Anglo Israel Archaeological Society Online Lecture
Dr Gideon Avni, ‘Jerusalem between Late Antiquity and Early Islam- The Creation of a Multicultural City’
We’re still taking registrations for our next Zoom lecture which will take place on Wednesday 6th January 2021 at 5.00pm (GMT) when DR.GIDEON AVNI (Hebrew University of Jerusalem & Israel Antiquities Authority) will be speaking about ‘ JERUSALEM BETWEEN LATE ANTIQUITY AND EARLY ISLAM – THE CREATION OF A MULTICULTURAL CITY’, followed by a Q&A session. Please note the change of time from previous lectures. In order to receive the log-in details please email secretary@aias.org.uk indicating your interest Zoom access will be available from 4.45pm (GMT) and the lecture will commence at 5.00pm (GMT). The link will be sent to you before the lecture.
Here is an overview of the presentation:
The traditional view of urban change in Jerusalem has focused since the mid-19th century on military events as distinctive markers. Hundreds of excavations in and around the city in the last decades call for a revision of the city’s urban structures in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. Following the Arab conquest in AD 638, Jerusalem underwent gradual transformation, culminating in new urban zoning and the emergence of physical precincts related to the city’s three Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities. Excavations provide solid ground for the re-evaluation of the processes of ‘continuity in change’ in the urban landscape between the 6th and 11th centuries.
Gideon Avni is the Chief Scientist of the Israel Antiquities Authority and a Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. During the last 40 years he conducted extensive fieldwork in the Negev Desert, Beth Govrin and the Judaean Lowlands, Jerusalem (the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and across the city), and Ramla, capital of Early Islamic Palestine. He is the author of The Byzantine – Islamic Transition in Palestine, an Archaeological Approach (Oxford University Press, 2014) and ‘A New Old City – Jerusalem in the Late Roman Period’ (Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplement 105, 2017).