Seventh Century AD Research Articles

Sumbangan Sultan Omar (m. 1876) dalam Penulisan Manuskrip Quran Terengganu Pada Abad ke 19

The writing of the Qur’an has started since it was revealed to the Prophet S.A.W in the seventh century AD. The effort to copy this sacred words was also done by the caliph al-Rashidin, especially Sayidina Uthman al’Affan until through various improvement processes to ensure that Muslims can use this scripture more easily and in accordance with the latest approach. There are a number of great Islamic empire has made an effort to copy the manuscripts of the Qur’an and this is also true in the Malay world. The Sultanate of Terengganu is recorded among the 11 Islamic sultans that have carried out this copying effort since the 18th century AD. The objective of this study is to identify the era of the Terengganu sultanate who carried out this noble endeavor as the Terengganu sultanate was founded in 1708 AD and ruled by 17 sultans until now. To ensure that the objectives of this study are achieved, qualitative research methods are used by looking at the evidence available in all Terengganu Qur’an manuscript and examining the colophon notes found in the manuscript. To support this study, historical records on the development of Islam and culture are also used as reference. The results of the study found that the Terengganu Quran manuscript has been actively produced during the era of the Baginda Sultan Omar. This is evidenced when four of the five manuscripts of the Qur’an have recorded the date of writing which occurred with the date of his reign. In addition, Baginda Sultan Omar is one of the longest-ruling sultans of Terengganu and and his contribution in knowledge and culture has been recorded in past historical records. The heritage of the Quran manuscript is proof that Baginda Sultan Omar was a ruler who always upheld Islam as the official religion of the state.

Anorexia and bulimia in late antiquity and early Byzantine period in the eastern Mediterranean region

The purpose of this study is to identify clinical manifestations of eating disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean region from the first century AD until the seventh century AD and evaluate relevant awareness among the physicians of the era. The authors searched original medical texts written in Greek by physicians practicing in the Eastern Mediterranean region from the first century AD to the seventh century AD. The search focused on passages that include possible references to clinical entities analogous to anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) as described in the DSM-5 and the contemporary literature. Descriptions of conditions that resemble AN or BN can be found in the work of Galen, Oribasius, Aetius of Amida, Leon Philoumenos, Alexander Trallian, and Paul of Egina. Successive physicians confirmed the observations of their predecessors and add to the description of the clinical presentations and their etiology. This research provides evidence of awareness of presentations resembling currently defined eating disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean region during a period with different norms and values. Observations from the period can serve as a point for reflection about the characteristics and etiology of AN and BN in the 21st century.

Sustainable abstraction of karst water spring for two Roman cities in Croatia

This paper presents a reconstruction of two ancient water intake facilities at the Jadro spring in Croatia. The Jadro spring was the water source for Salona, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, and Emperor Diocletian’s Palace. The water supply system of Salona functioned from the first century BC to the seventh century AD, while Diocletian’s operated from the fourth to seventh centuries AD. The engineering approach of the abstraction facilities is reconstructed based on analysis of the physical characteristics of the spring and Roman engineering practices. The simple, flexible and robust water intake solutions that were applied functioned in a satisfactory way over a long period that included significant climate changes. This confirms the reliability and resilience of water abstraction from karst springs. A solution similar to the Tyrolean weir, a bottom intake system was integrated into the physical system, enabling the sustainability of the water supply. This solution is a fine example of a water intake structure at a karst spring that could be applied today to solve the problems caused by development and post-industrial climate change.

THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE OF THE KHARIJITES DURING THE FIRST CENTURY AH. A HISTORICAL STUDY

This article examines the political discourse of the Kharijites who appeared as an opposition group in the fourth decade of the first century AH / seventh century AD, after the Battle of Siffin and the arbitration between ‘Ali and Mu‘awiyah in 38 AH / 659 AD. The article follows the historical developments that the political discourse of the Kharijites underwent before they crystallized into a religious sect at the end of the Umayyad period and collapsed at the start of the Abbasid period and studies the political slogans and values expressed in their political discourse about the Imamate. Throughout Islamic history, political and doctrinal discourses have appeared for both the rulers and the opposition. However, the Kharijites connected their political discourse to their religious ideology, as well as to their Bedouin nature. The political principles of the Kharijites centered on the freedom to choose the caliph or the imam, not restricted to the Quraish

TWO GREEK FUNERARY INSCRIPTIONS FROM ZOARA/GHOR AS-SAFI IN JORDAN (EARLY BYZANTINE ZOORA)

Inscriptions from the Byzantine period in southern Jordan include a corpus of mainly funerary Greek and Aramaic texts discovered in recent years in the Ghor as-Safi area of southern Jordan. Containing more than 456 epitaphs from the An-Naq‘ cemetery of Zoara (Early Byzantine Zoora), this extraordinary collection dating from the fourth to the seventh century AD continues to expand. Many more texts are being currently studied and forthcoming in separate publications. As part of that effort, two additional Greek inscriptions recognized as having originated from Zoara are presented here. The first – significant in filling gaps in the early Byzantine social mosaic – commemorates Faustina, a name appearing for the first time, joining eight other Latin female names, and dating last to 16 February AD 503. This date falling within Year 397 of the Era of the Province of Arabia is known only from one indiction in the corpus, but the Indiction of Year 11 mentioned is unique. Equally unique is the name of Theodotos as an ecclesiastical authority, a deacon, a presbyter, or even the city-bishop. The decoration of a large sun disk with a cross in the middle could represent the Constantinian sun god Sol Invictus converted to Christianity. The second inscription is also rare in commemorating one Bargonnas, a name probably deriving from the epithet given to Simon/Peter in Matthew’s Gospel (16:17): Βαριωνᾶς.

Emerging Glass Industry Patterns in Late Antiquity Balkans and Beyond: New Analytical Findings on Foy 3.2 and Foy 2.1 Glass Types.

Resolving issues posed by our paper describing the late antiquity glass from Jelica (Serbia), we performed a thorough analysis of similar glass, systematically collected from the literature. The analysis showed that Foy 3.2 type evolved gradually from a composition similar to the Roman antimony-decolorized glass to a composition approaching Foy 2.1, lasting longer (second−seventh century AD) and spreading wider than originally described, including large parts of the Balkans, France interior, Germany, and Britain. The center of its distribution seems to be the Balkans and Italy. During the sixth century, Foy 3.2 glasses in the Balkans showed a significant increase of average MgO concentration compared to the earlier period and Foy 3.2 glasses outside the Balkans, implying different sand quarries and perhaps different trade routes for its imports. Recycling criteria for Foy 3.2 glass has been established. Similarly, 125 high-iron Foy 2.1 glasses are selected from the literature. They cluster within two groups regarding iron concentrations, which we term high iron (HI) and very high iron (VHI) Foy 2.1. In addition, there is a low lime subgroup of the VHI group, termed VHILL. The paper offers two possible explanations for the elevated iron, color branding, and different silica sources. High-iron glasses seem relatively evenly spread across the entire Mediterranean and its interior, representing, on average, around a quarter of the local Foy 2.1 assemblages. The percentages of high-iron samples are almost double in manufactured glass compared to raw glass, suggesting that the addition of iron was happening in the secondary workshops, i.e., for color branding. Among the manufactured glass, the proportions were higher in glassware than in windowpane glass. To capture the changing sand exploitation conditions, we propose the term “generic composition/type” or “(geochemical) class”.

Formy ústní a písemné fixace qur´ánského textu: Přehled islámských a Západních perspektiv

The study addresses the question of the historicity of the Qur´ān, the central religious text of Islam, and provides an overview of important Islamic and Western views on its formation, notation, and the specifics of oral transmission. To this end, it reflects on traditional Muslim discourse and draws primarily on the classical works of Muslim authors, which refer to important stages in the development of the sacred Scripture. It also points to some of the perspectives and approaches of Western scientists, who have entered the debate on the historicity and authenticity of the text more significantly, especially since the nineteenth century. It focuses on newer methods of research that analyze preserved manuscripts through modern technologies and thus shed light on the circumstances of the origin of the text, which according to tradition was formed from the early beginning of the seventh century AD.

Did ancient glassware travel the Silk Road? X-ray fluorescence analysis of a Sasanian glass vessel from Okinoshima Island, Japan

The use of a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer revealed the provenance of a shard of a relief-cut glass bowl which was dedicated to ancient ritual on the sacred island of Okinoshima, Japan over a thousand years ago. The shard was unearthed from one of the ritual sites on the island in the 1950s and is now designated as a national treasure in Japan. A nondestructive and on-site X-ray fluorescence analytical technique was applied to the Okinoshima glass shard to establish where and when it was originally manufactured based on its chemical composition. Clear correspondence of chemical composition between the shard and glass excavated from a Sasanian city site in Mesopotamia demonstrated that the shard was derived from a type of glassware primarily produced in glass workshops within the Sasanian Empire between the fifth and seventh centuries AD. This is the first scientific evidence demonstrating that glass was imported from overseas across thousands of kilometers and then dedicated for the ritual on Okinoshima Island. This simultaneously gives us a glimpse of the specific details of divine rituals conducted on Okinoshima Island in ancient times.

New insights into the history of early Alwa: recent archaeological research in Umm Marrahi, Hosh el-Kab and Abu Nafisa forts (Khartoum Province, Sudan)

ABSTRACT A group of nine fortified sites, similar to Roman fortlets, occur along approximately 550 km of the Middle Nile Valley of Sudan between the Fourth Cataract and the confluence of the White and Blue Niles. Previous research indicates that these forts were built in Late Antiquity, i.e. between the second and seventh centuries AD. This was a time of profound changes in the region that included the disintegration of the Meroitic kingdom and the development of several medieval Nubian realms. Drawing on previous research and the results of two seasons of fieldwork at three of the forts in 2018, this paper provides an answer to the questions of who and why these forts were built. Small finds and radiocarbon samples from various contexts provide insights into their history and indicate that all three of the forts investigated were erected in a short period during the second part of the sixth century, a time of conflict between the Nubian kingdoms that is described by the contemporary historian John of Ephesus.

A reassessment of archaeological human remains recovered from rock shelters in Cathkin Peak, South Africa

ABSTRACT Various skeletons from the uThukela region of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa were excavated from rock shelters there during the early part of the twentieth century, with limited accompanying data or analysis. This paper analyses and reports on nine such graves (eight of which contained human remains), excavated during 1931 near Cathkin Peak. The remains are currently housed in the Raymond A. Dart Archaeological Human Remains Collection, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Most of the skeletons were radiocarbon-dated to between the fourteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries, but one is older and dates to between the seventh and ninth centuries AD. Remains recovered from the various shelters included those of both adults and children, males and females, indicating that these rock shelters were used for the burials of, and were possibly occupied by, a wide variety of individuals over a long period of time. Skeletal analyses revealed several signs of disease and trauma, attesting to some hardships living in this region of South Africa. Stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen indicate a predominantly plant-based diet. Originally it was thought that these individuals’ remains represented those of the historic amaZizi people, however, radiocarbon dates indicate that they are contemporaneous with the Moor Park phase of the Blackburn branch, which predates the amaZizi by several decades. Of interest is the fact that one individual predates the Moor Park phase. This is significant and sheds some light on the movement of people from KwaZulu-Natal into the interior. Future ancient DNA analysis will provide more information on the origin and genetic relationship of these individuals.

دخول السلام بلاد السودان قبيل القرن السادس عشرالميلادي

This paper highlights on one of the most periods of the history of the Sudan “Islamicperiod”. It extends from the seventh century AD up to the period precedes the sixteencentury AD-the beginning of the entry of Islam to Sudan, i.e before the establishment ofthe Funj Kingdom.There are no enough studies on this important period. The paper investigates the beginning of the entry of Islam to Sudan and the establishment of the small Islamic Kingdoms (Al-Sukkrab, Al-Umari, and Al-giddyat) by using archaeological remains cemetries, domes, mosques, shrines, tombstones, inscriptions, and Islamic pottery.

Surgery in antiquity: the origin of the Trendelenburg position revisited

Introduction The Raised Pelvic Position, also known as Trendelenburg position, consists of the elevation of the pelvis above the horizontal plane in the supine position with the head lowered. The position is named after Friedrich Trendelenburg, a German surgeon, who flourished in Berlin at the end of the nineteenth century. Although modern studies trace the position’s principle back to the first century BC, we herein present even earlier descriptions, dating back to the fifth century BC. Material and methods The whole ancient Greek literature was digitally searched. All relevant references were analyzed from the original sources. Results We found at least nine references to the Raised Pelvic Position in the ancient Greek literature from the following physicians: Hippocrates (fifth century BC), Soranus of Ephesus (first century AD), Aetius of Amida (fifth century AD) and Paulus Aegineta (seventh century AD). Discussion and conclusion All references presented, describe clearly the Raised Pelvic Position, as part of a strategy to repair uterine pathologies, mainly prolapsed uterus, but also instability, bleeding, tumors and infertility. We conclude that ancient Greek writers were aware of the usefulness of the head-down position, as reflected from the numerous existing descriptions dating back to the fifth century BC.

Settlement, landscape and land-use change at a Pictish Elite Centre: Assessing the palaeoecological record for economic continuity and social change at Rhynie in NE Scotland

The first millennium AD was a transformative period when many of the medieval kingdoms of Europe began to take shape, but despite recent advances in palaeoecological and archaeological research there remains a shortage of interdisciplinary collaborative research targeting this period. For some regions we know relatively little about the societies who lived during this formative period. This current investigation focusses on an early medieval elite centre near to Rhynie in NE Scotland; an important power-centre during the fourth–seventh centuries AD as evidenced by a remarkable series of Class I Pictish symbol stones, fortified enclosures at Cairn more, Tap o’ Noth and the Craw-Stane, as well as high status metal-working and a range of continental imports from the Craw-Stane enclosure. However, by the end of the seventh century AD, elite focus appears to have shifted elsewhere with the Craw-Stane and Cairn More enclosures all being abandoned. By combining paleoenvironmental analysis with available historical and archaeological archives this paper provides new insights into societal change during the first Millennium AD, with focus on the economic, social and environmental impacts caused by the rise and subsequent abandonment of elite nodes of power. A calibrated age of AD 260–415, near the base of the core, coincides with the earliest dates for the Craw-Stane complex and pre-dates the construction of the nearby Cairn More enclosure. The results provide a rare snapshot of the Late Roman Iron Age to Medieval environment of Northeast Scotland. This centre appears to have been supported by a rich agricultural landscape, with evidence of pastoral and arable farming, and potential metal working. One of the most significant findings of this study has revealed that despite abandonment of these elite enclosed sites by the seventh century AD, people continued to utilise the surrounding landscape and available resources right through until modern times.

Lake and inland dunes as interconnected Systems: The story of Lake Tresssee and an adjacent dune field (Schleswig-Holstein, North Germany)

The specific aim of the study was to investigate how four adjacent geomorphological systems – a lake, a dune field, a small alluvial fan and a slope system – responded to the same impacts. Lake Tresssee is a shallow lake in the North of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). During the Holocene, the lake’s water surface declined drastically, predominately as a consequence of human impact. The adjacent inland dune field shows several traces of former sand drift events. Using 30 new radiocarbon ages and the results of 16 OSL samples, this study aims to create a new timeline tracing the interaction between lake and dunes, as well, as how both the lake and the dunes reacted to environmental changes. The water level of the lake is presumed to have peaked during the period before the Younger Dryas (YD; start at 10.73 ka BC). After the Boreal period (OSL age 8050 ± 690 BC) the level must have undergone fluctuations triggered by climatic events and the first human influences. The last demonstrable high water level was during the Late Bronze Age (1003–844 cal. BC). The first to the 9th century AD saw slightly shrinking water levels, and more significant ones thereafter. In the 19th century, the lake area was artificially reduced to a minimum by the human population. In the dunes, a total of seven different phases of sand drift were demonstrated for the last 13,000 years. It is one of the most precisely dated inland-dune chronologies of Central Europe. The small alluvial fan took shape mainly between the 13th and 17th centuries AD. After 1700 cal. BC (Middle Bronze Age), and again during the sixth and seventh centuries AD, we find enhanced slope activity with the formation of Holocene colluvia.

المذهب الشافعي في إندونيسيا؛ تأريخه و آثاره

This study aims to identify the extent to which the historical roots of the Shafi'i school in Indonesia in terms of its arrival and spreading and to determine the extent of the influence of the Shafi'i school in the lives of Muslims in Indonesia and whether it plays a role in the codification of laws in Indonesia? The researcher employed the historical inductive approach and the descriptive-analytical approach. Among the results of the research are that the entry of the Shafi'i school in Indonesia was accompanied by the entry of Islam in it by Arab traders from the Arabian Peninsula - or the Indies (Malibar and Gujarat). Based on reliable documents, I can confirm that Islam entered Indonesia in the seventh century AD (first century in Hijriyah), yet began to spread strongly in the tenth century AD through the emergence of Islamic kingdoms in the archipelago which adopted the Shafi'i school as the official school of the state. The influence of the Shafi'i school is evident in Indonesia on the educational curriculum taught in the era of the Islamic kingdoms and the era of independence in several institutions and Islamic boarding schools. The Shafi'i school also shows its influence in the law of Islamic governance in Indonesia, although it is limited to matters of marriage, inheritance, and waqf.

House of the dead-exceptional burials of the Avar period (seventh century AD) in Podersdorf am See (Burgenland/A)

A unique archaeological finding of five individuals buried in an early medieval pit house was discovered in Podersdorf am See (Austria). Three of those individuals were buried in narrow grave pits that had been deepened into the house floor; two of them were lying on the pit floor in a crouched position. Pit houses with six-post construction are known since Roman times and were particularly widespread during the Migration Period. On the basis of radiocarbon analyses of charcoal from the hearth, the use phase of the pit house of Podersdorf am See can be dated to the sixth century AD. The burials took place around the same time in the second half of the seventh century AD, when the house lost its original function. Around that time, regular burials took place in the cemetery in the immediate vicinity of the house. The anthropological examination of the five skeletons showed no significant differences in comparison to the ones that were buried in the cemetery. By means of aDNA analyses, it could be established that at least two of the individuals were closely related to each other.

COMMERCIAL AND SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF GLASS BEADS IN MIGRATION‐PERIOD ITALY: THE CEMETERY OF CAMPO MARCHIONE

SummaryMigration‐period glass beads from Italy are an overlooked source of evidence. This investigation discusses the provenance, economic value and social significance of glass beads from the cemetery of Campo Marchione, northern Italy (c.570 to the end of the seventh century AD). The different chemical compositions and specific forming technologies have identified European, Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Asian specimens. The wider contextualization of the beads in association with other grave goods and the sex and age of the deceased has yielded important insights into the economic, social and cultural significance beads held in Italy, acting as markers of long‐distance exchange.

The deterioration process of limestone in the Anahita Temple of Kangavar (West Iran)

The well-known archaeological site of Anahita Temple at Kangavar is one of the most important Iranian stone monuments. It has been dated by various authors in an interval extended from Achaemenid to Sasanian Persian Empires (sixth century BCE to seventh century AD). Significant weathering has been occurred in various stone blocks used in the construction of this monument. The aim of this research is to study the deterioration process of the stone blocks used in the Temple. It includes chemical and mineralogical analysis of stones, characterization of deterioration patterns and processes, and identification of factors influenced the process. Results have been obtained by on-site and laboratory studies, including optical microscopy, petrography, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy methods. They showed that low-porosity limestone and dolomitic limestone have been used in the construction of the Temple, which have a compact micritic structure with variable size calcite veins (sparite) and clay veins. According to the on-site and laboratory studies, the deterioration patterns are partially similar in majority of the stone blocks and include different types of detachments as well as biological colonisations. The multianalytical results proved that the deterioration process is mainly of physical weathering type, due to structural and chemical characteristics of the limestone as well as climate factors, temperature fluctuations in particular. It turned out that limestone characteristics (including presence of clay veins as well as heterogeneity of calcitic matrix (micrite and sparite)) can affect the behaviour of stone blocks against climate factors; helping us to find reasons behind physical weathering of limestone in the cultural/historical sites and monuments.

Prehistoric mining

Prehistoric copper mining in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula continues the previous work on copper mining by the editors and main authors N. Rafel Fontanals, M.A. Hunt Ortiz, I. Soriano and S. Delgado-Raack. The site La Turquesa, a deposit mainly of Gossan type (iron cap), belongs to the same fault zone and mining basin as the already published Solano del Bepo (Rafel Fontanals et al. 2017). Mining of copper and lead (galena) at the site cannot certainly be traced back into prehistory, let alone to the Neolithic, and the earliest radiometric dates point to mining beginning before the early Middle Ages. The typo-chronology of mining tools is inconclusive, as is usual at these sites, and as the reader may infer from the comprehensive 80-page catalogue of hammerstones and picks. In his archaeo-metallurgical chapter, Montero Ruiz concludes convincingly that, currently, the most reliable date for mining at La Turquesa is in the Copper Age or the Early Bronze Age: the isotope signature of the mine's ore seems to accord with isotope ratios measured in a handful of artefacts from that period. The geology and mineralogy of the deposit is instructively summarised, adding archaeologically relevant information on visibility, accessibility and workability (with A. Andreazini and J.C. Melgarejo as co-authors). Traces of prehistoric opencast copper mining in small and irregular shafts have been heavily damaged by nineteenth- or twentieth-century mining of turquoise and variscite (with accessory chalcopyrite and malachite). The archaeological documentation of shafts and galleries from recent and pre-industrial times is cursory and does not fully attend to the three-dimensionality of the deposit. The use of more up-to-date measurement technology would have offered a clearer understanding of the site in its excavation, analysis and publication. No traces of tools were documented, making it impossible to combine the mineralogy of the deposit with the practical mining work. Without any quantitative information on heap material the mine's productivity cannot be estimated. The discovery of evidence for fire-setting using thermoluminescence (detailed in the chapter by A.L. Rodrigues et al.) seemed a promising test for archaeological hypotheses. Unfortunately, the palynological sediment sample gives a terminus ante quem of the seventh or eighth century AD (chapter by S. Pérez Díaz and J.A. López Sáez). Alongside unpublished indeterminate pottery, 117 mining tools are described in detail (including use-wear, lithology and surface types). Comparison with material from nearby Solana del Bepo (Rafel Fontanals et al. 2017) reveals that the artefacts from La Turquesa are less sophisticated and more opportunistic: mainly hammerstones modified during use or simple picks, sometimes with a picked groove that indicates hafting. Delgado-Raack argues convincingly that the tools were used in a context of direct extraction, for crushing the rock as well as for fragment-crushing copper ore at the site.

Variability of Early Iron Production in the Falémé Valley Region, Eastern Senegal

Iron production represents a major technological shift in African prehistory, and a growing body of archaeological and archaeometric data over the past few decades testifies to the complex origins and development of this technology across West Africa. The recent discovery and excavation of four iron smelting sites in the Fal??m?? River region in eastern Senegal (Dakaba, Birandjikou, Madina Cheikh Oumar 1, and Madina Cheikh Oumar 2) contribute significant detail to this picture, particularly from the fourth century BC to the seventh century AD. The study of the spatial organization of the smelting sites, the furnace architecture, and the morphology of the waste materials reveal the existence of three distinct smelting traditions. The characterization of these specific techniques has been made possible by the archaeometric study of the slag, tuyeres, and ore by means of optical microscopy, XRF, XRD, and thermo-gravimetry. By expanding on the modest body of data for iron metallurgy, the study of these four sites offers new reflections on the evolution of ancient iron smelting technologies in Senegal and across West Africa more widely. These results help to better understand the dynamics of techniques and lifestyles in this part of the continent before the emergence of the first states.