Introduction
The study of Islamic rural history and archaeology is a fast-growing focus for archaeological science. Despite efforts by many researchers to incorporate environmental studies, such as archaeobotanical analysis, into their methodological framework, these studies are limited and non-systematic. Information regarding local economic decisions, independent from state control, which represent the local resilience of medieval subsistence farmers, is missing. It is therefore important to develop a better understanding of shifts in agricultural investment and intensification of production, and the life of subsistence farmers in relation to environmental, political, and economic change during the early, middle, and late Islamic periods.
Definition
Sediment analysis for phytolith extraction can be used to inform the issue of agricultural systems during the Islamic periods and to reveal risk-minimization strategies adopted by medieval peasants as mitigating factors against political...
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Laparidou, S. (2020). Phytoliths in Islamic Archaeology. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_405
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