THE EFFECTS OF USING ISLAMIC HISTORIOGRAPHY IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES: THE CASE OF SASANIAN ROCK RELIEFS

Abstract

Islamic historiography has long been identified as a secondary source (behind material culture) to study l ate antiquity and Medieval period in the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean cultures. But since re- cently, as the rate of archaeological findings in the region started to decelerate, the need to revisit these texts as primary sources of study arose. Moreover, the ability of Islamic history books to provide data on subjec- tive aspects of the past societies, the sort of data which is probably not reflected through material culture solely, have also caused a growing interest in these evidence. This study explores examples of Muslim historiography regarding the events depicted in Sasanian rock reliefs (224-651 A.D), and tries to show the effects of using Islamic histories in archaeological research partic- ularly by addressing three main issues; First to show how accurate the data exploited from Islamic historiog- raphy could be, second, to what extent are Islamic texts capable of providing additional data to what materi- al culture offers, and lastly, how these two sources of evidence (Material and texts) could be tested against each other to reveal validity of one another. Moreover, with a careful scrutiny on the Islamic texts and rock reliefs, this study suggests that a method- ical study of both textual and material data simultaneously could offer new insights into the p olitical histo- ry of Sasanians.