Interrelationship between the History and Archaeology, Islamic City of Qalhāt: Case Study

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the relationship between archaeology and history. Archaeological evidence can bear witness to historical events. Such events can be discovered, studied, and classified by archaeologists and presented to historians as authentic material, especially in the absence of written sources. Thus, the joint work between archaeologists and historians could help to reformulate past events into coherent historical records. The Islamic city of Qalhat is taken as an example in this study. It is almost absent from historical sources although it was a very important port city during the 13th to 17th century. On a very few occasions, it was mentioned by some travelers who visited the city and described it as a living and flourishing city. However, so few and such short records do not provide enough evidence of the history of the city. Only archaeology can narrate the complete story of the city where the earliest and latest phases of occupation were fully uncovered. Archaeological excavations revealed in detail the high level of architecture that the inhabitants of Qalhat had and how the city was well organized and divided into different quarters as well as the fortification system and an international network of trade relations. All of this archaeological evidence will enable historians to rewrite the history of the Islamic city of Qalhat based on solid grounds.

Keywords

• Interrelationship
• History
• Archaeology
• Qalhāt
• Oman
• Islamic History