Die Arbeit beleuchtet die modernen wasser- und agrarwirtschaftlichen Möglichkeiten und zeigt auf, dass diese weitestgehend zur Rekonstruktion der historischen Situation herangezogen werden können. Archäologische Untersuchungen im Stadtgebiet dokumentieren die technische Seite der Wasserversorgung. In den insgesamt elf Grabungskampagnen konnten, neben einer nahezu flächendeckend durchgeführten geomagnetischen Prospektion, große Teile der Bausubstanz freigelegt werden. Beide bilden die Basis zur Untersuchung und Rekonstruktion von Stadtstruktur und -entwicklung die später in einen historischen Rahmen gefügt wird. Die Rekonstruktion des Stadtbildes liefert neben Details zum Baubestand auch Informationen zum Übergang von einer unbefestigten Siedlung in eine befestigte Stadt. Daneben bildet der Handel, dokumentiert im Gebäudebestand durch Karawansereien, Khane und einen Bazar – aber auch in historischen Quellen – eine weitere wichtige Säule der Versorgungsgrundlage. Am Ende steht die Einordung der gewonnenen Ergebnisse in einen historischen Rahmen basierend auf datierten archäologischen Funden, die eine Gesamtbesiedlung zwischen 730 und 1000 n. Chr. aufzeigen.
Organizing an Urban Way of Life in the Steppe – Water, Agriculture, Townscape and Economy in the Early Islamic Town of Kharab Sayyar.
As the third volume in this series, “Organizing an Urban Way of Life in the Steppe” is looking to explore infrastructure, townscape and morphology of the settlement in a peripheral steppe area during early-islamic times. The work is based on more than ten years of archaeological fieldwork and explores the archaeology, geography, hydrology and history to reconstruct environment the town needed to exist. It will display how a provincial centre, in a peripheral area, was planned and built, how it functioned, how it evolved and finally was abandoned during early Islamic times. It also includes questions concerning site choice and economy or other agents of growth.
A large part of the work is concerned with the natural surroundings and the most important prerequisite and integral piece of infrastructure – water. Water was and is the most valuable source in the region – a substantial motor for agricultural economies and technological and architectural achievements. The built environment and the urban form will be explored by mapping geophysics and matching those against archaeological results obtained during more than 10 field-seasons. The report on the largest feature, the fortification, is included in this volume.
While likely founded earlier, Kharab Sayyar flourished during the Abbasid Era. Located in the steppe between Habur and Balikh it was surrounded by arable land and numerous smaller settlements. It was a waypoint, trading station, local market and administrative centre for this rural region – with a strong cultural link to the centres in the east. Let up in the tenth century AD it was not inhabited by settlers again until the 20th century – today the modern village and the ruins share the name.
The work of the German-Syrian excavation team in Kharab Sayyar focuses on the exploration of an extensive Islamic urban settlement from the 9th century AD, whose importance for the reconstruction of the town’s original appearance, especially of the artistic development (stucco decorations, mural paintings), became apparent even after the first excavation campaigns. This volume on Islamic ceramic introduces the series „Deutsch-Syrische Ausgrabungen im islamischen Kharab Sayyar“ (KHS); other volumes will focus on individual excavation sectors and on the findings. A manuscript for the publication on the so-called „Great House“ (sector E) by Michael Würz is already at hand, a study by Angela Koppel on the stucco decorations in the „Great House“ and the Mosque is under preparation. Publications of the findings around the Great Mosque (Imad Mussa, 2012), the Bath (Natascha Matyschok, 2013), and an evaluation of the examination of hydraulic engineering and water management (Michael Würz, 2013) are intended to follow.
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