Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine

There is a common perception that the Muslim conquest of Palestine in the seventh century C.E. caused a decline in the number and prosperity of settlements throughout the country. The role played by archaeology in perpetuating this view, claims Magness, is particularly insidious, because it is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as providing "scientific" (and therefore "objective") data. Thus, archaeological evidence is frequently cited by scholars as proof or confirmation that Palestine declined after the Muslim conquest, and especially after the rise of the Abbasids in the mid-eighth century. Instead, Magness argues that the archaeological evidence supports the idea that Palestine and Syria experienced a tremendous growth in population and prosperity between the mid-sixth and mid-seventh centuries.Magness, Jodi is the author of 'Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine' with ISBN 9781575060705 and ISBN 1575060701.