Islamic Settlement in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula

This article reviews some of the major archeological research and resulting current debates that center around the nature of the formation of Islamic society in the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula from the seventh century AD through the later Middle Ages. Over the last two decades, archeology has played an increasingly important role in working out the details of how this great cultural transformation occurred and has led to considerable revision of historical interpretations of the medieval period in the western Mediterranean region. On a more general anthropological level, research in both regions presents a remarkable potential to contribute to the literature on the archeology of ethnicity, and to research into the impact of changing religion and ideology on such diverse areas of human activity as household organization, gender relations, settlement location and spatial organization, and ceramic production and distribution.