Descrizione del progetto
Svelare la vita quotidiana durante l’Epoca d’oro islamica
La conquista del Nord Africa da parte dei musulmani nel VII secolo ebbe un impatto fondamentale sulle comunità locali attraverso la trasformazione dei paesaggi urbani, l’istituzione di un vasto sistema commerciale e l’introduzione di pratiche agricole, tecnologie e costumi culturali nuovi. Tuttavia, le conoscenze esistenti riflettono l’esperienza dei governanti e dell’élite, trascurando quella della popolazione generale. Il progetto EVERYDAYISLAM, finanziato dall’UE, esaminerà la diffusione dei modi di vivere islamici nel Nord Africa, concentrandosi sull’impatto della regola musulmana su popolazioni locali, abitazioni, agricoltura e pratiche quotidiane. A tal fine, il progetto si baserà su nuovi reperti di scavo, analisi scientifica avanzata, set di dati sul patrimonio e fonti scritte. Sarà impiegata una metodologia comparativa per studiare i cambiamenti sul lungo temine nella vallata centrale del Mejerda in Tunisia, nel bacino fertile del Sebou nello stato idriside e nella cintura di oasi sahariana del Draa in Marocco.
Obiettivo
The Muslim conquests of North Africa in the 7th century transformed the everyday lives of communities– between 800-1000, the region experienced an economic ‘Golden Age’, visible in the growth of urban populations, intensified exchange across a vast trading system and the introduction of new agricultural practices and technologies. New social-religious norms underpinned the development of a distinctly ‘Islamic cultural package’ marked by the spread of new aesthetics, public and private architecture and Muslim dietary practices. Despite significant recent advances, much of our knowledge continues to reflect the experience of rulers and elites, rather than the bulk of the population. Our understanding of the timing and process of these innovations is hampered by a reliance on later literary sources, monumental architecture and the high arts, the absence of high-resolution archaeological data and an incomplete understanding of what these changes meant for the people living on the ground. Through new excavations and scientific analysis using state-of the-art methods, legacy datasets and written sources, this project will explore the underlying reasons for the spread of Islamic way of life in North Africa between ca. 600-1000 CE. In so doing, this project aims to make a paradigmatic shift in scholarly understanding of the impact of Muslim rule by focusing on local populations, their houses and their everyday practices. It will take a comparative approach and study long-term changes in housing, agriculture, diet and technology in three key regions: 1) the central Medjerda valley in Tunisia, the famed granary of Roman and Islamic Africa; 2) the fertile Sebou Basin in Morocco, at the centre of the Idrisid state; 3) the Saharan oasis belt of the Wadi Draa in Morocco, on the margins of settled life. The ambitious objective is to rewrite the history of Muslim rule and the Islamisation of daily life from the perspective of the communities living through this pivotal period.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-STG - Starting GrantIstituzione ospitante
WC1E 6BT London
Regno Unito