11.EARLY ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
11.EARLY ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
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In this series of sessions, pupils explore the early medieval Islamic world through archaeology, discovering how new cities, trade networks and cultural landscapes emerged across the Middle East, North Africa and beyond after the 7th century. Through the sessions, pupils investigate how archaeologists reconstruct everyday life, urban development and long-distance connections using evidence from cities, settlements, artefacts and trade goods. The programme concludes with a hands-on workshop on early Islamic town planning, where pupils design and build their own city, learning how spaces such as mosques, markets and houses were organised to support the vibrant urban life of the early Islamic world.
In this series of sessions, pupils explore the early medieval Islamic world through archaeology, discovering how new cities, trade networks and cultural landscapes emerged across the Middle East, North Africa and beyond after the 7th century. Through the sessions, pupils investigate how archaeologists reconstruct everyday life, urban development and long-distance connections using evidence from cities, settlements, artefacts and trade goods. The programme concludes with a hands-on workshop on early Islamic town planning, where pupils design and build their own city, learning how spaces such as mosques, markets and houses were organised to support the vibrant urban life of the early Islamic world.
KEY
Session 1.1 Carefully designed sessions led by academics experienced in bringing the latest research into the classroom. Available in person or online.
Workshop 1.1 Hands-on workshops that engage pupils in experimental archaeology, designed to help them test hypotheses, explore processes, and evaluate evidence. Available only in person.
11.1 - Cities of the Caliphate: The Archaeology of Early Islamic Urban Life (7th–10th centuries)
11.1 - Cities of the Caliphate: The Archaeology of Early Islamic Urban Life (7th–10th centuries)
In this session, pupils explore how archaeology reveals the rise of the early Islamic cities that emerged across the Middle East and North Africa after the 7th century. Excavations at sites such as Fustat in Egypt, Samarra in Iraq and Jerash in Jordan show how new forms of urban life developed through mosques, markets, workshops and residential quarters. Archaeologists use buildings, pottery, coins and everyday objects to reconstruct how cities functioned as centres of administration, trade and craft production within the expanding Islamic world. Recent excavations and archaeological surveys have transformed our understanding of these cities, showing how early Islamic societies often reused and adapted earlier Roman and Byzantine infrastructure rather than replacing it entirely. Through the study of architecture, water systems, workshops and imported goods, pupils learn how archaeology reveals the development of vibrant urban societies connected across a vast empire stretching from the Mediterranean to Central Asia.
Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.
11.2 - Trade and Knowledge: The Archaeology of the Early Islamic World
11.2 - Trade and Knowledge: The Archaeology of the Early Islamic World
This session explores how archaeology reveals the trade networks and intellectual exchanges that flourished across the early Islamic world between the 7th and 11th centuries. Archaeological discoveries of ceramics, glassware, coins and inscriptions show how goods, technologies and ideas travelled across long-distance trade routes linking the Mediterranean, Africa, Central Asia and the Indian Ocean. Recent archaeological research on shipwrecks, caravan cities and trading ports—from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf to Central Asian Silk Road sites—demonstrates how merchants, scholars and travellers connected distant regions. Through the study of these material remains, pupils discover how the early Islamic world became one of the most interconnected cultural landscapes of the early Middle Ages, where knowledge, technologies and artistic traditions circulated widely.
Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.
11.3 - Life in the Desert: Early Islamic Communities and Landscapes
11.3 - Life in the Desert: Early Islamic Communities and Landscapes
In this session, pupils explore how archaeology reveals the lives of communities living across desert and rural landscapes in the early Islamic period. Excavations of desert palaces (quṣūr), agricultural settlements and caravan stations show how early Islamic societies adapted to challenging environments while maintaining connections to cities and trade networks. Recent archaeological projects using satellite imagery, landscape survey and environmental analysis have uncovered extensive systems of irrigation, farming and travel routes across regions such as Jordan, Syria and the Arabian Peninsula. Pupils learn how archaeology allows scholars to reconstruct everyday life beyond the major cities, showing how farmers, travellers and local communities played a crucial role in sustaining the economic and cultural networks of the early Islamic world.
Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.
This AI generate image is for illustration purposes to reflect the nature of the workhsop offered.
11.4 - Build an Early Islamic City
11.4 - Build an Early Islamic City
In this hands-on workshop, pupils explore how archaeologists study the layout and planning of early Islamic cities such as Baghdad, Fustat and Samarra. Using archaeological plans and satellite images, pupils investigate how cities were organised around mosques, markets (souqs), workshops, houses and defensive walls, learning how urban planning reflected political power, trade and religious life in the early medieval Islamic world. Working in small groups, pupils then design and build their own early Islamic town, placing key structures such as mosques, markets, houses and gates within their city. Through this activity, pupils discover how archaeologists interpret city layouts to understand how people lived, worked and moved through urban spaces in the early Middle Ages.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Price: £120
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered in school.
Prices
Prices
Prices include all equipment, teaching and workshop materials and FREE preparatory and follow up activities for your classroom.
Discounts are applied when three or more sessions/workshops are booked together.
Travel costs may apply for schools located more than 20 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne (UK).
Number of pupils: Each in person session is designed for one classroom, typically around 30 pupils. Online sessions can be extended to larger groups.
Info and Booking
Info and Booking
To contact us for more info and for booking please check our Contact Us page or write us at archaeotrek@gmail.com
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