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Planning Sāmarrā’: A Report For 1983–4

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Alastair Northedge
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Extract

The remarkable ruin-field of the Abbasid city of Sāmarrā’, on the banks of the Tigris 125 km north of Baghdad, and the residence of eight Caliphs between 221/836 and 279/892, is one of the most significant Islamic archaeological sites. But in neither Arabic nor western languages is there an adequate overall description of the remains. It was for this purpose that at the end of 1982 the president of the State Organization for Antiquities and Heritage, Dr. Mu’ayyad Sa‘id Bassim, agreed to a project of planning the remains of Sāmarrā’ from historical air photographs, as an adjunct to the major project of the State Organization there, the “Project for Developing the Twin Cities of Sāmarrā’ and Mutawakkiliyya”.

There are two basic reasons why a project of this kind is important at present. The first is that even 75 years after Viollet put his first soundings into the Jawsaq al-Khāqānī there is much that remains untouched and unplanned, although the plan is there to see on the surface. The second is that many archaeological sites in the Arab world are being affected by the tremendous pace of development of the past few years. Sāmarrā’ is more vulnerable than most, because of its vast size, and because the modern small town of Sāmarrā’ is placed in the middle of it. Naturally modern Sāmarrā’ wishes to grow. Although it is fortunate that a development agreement has been successfully concluded between the municipality of Sāmarrā’ and the State Organization for Antiquities, a kilometre of ruins in each direction has been destroyed, and the dumping of rubbish from the town continues in further areas. Moreover, the wall mounds at Sāmarrā’ can be easily destroyed by ploughing; and agricultural development, even in the relatively barren landscape of the east bank of the Tigris, is an important factor. Archaeological remains which are well known are less likely to be destroyed than those which are not.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 47 , 1985 , pp. 109 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1985 

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