Iraq

This chapter surveys the most important trends in Islamic archaeology in Iraq, with a special focus on urban development and the industries associated with urbanization. The origins of new urbanism at the beginning of Islam lay in Arabia. The major difference in the new amsar was the need to settle large numbers of fighters (muqatila), registered in the diwan, around a core of mosque and palace. There was also a related model of a princely urban settlement. This was known commonly as a madina, though not always. The two lines came together in the foundation of Baghdad, with direct imitations at al-Rafiqa and the Octagon of Qadisiyya. The most extensive case is at Samarra (836–892), where, however, the model of the Baghdad suburb is used (rabad).