Just before his death from unknown causes, Israeli
authorities allowed him to be flown to France for
medical care, where he died on November 11,
- His remains were flown to Cairo, Egypt, for
a state funeral and then to Ramallah for burial.
See also arab-israeli conFlicts; JUdaism and
islam.
Further reading: Said K. Aburish, Arafat: From Defender
to Dictator (New York: Bloomsbury, 1998); Barry Rubin
and Judith Colp Rubin, Yasir Arafat: A Political Biogra-
phy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
archaeology
Archaeology is the modern study of material
remains from the past in order to understand and
explain history, culture, and social life. It involves
scientific excavation, field surveys, careful record-
ing of data, and critical thinking about what the
data mean. Countries in the Middle East and Asia
have been centers of archaeological inquiry since
the late 18th century, but most of the excavat-
ing has been done on the sites of ancient, pre-
Islamic, civilizations. Archaeological research in
locations associated with Islamicate civilizations
has increased in recent years, however. Muslim
cities, towns, fortifications, way stations, and
cemeteries from Spain and Africa to Central Asia
and Indonesia provide significant amounts of
material evidence about the past, encompassing
a time span of nearly 1,400 years. This evidence
includes the remains of mosqUes, palaces, shrines,
houses, hostels, burials, ceramics, inscriptions,
and coinage.
Even though pre-Islamic history is dismissed
by some pious Muslims as a time of pagan igno-
rance (the jahiliyya), Muslim historical writing
from the Middle Ages demonstrates an early inter-
est in gathering and preserving information about
antiquities, or the material remains of bygone
times. These accounts mixed together histori-
cal fact, legends from the qUran, and Folklore
about ancient peoples and sites in Arabia, egypt,
iraq, and iran. Nevertheless, when it came to Isl-
amicate cities and buildings, medieval authors did
provide richly detailed information about their
foundation, design, inhabitants, renovation, and
destruction. Much of what we know today about
medieval cities such as mecca, medina, baghdad,
cairo, damascUs, and cordoba comes from the
work of these scholars.
Archaeology in the modern study of the Mid-
dle East and Asia began with Napoleon Bonapar-
te’s invasion of Egypt in 1798 and continued to
develop as European powers competed for colo-
nial dominance in those regions during the 19th
and early 20th centuries. Although Europeans
engaged in outright plundering of the antiqui-
ties of Egypt, palestine (now Israel, Gaza, and
the West Bank), and Iraq, they also established
research centers and museums that promoted
serious archaeological research and the study of
ancient and “Oriental” languages. These scholars
were mainly interested in uncovering the roots of
Western civilization and verifying the historical
authenticity of the Bible, so they often ignored
archaeological evidence pertaining to Islamic his-
tory and society. Toward the end of the 19th
century, when Europeans became interested in
Islamic art and religion, they began to excavate
sites that dated to the Islamic periods of history
(seventh century to 19th century). Among the
first places to be excavated were Samarqand in
Turkestan (by Russians, 1885), the Qala of Bani
Hammad in algeria (by French, 1898–1908), and
Samarra in Ottoman Iraq (by Germans, 1911–20).
The French conducted the first excavations in Iran
from the 1880s to 1931 and in syria after World
War I. Meanwhile, the British included Islamic as
well as Hindu and Buddhist sites in their Archaeo-
logical Survey of india and conducted excavations
at Islamic sites in Palestine, Transjordan (now
Jordan), and Iraq. Americans became involved in
Middle Eastern archaeology in the 1920s, concen-
trating their efforts in Palestine and Iran. Since
World War II, they have focused attention on
Islamic sites in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen. Whilearchaeology 59 J