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Archaeological evidence for a Sasanian presence in the 'Uman region of Eastern Arabia is sparse. Recent excavations at the site of Fulayj in Oman have, however, revealed it to be a Late Sasanian fort, the only securely dated example in Arabia, or indeed on the western shores of the Indian Ocean more generally. AMS dating supports the ceramic chronology proposed for the site, demonstrating occupation until the Islamisation of South-eastern Arabia in the early seventh century AD, and also briefly into the very Early Islamic period. Fulayj fort provides new insights into Sasanian military activities during this crucial period of Arabian history. Keywords: Arabia, Sasanian period, military architecture, Islamisation, Introduction By comparison with the Roman Empire, knowledge of Sasanian military expansion is still very limited. This is partly due to the relative paucity of historical sources, but also to [...]

This paper examines the Longquan celadon industry, located in Zhejiang province in China, which flourished mainly between the Southern Song and early Ming dynasties. The products of this industry are found on archaeological sites across China and the Indian Ocean. This paper attempts a quantified analysis of the development of the industry based on archaeological data, focussing on four aspects: production, domestic consumption, overseas consumption and, to a lesser degree, workshop organisation. Although much of the data is still problematic, and many of the conclusions drawn are necessarily, therefore, tentative, these are the only data available. They allow us at least to demonstrate the value and timeliness of the approach by charting the development of this industry and by arguing that the close integration of the four aspects examined indicates that the Longquan celadon industry was an industry of considerable economic significance across much of the Indian Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What was the archaeological context of the rise of Islam in Arabia? The author uses new work from Eastern Arabia to show that the advent of Islam coincided with the decline of the Sasanian hegemony and one of Arabia's least affluent periods in 3500 years of history. Keywords: first millennium AD, Sasanian, early Islamic, Arabia, forts, Introduction 'Few events in human history have transformed the face of such a large part of the globe as rapidly and as decisively as did the expansion of early Islam' [...]