The Land of Enki in the Islamic Era

This book presents the results of an archaeological research project completed in Bahrain which had as its primary aims the investigation of the, as yet little understood, period between approximately the sixth and thirteenth centuries AD.
The results, including sections by specialist contributors, are presented in detail and lavishly illustrated. Technologies such as pearl diving and pottery manufacture, as well as animal keeping and butchery, are all considered.

However this volume provides much more than merely a presentation of archaeological evidence from Bahrain; the role of trade and commerce in creating the complex history manifest in the Persian Gulf region is considered in detail, and this is in turn set within the context of the wider-world beyond: the Indian Ocean, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Red Sea for example.

Religious and other identities, such as ethnicity and gender, are also considered in detail with relation to the archaeological and other available sources of data - historical, anthropological, and ethnographic. The growth and impact of the Carmathians, the evolution of Shi'ah identity, the significance of Indian and African populations are all evaluated.

The Land of Enki will be invaluable for anyone interested in the Medieval Islamic World, in Bahrain and the Persian Gulf and its archaeology and history. It will also be essential for anyone concerned with the creation of identity as manifest in material culture, and in the relationship between archaeology and history.

Timothy Insoll is Professor of Archaeology at the School of Art History and Archaeology of the University of Manchester. He has conducted fieldwork, besides in Bahrain, in Ghana, Mali, India, Eritrea, Uganda, and the UK. His previous books include Islam, Archaeology and History: The Gao Region, Mali (1996), The Archaeology of Islam (1999), Urbanism, Archaeology and Trade (2000), The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa (2003), Archaeology, Ritual, Religion (2004), as well as the edited volumes Case Studies in Archaeology and World Religion (1999), and Archaeology and World Religion (2001).