MICHAEL GA WLIKOWSKI JERASH in EARLY ISLAMIC TIMES J Erash

MICHAEL GAWLIKOWSKI

(UNIVERSITAT WARSCHAU)

JERASH IN EARLY ISLAMIC TIMES

erash is the name of a small town in northern Jordan, founded in 1878 by J Circassian refugees from the Caucasus amid the ruins of the Roman city of Gerasa. A large scale excavation program there in the 1930s revealed the exis• tence of a dozen churches and thus the importance of the Byzantine phase in the history of the place .. 1 But it took another half-century to discover, in the course of the Jerash International Project from 1981-83, that the Early Islamic phase was important as well. By then, the once common if regrettable contempt of the Classical archae• ologists for the Islamic layers had been discredited, and the model study of the Heshbon pottery by James Sauer2 was generally accepted as a paradigm to read the forthcoming evidence from all over Jordan. It was held, accordingly, that, in Sauer's words, "most of the major sites that were occupied during the Umayyad period, such as Jerash, Umm el-Jimal, Quweilbeh, Umm Qeis, Pella, and Umm el-Risas, were abandoned or essentially abandoned at the end of the Umayyad period".3 Consequently, some pottery which had been first assigned to the Byz• antine period could be reassessed as Umayyad.4 But soon new research in Pella, Jerash, Amman, and other Jordanian sites down to Aqaba was able to definitely establish the continuity of urban settle• ment up to the 9th century, and sometimes later. Contrary to current opinion Abbasid and even Fatimid cities did exist in Jordan.5 The shift of the centre of power from Damascus to Baghdad did not affect them immediately. Some of the pottery known as Umayyad appears thus to be of rather early Abbasid date.

1-J. W. Crowfoot, "The Christian Churches", in C.H. Kraeling, Gerasa City ofthe Decapolis, American Schools of Oriental Research, Hew Haven, 1938, p. 171-262. 2-J. A. Sauer, Heshbon Pottery, 1971, Berrien Springs, 1973. 3-J. A. Sauer, "The Poccery of Jordan in the Early Islamic Times", in Studies in the History and Archaeology ofJordan, I, Amman, 1982, p. 329-337 (p. 332). 4-M. Gawlikowski, "Installations omayyades a Jerash", in Studies in the History and Archae• ology ofJordan, IV, Lyon-Amman, 1992, p. 357-362 (p. 357). 5-A. Walmsley, "The Social and Economic Regime at Fihl (Pella) between the 7th and 9th centuries", in P. Canivet, J.-P. Rey-Coquais (eds), La Syrie tk Byzance a /1s/am. VIl'-Vlll', Damas, 1992, p. 249-261 (p. 256); id., "Fihl (Pella) and the cities of North Jordan during the Umayyad and Abbasid Periods", in Studies in the History and Archaeology ofJordan, IV, Lyon• Amman, 1992, p. 377-384.

The dynastic names for pottery styles are thus partly inappropriate. It has been proposed to replace them with neutral descriptions, such as Early Islamic I up to ca AD 800 and Early Islamic 2 until ca AD 1000.6 However, many ce• ramic forms can now be dated with more precision and the difference between the early and late 8th century is well perceived in the archaeological material.? The pottery clue is especially important for Jerash, as the town emerged dur• ing the 6th century as a producing centre of regional importance. The examples of painted plates and platters can be found all over northern Jordan and occa• sionally across the river Jordan. They are commonly known as Jerash bowls and were clearly a speciality of the local potters who produced them until the middle of the 7th century.8 A particular type of oil lamp with an animal head for the handle evolved about AD 640 and continued to be made until the middle of the 8th century.9 In the last quarter of the century of their manufacture these lamps were sometimes inscribed and dated in Arabic between H 105 and 133 (AD 723-750) by Christian and Muslim potters alike. 10 A range of demonstrably later types of pottery and kilns in which they were made have been uncovered. The survival of the Christian community in Jerash well into Islamic times finds another proof in the removal of figural subjects from some of the mosaic church pavements. The damage is usually attributed to the measures ordered by Caliph Yazid II (AD 720-724), but the recent discovery at Umm el-Risas of a mosaic dated AD 756, which was mutilated by iconoclasts and repaired before the final abandonment, shows that Byzantine churches might have remained in service beyond the middle of the 8th century. 11 The series of Greek inscriptions concerning restorations in churches stops there, however, if we follow Gatier in correcting the suspect date of AD 785 from the same church at Umm el-Risas. 12 In Jerash, two recently excavated churches were destroyed by an earthquake some time in the 8th century. The bronze utensils and glass lamps from the

6-D. Whitcomb, "Reassessing the Archaeology of Jordan of the Abbasid Period", in Studies in the History and Archaeology ofJordan, IV, Lyon-Amman, 1992, p. 385-390. 7-A. Walmsley, "Tradition, Innovation, and Imitation in the Material Culture of Islamic Jordan: the first four centuries", in Studies in the History and Archaeology ofJordan, V, Amman, 1995, p. 657-668. 8-P. M. Watson, "}crash Bowls: Study of a Provincial Group of Byzantine Decorated Fine Ware", in F. Zayadine (ed.),Jerash International Project, II, Paris, 1989, p. 223-261. 9-T. Scholl, "The Chronology ofJerash Lamps. A preliminary Repon", in F. Zayadine (ed.), Jerash International Project, I, Amman, 1986, p. 163-166. 10-M. Gawlikowski, "Arab Lamp-Makers in Jarash, Christian and Muslim", in Studies in the History and Archaeology ofJordan, V, Amman, 1995, p. 669-672. 11 - M. Piccirillo, "Les problemes resolus et les questions posees par les trois premieres campagnes de fouilles a Umm er-Resas-Kastron Mefaa. La fin de la civilisation urbaine en Jordanie", in Stu• dies in the History and Archaeology ofJordan, IV, Lyon-Amman, 1992, p. 343-346. 12-P. L. Gatier, "Les inscriptions grecque d'epoque islamique (VII0-VIII0 siecles) en Syrie du Sud", in P. Canivet, J.-P. Rey-Coquais (eds), La Syrie de Byzance a /1s/am. Vll'-Vlll' siecks, Damas, 1992, p. 145-157.