Qsar Es-Seghir. An Archaeological View of Medieval Life

267 Pages·1986·19.541 MB·English

by  Charles L. Redman (Auth.)

Of the toxvne called Casar Ezzaghir, that is, the little palace. This toivne was built by
Mansor the king and Patriarke of Maroco vpon the Ocean sea shore, about twelue miles
from Tangia, and from Septa eighteene miles. . . . It standeth in an open and pleasant
place ouer against the coast of Granada. It was well peopled in times past, part of the
inhabitants beeing weauers and merchants, and the rest mariners, that vsed to transport the
wares of Barbarie into Europe.
Johannes Leo Africanus,
History and Description of Africa
(early sixteenth century)
SAN DIEGO
An Archaeological View of Medieval Life
CHARLES L REDMAN
Department of Anthropology
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona
1986
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Redman, Charles L.
Qsar es-Seghir : an archaeological view of
medieval life.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Ksar es Srhir (Morocco)—Antiquities.
2. Excavations (Archaeology) —Morocco-Ksar es Srhir.
3. Portuguese —Morocco—Antiquities. 4. Morocco-
Antiquities. I. Title.
DT329.K5R43 1986 964 85-11218
ISBN 0-12-584630-4 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-12-584631-2 (paperback)
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
987654321
Preface
The Strait of Gibraltar, the sea passageway between the Mediterra­
nean and Atlantic, and between Europe and Africa, has been an influen­
tial region throughout history. From the twelfth through the sixteenth
centuries the land bordering the strait witnessed the glory and subse­
quent contraction of the sophisticated Moorish kingdom and the simul­
taneous emergence of the Portuguese and Spanish empires that was
to transform the entire world-system. Qsar es-Seghir (pronounced
KAH-SAR SEH-HEAR) was a medieval port midway between Tangier
and Ceuta on the Moroccan shores of the strait. It was an important
focus of activities for both the Muslims and Christians as they vied for
control of the region. UnUke other cities in the region, Qsar es-Seghir
was abandoned in the mid-sixteenth century, leaving it a perfect location
for archaeological investigation of this crucial period.
My purposes in writing this book are manifold and have evolved with
its preparation. Rather than considering this a site report, I have de­
signed it to serve as both a case study and an introduction to a field of
study and a segment of the past. In the following pages one learns how
archaeologists work together with those in allied disciplines to unlock
historical information from a diversity of materials. Beyond its role in
recounting a research project and its results, this volume provides the
student and layperson alike with a glimpse of medieval life. To achieve
these goals, this could not be an ordinary monograph, nor simply an
assembly of the preceding articles. I wanted it to be a demonstration of
the value of archaeological research in illuminating an era, and at the
same time a testimony to the magnificance of the archaeological remains
of Qsar es-Seghir. In many ways the preservation, richness, and setting
of Qsar es-Seghir have been an archaeologist's dream, and I want to
share that dream.
The results of our investigations at Qsar es-Seghir are currently being
published in several media. As the project has progressed, individual
articles have appeared in journals in Morocco, the United States, and
Europe. At this time, a two-volume monograph is being assembled for
Vlll PREFACE
publication in Morocco with more detailed articles on final analyses of
each major aspect of our research {(^sar es Seghir: The Islamic Period and
Qsar es-Seghir: The Portuguese Period, in Villes et sites: Archeologique Moro-
caine). The volume on the Portuguese material should reach the presses
about the same time as this book; the volume on the Islamic material
about a year later. Detail such as artifact counts and exact measurements
of architectural units can be found in these two volumes.
Even without these specific details, the presentation of our discoveries
in this volume is far from superficial. Coverage is given to both the great
and the small. Central institutions such as the Islamic mosque and bath
or the Portuguese churches are essential for understanding the era, but
so are ordinary houses and food. Moreover, to gain a feeling for the
manner of life in medieval Qsar es-Seghir, one cannot focus on single
examples, but must see the incredible diversity in all aspects of the mate­
rial world. I put the fragmentary material from Qsar es-Seghir into a
broader, more understandable context by frequently introducing com­
parable material known from historic sources and ethnographic observa­
tion. In fact, it is the active interplay between insights gained from histo­
ry, ethnography, and archaeology that provides the raw material for a
full understanding of the past.
There is no simple system for communicating the findings of any
archaeological project, particularly when one's insights derive from doc­
umentary sources as well as archaeological remains. The basic structure
of this book reflects a division of the remains into two periods, with
separate discussions of the Islamic and Portuguese communities. Al­
though there is substantial variability within each of these occupations, it
is dwarfed by the gulf between the ways these two societies adapted to
Ufe at Qsar es-Seghir. In some ways these very contrasts are what are
most interesting at Qsar es-Seghir. The differences in cultural system
and world view between the Arab and Berber Muslims and the Christian
Portuguese could be inferred in general outline from the historical re­
cord, but it is only with the aid of archaeological evidence that the man­
ifestations of these differences and their pervasiveness is revealed.
An essential element in the design of the archaeological investigations
is a historical framework constructed on the basis of medieval chron­
iclers. This material as it pertains to all periods of Qsar es-Seghir and the
general historical milieu of the era is presented in Chapter 2. The prima­
ry research for this information was conducted by Jay C. Schulman and
James L. Boone as part of their Ph.D. dissertations. I have drawn freely
on their research, but to simpUfy, I have Hmited the number of refer­
ences to their work and their primary sources. Further details and bibli­
ographic information are available in Schulman's and Boone's chapters
PREFACE tX
in Villes et sites: Archaeologique Morocaine. The objective here has been to
assemble a backdrop of the major political and economic forces that were
at work in the western Mediterranean during Qsar es-Seghir's occupa­
tion. To view the community at Qsar es-Seghir in isolation would be to
deny the strong interconnections among communities during the medi­
eval period. Many aspects of Qsar es-Seghir developed on their own, but
to a greater extent, the city was simply one element in the much greater
evolving world-system.
Chapter 3 is an overview of the Islamic city, first characterized by
geographers and historians and then as it emerged through the archae­
ological excavations. Emphasis is on the architecture and town plan as
they reveal the organizing principles of the society and the daily lifeways
of its inhabitants. Starting with Ibn Khaldun in the fourteenth century,
writers have generalized about the nature of Islamic cities and the causes
of their characteristics. Qsar es-Seghir was a city of the fourteenth cen­
tury—located only a fevy^ kilometers from Ceuta, one of Ibn Khaldun's
frequent stopping places.
Archaeologically revealed Qsar es-Seghir is an important test of the
assumptions of historical writers of the past six centuries. What becomes
apparent in Chapter 3 is that the archaeologist does not uncover an
entire, functioning city, but only reveals fragments. The better the inves­
tigations are designed, the more complete the picture may be; but nev­
ertheless, the reasoning must always be an inference from fragmentary
evidence to the hypothesized functioning whole. Hence, each section of
Chapter 3 begins with a brief summary of some of the historical views on
Islamic town plans, fortifications, monuments, or houses and then gives
a description of archaeological finds at Qsar es-Seghir. The presentation
of archaeological results is limited to the most complete examples and
some mention of other interesting variations instead of any attempt at
systematically covering all of the discoveries.
Chapter 4 surveys the objects used by the people of Qsar es-Seghir.
These artifacts provide a glimpse at the detail of everyday life that is
almost totally absent from the documentary record. Tools, weapons,
tableware, jewelry, and even gaming pieces are all part of the material
recovered. These provide detailed information on the activities that were
conducted at Qsar es-Seghir. In fact, artifacts are often used to assign an
identity to the buildings in which they are found. Artifacts also provide
an idea of the aesthetic standards of the era and how they changed over
time. The material correlates of changing tastes and decorative stan­
dards provide the archaeologist with a powerful tool for dating the vari­
ous excavated levels of a site. Because artifacts are extremely numerous
at a site such as Qsar es-Seghir and because the potential information
χ PREFACE
they contain is so important, archaeologists devote the majority of their
research to the classifications and analysis of this material. In Chapter 4 I
briefly describe the approaches used by our project to deal with the most
important of these archaeological materials, ceramics.
Chapter 5 and 6 are presentations of the Portuguese levels in a fashion
similar to that of the preceding two Islamic chapters. Chapter 5 focuses
on the town plan, fortifications, monuments, and housing at Portuguese
Qsar es-Seghir and the more general information about medieval Euro­
pean towns. This portrayal of a fifteenth- and sixteenth-century settle­
ment takes on particular interest when Qsar es-Seghir is seen as one of
the first European attempts at establishing an overseas colony. More­
over, the contrasts between the Portuguese colony and the preceding
Islamic town bring into sharp focus the difference between these two
competing societies. The material inventory described in Chapter 6 is
especially interesting because the inhabitants of the settlement received a
large percentage of their supplies from abroad. The supply routes pri­
marily originated in Spain and Portugal, but some goods reaching Qsar
es-Seghir in the sixteenth century originated in Italy, Germany, and even
the Far East.
As a conclusion. Chapter 7 is a summary of both what was presented
earlier and a number of the special investigations conducted by staff
members. These include artifactual and architectural studies that charac­
terize organizational aspects of each of the site's occupations, studies of
animal and plant remains that reflect the diet of the inhabitants, and
analyses of skeletal material from the Portuguese cemetery that provide
some interesting details on the people themselves. As an aid to in­
terpretations, studies of traditional Ufeways in nearby villages and towns
provide insights into the way people of the region cope with everyday
problems of housing, craft production, and subsistence. It is the incorpo­
ration of studies such as these into more standard archaeological descrip­
tion that makes the archaeologist a social scientist more than an anti­
quarian. This book was written in the belief that archaeology has
progressed a long way since its antiquarian origins and hence has much
to offer the study of historical civilizations and those of the medieval
period in particular.
Acknowledgments
This volume presents the results of the decade-long archaeological
investigations of Qsar es-Seghir. The Moroccan-American Project that
conducted this research was formed with the encouragement of the Mo­
roccan Ministry of Culture and the financial support of the Smithsonian
Institution Foreign Currency Program. Joudia Hassar-BensUmane,
Chief of the Moroccan Archaeological Service, has been of great help in
many ways. Other members of the Ministry of Culture have also aided
our work. The first four field seasons and allied studies were supported
by funds from the Smithsonian Institution Foreign Currency Program
and from the State University of New York at Binghamton's overseas
program. Since that time, the National Science Foundation has provided
funds to complete the last two seasons of research at Qsar es-Seghir and
to initiate a regional program at other comparable Islamic sites (Redman
1982; Redman, Anzalone, and Rubertone 1978, 1979; Redman, Boone,
and Myers 1980).
Numerous scholars and students have been involved in the planning
and research at Qsar es-Seghir. The specific contributions of some of
these staff members are cited in chapters where I draw directly on their
work. Others have had major roles in the organization of the project:
Renata Holod, Patricia Rubertone, Ronald Anzalone, Keith Kintigh,
James Boone, and Emlen Myers. The hard-working project architects,
Thomas Rhode, Beth Buffington, John Brice, and Martin Zierman, are
responsible for all of the architectural recording and drawings in this
volume and countless others that constitute such an important part of
the documentation of the archaeological remains. My wife, Linda Huff
Redman, was also a key contributor, organizing the field camp and help­
ing with the assembly of this volume.
Map by A. Ortelius, Amsterdam, 1665, with
Qsar es-Seghir identified by a small castle and
the name "Alcacer."
An Introduction to
Qsar es-Seghir
Every town was contained within a certain economic framework. At local level this implied
a system of relationships with the surrounding countryside and the neighbounng towns,
within which the town might play a dominant or subordinate role. At national or interna­
tional leveby it implied systems of relationships, depending on dütances within the Mediter­
ranean or even the Greater Mediterranean region. Finally there was political change.
Fernand Braudel (1972, Vol. 1:323)