Islamic Archaeology Day 2025

The purpose of the Islamic Archaeology Day is to provide an opportunity for researchers in this area to come together and encourage collaboration across regional and period boundaries. The workshop provides a snapshot of some of the latest and most exciting research being conducted in Islamic archaeology.

Organisers: Corisande Fenwick (UCL), Hugh Kennedy (SOAS), Veronica Occari (UCL), Ruth Pelling (UCL/ Historic England), Scott Redford (SOAS), Viva Sacco (UCL), Paul Wordsworth (UCL), Lisa Yeomans (UCL).

Programme

Session 1 (Chair: Hugh Kennedy, SOAS)

• 11:00   Welcome & Introduction - Corisande Fenwick (UCL)
• 11:15   The easternmost bathhouse of the early Islamic world: the case of Banbhore (Pakistan) - Agnese Fusaro (University for Foreigners of Siena), Daniele Redamante (University of Bologna), Zahida Quadri (Government of Sindh)
• 11:40  From Bukhara to Surkhandarya: early Islamic pottery and the search for a common research agenda - Gabriele Puschnigg (Austrian Academy of Sciences) & Jacopo Bruno (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
• 12:05   The location of early Islamic silver mines: a geochemical perspective  - Jane Kershaw (University of Oxford)
• 12:30   Islam, the Aegean, and Crete (9th - 10th c.): new developments and perspectives  - Matteo Randazzo

1:00      Lunch in Common Room (6th Floor)

Session 2 (Chair: Paul Wordsworth, UCL)

• 2:00   Food, farming and trade: insights into daily life from the archaeobotany of Walīla (Morocco) - Ruth Pelling (UCL), Tachfine Touri (INSAP), Corisande Fenwick (UCL), Asmae El Kacimi (INSAP), Elizabeth Fentress, Hassan Limane (INSAP)
• 2:25   Reconstructing medieval metal production in North Africa: the metallurgical workshop at Walīla (Morocco) - Raluca Lazarescu (UCL), Corisande Fenwick (UCL), Michael Charlton (UCL), Asmae El Kacimi (INSAP), Elizabeth Fentress, Hassan Limane (INSAP)
• 2:50   Livestock management in an Andalusian Almohad town: the case for an open-air Fumier sequence at Cártama, Málaga (Spain) - Rowena Banerjea (University of Reading), Mónica Alonso Eguiluz (Vrije Universiteit Brussels), Lionello F. Morandi (Università di Pisa), Jérôme Ros (Université Montpellier), Luc Vrydaghs (Vrije Universiteit Brussels), Yannick Devos (Vrije Universiteit Brussels), Marie Larrieu (Université Montpellier), Nicolas Losilla (Universidad de Granada), Irene Bertelli (Università di Pisa), Erika Ribechini (Università di Pisa), Francisco Melero García (ARATISPI Patrimonio S.L.), Guillermo García Contrera (Universidad de Granada)
• 3:15   Glazed ware production and networks in Sicily and Ifrīqiya - Viva Sacco (UCL), Veronica Occari (UCL), Soundes Gragueb Chatti (INSAP), Heike Moller (DAI), Chokri Touhiri (INSAP), Ian Freestone (UCL), Patrick Quinn (UCL), Moheddine Chaouali (INP), Philipp von Rummel (DAI), Corisande Fenwick (UCL)

3:45      Tea break

Session 3 (Chair: Scott Redford, SOAS)

• 4:15      Recent Archaeological Results from Harlaa, Ethiopia. An African Islamic Entrepot - Timothy Insoll (University of Exeter)
• 4:40      Islamic Funerary Archaeology in Ethiopia: the results of the ERC HornEast project - Julien Loiseau (Aix-Marseille Université) and Simon Dorso (Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University)
• 5:05      Islamisation and Urbanisation in West Africa: a Decade of Fieldwork in Old Buipe (Ghana) - Denis Genequand (SMRA)
• 5:30      Stations of the Ottoman period in Iraqi Kurdistan: preliminary results from the Bazhera Archaeological Project - Valentina Vezzoli (Universita degli studi di Udine)

6-7pm Reception in Common Room (6th Floor)

7 :15pm Dinner (for those who have pre-booked)

Registration

Registration is open via the UCL Online Store: F31 Islamic Archaeology Day 2025 | UCL Online Store 
For reduced early-bird tickets, please register before Tuesday 14 January 2025

Further information

• Islamic Archaeology Research Network
• To join our mailing list, contact c.fenwick@ucl.ac.uk

Save the date…..10th Islamic Archaeology Day: Sat 31st January 2026