RESOURCESHusayni, "al-Kuna wa-I-alqab 'ala nuqiid al-Kiifa," Sumer 26 (1970):
169-235.
The information which may be extracted from these coins has not
yet been used as extensively or as effectively as it might be. The most
important works based on the evidence from coins are G. Miles, "The
Iconography of Umayyad Coinage," Ars Orientalis 3 (1959): 207-
13, and P. Grierson, "The Monetary Reforms of 'Abd al-Malik,"
]ESHO 3 (1960): 241-64. The Arabic inscriptions on epigraphic Is-
lamic coins are an unmined source for political and religious ideology.
Several hundred such slogans and the coins on which they are found
are listed by M. al-Husayni in "Dirasa il~~a'iyya li-sh-shi'arat 'ala-
n-nuqiid fi-l-'a~r al-islami," al-Maskukat 6 (1975): 102-41. The best
introduction to this field and its issues and problems is the state-of-
the-art article by M. Bates called "Islamic Numismatics," MESAB 12,
no. 2 (1978): 1-16; 12, no. 3 (1978): 2-18; 13, no. 1 (1979): 3-21;
13, no. 2 (1979): 1-9. It is impossible to understand the transition
from Sasanian to Islamic rule in Iraq without reference to the coins.
They not only bear their own burden of information but they are
indispensable for dating the contexts in which they are found.
Archaeology and Monuments
Physical evidence of past material culture abounds in Iraq but the
hundreds of sites datable to Late Antiquity and the Islamic period
have barely been touched. Since the remains from these periods lie on
or near the surface, there is a great deal that could be done with a
minimum of effort compared to earlier periods. That which has been
done has contributed to our knowledge of architecture, art, domestic
life, and material culture. Pottery, glass, and jewelry contain clues
about technology, manufacturing, and changing styles that are im-
portant for economic and social history. Animal and vegetable remains
tell us about diet and rural products; human remains tell us about
burial customs and diseases. Above all, isolated objects out of context
do not reveal as much as the juxtaposition of objects at a particular
site.
Why do these materials remain relatively unexploited compared to
what has been done for ancient Iraq? The answer lies partly in prior-
ities, in the prestige accorded to "spectacular" finds, to objects with
intrinsic artistic merit, to great antiquity, and to larger, denser urban
sites. Formerly post-antique materials nearer the surface were merely
removed, sometimes with bulldozers, as an undesirable "overburden'