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medieval worlds • no. 16 • 2022
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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medieval worlds • no. 16 • 2022, pp. 67-92, 2022/06/30
The article focuses on the “Islamization” of Berber lifestyles, rather than the effects of the conquest on the Romanized inhabitants of towns in the Africa Proconsularis, the medieval Ifriqiya. The examination follows aspects of material culture as a whole, particularly in the Western Maghreb, where urbanism was far less dense. The evidence comes largely from later texts, although new archaeological work, particularly at Rirha and Volubilis, has begun to flesh out the picture. How did Islamization actually affect the Berbers of the West? While we have little evidence for Algeria, where the excavated Islamic sites are no earlier than the tenth century, the excavations at Rirha and Volubilis – Islamic Walila – provide excellent new data as to the gradual shift in settlement types, diet, and pottery, as well as for the use of coinage. For the tenth century, Sétif and now Igīlīz add evidence for the fait accompli of the fully Islamized towns and villages of the Maghreb. Like Romanization, Islamization came about by emulation, particularly among the élites, and by a slow change to the general habitus, with far different starting points for the Arabic and Berber communities.
Keywords: Ancient history, classical studies, classical archaeology, archaeology, Trans-Saharan archaeology, Arabization, Islamization