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IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 2311: 'Climates' and Causation?

Friday 9 July 2021, 16.30-18.00

Moderator/Chair:Eve MacDonald, School of History, Archaeology & Religion, Cardiff University
Paper 2311-aConcerns Regarding the Geographical Climate in Medieval Cappadocia
(Language: English)
Elena Ene D-Vasilescu, Faculty of History, University of Oxford
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Historiography - Medieval
Paper 2311-bClimate, Plague, or War: What Brought the End of the Agricultural Settlements in the Negev in the 6th-7th Centuries?
(Language: English)
Haggai Olshanetsky, Department of Classical Studies, Bar-Ilan University
Index terms: Archaeology - General, Archaeology - Sites, Byzantine Studies, Social History
Paper 2311-cThe Indian Ocean 'Monsoon' as a Means for Islamisation and Syncretic Cultural Heritage in South(East) Asia
(Language: English)
Hee Sook Lee-Niinioja, Independent Scholar, Helsinki
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Architecture - Religious
Abstract

Paper -a:
As early as 4th-5th century BC people were aware of the necessity to protect the climate and of the consequences of not doing so. In the dialogue Critias Plato describes in detail the aftermaths of floods and erosion (Cr. 111a-b and 113). In the 4th century Basil of Caesarea speaks in his letters about cold winters. The purpose of this paper is to show how the medieval people of Byzantine Cappadocia coped with their climate and what measures they took to alleviate some negative effects of it.

Paper -b:
It was suggested that the decline and abandonment of the agricultural settlements in the Negev desert was in the mid-6th century. This dating was used to claim that the Justinian Plague and/or a change in the climate, defined as the Late Antiquity Little Ice Age (LALIA), caused the decline. I will re-examine the material used to arrive at such a date, especially the findings from Elusa. If the date of mid-6th century is wrong and the decline started later, this would suggest that the LALIA was inconsequential to the decline. Furthermore, it would mean that the decline was a complex process, where not only the Arab invasions played a role, but also other various political changes and conflicts.

Paper -c:
The seasonal weather patterns with two types (monsoon) in the Indian Ocean facilitated Muslim traders and preachers to disseminate Islam in several phases. Consequently, in South(East) Asia, Islamic civilisation was linked to the message of the Prophet since its arrival, making local cultural landscapes and regional heritage. The expression of faith in architecture articulated Islam to create regional variations. With tolerance-flexibility-openness, the locals accepted changes through selection-reflection-modification without discarding their traditions. Moreover, the arrival of Islam coincided with Sufi mysticism from Persia and spread through international trade routes after the Mongol seizure of Baghdad (1258). My paper discusses syncretic architecture.