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The Islamic Jarash Project: a Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons of Fieldwork by Kristoffer Damgaard & Louise Blanke

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The Islamic Jarash Project: a Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons of Fieldwork by Kristoffer Damgaard & Louise Blanke The Islamic Jarash Project: A Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons of Fieldwork by Kristoffer Damgaard & Louise Blanke Abstract Since the summer of 2002, a joint venture between the University of Copenhagen and the Department of Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has resulted in excavations at the classical site of Jarash in northern Jordan. Founded as a Hellenistic town, this settlement flourished as a Roman and early Christian (Byzantine) city, however, recent decades of research have increasingly provided evidence suggesting a substantial Early Islamic (c. 650-850 CE) urban settlement here as well. The Islamic Jarash Project sets out to re-examine the occupational history of Jarash in Late Antiquity and, by locating and excavating parts of the Early Islamic town centre, to analyse some of the social, ritual and economic changes, which the supremacy of Islam brought about in the urban communities of the Levant in Late Antiquity. To date, the Islamic Jarash Project has located and excavated an early congregational mosque situated centrally within the ruins of Jarash, superimposed on what seems to be a Byzantine bathhouse. This article gives a brief description of the first two seasons of work at this site. ~ 58 ~ Figure 1: Map of the Jund al-Urdunn showing both Jarash and the provincial capital Tabariyah (Tiberias). (Copyright © Alan Walmsley) Purpose of the Islamic Jarash Project The archaeological exploration of Jarash (Roman Gerasa) has been relatively comprehensive compared to other similar sites in the Near East. However, an in-depth investigation of the remains belonging to the period following the Islamic conquest of the Levant (i.e. 7th-9th century C.E.) is still pending at this site (Browning 1982), as at many others. The Islamic Jarash Project (henceforth IJP) was set up to remedy this in part, with the intention of shedding new light on social continuity and change in the Levant during the Late Antique and early Islamic periods. The project was originally devised in early 2002 with the aim of illuminating this period, which, in spite of increased excavations and research projects in recent decades, is still an era marked by obscurity. The lack of archaeological data and subsequent analysis has perpetuated misconceptions as to this formative and transitional period. Notions such as the decline of urban communities in Late Antiquity and the consequent ‘destruction' of supposed classical urban greatness by 'the Islamic conquests' need to be seriously ~ 59 ~ revised. The structuring of an early Islamic civic administration and the transferral of Levantine urban planning from a Christian/Byzantine to an Islamic context are but some of the aspects that the IJP sets out to examine and clarify. The project is a cooperative enterprise between the Carsten Niebuhr Institute at Copenhagen University and the Department of Antiquities in Jordan, with generous support from the C.L. David Foundation and Collection in Copenhagen. The excavation is under the directorship of Alan Walmsley, Associate Professor of Islamic archaeology and art at Copenhagen University. The team consists mainly of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the university, with additional expertise to excavate, register and analyse the material. (Walmsley 1997, 2003a, 2003b, 2003c; Walmsley et. al. 1993, 1999; Walmsley & Damgaard forthcoming; Walmsley 2001; McNicoll et. al. 1982, 1992). [1] At the point of writing this paper, two seasons of excavations have been undertaken, one in 2002 and another in 2003. A third season is planned for summer 2004. The project is intended to continue for a number of years with a programme of excavation and research. Moreover, restoration of the early Islamic settlement at Jarash has also been proposed. The preliminary accomplishments presented here are the results of the first two seasons of fieldwork, and will concentrate mainly on the congregational mosque of Jarash, which has been the focus of the excavations to date. The History of Research There were several factors which indicated the presence of an early Islamic community at this site, and more specifically of a much larger congregational mosque than the building suggested by Naghawi in 1982 ([Figure 2] no.15) (Naghawi 1982; Walmsley 2003a: 113). Both historical sources and archaeological evidence lend credence to the idea that Jarash was a functioning urban unit well into the Islamic era. They also suggest that social and dynastic change may not necessarily be correlated. Certainly, the Muslim conquest of the Middle East provoked important social changes, but many of the changes that culminated with the rise of Islam were processes which can be traced further back than the mid-7th century CE. ~ 60 ~ Figure 2: Plan of Jarash including the presumed principal features of the early Islamic town. Legend: 1) Umayyad mosque; 2) Possible Islamic administrative centre; 3) Umayyad 'House' as excavated by the Polish mission - potential market area (suq); 4) South tetrakonia - built over; 5) Macellum & Southern Cardo; 6) Oval Piazza - domestic quarter; 7) Zeus temple forecourt - potential industrial area; 8) Hippodrome and Bishop Marianos church; 9) SS Peter and Paul church; 10) Churches of SS Cosmas and Damianus, St George and St John the Baptist; 11) Christian complex of two churches, a bath and housing all occupied under the Umayyads/Abbasids; 12) Artemis compound - Islamic ceramic production; 13) Synagogue church; 14) North Theatre - industrial area with large kilns; 15) Naghawi's 'Umayyad mosque' discovered in 1981; 16) Central cardo with blacksmith's shop. (Copyright © Alan Walmsley/ IJP) Abbasid historians such as al-Baladhuri and al-Ya`qubi record Jarash as one of nine administrative centres in the < i>Jund al-Urdunn[2], reporting to a provincial capital located at Tabariyah ( Tiberias) (figure 1) (Walmsley ~ 61 ~ 2003b: 111). As late as the final decades of the 10th century CE, Jarash is still known as a region containing numerous agricultural settlements (Walmsley 2003b: 112). [3] Archaeologically, we are provided with even greater indications of a functioning urban community in the late 7th and early 8th centuries. The presence of an early Islamic mint in Jarash (Album & Goodwin 2002: 89; Naghawi 1989), as well as abundant evidence of Islamic ceramic production (Schaefer & Falkner 1986; Parapetti et.al 1986:184-187), are but some of the indicators worth mentioning. Unfortunately, many of the Islamic remains at this site were discovered accidentally, and were excavated or cleared without appropriate attention or recording. A Polish mission working on what is today known as the ‘Umayyad House' carried out some of the best work on the Islamic community at Jarash. Located on the northern side of the western end of the southern decumanus [4] (figure 2 no.3) (see Gawlikowski 1986; 1992), this structure was fronted by shops, and planned as a traditional Arabic bayt (Arabic for house, most often courtyard based) with rooms surrounding an open courtyard area. It was dated to the late 8th century and evidence was found of 9th-century reuse as a potters' workshop. Evidence of continuing ecclesiastical activities such as church-services and maintenance of Christian structures is also prevalent. This is significant because there are no archaeological suggestions of church-to-mosque conversions. Furthermore, a small structure identified as a mosque was discovered on the eastern side of the cardo [5] in 1981. However, even though it was called the ‘Umayyad' mosque, it is probably of a later date and perhaps not a mosque at all. The Yale Joint Mission [6] (Kraeling 1938) excavations in 1928-34 revealed quite extensive early Islamic settlement on what is today the southern end of the cardo. From the southern tetrakonia [7] and along the cardo to the ‘Oval Piazza' [8] numerous structures of an early Islamic date were uncovered (Krealing 1938: 103-116). These structures were all cleared in order to reveal the Roman paving upon which they had been constructed; for this was henceforth to be used as the site's main thoroughfare. The notion that the rise of Islam had been among the most important contributors to the destruction of Classical ‘greatness' in the eastern Mediterranean seems to have been predominant among scholars at the time, and little reverence was given to remains from Islamic periods. The notion was so common, that when the Yale team discovered what was referred to as a ‘well built Arabic edifice … laid out in the form of a hollow square with at least one corner tower and colonnaded porticoes' (Kraeling 1938: 114), in the south-western corner of the southern tetrakonia, it was presumed to be a ‘guard house'. Once this clue was reviewed together with a 1920s aerial photograph of the site, and compared with other early Islamic sites such as `Anjar in Lebanon, [9]the foundation for the IJP was laid. ~ 62 ~ Prior to the commencement of our work, two excavations had taken place in the area where the mosque was located ( henceforth termed MO). The first was by the Yale Joint Mission in 1933-34, the results of which have already been mentioned. Mr. Ali Musa undertook the second in 1998, and this excavation exposed the remains of a Byzantine bathhouse in the center of the courtyard of the mosque. The refilled remains of this and other minor structures (work spaces, shops etc.) apparently constituted the foundational deposits for the eastern sections of the mosque. A Brief History of the Site Today, Jarash consists of an excavated and partly restored archaeological site and a surrounding modern town with a population of around 20,000. The site is situated ca. 35 km north of Amman and is one of Jordan's major tourist attractions. The architectural history of Jarash dates back to the Hellenistic period (c.323-64 BCE), however, ceramic and lithic evidence indicate that the history of the site spans as far back as the early Chalcolithic (c.4500 BCE) ( Aubin 1997: 215; for a more general history of the site see Browning 1982).
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