Amanda Charland
HBA, Specialist Archaeology, Major Celtic Studies (University of Toronto)
MLitt, Medieval Archaeology (University of Glasgow)
PhD Candidate
Room: 123
Gregory Building
Telephone: +44 (0)141 330 6058
Fax: +44 (0) 141 330 3544
a.charland.1@research.gla.ac.uk
Research title
Landscapes of God’s War: Redefining Frankish and Muslim Urban Fortifications in the Levant
Research abstract
Urban fortifications have received far less attention in contrast to the imperious castles (or keeps) standing within their walls. This is evident in both British and Crusader castle scholarship, where aspects such as townscapes, urban fortifications and surrounding landscapes fall by the wayside. Any analysis is strictly militaristic, but with the advent of post-processual archaeology and landscape archaeology social or ‘symbolic’ elements have become the new focus. These studies, however, are not without their faults. Instead of incorporating both militaristic and social lines of study, the field began picking sides – arguing for one standpoint over the other effectively landing in a ‘war or status’ rut.
Whereas British castle studies teeter between military and social interpretations, Crusader castle studies remain mostly militaristic. This is in fact fortuitous; learning from the British example we see that the ‘war or status’ rut is indeed an analytical stalemate. We can now proceed with a more effective approach incorporating both military and social concerns into our research framework for Crusader-era urban fortifications, effectively by-passing any stagnant debates. In addition to its theoretical paucity, the field has long been biased in its subject matter, focussing predominantly on Frankish rather than Muslim material. Recent studies, however, have begun to redress the imbalance.
This then leads to the following questions: What are the social and military functions of Crusader-era city walls? Were they built solely with practicality in mind? What ideologies factored into their construction? Did they provide spiritual as well as tangible protection?
The main aims of this thesis are: to investigate military and social functions of urban fortifications; evaluate biographies of converted Frankish and Muslim structures; address the monumentality and the impact of mythology and spirituality on city walls; analyse the materiality (e.g. colours and structural fabric) of buildings; and investigate the relationship between shields and city walls as metaphors for defence. Furthermore, it investigates the experiences of contemporary peoples – their relationship with the walls surrounding their cities – so that these people are recognized as real, each with distinct experiences, and not as faceless, generalized groups.
In order to fulfil these aims I have adopted a cross-discipline approach incorporating archaeological, historical and art historical data collected from 12th and 13th century case study sites in the Levant, namely Ascalon, Caesarea and Jerusalem. I elucidate several answers by exploring different ideologies and mentalities observed in comparative case studies demonstrating similar monumental undertakings. Moreover, I use theories of monumentality, biography, and materiality, and spolia to help interpret my data.
Conference participation
Landscape’s of God’s War: Redefining Frankish and Muslim Urban Fortifications in the Levant, Poster Session, Society for Medieval Archaeology Postgraduate Colloquium (University of Birmingham), February 2010
Supervisor
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Level 2 – Field Archaeology
Level 2 – Archaeology of Europe and the Mediterranean
DACE – Understanding Archaeology