The Biography of Spoliation As Insight Into the Role of Urban Fortification During the Levantine Crusader Era

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "“We Go to Gain a Little Patch of Ground. That hath in it no profit but the name”: Revolutionary Research in Archaeologies of Conflict" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This paper demonstrates the complex role of spoliated elements and how they offer broader insight into the role of urban fortification in the Levant during the conflict of the Crusades.

The motivations behind the spoliation of these elements are often attributed to acts of convenience such as structural stability, while other studies have demonstrated that the act of spoliation is far more complex and stems from decorative or magical purposes.

Using the medieval city of Ascalon as a case study, this paper offers a wide-ranging contextual discussion of the city walls by analysing the Roman and medieval spoliated elements. I argue that the spolia used in the walls was used: to display Fatimid local power and authority; for magical protection; and to demonstrate Frankish domination over the city’s walls during the 1239–1241 refortification.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• “We Go to Gain a Little Patch of Ground. That hath in it no profit but the name”: Revolutionary Research in Archaeologies of Conflict   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 1078