Islamic archaeology in the Arabian Gulf has grown tremendously in recent years. However, a ceramic chronology for the Late Islamic Arabian Gulf has not yet been put forward. The present paper constitutes a first attempt at a refined periodization based on the occupational sequence of al-Ain, UAE. The study is based on the typological quantification of sherds from stratified excavations undertaken by the Historic Buildings and Landscapes Section of the Tourism and Culture Authority Abu Dhabi. It is broadly based on the methodology developed by Derek Kennet in his much-cited Sasanian and Islamic Pottery from Ras al-Khaimah (2004). The c. 13,500-sherd assemblage has been divided into six periods of thirty to seventy years spanning the later seventeenth to mid-twentieth centuries. The al-Ain assemblage is compared to published ceramics from contemporary sites in the Gulf region and further compared to relevant historical sources to draw out the wider implications of the findings. The present study constitutes an interim report and full publication of ceramics from al-Ain will appear in a multi-authored pottery handbook currently in preparation.

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Rescue excavations associated with the adaptive reuse of a historic building in the Qattara Oasis revealed a 5 m stratigraphic sequence spanning the past 3000 years. The main period of occupation—roughly half the sequence—belongs to the Iron Age II and III periods (c.1100–300 BC). Evidence of agriculture and industry was found which complements our understanding of the well‐known Iron Age settlements of al‐Ain. The present paper sets out the stratigraphic sequence and presents the phased ceramic assemblage, before considering the broader implications for the archaeology of Iron Age south‐east Arabia.

Students of world history will be familiar with the Red Sea as a strategic communications corridor linking the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. This paper examines the Red Sea region between the seventh and twelfth centuries, when it was ruled by a succession of Islamic caliphal dynasties, namely, the Umayyads, ʿAbbāsids, and Fāṭimids. It first sets out a sketch of the political history of the Red Sea and its constituent hinterland polities, including particularly Egypt, Sudan, al-Ḥijāz, and Yemen, drawing attention to episodes and processes in which the Red Sea was significant. A section on Africa and Arabia explores the Red Sea as a zone of economic and social interaction; another section deals with the historic shift of Indian Ocean trade from the ʿAbbāsid Persian Gulf to the Fāṭimid Red Sea. Finally, the impact of the Red Sea on its constituent hinterland polities and the wider sweep of Islamic history is considered.

Avant que la mobilité et les échanges liés au /hajj et au commerce avec l’Inde ne s’imposent de manière prédominante dans la mer Rouge médiévale à partir du xie siècle, les ports soudanais connurent une première phase d’activité (632-969), largement ignorée des historiens. Etablis dès les premiers temps de l’Islam, les ports de ‘Aydhâb et de Bâ/di‘ eurent pour première fonction d’appuyer la conquête islamique et de contenir la puissance d’Aksûm en Ethiopie. Les échanges marchands ne se développèrent que lentement. Dans la seconde moitié du viiie siècle se mit en place la traite des esclaves africains, avant que la « ruée vers l’or » du ixe siècle n’accélère la croissance des ports soudanais, entraînant notamment l’établissement du port de Sawâkin.