John Simpson and withstood separate Portuguese and Turkish . assaults; in 1561 it was finally redesigned A Landscape of Pilgrimage and Trade in according to Western military principles and Wadi Masila, Yemen: Al-Qisha and Qabr Hud projecting corner bastions afforded covering in the Islamic period fire in all directions. The fortress was captured Lynne S. Newton by the Safavids in 1602/03 but later fell into Oxford: Archaeopress, 2009. BAR disuse as a fortress. This section of the report is International Series 1899. Iv + 186 pp. 22 b/w one of the most interesting and it would be photographs. 56 tables, figures, plans and good to see a comparative analysis of this with maps. Appendices, Bibliography. £34.00. ISBN other fortifications of this period. A selection of 978-1-4073-0381-9 the associated pottery is presented and was THIS WORK CENTRES on an archaeological mostly locally produced although there were excavation in al-Qisha, a small town/village some Indian cooking-pots. A much larger body located at the mouth of Wadi Masila, on the of finds was made in the subsequent Bahraini South Arabian coast east of Hadramaut, in work but this has not been analysed. Mahra country. The Wadi Hadramaut, the big Kervran‘s work at the Qal‗at al-Bahrain valley and drainage system that gave its name took place during a period of intensive to the region (both the ancient kingdom that archaeological excavations and restoration of flourished here for almost 1,500 years until the some monuments across the island. As an 4th century AD, encompassing Hadramaut extension of their work, the French team proper, Mahra, and Dhofar, and the famous investigated the smaller Hormuzi fort at Arad landscape of Islamic learning) first runs on Muharraq island and discovered the razed underground west–east; then, at Qabr Hud, it remains of a proteichisma (outer wall); stamped turns south and becomes a perennial stream. and ―honeycomb‖ pottery found infilling a well There can be no doubt that Qabr Hud, southern was described as Sasanian but is actually 8th- Arabia‘s most important pilgrimage centre, or early 9th-century, and indicates the existence emerged at this precise location as an answer to of early Islamic occupation in the vicinity. In the supernatural blessing of a stream seemingly 1978 the Bahrainis excavated part of the small flowing out from nothing. square fort at Abu Maher which overlooked the Al-Qisha is not itself situated on the coast, strait separating Muharraq from the main island but about 10 km inland. The author is certainly (and which is marked as the ―Quarantine right that this must be due to the opportunity tower‖ on a Portuguese drawing of ca. 1635). thus afforded to make use of the well-watered At the same time, back at the Qal‗at al-Bahrain, rich alluvial soil, and to the possibility of

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controlling the most viable route between the groups in the region is complicated and coast and Qabr Hud (and, beyond it, into the controversial, and the author‘s discussion inner Hadramaut). This latter observation is should be read with some caution. The Semitic confirmed by the presence in al-Qisha of a presence here must however be quite old: branch of the well-known Hadrami shaykhly Mahri and its related modern languages still family of Ba-‗Abbad, the ―owners‖ of the site retain all 29 phonemes of Protosemitic (exactly of Qabr Hud. like Sabaic etc.), considerably more than does The author then discusses the origin of the Akkadian. It should also be noted that Mahri name ―Hadramaut‖. She rightly dismisses the and its cognates on the one hand, and the Arab popular etymology of ―Presence of Ancient South Arabian languages on the other, Death‖. Scholarly opinion today is indeed are not filiated, as had been assumed in the agreed that Hadramut (as it should be past. pronounced, reflecting other Mahra toponyms) Following Serjeant‘s classic analysis, the is a word originating in southern Arabian author draws a parallel between the South languages. It is probable that it was already Arabian sacred enclave, hauta, and the Makkan vocalized that way in antiquity. haram, and between the pilgrimages to Qabr The name Wadi Masila for the lower course Hud and Makkah. The trade aspect should of Wadi Hadramaut is to be connected with the however not be overvalued: in the case of Qabr Arabic sayl, as stated by the author. There is Hud, it is very clear that a natural phenomenon however no need to stress the occasional here engendered religion, and that it was later torrential floods in the Wadi (i.e. the meaning on integrated into Islam. The Qur‘an has an of sayl in modern Yemeni parlance): in Sabaic, entire Sura (no. 11) on Hud. masil denoted wadi bed in general. The book was produced for an academic The author‘s excavation has led to a environment, and the author therefore had to chronology of occupation (al-Qisha seems to offer sacrifices to current fashions in have been inhabited since the 9th century AD), anthropology, rampant everywhere, but and to an assemblage of ceramics covering the particularly in the USA. It makes no sense to last 1,200 years or so. It comprises both local discuss the phenomenon of ―pilgrimage‖ on a wares, and – interestingly – Chinese, cross-religious and even worldwide basis. What Vietnamese, Indian and Persian imports. In belongs together is pilgrimage in Arabia, both addition, fragments of glass bracelets and a few before and after Islam. The same remark would beads were found. Her work is thus a very apply to the chapter addressing the question of valuable addition to our knowledge of the what constitutes Islamic archaeology. It does southern Yemeni coast: it complements have a considerable history of its own – suffice Serjeant‘s pioneering work, Vogt‘s survey it to mention Samarra‘, Rusafa, Mshatta, (mainly focused on the plateau of the interior), ‗Amman, ‗Anjar, Madinat al-Zahra, Soviet and above all the French excavations, directed Central Asia, etc. by C. Hardy-Guilbert. However, much future The discussion and interpretation of Qabr work will be needed to enable a fuller picture Hud, the site and its pilgrimage, do not go of the region and its trade contacts to emerge, beyond a summary of previous studies. In the both overseas and towards the interior. otherwise very conspicuous bibliography, In her excavation, the author found a several specific studies on Qabr Hud are surprising number of baking ovens, tannur. The missing: Serjeant‘s 1964 paper in Bustan; word is an Arabic loanword from Akkadian, Knysh‘s in Freitag and Clarence-Smith, 1997; where the origin of the object itself must also this reviewer‘s 1985 presentation of new be sought. In Yemen, every household had a material on the pre-Islamic character of the site; tannur, sometimes adjacent to the house, more de Keroualin and Schwarz in QSA 1995, with often inside. fine photographs; and the 1997 article by I will now come to some of the more Coussonet and Mermier. In his pioneering 1954 general questions raised by the author. She study, Serjeant has dealt extensively with the discusses the ―Iron Age‖ (a term not normally notion of bringing the prophet ―a bride‖. One used in Yemeni archaeology) trade routes in the would have wished to see this enigmatic text region, and the presence of Mahri-speaking discussed. Hundhammer‘s Ziyara to Qabr Hud people and of Arabs, particularly the tribe of came out after the book here reviewed. Kinda. The establishment of these various

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The author speaks gratefully of her main from its mountain strongholds around Shahara informant in al-Qisha, a member of the Ba- and later Sana‘a. According to Um, it was the ‗Abbad family. She is certainly right in Qasimis who organised the central coffee affirming that the Ba-‗Abbads, through their emporium at Bayt al-Faqih, where traders establishment in al-Qisha, connected ―their‖ purchased the bean by the bale and hauled it to shrine with the coast, making this connection the ports of Tihama – al-Luhayya, Hodeida and both visible and profitable. The Shaikh showed Mocha. Mocha soon became the favoured her a document in his possession, issued by a market for European and Indian traders, Mahri Sultan in 1155 H/AD 1742, which affirms whereas she notes the Arab network preferred the respect (this is incidentally a legal term) due ports further north, closer to Jidda. to the Ba-‗Abbad mashayikh. The document, Um, an architectural historian, focuses on reproduced in the book, is of great interest for how trade shaped Mocha‘s urban landscape at any future social history of the region. Sadly, the very moment that it attracted an energetic the translation is incorrect: al-malik, in this community of European merchants, who settled context, does not mean ―king‖; it is a title, in amongst the well-established Banyan meaning ―Lord‖. Also, according to the Arabic population who were working the Indian Ocean text, the Sultan who issued it was not Sultan spice trade. She emphasises how buoyant Tau‗ari, but his son, ‗Ali. coffee revenues gave rise to an elite of Werner Daum administrators appointed by the Qasimi imams to run the trade and the town. These privileged The Merchant Houses of Mocha: Trade and highlanders sought to leave their mark with Architecture in an Indian Ocean Port buildings and endowments. So did wealthy Nancy Um merchants and ship-owners, whose stories Washington: University of Washington Press, show how they too transformed the town. We 2009. Hardback/paperback. 272 pp. 46 learn how the urban map of Mocha acquired illlustrations, 5 maps. Notes, Bibliography, new monuments, suqs and thoroughfares, Index. Hb $75.00; Pb $30.00. ISBN Hb 978-0- depots, administrative headquarters, open 295989-10-5; Pb 978-0-295989-11-2 spaces, parade grounds, cemeteries, gates and minority enclaves outside the city walls. Um THE PREMISE OF this work is that in the early modern period Mocha grew up and developed asserts that Mocha‘s marriage of trade and architecturally as it did due to its singular architecture found its signature expression in means of existence – trade. The author‘s the city‘s merchant houses, which she research focuses on the mid-17th to the mid- reconstructs in lively detail. Here the 18th century. But she begins her story of boundaries between public and private, Mocha in the early 15th century when it was a mercantile and residential, were fluid. The small village on the southern Tihama littoral. It buildings and their compounds functioned as was here that the Sufi teacher, Shaykh al- hybrid spaces adapted for their dual use. When the heyday of Mocha coffee waned, these Shadhili, lived and died in AD 1424 and became the patron saint of the town. Legend has it that houses and the town fell into disuse. Mocha al-Shadhili introduced the world to coffee and had thrived on trade and it perished when the that because of him Mocha grew to become the trade went elsewhere. By the mid-20th century eponymous port of this irresistible beverage by the city had largely fallen into ruin. the early 17th century. Um explains that the Brilliant though it is, there are certain Ottomans who ruled Yemen from 1539 saw the difficulties with the work. For example, while potential of the port as Aden was by then in arguing, rightly, that Mocha is an exception to steep decline. Mocha became the Turks‘ the rules defined in the modern field of gateway to Yemen. It was fortified and architectural art history of Arab/Islamic urban developed at the very time that English and architecture, and preferring to place it within an Dutch entrepreneurs arrived to investigate the emerging sub-specialism of port city studies, coffee trade as well as other Indian Ocean she paradoxically resists fitting it into the spices. In 1635 the Ottomans were expelled and rubrics of Swahili or Red Sea or Indian Ocean forced to retreat up the Red Sea as far as the styles, despite many parallels which she Hijaz. acknowledges as salient points of comparison. Power in Yemen passed to the Qasimi She prefers to contrast Mocha to its regional imams, a Zaydi dynasty (1598–1816) that ruled prototypes and treat it as something unique.

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Surely there are valid and extensive book. It is broad, unbiased and imaginative. comparisons to be made with Jidda, for She demonstrates mastery of the modern example, or Sawakin (which she does deal scholars – Serjeant, Haykel, Tuscherer, with, albeit briefly), as with Ghulafiqah, Raymond and others. She benefits from the Hodeida and al-Luhayyah. Mocha was never intellectual generosity of Cees Brouwer, expert colonized by a European power unlike most on the Dutch East India Company, and draws other international ports of the period, and this copiously from the daily records kept by the she thinks defined its singular development. In Company‘s resident traders. She has found fact every city is unique and every city owes a interlocutors among the good folk of Mocha debt to its context. Her theories tend to and even an unpublished account of Mocha. overpower the obvious. She has tracked down an astonishing array of Again, does everything have to be filtered contemporary sources, summarized in her through the lens of early modern maritime trade appendices. She mines the world of prints and and Qasimi history? The continuum gets photographs for their practical information. The neglected. Even before the Periplus era, life on Hermann Burchardt photographs from 1909 are the southern Tihama coast was engaged in particularly fascinating. She uses Indian trade, in naval stratagems, in overland scholarship with ease; she is as familiar with pilgrimage stages and royal caravans to and Das Gupta as she is with Goitein. And in all from the inland power centres of the day – this work, just one typographical error was Sawa or Ausan or Ta‗izz or Jibla or Aden, and, spotted. farther away, Ethiopia, Persia and India. The One does regret she has not been able to tribes of the hinterland maintained social delve into Turkish-language documents for the control no matter who ruled, and Mawza it Ottoman periods, and that her sources for must be said was the portal to the interior, not glosses of Arabic terms (sandal with sad means the seasonal roadstead on the coast where ―boat‖?) are not rigorously cited. An Mocha flowered briefly and always inadequate sketch map accompanies her precariously due to fetid climate, lack of fresh detailed reconstruction of the city plan. water and shifting anchorages on an exposed Judicious editing would have removed shore. The fact that local saints were venerated, repetitious passages. Lastly, poor syntax does a that visitors were respected and minorities disservice to the author‘s acumen. allowed protection, that governors paraded with But these are cavils. The Merchant Houses their drums, that daily markets faced inland, of Mocha is an absorbing book. A short review that mosques were restored to the greater glory hardly affords scope for a proper discussion of the elite, and that business and family life and it deserves a fuller examination. At its best intersected discretely in the same spaces, when grounded in common sense, it is multi- always were and still are part and parcel of life layered and innovative. Nancy Um should be as usual on the Tihama. strongly encouraged to pursue her gifted Obviously Um wants to tell us a huge insights into trade and architecture at the amount about the early modern city that fulcrum between Europe and India that is fascinates her. This is entirely welcome. But it Arabia. is a pity that an intellectual framework to Francine Stone ―explain‖ the development of Mocha at times overburdens her enthralling material. When she The Travels of Ibn Al-Tayyib: The Forgotten strays from practical observations her Journey of an Eighteenth Century Traveller methodology can ensnare her in such waffle as: to the Hijaz ―Urban structures and landmarks served as Tr., ed. and comm.. El Mustapha Lahlali, Salah mediating built elements and spatial tools of Al-Dihan and Wafa Abu Hatab. translation.‖ That said, anyone who longs to London: Tauris Academic Studies, 2010. x know more about Mocha in its brief heyday +234 pp. Hardback, jacketed. Notes, Index. should read Um‘s book. Particularly £56.50. ISBN 978-1-84885-006-4. stimulating is her portrayal of the Banyan, THIS PILGRIM NARRATIVE forms a hitherto Somali and Jewish communities – where they unpublished addition to the corpus of Maghribi lived, worked and worshipped and how they rihlas or accounts of travel to the Muslim holy survived in an alien milieu. cities, a genre dating back to the time of Ibn Um‘s research is the core strength of this Jubayr in the 12th century AD and continued

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by such distinguished exponents as Al-‗Abdari founder of the Najdi reform movement, Shaikh (13th century), Ibn Battuta (14th) and Abu Muhammad b. ‗Abd al-Wahhab (1704–92), Salim Al-‗Ayyashi (17th). Hence its who studied at the feet of Abdullah Ibn Saif publication inevitably invites comparisons and and Muhammad Hayah Al-Sindi, and who will arouse eager expectation in connoisseurs of would play a determining role in the imminent the genre. emergence of the First Saudi State (1744– Ibn Al-Tayyib (1698–1756) was born in Fez 1818). Tantalizingly, there is no mention of and educated at the feet of some of Morocco‘s these scholars. However, Ibn Al-Tayyib was most prominent scholars. He was widely there for only three days, and in any case he respected in his own lifetime, though most of would not have mixed in Hanbali circles. his writings, on jurisprudence, Hadith and Ibn Al-Tayyib‘s story in general suffers grammar, have remained in manuscript form, from his notes having been stolen with his like the present work. An adherent of the baggage on the return journey through Midian, Maliki school of Sunni Islam, he had strong so that it relies on his later recollections. These Sufi leanings. Like many learned Muslims, he are somewhat unevenly set down, with gaps rated travel highly. Depending on the supplied by reference to previous rihlas, traveller‘s means and motives, it was mostly especially Al-‗Ayyashi‘s. His narrative either obligatory, as in the case of the Hajj, or structure is in places slapdash. For example, at least desirable, rather than forbidden. On having related his route to Mecca once, he later balance it was good for you, as he is at pains to lists the itinerary all over again using argue in the opening pages of this rihla, and he information drawn from Al-‗Ayyashi (pp. 92– himself lived a largely peripatetic life, residing 9). His account of his overland journey from in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, and visiting the Nile to Yanbu‗ in the Hijaz is very Baghdad and Constantinople. In 1730, not long condensed and yields little of interest until he after the Hajj recorded in this book, the young reaches Yanbu‗ al-Nakhl (p. 67), which is Ibn Al-Tayyib set out again from Morocco for vividly described. The journey from Makkah to the Hijaz, and he would spend his latter years in Madinah gets similarly perfunctory treatment, Madinah, where he made a name as a teacher. as does the return from Madinah to Egypt, by The book is in two halves. The first is the the same route from Yanbu‗. The author, rather translation of Ibn Al-Tayyib‘s original than giving us the evidence of his own eyes, is manuscript in the library of Leipzig University prone to quoting previous authorities such as narrating his journey in 1726/27. The second is Samhudi and Bakri on the places he passes the editors‘ four-chapter Commentary covering through, an occasionally irritating habit of the other rihla writers; social and political learned Muslim travellers. conditions in Morocco and the Hijaz at the More serious for the reader are deficiencies time; Ibn Al-Tayyib‘s life, intellectual in presentation. The language is often clumsy contemporaries and influences; his numerous and repetitive, apparently lacking the discipline works and literary style; and his route and other of a native English-speaking editor to rectify experiences along the way. lapses of style and idiom and to tighten up the Highlights of Ibn al-Tayyib‘s travelogue structure and argument of the editors‘ include his description of the kiswa and contributions. To take just two examples, preparation of the mahmal in Cairo, and his ―highly rankwell-wishers‖ appear on p. 24, and account of the pilgrim route in the Hijaz on p. 37 ―grounding‖ is used to mean between Yanbu‗ and Makkah, via Badr, ―grinding‖. On p. 62 there is a lacuna in Ibn al- Rabigh, Khulais and ‗Usfan. His euphoria on Tayyib‘s text, the missing twenty-six words of reaching Makkah is touchingly recounted, and which pop up by happy chance in the same he describes the Ka‗bah in detail. Being Sufi he passage quoted on p. 215. was keen to visit religious sites, such as the The book is further marred by house held to be the Prophet‘s birthplace in inconsistencies in transliteration so numerous Makkah, and the Baqi‗ Cemetery, Mount Uhud that it comes as little surprise to find and Hamza‘s tomb outside Madinah. Muhammad spelt two different ways in the Curiously, he gives little account of the same sentence (p. 30). Proper names include Prophet‘s Mosque or of other sites inside full diacritics in some instances and lack them Madinah. He was in the city either during or in others; capitalisation is haphazard. Misprints very shortly after the sojourn there of the and solecisms abound. On p. 49 we have

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―Kendia Island‖ for Crete; on p. 61 and The Travel Chronicles of Mrs J. Theodore elsewhere ―cited‖ for citadel; on p. 135 Bent. Volume III: Southern Arabia and ―Patlaymolus‖ for Ptolemy; and on p. 139 Persia. ―Cayzab‖ for ‗Aydhab. They provide Mabel Bent‘s diaries of 1893–1898, from the occasional light relief, like Greek taverna archive of the Joint Library of the Hellenic and menus of yore, as when our pilgrim resorts to Roman Societies. the mystifying ―beer mountain‖ near Mina Edited and with additional material by Gerald during the Hajj rites (p. 80). As no miraculous, Brisch if illicit, thirst-quenching properties are London: Archaeopress 3rdguides, 2010. ascribed to this parched outcrop, we must Paperback. xxxi +425 pp. 8 maps and 47 assume that ―bare‖ is meant. illustrations. Notes and Bibliography. £29.50. Nor do the endnotes, numbered 1–368 and ISBN: 9781905739134 bafflingly entitled ―Bibliography‖, relate to the TOGETHER WITH Lady Anne Blunt, the English note indicators in the text and chapters. The aristocrat who braved northern Najd, and the sole exception is the single indicator in the French archaeologist Jane Dieulafoy, whose editors‘ Introduction, which does correspond to name will for ever be associated with Persia endnote 1. But in the translation of the text, and the discovery of Darius‘s palace at Susa, none of the indicators (1–11, and 14 on p. 127) Mabel Bent belongs to a highly select club of has a corresponding endnote. The vexed reader intrepid women traveller-explorers of the late is then left to divine as best he can how 19th century. Of the three, Mabel Bent is indicators 1–366 in the four Commentary perhaps the least known; hence the publication chapters relate to notes 2–368 at the end, where of her travel notebooks is particularly welcome. note 207 is missing altogether. There is an This new publication by Archaeopress index, but a feeble one. 3rdguides of Mabel Bent‘s personal notebooks, Overall, a promising read has been edited by Gerald Brisch, follows Vol. I, World undermined by editorial negligence. Scholars Enough, and Time (2006). That, on Greece and will feel the need of a more coherent and the Levantine littoral, was devoted to the first stylistically improved edition, preferably notable excursion by James Theodore Bent, an including the Arabic original either in facsimile Oxford-educated archaeologist, historian and or in transcribed form. explorer, and his young wife, Mabel Virginia Ibn Al-Tayyib‘s diary of his journey home Anna Hall-Dare, in 1882–84. Vol. II, Make our from Cairo, through North Africa to Morocco, Sun Stand Still, on Egypt and Africa, is yet to gives us a flavour of how he might have written appear. about his experiences up to that point had his Vol. III of the Mabel Bent Chronicles is notes not been lost: a fairly detailed eye- divided into four main parts: Bahrain and witness diary focusing on the everyday Persia for the period December 1888–June practicalities and vicissitudes of 18th-century 1889; Hadramawt, December 1893–March Muslim travel. Throughout the book, he 1894; Dhofar, November 1894–February 1895; piously expresses the triumph of faith and hope and Socotra and East of Aden, November over the indignities and difficulties of 1896–April 1897. This last journey ended performing the Hajj in the pre-modern era, tragically: Theodore Bent expired four days which is common to most Hajj accounts and after their return to England, struck down by goes back to the great Ibn Jubayr himself. complications from malaria. These Some of his advice will appeal to Arabian transcriptions of his wife‘s personal travel travellers of the old school but thankfully can diaries, here published in full for the first time, be disregarded by visitors to the region today: were used by her to complete Theodore‘s ―Camel men, especially the ones in the Hijaz, writings on Southern Arabia, which she are known for their tyranny and injustice. They published in 1900. are easily irritated. If someone feels the camel Besides the text itself, Gerald Brisch‘s men are about to beat him he should beat them important editorial contribution sheds much first.‖ illumination. The transcription of the William Facey Chronicles is accompanied by a general presentation and each major phase is preceded by a rich introduction. The numerous footnotes and endnotes are particularly useful. In

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addition, the Chronicles are followed by three At the end of 1896, the inseparable duo paid a unpublished letters to Mabel‘s family; a final visit to the country, making a two-month bibliography, archival sources and a list of visit to the island of Socotra before returning to websites; a very useful listing of Theodore Aden. Bent‘s articles and papers; and a section Mabel Bent chronicles their journeys day by entitled ―Sidetracks‖ which explores the day, in every tiny detail. As Gerald Brisch couple‘s difficulties with officialdom and their himself admits, her chronicles, although of relationship with the Royal Botanic Garden, surpassing interest, are far from great travel Kew, and takes a fresh look at the controversy literature: ―Her pages, rather, are on-the-spot that arose later over their archaeological finds. recollections of uncomfortable days spent The book ends with two indexes (place names trekking, exploring, digging, haggling, arguing and personal names) and a glossary. Finally, with minor officials; they contain snatches of the publication is nicely completed by drawings gossip, snobbishness, likes and dislikes, and maps selected from Theodore‘s barking dogs, vicissitudes, poverty and illness; publications, and by Mabel‘s own photographs. they are souvenirs of costumes, music, dancing She, like her ―rival‖, Jane Dieulafoy, assumed and meals. Great travel literature? No. But the role of expedition photographer. highly enjoyable travel writing – accounts of In 1889, having spent a number of years wonderful endurance and a reflection of exploring Asia Minor, the Bents turned their courage, attitude, apogee of empire, and spirit – attention briefly to Bahrain, and then rounded certainly.‖ (p. xxii). True indeed. And, thanks off their expedition with a long journey through to Mr Brisch, we also have the political, Persia from Bushire to Tabriz. On Bahrain, diplomatic and scientific context of each where the British Capt. E. L. Durand had journey, and how they were received in the undertaken tentative explorations among the press and by the critics, notably David George burial mounds of ‗Ali, Theodore, speculating Hogarth on the publication of Southern Arabia. that the island might be the original home of Thus constituted, this book is a valuable the Phoenicians, began his own excavations. It document on early research in Arabia. was the Bents‘ first contact with Arabia. Nicole Chevalier It was not until 1893, after their expeditions to South Africa (where in 1891 they Kuwait and the Sea. A Brief Social and investigated the ruins of Great Zimbabwe in Economic History Mashonaland) and to north-east Ethiopia Yacoub Yusuf Al-Hijji (where in 1893 they visited the ruins of Axum), London: Arabian Publishing, 2010. xxiv + 200 that they made plans to visit Mukalla and the pp. Hardback, jacketed. 3 maps, 43 b/w interior of Hadramawt. Theodore was photographs and illustrations. Footnotes, convinced that in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia he Appendices, Glossary, Bibliography, Index. had found the remains of a Sabaean civilization £30.00. ISBN: 978-0-9558894-4-8 which had originated in Southern Arabia. In her THE 19TH- AND 20TH-CENTURY maritime notebooks, Mabel duly chronicled their travels cultures of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula in Hadramawt, a land she was the first have probably come to the attention of most of European woman to visit. the readers of this Bulletin as a result of Alan Despite the reluctance of the Foreign Office, Villiers‘s description of his voyage on a but with the support of the Director of the Kuwaiti boum in 1939 (Sons of Sindbad, 1940 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the President and 2006). The same account was one of the of the Royal Geographical Society, the Bents factors that influenced Yacoub Yusuf Al-Hijji arrived in Aden in December 1893. From then to undertake his ongoing study of Kuwaiti until Theodore‘s death, the couple underwent maritime culture. In 2001 Al-Hijji published his considerable difficulties and dangers in visiting excellent account of the Kuwaiti tradition of the Hadramaut region and the Dhofar coast. dhow building, The Art of Dhow Building in Here they came upon ruins which Theodore Kuwait. The volume under review expands identified with Abyssapolis, the centre of the upon this theme by offering a wider account of frankincense trade, and studied the ancient Kuwaiti maritime activity since the modern history of the country and its physical features, founding of the Amirate. This is principally collecting archaeological evidence and focused on the first half of the 20th century, inscriptions, artefacts and botanical specimens. when this activity was arguably at its zenith.

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Setting out to provide a compact and general The volume is well illustrated with a wide overview of all the maritime aspects of Kuwait, selection of images in addition to maps the book achieves its aim in a succinct and providing geographical context to Kuwait, pearl cohesive fashion. Making passing reference to diving and the long-distance sailing routes of the early history of Kuwait prior to its modern the Indian Ocean. It should be noted that founding, it discusses its emergence as a though the publication under review is an maritime nation, highlighting the undoubted English translation from the Arabic original, potential of the area to inform us of the Gulf‘s nothing appears to have been lost in terms of prehistoric period. The following chapters then coherence and the translated text reads in an address dhow construction, pearl diving, long- easy and engaging manner. A minor gripe is the and short-distance trade, lighterage, the tendency of a few of the footnotes to be on a transport and provision of water, rock breaking, page before or after their reference, which can and fishing. Space is also found for chapters on entail some unnecessary page flicking. songs of the sea, the desert trade of Kuwait and The book carries the subtitle A Brief Social the impact of oil on Kuwait‘s maritime and Economic History, and while the main text economy. The latter is of particular pertinence is only 134 pages Al-Hijji‘s work is obviously to the overall theme of the book. Four underpinned by extensive study and draws appendices provide further context to the upon numerous personal interviews as well as account by including laws relating to pearling historical documents. Within the main narrative and long-distance trade. The book is rounded and the hugely informative appendices and off with a glossary and a bibliography of glossary, the author provides much of the Arabic and English sources as well as those broader context that is often absent from works derived from official documentation. This focusing purely on the ships and mariners. In structure is simple and works well, drawing the this regard, Kuwait and the Sea should become reader into detailed yet lucid description and standard reading for those wishing to gain a analysis of each area of activity in turn, its considered, broad insight into the mechanics of economic considerations and its social context. Indian Ocean trade in the 19th and 20th The Kuwaiti carrying trade was remarkable century. The similarity in the overall patterns of for the speed with which it expanded during the such trade to that of earlier centuries and 19th century and the early years of the 20th. Its millennia is notable and worthy of continued subsequent decline during the years following consideration when studying the field. the end of the Second World War was even Julian Whitewright more rapid. Perhaps contrary to common perception, this decline in trading sail did not Imam Yahya Hamid ad-Din und die Juden in come about simply because of the process of San‘a’ motorization, like that in other parts of the Kerstin Hünefeld word. Al-Hijji outlines a range of other reasons, Berlin: 2010, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 2010. 192 notably the new economic opportunities pp. €39.00. ISBN 978-3-87997-369-9 afforded by the burgeoning oil industry. This THIS BOOK PROVIDES documentary material for had a serious knock-on effect on both the a subject that is sometimes charged with more availability of manpower and goods of trade, than simple historical interest: the status of which led in turn to a dramatic reduction in the Jews in Imam Yahya‘s Yemen. The author number of Kuwaiti sailing dhows. comes to the conclusion that the Jews fared Al-Hijji also provides a good explanation of better than under previous regimes, and that the economic structures underpinning both the their security and rights were basically pearling industry and the carrying trade. These guaranteed: ―Jewish Yemenites remember were based on a pyramid of debt: loans were Imam Yahya as a just ruler.‖ advanced to divers and sailors which then had The study here reviewed is based on a to be repaid by working for the nakhoda (dhow publication by the San‗ani Rabbi Salim b. Sa‗id captain). In turn the nakhoda himself was likely al-Jamal (aka Rabbi Shalom Gamliel, after his to have received an advance from a merchant or emigration to Israel), ha-Yehudim ve-ha Melekh ship owner. Al-Hijji emphasizes the normality be-Teiman (―The Jews and the King in of this situation and the lack of social stigma Yemen‖), 2 vols, Jerusalem 1986 and 1987, attached to debt accrued under such complemented by the author‘s discussions with circumstances. Rabbi Gamliel‘s daughter. It makes four new

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legal cases accessible to Western readers, in even more so under Imam Yahya. In this addition to the four already published and verdict the author joins Klein-Franke against interpreted by A. Klein-Franke in Die Welt des Yosef Tobi: see this reviewer‘s piece on Tobi‘s Islams, 1997. Both studies should be read book in the British-Yemeni Society Journal, together. Klein-Franke‘s 1988 article (in Daum, 2009. Imam Yahya‘s letters of protection, Yemen) should also be mentioned here, as it is issued during his brief conquest of San‗a from still the most comprehensive general the Ottomans in 1904 (also published by Klein- introduction to the history and culture of the Franke) and possibly the most interesting Yemeni Jews, or rather the Jewish Yemenites. documents in Rabbi Gamliel‘s collection, Rabbi Gamliel (1907–2001) came from a illustrate this well, as does his 1919 declaration, well-known San‗ani family. His father had also as reported by Rabbi Gamliel: ―You should been a Rabbi, and his maternal grandfather was know that from today every Jew and every Avraham al-Badihi, the greatest Jewish Jewess are like a hair on my head. Whosoever silversmith in 19th-century San‗a and head of a attacks them with water, will be punished with well-staffed workshop. In 1928, Imam Yahya his blood.‖ appointed him as a kind of representative of the The final chapter of the book presents four Jews; from 1935 onwards, he was head of the cases comprising seven original documents capital‘s Jewish community, and from 1936 altogether: a Rabbi and wealthy landowner until his emigration in 1944 he was responsible imprisoned after a dispute with another Jew; for collecting the jizya, or poll tax. Rabbi reversal of the forced conversion of a Jewish Gamliel was able to take his archive with him boy; love and conversion between a Jewish girl to Israel. It contained more than one thousand and a soldier, including a saucy ius primae original documents, petitions and cases, written noctis of a shamefaced governor; and a royal for submission to the Imam and to high harem incident. officials between the late 1920s and 1944, The book brings an important aspect of many of them returned to him with handwritten Imam Yahya‘s reign into living focus. The notes by the Imam, and sealed with his seal. topic has not only kindled much discussion and About half of the work under review traces controversy in scholarly circles, but has a the history of the Jews in Yemen. The starting bearing on wider contemporary issues and point is of course Qur‘an 9: 29 which granted social and political attitudes. the ―people of the book‖ protection, dhimma, in Werner Daum return for payment of a tax, jizya. Later, by the so-called ―Covenant of ‗Umar‖ (‘Ahd ‘Umar), Bedouin Weaving of Saudi Arabia and its certain restrictions were imposed, such as Neighbours specific clothing and a ban on riding horses. In Joy Totah Hilden 1679/80, the Jews of San‗a were exiled to London: Arabian Publishing, 2010. xvi + 272 Mauza‗, near Mocha; on their return, their pp. Hardback, jacketed, and paperback. Full former houses being occupied, they were colour throughout. Maps and drawings. assigned the new quarter of Qa‗ al-Yahud. Appendices, Glossary, Notes, Bibliography, The author then discusses the so-called Index. ―Latrines decree‖, proclaiming the assignment £60.00 (Hb) and £35.00 (Pb). ISBN (Hb) 978- of this degrading work to the Jews, a legal 0-9558894-0-0. ISBN (Pb) 978-0-9558894-8-6 opinion connected with the famous jurist INEVITABLY, there is something elegiac about a Muhammad al-Shaukani (1760–1834). She tradition thousands of years old that is coming rightly feels that this was less a formal ―decree‖ to its end, but we are extremely lucky that Joy than a kind of authoritative pronouncement, Totah Hilden has recorded it in a book which is which was followed to a large extent but, this not only fascinating, but provides a blueprint of reviewer would add, without totally eliminating designs and techniques for those interested in Muslims of the lowest class from such menial maintaining this aspect of the world‘s cultural service. For a discussion of this controversial heritage, or reviving it as a leisure activity subject, see also Klein-Franke 1997: 189 and rather than an essential skill, as has happened in 196. the United States with quilting. The situation of the Jews improved under The author‘s interest in textiles dates back to the Turks (there were 18 synagogues in 1856 her childhood in Palestine, and she mentions and 32 in 1906, according to Klein-Franke) and how she used to see the Bedouin weaving on

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ground looms near her home. She went on to The technical descriptions are easily study at the San Francisco Art Institute and comprehensible to anyone interested in the received further teaching credentials in art and practical aspects of textile production, but they English. Between 1982 and 1994, when her are also extremely valuable from the academic husband was working for the King Fahd point of view, in that the names (often in more University in Dhahran, she had the opportunity than one dialect) are given for every item and to travel widely within the Kingdom of Saudi technique, and listed in a Glossary that forms Arabia, searching for Bedouin weavers – there one of the Appendices. This is the kind of almost invariably women – and recording their information that tends not to appear in work. dictionaries and is invaluable, especially for Bedouin Weaving begins with the history of anyone dealing with older accounts of Bedouin textiles in Saudi Arabia. Hilden goes on to life. demonstrate their social and economic role in Other more technical information is also Bedouin society and gives a very rare glimpse conveniently located in the Appendices, of the lives of both nomadic and settled including a number of recipes for dyes made women. The stories of individual weavers are from local plants and toadstools, and methods of great interest from a sociological as well as of using them, taken down from the women human point of view, and shed light on the informants. There is also a collection of choices and problems facing those who are different weaves and patterns with their names, moving from an archaic to a modern way of while in the body of the text is a list of wasm or life. tribal markings found in various contexts from Finding women weavers, getting to know weaving to camel brands. them and winning their trust was far from easy, Bedouin Weaving has several useful maps, but Hilden tells the story with charm and enabling the reader to follow Hilden on her modesty, the light always on her informants, travels. The one showing the tribal areas is not on herself. From them, she learned especially valuable, since weavers and their techniques of preparing the fleece, spinning, products are largely defined by their tribal dyeing, weaving, tassel making and braiding, identity. There is a very complete bibliography. among others. She was shown how to build a Towards the end of the book there is a ground loom, the type used by nomads section on Bedouin weaving from other throughout the Arabian Peninsula and countries. This is highly relevant, firstly elsewhere, because it is easily transportable. All because tribes were not confined by modern these are described clearly and accurately with political boundaries and their traditional a wealth of good drawings, precisely so that the grazing might fall in what are now several techniques can be recovered after the women different countries, and, secondly, since shared who demonstrated them are gone. techniques and designs can also provide clues The book, which is excellently designed and as to the degree of contact between different produced, has numerous colour photographs tribes, whether through trade or, occasionally, taken by the author of textiles, showing details intermarriage. of their patterns, the women working at them – Clearly there is sadness at the disappearance generally veiled and sometimes only their of an ancient tradition, but Hilden brings the hands demonstrating a technique – and how encouraging news that countries in the Gulf, they were used in the context of both animals besides Saudi Arabia, are becoming aware of and tents and, more recently, the home. There the value of their cultural heritage and taking are also interesting older black and white steps to see that the techniques are preserved, archive photographs for the purposes of while experimenting with the adaptation of comparison. traditional articles for use in a more modern The photographs provide another layer of context. She mentions, for example, the interest not only for textile enthusiasts and programme affiliated with the National experts, ethnographers, collectors and museum Museum in Riyadh, while another institution in curators, but also for designers and decorators, the forefront of this movement is Sadu House since many of the remarkable and dramatic in Kuwait. Egypt has also been very active in geometric effects are susceptible of inspiring promoting Bedouin weaving, which different media, such as printed fabrics or wall- incidentally provides a valuable source of hangings for use in a modern context. income for women who have few other

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opportunities to earn; and Qatar, Doha and the lapis was particularly suited to decorating the UAE are also attempting to preserve this aspect Qur‘an. The book is divided into Sarah‘s of their culture. Joy Totah Hilden says of Eastern and Western pursuit. Bedouin weavings in her first chapter: ―It Afghanistan is the only source of pure blue would be a shame knowingly to let them lapis lazuli (the word ―lazuli‖ derives from the disappear, and worse still to let them pass old Persian for blue and is cognate with our unrecorded.‖ The projects she mentions and her word ―azure‖). From there a maze of trade own book will ensure that this does not take routes carried it to most corners of the known place. world from about 4000 BC. It had reached Caroline Stone Arabia by the mid-3rd millennium BC, the date of a little lapis figure found on the island of Lapis Lazuli: In Pursuit of a Celestial Stone Tarut, off eastern Saudi Arabia, illustrated in Sarah Searight the book. He might have been carved on Tarut London: East and West Publishing Ltd, 2010. but is more likely to have been imported from 272 pp. Large-format paperback. 170 colour Iran. One trade route brought lapis to Persian photographs. £18.95. ISBN 978-1-907318-03-0 Gulf entrepots such as Dilmun: small pieces of it have been found along the Gulf coast but OUR FORMER CHAIR Sarah Searight has put into print the result of a lifetime‘s obsession with much more has been found in Mesopotamia. the deep blue stone, lapis lazuli, an interest Huge numbers of lapis lazuli beads have which has taken her along the routes travelled appeared in the graves of Sumerian cities, Ur by lapis from its original home in Afghanistan and Uruk in particular, dating from the 3rd through the wilds of Central Asia, as far as millennium. Texts reveal the passion of China in one direction and Europe in the other. Sumerian gods and goddesses for the stone, The pursuit has been a personal quest and this which makes several appearances in the epic of individual approach informs the style, making Gilgamesh. In Egyptian tombs of the 2nd light of the thorough research the author has millennium BC a profusion of lapis lazuli undertaken. This tone, almost chatty and objects has come to light, especially scarab distinctly humorous while describing subjects beetles: the divine beetle was thought to protect of great scholarly interest, should ensure the the dead on their journey to the next world. work will appeal to both the general reader and The lapis lazuli story is expanded and the scholar. illustrated with plenty of fascinating diversions Sarah‘s passion for lapis was aroused at into the history surrounding each part of its school when she was inspired by a line in the journey, and its many destinations. The poem by Robert Browning, The Bishop Orders illustrations are superb, showing the beauty of His Tomb, in which the dying prelate demands worked lapis, but would have been even better a lump of pure blue lapis be placed between his integrated in the text and with a larger size, knees on his entombment. The Bishop enabling the reader more fully to appreciate the recognized the sanctity of lapis: Sarah spent her loveliness of each one. life finding out why it was so revered by so Ionis Thompson many different people. Its celestial colour, she discovered, was thought to ensure a path to heaven. For this reason in the East it was buried REVIEWS IN THE 2012 BULLETIN with rulers and used to carve gods and The reviews editor welcomes readers‘ goddesses. In the West it was ground to be used suggestions of books to be considered for as pigment in Byzantine icons, mediaeval review in the next edition of the Bulletin. manuscripts and Renaissance paintings (such as Please contact William Facey via email at: the robes of Madonnas and, in the case of [email protected]. Titian, Adonis‘s cloak). As a sacred colour,

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NEW PUBLICATIONS ON ARABIA

See also the Book Reviews section for new Darlow, M. and Bray, B. 2010. Ibn Saud: the desert publications, and the Societies, Associations and warrior and his legacy. Quartet Books. ISBN-10: Other Online Resources section below for 0704371812; ISBN-13: 9780704371811. information on the newsletters of various societies. Davidson, C. 2011. Power and Politics in the NEW BOOKS 2010–11 Persian Gulf Monarchies. Hurst. ISBN:

Alston, R. and Laing, S. 2011. Unshook to the end 9781849041225. of time: a history of Britain and Oman. Stacey Int. ISBN: 978906768591. de Maigret, A. and Wilkinson, T. 2010. Arabia Felix: An Exploration of the Archaeological History al-Atawneh, M. 2010. Wahhabi Islam facing the of Yemen. 2nd Revised edition. Stacey International. challenges of modernity: Dar al-Ifta in the modern ISBN: 9781906768041. Saudi state. Studies in Islamic law and society 32. Brill. ISBN-10: 9004184694; ISBN-13: Eigner, S. 2010. Art of the Middle East: Modern and 9789004184695. Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran. Merrell Publishers. ISBN 10: 1858945003; ISBN Barrett, R. 2010. Dubai dreams: inside the kingdom 13: 978-1858945002. of bling. Nicholas Brealey. ISBN-10: 1857885279; ISBN-13: 9781857885279. Farès, S. and Denooz, L. 2010. Femme et Féminisme dans les littératures méditerranéennes et Bassiouney, R. (ed.). 2010. Arabic and the media: arabe. Actes de la table-ronde de Nancy, 13-14 linguistic analyses and applications. Studies in mars 2008, collection Études anciennes 45, ADRA. Semitic languages and linguistics 57. Brill. ISBN- ISBN-13: 978-2-913667-27-9. 10: 9004182586; ISBN-13: 9789004182585. Feldman, N. 2010. The fall and rise of the Islamic Bonnefoy, L. 2011. Salafism in Yemen: state. Princeton University Press. ISBN-10: transnationalism and religious identity. Hurst. 0691120455; ISBN-13: 9780691120454. ISBN: 9781849041317. Foley, S. 2010. The Arab Gulf States: beyond oil Brehony, N. 2011. Yemen Divided: The Story of a and Islam. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN: Failed State in South Arabia. I.B. Tauris. ISBN: 9781588267306. 9781848856356. Fromherz, A. 2011. Qatar: A Modern History. I.B. Brockopp, J.E. (ed). 2011. The Cambridge Tauris. ISBN: 9781848851672. Companion to Muhammad. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9780521886079. Al-Ghabban, A.I. [et al.]. (eds). 2010. Roads of Arabia: archaeology and history of the kingdom of Carter R. and Crawford, H. (eds). 2010. Maritime Saudi Arabia. Louvre ditions: Somogy Art Interactions in the Arabian Neolithic: The Evidence Publishers [also published in French as outes from H3, As-Sabiyah, an Ubaid-related site in d Arabie: arch ologie et histoire du royaume Kuwait. Brill. ISBN-10: 900416359X; ISBN-13: d'Arabie Saoudite]. ISBN: 9782757203958. 978-9004163591. Hamilton, A. An Arabian utopia: the western Commins, D. 2011. The Gulf States: A Modern discovery of Oman. Studies in the Arcadian library History. I.B. Tauris. ISBN: 9781848852785. 5. The Arcadian Library in association with Oxford University Press. ISBN-10: 0199581606; ISBN-13: Cook, M. (ed). 2011. The New Cambridge History 9780199581603. of Islam. 6 Vols. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9780521515368. Hawley, D. 2011. Oman. ISBN: 9781906768584.

Curtis, J. & Simpson, St J (eds). 2010. The world of Hegghammer, T. 2010. Jihad in Saudi Arabia. Achaemenid Persia: history, art and society in Iran Cambridge University Press. ISBN-10: and the ancient Near East; proceedings of a 0521732360; ISBN-13: 9780521732369. conference at the British Museum 29th September - 1st October 2005. Tauris. ISBN: 9781848853461. Hertog, S. 2010. Princes, brokers, and bureaucrats: oil and the state in Saudi Arabia. Cornell University Press. ISBN-10: 080144781X; ISBN-13: 9780801447815.

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Hill, G. 2011. Yemen and the Coming Chaos: Al Potts, D.T. 2010. Mesopotamia, Iran and Arabia Qaeda, Warlords and Oil in the Arabian Peninsula. from the Seleucids to the Sasanians. Variorum I.B. Tauris. ISBN: 9781848857582. collected studies series; CS962. Ashgate. ISBN-10: 1409405354; ISBN-13: 9781409405351. Homberg, C and M. Bachmann, M. (eds). 2010. Evolution of the Levant margin and Western Arabia Al-Rasheed, M. 2010. A History of Saudi Arabia. platform since the mesozoic. Geological Society Cambridge University Press. ISBN: special publication 341. Geological Society. ISBN: 9780521761284. 9781862393066. Salhi, Z.S. 2010. Gender and diversity in the Middle Huth, M. and van Alfen, P.G. (eds). 2010. Coinage East and North Africa. British Journal of Middle of the Caravan Kingdoms: Studies in Ancient Eastern Studies (Online) 12, no. 8. Routledge. Arabian Monetization. American Numismatic ISBN-10: 0415549752; ISBN-13: 9780415549752. Society. ISBN: 9780897223126. Seale, P. 2011. The Struggle for Arab Independence. Jennings, M.C. 2010. Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Cambridge University Press. ISBN: Arabia. Fauna of Arabia Vol. 25. Senckenberg-Ges. 9780521191371. für Naturforschung. ISBN 978-3-929907-83-4. Seland, E.H. 2010. Ports and Political Power in the Jones, T.C. 2010. Desert kingdom: how oil and Periplus: complex societies and maritime trade on water forged modern Saudi Arabia. Harvard the Indian Ocean in the first century AD. University Press. ISBN-10: 0674049853; ISBN-13: Archaeopress: BAR S2102. Society for Arabian 9780674049857. Studies Monographs No. 9. ISBN: 9781407305783.

Lacroix, S. 2011. Awakening Islam: The Politics of Sheriff. A 2010. Dhow cultures of the Indian Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia. Ocean: cosmopolitanism, commerce and Islam. C. Harvard University Press. ISBN-10: 0674049640; Hurst. ISBN-10: 1849040079; ISBN-13: ISBN-13: 9780674049642. 9781849040075.

Lacroix, S. 2010. Les islamistes saoudiens, une Starkey, J., ed. 2010. Proceedings of the Seminar for insurrection manqu e. Presses universitaires de Arabian Studies, Vol. 40. Papers from the forty- France. ISBN-10: 213056898X; ISBN-13: third meeting, London. 23–25 July 2009. British 9782130568988. Archaeological Reports. ISBN 9781905739332.

Lebling, R.; foreword by Tahir Shah. 2010. Legends Thabet, A. 2010. Arabie saoudite, la soci t of the fire spirits: jinn and genies from Arabia to d voil e. Dar Albouraq. ISBN: 9782841614424. Zanzibar. I.B. Tauris. ISBN: 9781845119935 Villiers, A. 2010. Sons of Sinbad. New paperback Long, D.E. and Maisel, S. 2010. The Kingdom of edition. Arabian Publishing. ISBN 9780955889462. Saudi Arabia. 2nd ed. University Press of Florida. ISBN-10: 0813035112; ISBN-13: 9780813035116. Waines, D. 2010. The odyssey of Ibn Battuta: uncommon tales of a medieval adventurer. I.B. Macdonald, M.C.A. (ed.). 2010. The development of Tauris. ISBN-10: 1845118057; ISBN-13: Arabic as a written language: papers from the 9781845118051. special session of the Seminar for Arabian studies held on 24 July, 2009 Seminar for Arabian Studies. Weeks, L.R. (ed). 2010. Death and Burial in Arabia Proceedings of the seminar for Arabian studies 40 and Beyond: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. supplement. Archaeopress. ISBN 9781905739349. Archaeopress and the Society for Arabian Studies. Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 10. Meisami, J.S. and P. Starkey (eds). 2010. The ISBN-10: 1407306480; ISBN-13: 9781407306483. Routledge Encyclopedia of Arabic literature. Routledge. ISBN-10: 0415571138; ISBN-13: Wheater H.S., Mathias S.A., Li X. 2010. 9780415571135. Groundwater modelling in arid and semi-arid areas International hydrology series. Cambridge Milwright, M. 2010. An Introduction to Islamic University Press. ISBN-10: 0521111293; ISBN-13: Archaeology. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN: 9780521111294 9780748623105. Wilkinson, J.C. 2010. Ibad ism: origins and early Porter, R.F. 2010. Birds of the Middle East. 2nd ed. development in Oman. Oxford oriental monographs. Christopher Helm. ISBN-10: 0691148449; ISBN Oxford University Press. ISBN-10: 0199588260; 978-0-7136-7602-0 ISBN-13: 9780199588268.

Worrall, J. 2011. State Building and Counter www.societyforarabianstudies.org/bulletin.shtml Insurgency in Oman. I.B. Tauris. ISBN: 9781848856349. Chroniques Yémenites cy.revues.org Wynbrandt, J.; foreword by Fawaz A. Gerges. 2010. An annual review in French and Arabic, produced A Brief History of Saudi Arabia. 2nd ed. Facts On by the Centre français d‘archéologie et de sciences File. ISBN-10: 0816082502; ISBN-13: 978- sociales de Sanaa (CEFAS). The same website also 0816082506. covers Chroniques du Manuscrit au Yémen, which can also be downloaded free of charge. The latest Zogby, J. 2010. Arab voices: what they are saying issue can be found at: to us, and why it matters. Palgrave Macmillan. http://www.anne.regourd.org/cmy/index.html ISBN-10: 0230102999; ISBN-13: 9780230102996. Email [email protected]

Current World Archaeology OTHER SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS www.archaeology.co.uk OF INTEREST Published six times a year. Subscriptions to: CWA, Barley Mow Centre, 10 Barley Mow Passage, Valeri, M. 2010. ―High Visibility, Low Profile. The London W4 4PH. Tel: 08456 447707. Email Shia in Oman under Sultan Qaboos‖, International [email protected] Journal of Middle East Studies, 42 (2).

JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES Fauna of Arabia http://www.libri.ch/App_Web/EN/services/faunaofa Adumatu rabia.aspx www.adumatu.com A continuous series on the terrestrial, limnetic and ISSN 1319-8947. Adumatu, PO Box 10071, Riyadh marine zoology of the Arabian Peninsula. It began 11433, Saudi Arabia. Editor: Dr Abdullah as Fauna of Saudi Arabia but changed its name and Alsharekh, contact at [email protected] remit in 1998. It can be ordered from Karger Libri AG, Tel. ++41 61 306 15 23. Email Arabia Antica [email protected] http://arabiantica.humnet.unipi.it/index.php?id=994 HAWWA Journal of Women of the Middle East Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy and the Islamic World www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0905-7196 www.brill.nl/m_catalogue_sub6_id10263.htm ISSN: 0905-7196. E-ISSN: 1600-0471. This journal Hawwa publishes articles from all disciplinary and serves as a forum for study in archaeology, comparative perspectives that concern women and epigraphy, numismatics, and early history of gender issues in the Middle East and the Islamic countries in the Arabian peninsula. Editor: Daniel T. world. These include Muslim and non-Muslim Potts. communities within the greater Middle East, and Muslim and Middle Eastern communities elsewhere Aram in the world. poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php ISSN 0959-4213. E-ISSN 1783-1342. Published by International Journal of Middle East Studies the ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies. www.jstor.org/journals/00207438.html It presents contributions to its annual International IJMES is a quarterly journal publishing original Conference, together with the ARAM Newsletter. research on politics, society and culture in the Middle East from the seventh century to the present Atlal: Journal of Saudi Arabian Archaeology day. It is published by Cambridge University Press ISSN 1319-8351. Ministry of Education, PO Box under the auspices of the Middle East Studies 3734, Riyadh 11481. Association of North America. Email [email protected] Banipal: Magazine of Modern Arabic Literature http://www.banipal.co.uk/ Journal of the British-Yemeni Society In its latest issue Banipal celebrates ten years of http://www.al-bab.com/bys/journal.htm publishing – translating and showcasing hundreds of ISSN 1356-0229. Contact the Honorary Secretary, Arab authors who have never had their works British-Yemeni Society, 2 Lisgar Terrace, London published in English before, presenting newly W14 8SJ. Tel: 020 7603 8895. emerging and well-established writers. Journal of Near Eastern Studies Bulletin of the Society for Arabian Studies http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jnes/current Past and present issues of our very own Bulletin can ISSN 0022-2968. Based in Chicago, JNES has been now be found online. devoted to an examination of the civilizations of the

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Near East for more than 120 years. Contact Middle East Journal of Culture and [email protected] Communication. www.brill.nl/mjcc Journal of the Economic and Social History of Order through [email protected]. MJCC provides the Orient a platform for diverse and interdisciplinary work, www.brill.nl/jesh including original research papers from within and ISSN 0022-4995. E-ISSN: 1568-5209. JESHO outside the Middle East, reviews and review articles, contains studies extending our knowledge of the to investigate transformations in communication, economic and social history of what was once culture and politics in the region. labeled as the Orient: the Ancient Near East, the World of Islam, and South, Southeast, and East Paléorient Asia. Contact [email protected] www.mae.u-paris10.fr/paleo_index.htm ISSN 0153-9345. A multidisciplinary six-monthly Journal of Oman Studies CNRS journal with an international audience, ISSN 0378-8180. Published by the Ministry of devoted to a number of aspects of the prehistory and National Heritage and Culture, Sultanate of Oman, protohistory of south-western Asia, including POB 668, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. Arabia. CNRS Editions, 15 rue Malebranche, F- 75005 Paris. Further information from Genevieve Journal of Persianate Studies Dollfus, [email protected] www.brill.nl/jps Order through: [email protected] Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies www.arabianseminar.org.uk/proceedings.html Levant ISBN 190573901X. £50.00. 299 pages; numerous http://www.maney.co.uk/index.php/journals/lev/ figures, plans, maps, drawings and photographs. ISSN: 0075-8914; E-ISSN: 1756-3801. Levant is the international peer-reviewed journal of the Council Saudi Aramco World for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), a British www.saudiaramcoworld.com Academy-sponsored institute with research centres in Amman and Jerusalem, but which also supports Tribulus, Journal of the Emirates Natural research in Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus. History Group Contributions from a wide variety of areas, www.enhg.org/trib/tribpdf.htm including anthropology, archaeology, geography, ISSN 1019-6919. PO Box 45553, Abu Dhabi, UAE. history, language and literature, political studies, This now appears annually, rather than bi-annually. religion, sociology and tourism, are encouraged. Editor: Graham Philip. Wildlife Middle East News www.wmenews.com

SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATIONS AND OTHER ONLINE

RESOURCES

Significant information is only given below for new Al Ain National Museum organisations. For further details on organisations www.aam.gov.ae which have been described in previous editions, please see either the websites listed or the Bulletin Al-Bab online at : http://www.al-bab.com/ www.societyforarabianstudies.org/bulletin.shtml Abundant data relating to the Arab world, aiming to introduce non-Arabs to the Arabs and their culture. Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) American Institute for Yemeni Studies www.cultural.org.ae www.aiys.org

Arab-British Centre Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey http://www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk/ www.adias-uae.com ADIAS has now been absorbed into ADACH, but Arabian Wildlife this website still contains a record of its activities. www.arabianwildlife.com

Archaeozoology of Southwest Asia and Adjacent Friends of the Hadhramaut Areas (ASWA[AA]) www.hadhramaut.co.uk www.alexandriaarchive.org/icaz/workaswa.htm Friends of Soqotra Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and www.friendsofsoqotra.org the Near East www.astene.org.uk Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Exeter University Atlas of Breeding Birds of Arabia www.huss.ex.ac.uk/iais www.dspace.dial.pipex.com/arabian.birds%20 George Lewis Fine Art Bahrain Society George Lewis is an artist and photographer whose www.bahrainsociety.com art focuses on the Middle East. His work can be seen at www.georgelewisart.com. Contact Barakat Trust [email protected] for more details. www.barakat.org Janet Rady Fine Art British Association for Near Eastern Janet Rady is dedicated to representing Middle Archaeology Eastern Artists in the broadest possible sense, and www.banea.org now produces a monthly newsletter. Contact [email protected] or see: British Council, Middle East pages www.janetradyfineart.com/html/home.asp www.britishcouncil.org/me.htm London Centre for the Ancient Near East www.soas.ac.uk/academics/departments/nme/ane/lc British Institute of Persian Studies ane www.bips.ac.uk

London Middle East Institute British Institute for the Study of Iraq www.lmei.soas.ac.uk www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/iraq

Mathaf Gallery British Society for Middle Eastern Studies www.mathafgallery.com www.dur.ac.uk/brismes

MBI Al Jaber Foundation British-Iraqi Friendship Society www.mbifoundation.com www.britishiraqi.co.uk

BIFS aims to inform the British public about all Oman & Arabia Natural History aspects of Iraqi life and culture, including its www.oman.org/nath00.htm history, heritage, art, performing arts, language and traditions. Ornithological Society of the Middle East

www.osme.org British-Yemeni Society See this page for the latest editions of OSME's www.al-bab.com/bys/articles/douglas06.htm journal, Sandgrouse.

Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab Oxford Brookes Archaeology and Heritage World (OBAH) http://www.casaw.ac.uk/ heritage.brookes.ac.uk/Home.html

A new grouping offering specialist consultancy in Centre Français d'Archéologie et de Sciences Arabian archaeology, heritage and environments. Sociales de Sanaa (CEFAS) www.cefas.com.ye/homeng.html Palestine Exploration Fund

www.pef.org.uk Council for Arab-British Understanding www.caabu.org Royal Asiatic Society

royalasiaticsociety.org Council for British Research in the Levant www.cbrl.org.uk Saudi Arabian Natural History Society

For further information contact the acting Deutches Archäologisches Institut, Orient coordinator Margaret Thomson, on Department www.dainst.org/abteilung.php?id=270

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OBITUARIES

Professor Alessandro de Maigret (1943- to work in Saudi Arabia at Dūmat al-Jandal. He 2011) passed away on 14 February at his home will be greatly missed. in Pierantonio, near Perugia, after a long battle Francesco G Fedele with cancer. The last thirty years of his (University of Naples ‘Federico II’, Naples) professional, and indeed personal, life were devoted to Yemen and its archaeology, a choice Fred Halliday died on 26 April in Barcelona at he had made in 1980 on taking up a the age of 64, the many obituaries professorship at the Istituto Universitario acknowledging this outstanding scholar and Orientale, Naples. He had previously worked in teacher, a man with a larger than life Syria, including Ebla. personality who influenced generations of During the early 1980s, a survey of the students and touched the lives of all those who archaeologically unknown eastern highlands met him. led de Maigret to identify a Yemeni Bronze I first came across Fred in 1970 or 1971 Age and to promote pioneering, broad- when as a diplomat in Aden I read in the press spectrum work on the region's prehistory. He of the then People‘s Republic of South Yemen went on to investigate the emergence of the an item praising the visiting member of The state polities of the Sayhad, particularly the Black Dwarf, which was a short-lived cultural Sabaean and the Minaean. Major excavations and political journal published by a socialist were at Yalā, his discovery (from which he collective. Tariq Ali was another of its stars. obtained evidence for the long chronology of The Aden press extolled the Marxist-Leninist the South Arabic script), Tamna‗ and Barāqish. virtues of Fred Halliday and spoke of him Interested readers are referred to his book, possibly leading a protest march against the Arabia Felix, and Tony Wilkinson's foreword British Embassy over, I think, the UK‘s support to the 2009 reissue (London: Stacey for the Sultan of Oman. Fred then or later went International). In 2008 de Maigret was invited into Dhofar with a group of fighters from the Marxist-led Popular Front for the Liberation of

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Oman and the Arab Gulf. Fred remained a Tauris 2010). It tells the story of Yemeni friend of the leaders of what later became the migration to Britain and the rich contribution Yemeni Socialist Party but one not afraid to Yemenis have made and continue to make to criticise the regime in his writings to the face of British society. its leaders. Dr Noel Brehony Sadly, I did not meet Fred until I spoke in (CMG, member of BIFSA committee and 1986 to a small group at SOAS about what had author of a forthcoming history of the PDRSY) by then become the People‘s Democratic Republic of Yemen. I had had in my mind an H.H. Shaikh Saqr Bin Mohammed Al- image of him as a firebrand polemicist famed Qasimi for his book Arabia without Sultans and his Those familiar with the United Arab Emirates writing for the New Left Review. What I found will have read in the national press of the death, was a courteous man who listened to the views on 27th October 2010, of the Ruler of Ras al- of others whilst expressing himself with Khaimah, H.H. Shaikh Saqr bin Mohammed al- remarkable lucidity and elegance. He had an Qasimi. Shaikh Saqr became Ruler at the age of extraordinary mind and grasp of events. He 28 and was faced with the task of transforming retained his deep interest in the affairs of South a largely tribal state with an economy based on Yemen and was saddened (as I was) by the fishing, pearling and agriculture, into a modern events in Aden of January 1986, when four entity. Other obituaries have paid tribute to his members of the Politburo of the ruling Yemeni wisdom in making that transition, but little has Socialist Party in PDRY and several other been said about his interest in the past and his leaders were killed in a committee room determination to establish a museum which sparking a virtual civil war within the regime. would record a way of life he realised would Thousands died, parts of Aden were destroyed soon be lost. and there was the extraordinary sight of Soviet I first met H.H. in 1968 when I sought experts being ferried to safety by the British permission to undertake an exploratory survey royal yacht Britannia. It was this event that of Ras al-Khaimah with the late Dr. Brian Doe. mortally wounded the regime and persuaded its The Ruler was readily accessible in his majlis rump leadership to opt for unity with the and we explained the purpose of our visit. Few Yemen Arab Republic in 1990. questions were asked but we were allocated When I decided to write a book on two small huts in the Agricultural Trials Centre PRSY/PDRY I consulted Fred who gave great in Digdaga as our base. From there we ranged encouragement, introductions to his contacts widely over a largely unfenced area, our only and passed on key documents. These included problem being to know where the borders of a long playing record of revolutionary songs by Ras al-Khaimah ended. Only a decade later did the PFLOAG fighters. He was always generous we discover the existence of a southern in his support and keenly interested in my enclave! On concluding our survey we duly progress. Having finished the text in March, I reported on the main results; a vast cemetery in was proposing to send it to him to read at the Shimal containing several types of stone built time I heard about his cancer and then his tombs, a large occupation mound in Khatt, and death. an extensive coastal area covered with Chinese Fred‘s two main contributions to our porcelain and local pottery, identifiable as the understanding of Yemen in particular are in Islamic port site of Julfar. H.H. appeared two of his over 20 books. Revolution and interested only in Julfar. It was not until our Foreign Policy: the case of South Yemen 1967- published report reached him, that I was asked 87 (Cambridge 1990) remains the standard to provide a programme of archaeological work and is likely to stay so for many years. It research as the Ruler wished to establish a is a rich source of information on PDRY‘s National Museum. I returned briefly to check internal and external policies and relations on the sites where I thought excavation might between north and south Yemen before unity, yield interesting results. As I had commitments and was the subject of Fred‘s famously delayed elsewhere, I suggested that the late Peter PhD thesis. Another of his well known books, Donaldson should investigate clearly pre- Arabs in Exile, has been republished (with a Islamic tombs in Shimal and Ghalilah, while new preface by Fred) as Britain’s First Dr. John Hansman opened a trench in Julfar in Muslims: Portrait of an Arab Community (IB

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the hope of obtaining well stratified objects for parents encouraged their children to seek display in the Museum. education, and Selma was among the first two Meanwhile, work on a museum building Iraqi women to go abroad for training in was proceeding at Falayah near the area where archaeology, receiving a BA from Cambridge the treaty signed with the British in 1819 in England, an MA in Near Eastern Art and established the Trucial States. However, a Archaeology from Columbia, and a PhD from financial crisis intervened in 1976, the building the University of Amsterdam, using material was never completed and Donaldson‘s from an excavation in Cyprus. excavation in Shimal had to stop abruptly. It Upon her return to Baghdad from her BA was not until 1985, that plans emerged to utilise training in the mid-1960s, she had a major role the old fort in Ras al-Khaimah where the Ruler in the setting up of exhibitions in the newly had been living between 1948-64. The building finished building that was the greatly expanded had become a police station when the al-Qasimi Iraq Museum. She was the first woman to family moved to more palatial quarters, but it serve as an official government representative offered an appropriate and economical structure to a foreign excavation (Nimrud) in Iraq. In the in which to house both archaeological and same capacity, she also worked at the sites of ethnographical collections. Abu Salabikh and Nippur in Iraq. During the I was asked not only to select archaeological 1970s, she taught for several years at the material for display but to draft the American University of Beirut. While there, accompanying labels - always a difficult task. I she led an expedition to the Tabqa Dam salvage returned a few days before the museum was area in Syria. Upon completion of her opened in 1987 and followed the Ruler around doctorate in 1977, she was hired as a special the galleries, notebook in hand, in case any advisor to the Yemeni General Organization for changes were required. Fortunately all went Antiquities and Museums, initially tasked to well. install the exhibits of the National Museum. H.H. also wanted large-scale excavations to She was to remain in Yemen for 28 years, be carried out at Julfar. These, however, would mentoring and enabling the work of others, and be too costly for a British team to undertake forming close working relationships with alone. The solution was to launch an Yemeni scholars and officials. Among her international project in 1989 with teams from major accomplishments was the reinstalling of Britain, France, Germany and Japan the museum in a much larger building, taking collaborating. Thanks to the Ruler‘s sustained part in excavations, and restoring standing interest, students of all nationalities have been monuments. With Yemeni, Dutch, and other able to participate and some have pursued foreign funds she took on the task of restoring research projects on other aspects of Ras al- the ‗Amiriya, a remarkable building in the town Khaimah‘s past. of Rada‘, about a hundred miles southeast of Shaikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi‘s Sana‘a. She was attracted to the building concern for the past, his early determination to because it reminded her of architecture in Lodi, protect important areas, as well as the India, where she lived as a child. Wanting to formation of the ‗Department of Antiquities avoid the kind of damaging ‗restoration‘ that and Museums‘ have saved many sites and occurs in many countries when builders use monuments from oblivion. cement, iron, and other inauthentic materials, Beatrice de Cardi she found a local master builder, who still employed the traditional materials and methods Selma al-Radi, archaeologist and restorer of that had been used to build the structure in historical monuments, was a citizen of the 1600 AD and which were still being used in world. She was born in Baghdad but lived part parts of Yemen. With him, she trained a cadre of her early life in Iran and India as a member of local men who have become the recognised of a diplomatic family, and attended schools experts in restoration in the region. Her work there and in Egypt and Beirut. Her late father, on this building won her the Aga Khan Award Muhammad Selim al-Radi was one of the first (2006). She authored two books on the Iraqis to obtain a doctorate, from UCLA, with building, demonstrating the Indian connection training in agriculture and irrigation of the architecture and especially the painted engineering. Her mother, Su‘ad Abbas, was decoration. educated in Beirut. Both these remarkable

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She served on the Aga Khan committee to to prepare a list of more than 5,000 objects evaluate restoration of Islamic monuments in looted from eleven regional museums. In early several countries, including the town and May 2003, she was again among the first especially the bridge of Mostar in Bosnia archaeologists living abroad to reach the Iraq (subsequently destroyed) and the historic centre Museum in order to assess the damage and of Bukhara (Uzbekistan). She was also an looting that had occurred there. advisor to the Prince Claus Fund in Holland She is survived by her husband, Qais Al- and a member of the Board of the Getty Awqati, Professor of Medicine and Physiology Conservation Institute. She was instrumental in at Columbia, her son Rakan (Kiko/Zak) helping to establish the American Institute for Zahawi, Director of the Las Cruces biological Yemeni Studies in 1978, which continually research station in southern Costa Rica, her benefitted from her advice and participation. mother Su‘ad Abbas, of Baghdad and Beirut, As a resident of New York since 1988 she and her brother Abbad Al-Radi, architect and was a frequent lecturer and media figure, planner of Abu Dhabi. Her sister, Nuha al- addressing her work in Yemen and the crisis for Radi, the artist and author of Baghdad Dairies, Iraqi archaeology and culture as a result of the died in Beirut in 2004. Gulf War, Sanctions, and the 2003 War. After McGuire Gibson the 1991 war, she was among the first to make the arduous trip by road from Amman to the Iraq Museum, where she worked with the staff

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Society for Arabian Studies Monograph Series Series editors: D. Kennet & St J. Simpson

In 2004 the Society launched this series and we have now published nine titles with more forthcoming at post-referee stages of production. The aim is to include research-based studies, conference proceedings, archaeological excavation or survey reports, and theses where the contents mark an important synthesis or a significant addition to knowledge. Creating a specific monograph series within the British Archaeological Reports International Series is intended to allow libraries, institutions and individuals to keep abreast of work that is specifically related to their areas of research. Whilst research and conference volumes in the series will all be peer-reviewed according to normal academic procedures, the decision was taken to allow the publication of doctoral theses, field reports, catalogues and other data-rich work without peer review where this will permit the publication of information that, for one reason or another, might not otherwise be made available. The latest flyer giving details of our publications can be downloaded from the Society‘s website. Any authors interested in publishing their research on an Arabian topic are encouraged to contact either of the Monograph editors in the first instance.

PUBLISHED MONOGRAPHS Derek Kennet, with a contribution by Regina Krahl Sasanian and Islamic Pottery from Ras al-Khaimah Classification, chronology and analysis of trade in the Western Indian Ocean Archaeopress: BAR S1248 (2004). Society for Arabian Studies Monographs, No. 1. ISBN: 1-84171-608-1. £32.00.

Paul Lunde & Alexandra Porter (eds) Trade and Travel in the Red Sea Region: Proceedings of Red Sea Project I held in the British Museum, October 2002 Archaeopress: BAR S1269 (2004). Society for Arabian Studies Monographs, No. 2. ISBN: 1-84171-622-7. £33.00.

Janet C. M. Starkey (ed.) People of the Red Sea: Proceedings of Red Sea Project II held in the British Museum, October 2004 Archaeopress: BAR S1395 (2005). Society for Arabian Studies Monographs, No. 3. ISBN: 1-8417-18335. £30.00.

Nadia Durrani The Tihamah Coastal Plain of South-west Arabia in its Regional Context c. 6000 BC – AD 600 Archaeopress: BAR S1456 (2005). Society for Arabian Studies Monographs, No. 4. ISBN: 1-84171-8947. £32.00.

Janet C. M. Starkey, Paul Starkey & Tony Wilkinson (eds) Natural Resources and Cultural Connections of the Red Sea: Proceedings of Red Sea Project III held in the British Museum, October 2006. Archaeopress: BAR S1661. Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 5. ISBN: 9781407300979. £36.00.

Michel Mouton La Péninsule d’Oman de la fin de l’Age du Fer au début de la période sassanide (250 av. – 350 ap. JC) Archaeopress: BAR S1776 (2008). Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 6. ISBN: 978 1 4073 0264 5. £55.00.

Eric Olijdam & Richard. H. Spoor (eds) Intercultural Relations between South and Southwest Asia Studies in commemoration of E.C.L. During Caspers (1934- 1996) Archaeopress: BAR S1826 (2008). Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 7. ISBN: 9781407303123. £54.00.

Lucy Katherine Blue, John Cooper, Julian Whitewright & Ross Thomas (eds.) Connected Hinterlands: Proceedings of Red Sea Project IV held at the University of Southampton September 2008 Archaeopress: BAR S2052 (2009). Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 8. ISBN: 978140730631. £43.00.

Eivind Heldaas Seland Ports and Political Power in the Periplus: complex societies and maritime trade on the Indian Ocean in the first century AD Archaeopress: BAR S2102 (2010). Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 9. ISBN: 9781407305783. £29.00.

******* POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTORS Please contact the editors in the first instance: Dr Derek Kennet, Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK [email protected] or Dr St John Simpson of the Middle East, The British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, UK [email protected]

MONOGRAPH ORDERS TO Hadrian Books, 122 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7BP, UK. Tel: +44(0)1865-310431 [email protected] or visit www.archaeopress.com