This session will pay tribute to a whole generation of researchers, amongst whom we would highlight Manuel Acién and Pierre Guichard, two of the early pioneers in the study of Al-Andalus. Their contributions to the historical study of Al-Andalus were essential and led to wide-ranging, groundbreaking research that has gone above and beyond the established paradigms. 

In the process to put in place the Islamic social and political model in Al-Andalus, fortifications, and particularly those promoted by the Umayyad authorities, played an essential role. Many of these fortresses were built using materials and building procedures with shared features, indicating how much they were linked to power in Cordoba. These included the use of ashlars, initially reused from previously existing buildings and also gradually extracted from quarries. The layout of these fortifications seems to have been focused initially on two rather well-defined areas: on the one hand, the middle and Western parts of the Iberian Peninsula, and on the other, around the Ebro Valley, where a certain very unique and endemic architectural style has been detected. A comparison of these two areas is an interesting exercise in determining the role played by these fortifications in the process to Islamize the lands of Al-Andalus. And this means determining their timeline, architectural influences, the ties between their promoters and Cordoba’s authorities, and more. 

The role of currency in different societies helps determine the way people relate with each other. In a society with taxation like that established in Al-Andalus, it played a major role from the very outset, as a means of exchange. New Al-Andalus coins issued as of the eighth century coexisted with others still in use that had formed part of the prior Visigothic and Roman monetary systems. Each of these systems had its own particular features and entailed specific problems. 

Mercedes Navarro Pérez has a bachelor’s degree in Humanities. She received her Master’s degree in Tourism, Archeology and Nature, and a PhD from the University of Jaén. She is a member of the Archeological Heritage of Jaén Research Group at the University of Jaén, and of the Network of Experts of the Campus of International Excellence, in the field of Cultural and Natural Heritage Projects. She was an archeologist working on urban excavations, both as a freelancer and as a founding member of the company ARQ13, until 2009. Since then, she has been working with the Medieval History Department at the University of Jaén, collaborating with domestic and foreign research, development and innovation projects, as well as in technical consultancy and research contracts. All of this can be seen in numerous publications and exhibition projects designed to disseminate the results of the activities she has carried out.

The conference took place on Tuesday 30 November at Casa Árabe's headquarters in Cordoba. 

The process of Islamization in Al-Andalus territory led to a profound transformation of the natural landscape and rural environment to adapt them to new economic and social uses and exploitation. The advent of new production processes, the adoption and generalization of extensive irrigation techniques, the introduction of new crops, and the spread of new forms of farming, along with other events, caused notable differences in the landscape and society when compared with previous stages of history, thus deeply and permanently transforming the rural world. Among all of the changes that took place in this respect, intensive irrigation farming was one of the basic economic foundations of political and social development in Al-Andalus. Along with changes made to the rural landscape, this also led to changes and innovations between work in the countryside and means of production, in the relationship between the State and the peasant communities, in the organization of those communities, in land ownership and management, in the taxation system, and many other arenas.

At this new session we will be addressing a topic directly related with the architecture of Islam’s earliest centuries through a comparative study of the process to establish Islam in the eastern Umayyad territory (Bilad al-Sham) during the seventh century and the western Umayyad territory (Al-Andalus) in the eighth century, focusing on an architectural analysis of buildings, architectural complexesand still preserved archeological remains.

Material culture is one of the best indicators for learning about a society. It is no exception in the case of Al-Andalus. Studying material culture allows us to get a closer look at cuisine and eating habits of Al-Andalus, rituals at the dinner table, figuring out how they used lighting, how they heated their homes and the ways in which they decorated the courtyards in their houses. In medieval times, however, still distant from today’s globalization, material culture was not the same in every corner of Al-Andalus, nor were the habits of consumption alike. Many variables were involved, including the past traditions from before the Muslims’ arrival, alongside varying contact with outside influences and a permeability to the fashions

At this session, we will be addressing other territories in Al-Andalus and its peripheries, defined as the areas physically farthest from Cordoba, but also those places which did not form part of its cityscapes. They will be discussing the cultural exchanges that can be found in these and other areas in different arenas, the varying paces of change and development which Islamization entailed, the common factors that they share, and the resistance and rebellion that arose in certain places. This perspective makes it possible to explore many levels of analysis: political and identity-related developments, economic circuits, the way exchange networks and productive activities operated, the existence of bilingualism, architectural influences and imports, cultural forms of expression and a full range of other factors. Throughout this journey, there will also be reflection upon the different ways in which some of these phenomena have been treated in
Julio Escalona, with a PhD from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, is currently a Researching Scientist at Spain’s CSIC. He works with the Department of Medieval Studies’ Institute of History and the research group “Networks of Power in Medieval Societies.” He is also an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology (University College London, United Kingdom). His research is based on combining history and archeology to study the European societies of the High and Late Middle Ages, following two main areas of study: the relationship between territory, society and power in medieval Europe, analysis of medieval written sources from the perspective of historical memory and the use of information technologies for research in history and medieval archeology (especially database design and electronic mapping). He has taken part in numerous nationally and internationally funded research projects, including the direction of five projects forming part of Spain’s National Research, Development and Innovation Plan (I+D+i).José C. Carvajal López is a professor of Historical Archeology at the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History in the United Kingdom. With both a bachelor’s degree and PhD from the University of Granada, he was a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield (2010-2012) and a professor of Islamic Archaeology at UCL Qatar (2013- 2017). His fields of research cover the Islamic period (especially the early era, but also later dates) and Islamization processes, above all in Al-Andalus and Qatar. He has studied ceramic production processes and landscapes in Spain, Qatar, Morocco, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Palestine, Iraqi Kurdistan and Kazakhstan. He is particularly interested in processes of change and cultural encounters, and in the application of archeological theory to the problems associated with Islamization processes.

Given by Eduardo Manzano and Chris Wickham. Moderated by: Elena Salinas