Abstract
THIS PAPER PRESENTS AN OVERVIEW of the archaeology of al-Andalus (the Arabic name for Islamic Spain and Portugal), from its beginnings in the late 1970s to the present day. Innovative approaches and challenging theoretical stances made the archaeology of al-Andalus the spearhead of medieval archaeology in Iberia between the 1980s and 1990s. A problematic, and often conflicting, relationship between archaeology and history has characterised medieval archaeology in Spain since its inception, however, and a new awareness of these problems is emerging. This paper reviews past and current attitudes to such challenges and reflects on the future needs of the discipline. It also reflects on the politics of archaeology and on the role of medieval archaeology in revealing social change, which has until now been underrated.
Abstract
L’archéologie d’al-Andalus: passé, présent et avenir par José C Carvajal
Cet article fait un tour d’horizon de l’archéologie d’al-Andalus (nom arabe donné à l’Espagne et au Portugal islamiques), depuis ses prémices à la fin des années 1970 jusqu’à nos jours. Des approches innovantes et des positions théoriques controversées ont fait de l’archéologie d’al-Andalus le fer de lance de l’archéologie médiévale entre 1980 et 1990. Or, un rapport problématique et souvent conflictuel entre archéologie et histoire a caractérisé l’archéologie médiévale en Espagne depuis ses débuts, et une nouvelle sensibilisation à ces problèmes est en train d’émerger. Ce papier examine quelles attitudes passées et présentes ont permis de faire face à ces défis et réfléchit aux besoins futurs de la discipline. Il réfléchit également aux liens entre la politique et l’archéologie et au rôle jusqu’à présent sous-estimé de l’archéologie médiévale, qui permet de révéler l’évolution sociale.
Abstract
Die Archäologie von Al-Andalus: Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft von José C Carvajal
Dieser Artikel bietet einen Überblick über die Archäologie von al-Andalus (arabischer Name für das islamische Spanien und Portugal) von ihren Anfängen in den späten 1970er Jahren bis heute. Innovative Ansätze und anspruchsvolle theoretische Positionen machten die Archäologie von al-Andalus zwischen den 1980er und 1990er Jahren zum Vorreiter der Archäologie des Mittelalters. Eine problematische und oft konfliktreiche Beziehung zwischen Archäologie und Geschichte ist jedoch seit ihren Anfängen ebenfalls charakteristisch für die Archäologie des Mittelalters in Spanien, und es entsteht gerade ein neues Bewusstsein für diese Probleme. Dieser Artikel überprüft vergangene und gegenwärtige Einstellungen zu solchen Herausforderungen und überdenkt die zukünftigen Bedürfnisse dieser Disziplin. Er überdenkt auch die Politik der Archäologie und die Rolle der Archäologie des Mittelalters bei der Aufdeckung sozialen Wandels, die bisher unterschätzt wurde.
Abstract
L’archeologia di Al-Andalus: passato, presente e futuro di José C Carvajal
Questo studio presenta una panoramica dell’archeologia di al-Andalus (nome arabo della penisola iberica musulmana), a partire dai suoi inizi verso la fine degli anni ‘70 del secolo scorso fino a oggi. Nel decennio tra il 1980 e il 1990 l’archeologia di al-Andalus si era conquistata un posto di avanguardia nell’archeologia medievale per i suoi approcci innovativi e per gli orientamenti teorici. Fin dagli inizi l’archeologia medievale in Spagna è stata caratterizzata dal rapporto problematico e spesso conflittuale tra archeologia e storia, tuttavia sta emergendo una nuova consapevolezza di questi problemi. Questa pubblicazione passa in rassegna gli atteggiamenti passati e presenti di fronte a tali sfide e riflette sulle esigenze di questa disciplina in futuro. Riflette inoltre sulle politiche dell’archeologia e sul ruolo che l’archeologia medievale riveste nel portare a conoscenza i cambiamenti sociali, ruolo che finora è stato sottovalutato.
acknowledgements
I would like to thank my friends and colleagues William Gilstrap, Ana Jorge and Jeffry Oliver for all their comments and suggestions on the text. Of course, any mistakes remain my own. Most of this paper was written while working as a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow in the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield. Funding was provided by the Marie Curie Actions of the Seventh European Research Framework. The paper was completed in my role as Lecturer of Islamic Art and Archaeology at the University College of London in Qatar.
Notes
1 Honorary Research Fellow, University of Sheffield, Department of Archaeology. Currently Lecturer in Islamic Archaeology at UCL Qatar, PO Box 25256, 2nd Floor, Georgetown Building, Hamad bin Khalifa University, Education City, Doha, Qatar. [email protected]
2 Due to the fact that the archaeology of al-Andalus has developed as a branch of medieval archaeology in Portugal and Spain, it is not possible to find any work in Portuguese or Spanish that deals with it separately. For a review of the archaeology of al-Andalus, one needs to refer to general reviews of medieval archaeology (eg Quirós and Bengoetxea Citation2006; see also Boone Citation2009 and Glick Citation1995 on the archaeology of al-Andalus more generally). Methodological aspects have been addressed in Carvajal and Jiménez Citation2011 and Martín Citation2011. About the academic and social impact of the discipline, see Gutiérrez Citation2011; Citation2012, 41–3; and Quirós Citation2009.
3 I have attempted to present a reasonable number of references in this article, enough to justify my point of view, but not too extensive to create confusion. Readers interested in more detailed discussions of these issues should check the references of note 1 as a starting point.
4 Even if the histories of Spain and Portugal run parallel in the Middle Ages, the imperial past of the two nations is remarkably different and has inspired separate, if similar, attitudes towards their Islamic past. Due to my own background, I will focus my text on Spain.
5 The Casa de Velázquez (a French School in Madrid) initiated a very important programme of historical and archaeological research regarding al-Andalus from the late 1970s. The Italian organisation of medieval archaeology, whose work was disseminated through the journal Archeologia Medievale was the other inspiring element for Spanish medieval archaeology.
7 The first scholar to use the term ‘mythical’ in reference to nationalism was J Caro Baroja Citation2004, 34 (cited in Taibo Citation2007, 23). See Taibo Citation2007, 23–4 for an explanation of the selection of historical events which support this historical discourse.
16 Some of his major works are 1973; 1975; 1994.
18 Ie Sánchez Albornoz. See note 10.
20 Amin Citation1974. Barceló’s proposal is in the prologue.
22 Guichard Citation1976. Barceló was the translator. He managed to get it published earlier in Spanish before the first French edition appeared in 1977.
28 The most important publication here is Bazzana Citation1992.
30 An overview of this debate can be found in Francovich and Hodges Citation2003, 18–26.
36 I am excluding here the methodological ‘fathers’ of the pottery studies of the late 1970s, ie Rosselló, Bazzana and Zozaya, who show no explicit Marxist influence in their work.
39 Rosselló Citation1978 is the inspiring work; for a summary of this debate, see Salvatierra and Castillo Citation1999.
47 Eg Bazzana 1979–80 for insufficient discussion on glazing methods; Acién 1989 for misuse of modelling methods and their social implications; and Gutiérrez Citation1996 for sweeping conclusions on firing conditions observed on pottery.
52 It is important to bear in mind that the concept of ‘castle’ in al-Andalus (hiṣn) and the debate that it has stirred has very little in common with the desert castles (quṣūr) of the Middle East (Bilad al-Sham). Researchers in al-Andalus have regarded castles as intermediate points in the networks that link peasant settlements with towns, whereas the debate on Middle Eastern desert-castles has focused more on their erection and use by the early Islamic aristocracy, their position in relation to routes of communication, and the origins of their architectonic characteristics.
69 Eg Gutiérrez Citation1996. But cf the more recent work by Gutiérrez et al Citation2003, where her support for these ideas is not so evident.
81 An introduction to these issues is offered by Quirós Citation2009, 186–7.
88 Gutiérrez Citation2012, 39–41 shows a clear awareness of this problem.
89 Ley 16/1985 de Patrimonio Histórico Español.
90 By freelance archaeologists, in this article I mean those archaeologists who receive a salary for their work and are not part of academic or administrative institutions. They can be part of archaeological companies or not.
91 Ley 6/1998 sobre régimen de suelo y valoraciones.
96 See the journal Anales de Arqueología Cordobesa and the many high quality publications available at <www.arqueocordoba.com>.
106 Admitted by the authors: ibid, 198.
114 Some objections were made by García Sanjuán Citation2006, 131–7; 2012, 214, but they are minor questions in which the equivalence between religion and ideology was not really questioned.
118 Unfortunately, there are still supporters of the old paradigm of clash of civilisations. See García Sanjuán Citation2013, 91–100.
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