19-20 January 2016

The distinctive regionalism of ceramic production and distribution of Islamic-era pottery Jordan is widely recognized by archaeologists working in the country. A full documentation of regional wares and assemblages, however, is missing from our current scholarship on the period, and stymies our efforts at dating coarse wares and understanding patterns of exchange and contact, particularly at rural sites. This workshop is an effort at addressing this lacuna by bringing together a small group of ceramicists actively involved in the study of Early Islamic pottery, who work at sites throughout the country. For two days participants will be “reading” pottery from sites in the northern highlands (Malka, Hubras, al-Shajrah, al-Turra and the hinterlands of Umm Qeis, Abila, and Umm el-Jimal), the central plateaus (Tall Hisban), and the South (Shuqayra and Aqaba Castle) – and from both excavations and surveys – and comparing methods at describing fabrics. The goal is to begin to develop a database of Jordanian fabrics, building on the typologies that already have currency in the archaeology of medieval Islamic Jordan.

Participation and attendance in this workshop is by previous arrangement and includes faculty and doctoral students from the Islamic Archaeology Research Unit at the University of Bonn, as well as the Institutes of Archaeology of the Universities of Bonn, Cologne, and Vienna, and scholars from other universities in Germany and abroad.

The workshop begins on Tuesday, 19 January, 2016 at 13.00 (ending at c. 17.00 that day) and on Wednesday, 20 January at 9:00 (ending around noon).  The program opens Tuesday afternoon with brief presentations by the ceramicists of each field project.