Description
Following the Islamic conquest and the subdivision of the Eastern diocese into military districts, the territory of the Provinciae Arabia and Palaestina was divided between Jund al-Urdunn to the north and Jund Dimashq and / or Filastin to the south. The political, economic and social transformation that affected urban realities in this area between the end of the third and ninth centuries AD is well exemplified by three cities of the Decapolis: Philadelphia, Gerasa and Pella. The evolution of the rural landscape is documented by the data collected during the reconnaissance projects carried out in recent years in Jordan, such as the one in the upper valley of the wadi az-Zarqa / wadi ad-Dulayl, an area that serves, among other things, as a lens enlargement for the central-northern Jordanian reality. The Islamic occupation, which does not seem to have radically upset the urban and rural landscape, was part of a changing reality, and contributed to the diversification of the settlement system by favoring the development of a new form of occupation of the territory, the so-called 'desert castles. '. The role of land of the 'princes' played by this region of the nascent Islamic empire in the Umayyad era failed with the affirmation of the Abbasid caliphate and the consequent movement of the capital to Baghdad; the area became peripheral and was condemned to recession.
Ottone d'Assia and Riccardo Francovich Award 2004
In collaboration with SAMI, Società degli Archeologi Medievisti Italiani
