Bethany J. Walker

Questioning Transjordan’s Historic Desertification: A Critical Review of the Paradigm of ‘Empty Lands’

Abstract European travel reports of the 19th century and excavations in Transjordan created the impression that population numbers were strongly reduced during the Islamic periods, leading to ‘empty’ lands which were only resettled during the early 20th century. This development was considered to be caused by bad (Muslim) governance, nomadic incursions, and environmental degradation. However, our case study near the ancient site Abila of the Decapolis in northern Jordan found that the land was never empty and always fertile, but there is evidence for a rapid and intense landscape change during the Late Byzantine period. This was probably caused by a significant shift to aridity which also triggered socio-economic changes in subsistence strategies from agriculture to nomadism. The climatic change seems to have occurred rapidly within approximately 100 years in the late 6th and early 7th centuries AD and was accompanied by heavy rainfall events. It might have been caused or triggered by the climatic event of the ‘Mystery Veil’ which the Byzantine historian Procopius described in the year 536 AD. During the Medieval period, settlement density increased again until another decline took place in the late Ottoman period. However, the vicinity of Abila was probably never abandoned and the continuity of place names speaks against a larger exchange of population. Rising population numbers and favourable climatic conditions in the early 20th century caused most tribes to settle again, which improved government control.

Did the Mamluks Have an Environmental Sense? Natural Resource Management in Syrian Villages

DOI of Vol. XX: 10.6082/M1J10184. See http://hdl.handle.net/11417/727 to download the full volume or individual articles. See http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/msr.html for more information about copyright and open access. 10.6082/M1H1304R http://hdl.handle. net/11417/736 Did the Mamluks Have an Environmental Sense?: Natural Resource Management in Syrian Villages University of Groningen University of Sheffield Annette Hansen Chiara Corbino Did the Mamluks Have an Environmental Sense?

Commemorating the Sacred Spaces of the Past: The Mamluks and the Umayyad Mosque at Damascus

Considered one of the wonders of world by medieval geographers, the Umayyad mosque at Damascus, with its shimmering gilded glass mosaics, had a tremendous impact on medieval Islamic architectural decoration. The mosque was, and continues to be, one of the most celebrated and frequently visited holy places in the Islamic world. One of the largest congregational mosques of its day, it served as a gathering place for the citizens of Damascus. No wonder the fledgling Mamluk state chose to patronize it, in the process situating themselves in a long line of legitimate Muslim leaders. Its splendor, expansiveness and expensive contruction represented the prosperity and grandeur of the fourteenth century.

The Struggle over Water

This volume contains seventeen essays on the Mamluk Sultanate written by leading historians of this period, and discusses social and cultural issues, women in Mamluk society, literary and poetic genres, the politics of material culture, and regional and local politics.