(Paul Reynolds)
The INP-Tunisie/Oxford University/British School at Rome (Ports Project) excavations at the ancient port of Utica (2010, ongoing) have discovered several areas of early Islamic occupation located in the centre of the Roman city (in the Basilica-Forum quarter). The Roman pottery has been studied by Maxine Anastasi and Victoria Leitch, whereas I am responsible for the publication of the Islamic/Medieval ceramics associated with houses and over 20 associated grain silos containing ceramics, animal bones (studied by Tarik Oueslati) and other refuse. This Islamic pottery, which ranges in date from c. 950 to c. 1050 (i.e. Fatimid to Zirid periods), is associated with four main building phases spanning this period and will provide crucial reference material for a revision of local-regional Islamic ceramic chronologies in North Africa and an examination of their relationship to Islamic pottery typologies in Spain and Sicily.
For the excavations, see:
Ben Jerbania, I., Fentress, E., Ghozzi, F. Wilson, A., Carpentiero, G., Dhibi, C., Dufton, J.A., Hay, S., Jendoubi, K., Mariotti, E., Morley, G., Oueslati, T., Sheldrick, N. and Zocchi, A. 2015. Excavations at Utica by the Tunisian-British Utica Project 2014. Final Report. (on Academia.edu)
