Cristina Tonghini

The Evolution of Masonry Technique in Islamic Military Architecture: the Evidence from Shayzar

Abstract This article describes and discusses the building sequence identified with the stratigraphic analysis of an architectural complex at the site of Shayzar in Syria. This sequence appears to represent the general sequence of occupation for the castle of Shayzar. It also provides evidence to illustrate the evolution of masonry technique at the site over many centuries; a number of dated inscriptions preserved at the site has contributed absolute dating to a significant part of this sequence. This evidence was recorded in the course of the first season of field work carried out in the spring 2002 for a project of archaeological investigations, the Progetto Shayzar.

The Contribution of “Light” Archaeology to theStudy of Fortified Sites in Northern Syria

A new archaeological project has been recently started by a joint team from the University of Florence and the University of London, entitled Islamic Syria and Latin Kingdoms: a Mediaeval frontier. Settlements and interaction in the 12th and 13th centuries A.D.1 This project aims at analysing settlements, territories and fortified systems on both sides of the frontier in the coastal plain of Syria and in the Orontes valley. In this context, the frontier acquires the significance of an “observatory” on the interaction (for example, in relation to settlement modes, control of territory, exploitation of natural sources, and exchange of technology) between west European feudal society and Islamic society in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Figure 1).2 In the Near East, research topics such as the transformation of settlement in the period under consideration and the origin of fortifications do not seem to have been adequately developed. To date, the archaeological study of this period has mainly concerned standing