Share Story
AMMAN — The archaeology of the Mamluk period, as practiced today, is a form of historical archaeology heavily informed by anthropological models. One methodological development of the last decade has been involvement of the written record.
The combination of written and material sources is the greatest challenge of any archaeology of historical periods, particularly so with the Mamluk period, which produced a wealth of texts.
"Many excavations now include an explanation, however brief, of how historical sources are used. There has been a very gradual shift from dependence on texts for interpreting archaeological data to creating a dialogue between the two in ways that inform project design," said Professor Bethany Walker from the University of Bonn.
Walker added that because written sources and archaeological data answer different sets of questions about human behaviour and can differ in chronological scale of inquiry, they can and should be used in tandem to write a multi-faceted history of Mamluk societies.
Furthermore, one data set can inform the other. The challenge is to decide which kinds of sources are most appropriate to the subject at hand and to write a coherent, analytical narrative that uses them in complement with one another.
Archaeologists of the Mamluk period (“Middle Islamic” period in archaeological terminology) have generally relied on written sources that are geographically and chronologically useful and readily available in print form (and frequently translated into European languages).
Narrative sources (primarily chronicles and geographies) and administrative manuals that help identify sites and provide a historical framework for their physical development, Walker continued, adding that such sources, in combination with archaeological evidence, can produce a rich narrative of Mamluk history.
"What has been largely missing is an engagement with contemporary documentary sources. One notable exception is the early Ottoman tax registers of the 16th century," Walker elaborated.
The professor noted that during the first century of Ottoman rule in Syria, many elements of the Mamluks’ administration in the region were retained, including the general administrative structure, some personnel, and many of the larger landed endowments (awqaf).
The registers document anticipated income from taxable commodities, though not actual taxes collected, and describe in some detail the status of rural property, whether a settled village (qaryah), a village formerly settled but now abandoned (kharab), a piece of cultivated land (such as a garden, qiṭʿah), or a tract of cultivated land not associated with a village (mazraʿah).
Tax-liable commodities (summer crops, winter crops, livestock, processed agricultural goods and animal by-products such as honey, endowments) are listed along with their estimated revenues.
"Specific references to land tenure and use, along with incidental information, such as how a plot of land was acquired and what its access was to water, are occasionally included.”
The registers, moreover, are organised according by tax districts, yielding important details on the administrative structure of the region. The registers of 1534, 1538/39, 1551/52, and 1596/97 are preserved in manuscript form, and from these several segments have been published for Palestine and Jordan," Walker underlined.
He added that the majority of the publications are in Turkish with Arabic summary and commentary; the most widely cited one, though, is in English.
Unfortunately, these sources have not been used as fully as they could be: The general trend has been to look up an individual site name and determine whether the place was inhabited and its land continued to be cultivated after Ottoman annexation. The registers, however, yield much more important specific data than this.
"The estimated number of households in each location is included and the dhimmīs liable for the jizyah are mentioned in each entry of aqaryah.”
“Although the numbers are not reliable for population statistics, they do reflect the religious composition of villages, a demographic characteristic that is not readily recognisable in the archaeological record. The registers note, though inconsistently, abandoned villages, the location of roads and waterways, and the existence of facilities such as mills," Walker underscored.
In spite of this, their potential for studying environmental and land use changes has not been realised to a full extent.