Welcome to the survey of Islamic Archaeology literature!
As there are not yet online databases in our discipline, the interested reader must browse multi-period journals according to modern states (e.g. Lebanon) and modern regions (e.g. the Levant); or search for specific topics (e.g. Islamic coins, mosques).
The list below is similarly ordered according to topics and to regions, followed by general works.
This list focuses on ‘Islamic Archaeology’ and not on ‘Islamic Art‘, but the research questions and publications of the two disciplines often overlap. Very briefly, archaeology is the evidence to past human activity in context. The results are obtained through excavations and surveys (on land and sea) and by various remote sensing techniques.
Specific topics
Portable artifacts: glass, pottery, textile, coins and other
Modern regions and states
North Africa and Spain
East and West Africa
The Arabian Peninsula
The Levant, Egypt and Iraq
Turkey, Eastern Europe and Southern Europe
Iran and Central Asia
General works
General journals
Journal of Islamic Archaeology
Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World
BASOR: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
Introductions to Islamic Archaeology
Early Islam (7th-11th centuries) or Middle-Period Islam (12th-15th centuries):
Milwright, Marcus, 2010. An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Whitcomb, Donald (ed.), 2004, Changing Social Identity with the Spread of Islam: Archaeological Perspectives, Chicago: University of Chicago. Download here.
Walker, Bethany, Insoll, Timothy, and Corisande Fenwick (eds.), 2021. The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Archaeology, Oxford University Press.
Walmsley, Alan, 2000. “Production, Exchange and Regional Trade in the Islamic East Mediterranean: Old Structure, New Systems?”, in: Inge Lyse Hansen and Chris Wickham (eds.), The Long Eighth Century, Leiden: Brill, 265-343.
Other resources
The Levantine Ceramics Project
Open-archaeo: a list of open source archaeological software and resources
An overview of German excavations over the world
Site editor
Hagit Nol: nolgit[at]yahoo.com.