Search

Copyright of Adab Al-Kufa is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Hakemi Use is a mound settlement on the right bank of the Tigris, within the borders of Diyarbakır province in southeast Türkiye. Within the scope of the Ilısu Dam Project built on the Tigris River, field studies were carried out between 2001-2012. The existence of two periods, Late Assyrian and Late Neolithic, was determined. The main cultural deposit in the mound covers the period known as Hassuna/ Samarra in the traditional cultural definition of Mesopotamia. Both material culture and 14C results show that the settlement was inhabited between 6100-5950 BCE. Approximately 25,000 pottery sherds were collected in five building levels of the Late Neolithic Period. Comprehensive studies on these sherds continue both typologically and technologically. In this study, various recipes for pottery paste, mineral, and organic admixture (including dung), different construction methods of ceramics, including using molds (textile and skin prints have been found), and other stages of ceramics manufacturing were studied in the pottery of the Late Neolithic Period of Hakemi Use. The production technology of different ceramic groups and other contemporary Mesopotamian sites were compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Hypothesis of muqarnas-emergence as cultural indicator in Abbasid Baghdad context of: philosophical mathematization of creation project; the spherical triangular geometry of Menelaus' Spherics correlated with the analogous form of interlacing arch dome webs; and al-Farabi's expression of need to invent images, mutakhayalāt, to satisfy "the souls of the multitude." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al Malweah for Archaeological & Historical Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Surra Man Raa is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this research, the effects of the Turks on the Abbasid caliphate during the Samarra period are studied from a methodological point of view and depending on the main Islamic historical sources. The narrations highlight the role of the Turks in the success of the Abbasid revolutionary movement, their military activities in the administrative mechanism with the establishment of the new state, their contribution to the caliphate of al-Ma'mun and their success in the rebellion movements under the command of al-Mu'tasim in this period. However, they were transferred to the city of Samarra, which was built for them in 222/836, due to their undisciplined behaviour in Baghdad, which was the result of their huge power they derived through their influence on al-Mu'tasim who owed his caliphate to the Turks. In this period, known as the Turkish era or the Samarra period, their influence on the caliphs began to be felt closely in the political, administrative, military, economic and social fields. After their role in al-Mutawakkil's ascending to the caliphate, they became strong enough to kill the Caliph. After this incident, they became very influential on the administration because they appointed whoever they wanted to the caliphate, and they either deposed the caliphs from the caliphate or killed them. However, the death of many Turkish commanders and soldiers during the suppression of the Zanj rebellion and the struggle with the Saffarids and the Byzantine campaigns under the caliph al-Muʿtamid ʿalā ’llāh broke their influence on the caliphate. By taking advantage of this situation, the study concludes, al-Muʿtamid ʿalā ’llāh moved the capital back to Baghdad in 277/890 and ended the Samarra period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Surra Man Raa is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper opens with a consideration of the biography of a large basin discovered during excavations at the Abbasid capital of Samarra. The large, circular, basin from Samarra closely matches historical descriptions of a fountain located in the city's Congregational Mosque which became known as "kasat firun," or the "Cup of Pharaoh" and, since its discovery, this excavated basin and the historical account of the fountain have often been conflated as one and the same. The excavated basin is carved from a non-local -- and probably Egyptian -- stone which may have generated its mysterious association with the Pharaonic past. A consideration of the possible sources from which such a large stone basin might have been obtained during the Islamic period, however, opens up a wider discussion related to the reuse of pre-Islamic artefacts as water features. This paper explores possible scenarios through which the basin from Samarra might have been acquired by the Abbasid caliphs alongside the logistics associated with its transport to Samarra. In addition, the likely motivations for the installation of this enigmatic stone basin are evalu-ated -- including pragmatic reuse of an impressive piece of stonework, a symbolic statement of contemporary pre-eminence over the rulers of the past or perhaps even beliefs in the quasi-magical powers of ancient objects. Alongside this, the existence of several comparable, near-contemporary, basins, demonstrate that the reuse of objects from the past as contemporary water features in important locations, was a wider practice seen in both the Islamic world and beyond. As an object that seems to have led multiple lives, the complex biography of the basin from Samarra illuminates the ways in which material remains of the past were understood and repurposed during the Abbasid Caliphate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Abhath is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Samarran phenomenon has been under discussion since the early 20th century. Over the past several decades, increasing evidence has indicated that it was geographically distributed in a very large area across the Near East. In this regard, the eastward spread of the Samarran phenomenon across the Iranian frontier was little known, because related finds had mostly been recovered in the 1960–70s. This article highlights the discovery of new evidence in the transitional zone that connects the Zagros highlands with the Mesopotamian lowlands. During recent surveys in the plains of Mehran, Meimak, Soumar and Sarpol-e Zahab, a number of sites were found. They yielded ceramics identical with those already reported from nearby late Samarran sites such as Chogha Mami, Songor A and Rihan I. Chronologically, surface materials indicate that these newly found Iranian sites should belong to the late phase of Samarran period, coinciding with the so-called Chogha Mami Transitional (CMT). As seen from the natural setting of the sites along streams, and due to the predominance of nomadic herders in this transitional zone, we may assume that transhumant herders played a role in the eastward spread of the late Samarran phenomenon via the river valleys and that the site's inhabitants might have been familiar with a primitive irrigation system. Furthermore, it is speculated that the cold dry climatic event of 8.2 kya might have resulted in an increased intensity of population in the lowlands. Nevertheless, the subsequent climatic optimum appears to have paved the way for the eastward spread of late Samarran/CMT elements. Regardless of what was the major trigger of such an expansion, however, intensive economic interactions of societies probably played a role in the very early sixth millennium B.C., when natural raw materials such as bitumen were imported from western/southwestern Iran to central/southern Mesopotamia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al Malweah for Archaeological & Historical Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The mural paintings discovered in the Caliphal Palace of the ʿAbbāsid city of Samarra constitute a rare example of figural decoration in an urban Islamic palace as well as one of the most important testimonies to Medieval mural paintings that have come down to us from the region. However, as with the rest of the Samarra finds, these paintings suffered significant damage and were published several years after their excavation (Herzfeld, E., Die Malereien von Samarra, Berlin 1927). Although valuable in many respects, this publication presents a breach of methodology, as it does not attend to either the archaeological or architectural contexts. It also contains several information gaps and inaccuracies. One of the main issues not properly addressed is the exact location of the paintings within the building. Researching various archival and museum collections and taking into account studies on the interpretation of the palace layout, this analysis has shown that the location of the paintings is much more complex than indicated in the publication; these were found in both private areas of the complex and in a few public ones too. This is confirmed by some medieval texts, which provide important information for the study of this material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aimed to measure the efficiency of the performance of the General Company for Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Supplies in Samarra, and identify the efficiency of its performance for the period 2012 - 2017, with an indication of the extent of its ability to work as an Iraqi national public company, and to determine growth prospects in its business. The horizontal and vertical analysis method was used for the financial statements of the General Company for Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Supplies in Samarra for the period from 2012 to 2017, in addition to some profitability and activity ratios in evaluating the financial performance of the company. The period under study, where the losses achieved during this period were reduced to 89% to 8%, which resulted from an increase in the value of sales during the same period by 40,038 forty billion and thirty-eight million Iraqi dinars, with an increase in turnover Inventory by 0.8 And the turnover of assets by 0.17 times, in addition to the increase in profit growth and sales indicators. The study recommended that the General Company for Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Supplies in Samarra should not be offered for foreign investment, because it is a symbol of the national industry and its ability to continue to work efficiently, and have a clear and important impact on the lives of the Iraqi people, with its ability to support the Iraqi economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glass manufacturing processes and recipes changed fundamentally after the 8th century CE. The earlier centralised production system diversified, primary production sites multiplied, and the scale of individual productions contracted. Mineral soda was no longer used and instead replaced by plant ash as the main fluxing agent, affecting the chemical composition and properties of the glass. In this work, LA-ICP-MS and Raman spectroscopy were used to investigate the compositional and structural characteristics of 68 glass fragments recovered during recent excavations at Bukhara in Uzbekistan, dating to the 9th to early 11th centuries CE. This is the most extensive systematically collected and studied glass assemblage from Central Asia to date. The glass can be attributed to different origins, confirming on the one hand the diversification of glass production during the early Islamic period and, on the other hand, regional variations in the chemical compositions and network structure of soda-rich plant ash glasses. As clear archaeological evidence for early Islamic glass production sites in Central Asia is rare, regional production groups are distinguished primarily on relative concentrations of Mg, K, P, Cl, Li and Cs in relation to the plant ash component, while variabilities in Al, Ti, Cr, Y, Zr, Th and REEs and their ratios indicate different silica sources. Raman spectra suggest variations in network connectivity and Q n speciation that confirm compositional groupings and suggest structural differences between regional productions of plant ash glass. The results demonstrate a clear dominance of local or regional glass groups, while revealing the importation of Mesopotamian glass, notably a high-end colourless glass type from the region around Samarra in Iraq. The new analytical data allow further separation and characterisation of novel early Islamic plant-ash glass types and their production areas. • Compositional data suggest local glass production at Bukhara in the 10th century. • Primary glass productions multiply during the early Islamic period. • Raman spectra reveal systematic differences depending on base glass compositions. • Central Asian glass show different degrees of polymerisation to Mesopotamian glass. • Relative differences in the silicate network imply different working temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al Malweah for Archaeological & Historical Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Anatolia / Anadolu is the property of Ankara University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Kirkuk University for Agricultural Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Glass wall mosaic is a major feature of early Islamic architecture, surviving above all in the Umayyad monuments of the Dome of the Rock and the Great Mosque of Damascus. These grand mosaics inspired periodic revivals from the eleventh century onwards. The centuries between the Umayyad commissions and the first of the documented revivals, however, have been seen as a period of decline for the craft; the Abbasid dynasty that defeated the Umayyads in 750 has not traditionally been associated with the medium. This article reexamines the question, looking at textual and material evidence for Abbasid mosaic production. It argues that, in fact, there was a continuous mosaic tradition well into the ninth century, under the patronage of both caliphs and lower-ranking officials. The first part of the article considers written evidence for mosaics in Mecca and Medina. The second part looks in detail at a surviving example that, it will be argued, dates to the Abbasid period, on the Bayt al-Mal (Treasury) of the Great Mosque of Damascus. The concluding section discusses factors behind the general decline in mosaic production in the tenth century and the possibility of pockets of continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The samples of this study were collected in Samarra General Hospital from 20/9/2018 to 1/2/2019. The study included 40 blood samples from women with a complete abortion that confirming by the medical staff in the hospital, abortion was in first or second Pregnancy’s trimester and 20 blood samples from healthy women with normal pregnancy in the same periods of pregnancy. Women in both groups had an age range of (15-50) years. The study designed to evaluated the effect of a number of biochemical variables related to abortion. Thus, the results were: Increase abortion that caused by hormonal and environmental factors. It was shown significant decrease in the rate ofvitamin D concentration with all groups studied, in addition to the significant differences between the secondary groups of the age and the period of pregnancy groups. In addition, we did not notice significant differences between the secondary groups of age. There were differences in the rate of concentration of hormone between periods of pregnancy groups. The study did not detect significant differences with the rate of interleukin- 6 concentration for the major groups and secondary groups. The study shown significant decrease in the rate of interleukin-10 concentration in the group of aborted women compare to women with normal pregnancy groups. In addition, there were differences in the concentration of this interleukin between the secondary groups of the age and the period of pregnancy groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Islam, having appeared in 7th century and improved under the guidance of Prophet Muhammad, dominated the whole Arabian Peninsula within a very short time like 30 years during the presence of the prophet and gave birth to a very great social group. Thanks to this unity of Islam, Muslim Arabs began their conquest activities in order to spread their new religions to the whole world and went on a military campaign against big empires such as Byzantine and Sassanid to overcome the obstacles in front of them. Even during the four caliphates (632-661), Muslims dominated the lands of Sassanid, and stood by Turkish borders. During Umayyads (661-750), the Muslim incursions that were put into action in Muslim lands developed and matured the relationships between Turks and Arabs. As a result, the Turks living as far as the Chinese borders were informed of Islam. When it came to the first reigning year of Abbasids (750-850), Turk-Arab relations reached its summit so to say. From then on, Baghdad was not sufficient for Turkish soldiers, who made up the overwhelming majority of Abbasid army. The Abbasid Caliphate was able to solve this problem merely by establishing a new city for Turks. Consequently, the Caliphate centre and all Abbasid palaces with all its outbuildings were transferred to this new city called Samarra, which was near Baghdad. From then on, a period, when the orders and words of Turkish military command echelon were valid, started. These pre-Seljukian relations starting between Muslim Arabs and Turks and the city of Samarra are not known adequately. In this paper, such a significant relation network having an influence on political and cultural lives of Turks will be set forth starting from the pre-Samarra time until the emergence of the Seljuk Turks on the stage of history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al Malweah for Archaeological & Historical Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Literary sources from the Abbasid period record few descriptions of courtly masquerades and plays called samāǧa , which closely resemble sumozhe plays from eighth-century China. On the basis of these samāǧa descriptions, the present paper argues that it is possible to understand how samāǧa plays were carried out. Moreover, I argue that samāǧa performances were a Central Asian custom imported to the Abbasid court with the establishment of the Turkish corps, and that its disappearance after the caliphate of al-Muʿtaḍid signals a substantial shift in the nature of the Turkish presence in the Abbasid heartland, marked by the establishment of the mamlūk system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Social Research is the property of Journal of International Social Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Nearly 75 years after the foundation of Baghdad as the Abbasids' capital by the Caliph Mansur,the policy of the transition of the capital was adopted by one of his successors namely Mutasim.He transferred the political center of his caliphate to the new founded city of Samarra and left Baghdad which was achieved the highest cultural and political position in the Islamic world. This study tries to examine the background of above-mentioned policy and analyse its wanted and unwanted aftermaths in order to clarify the success and unsuccess of the Caliph Mutasim.

Ernst Herzfeld's (1879-1948) papers on his excavation of the Abbasid city of Samarra, held at the National Museum of Asian Art Archives, include two maps indicating the existence of a large circular basin at the center of the square domed chamber south of the Caliphal Palace's throne room. The details of this basin are provided in an orthographic drawing, and the captions of two photographs tersely attribute it to the palace. Now in the Madrasa al-Sharābiya in Baghdad, this basin has sometimes been identified as Qasṣʿat Firʿawn (Pharaoh's Bowl), a large basin cited in medieval sources as having been part of the fountain of the Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil. Strangely enough, not the slightest mention of this basin has been found in the written records of the excavations or in the published reports. A careful examination of other documents in Herzfeld's archives and publications, as well as a number of reports of the Iraqi Directorate General of Antiquities, has established that the basin must have been discovered under unknown circumstances at an unspecified location in the palace several years after Herzfeld's excavation. Furthermore, the study of medieval textual sources and other data related to the basin has shown that the latter is not Qasṣʿat Firʿawn but might well have been a similar basin. Originally a Roman labrum, the basin in question was repurposed during the Abbasid period as part of a low fountain with a unique water-circulation system that bears some similarities to the fountains of Islamic Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composition of archaeological glass reflects the geochemical nature of its raw materials. To determine the origins and distribution of early Islamic glasses from Iran, a set of 169 glass samples from five different sites was analysed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of 58 elements. The glasses were classified into six different plant ash glass groups, three of which were attributed to a Mesopotamian origin, while three further groups are presumed to represent regional Iranian productions. The ratios of MgO/CaO and K 2 O/P 2 O 5 of the different groups reflect variations in the plant ash component. Minor elements Cr, Ti, Zr, La and Th and their ratios proved effective in distinguishing the base glass types. Mapping their frequency across the Iranian plateau revealed the relative movement of glass and likely source areas. The decline in the frequency of glass types with elevated Cr/La ratios east of the Zagros Mountain range confirms that elevated Cr/La ratios together with an augmentation of the magnesium levels are features of Mesopotamian glass production apparently inherited from the geochemical environment of the Euphrates and Tigris river valleys. Some exceptionally clean Mesopotamian glasses made from a quartz-rich silica with low levels of accessory minerals are consistent with ninth-century glass from Samarra, which was evidently traded widely along the Silk Road network. No evidence of local glass production was detected in Nishapur. The Iranian groups were produced from a quartz-rich silica source, high in thorium but with different zirconium contents resulting in different Th/Zr ratios. Aluminium concentrations tend to increase from west to east, with the highest values found among glass assemblages from Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent archaeological investigations carried out in the frame of several dam projects on the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers revealed valuable data on Upper Mesopotamian prehistory, the cradle of civilizations. The new data obtained from the salvage projects in the last 50 years claims a re-assessment of the earlier arguments. The traditional concepts on the earliest painted pottery of Upper Mesopotamia - the Hassuna, Samarra and Halaf potteries - are based on the arguments from the last century. Recently, the previous approaches are intensively discussed among specialists. The archaeological excavations carried out in South-eastern Anatolia and those in Northern Syria require a re-handling of this subject. This study deals with a detailed discussion on the mistakes of the previous approaches on the potteries of Hassuna, Samarra and Halaf, and on the new approaches and suggestions basing on recent informations. The first part of this study deals with the ambiguous explanations on the Hassuna and Samarra, and the second part with a detailed discussion of recent arguments on the Halaf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The work presented here is a further study of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage sites of Samarra (Iraq) and Djebel Barkal archaeological area (Sudan) by means of polarimetric products of the Japanese satellite ALOS PALSAR. Despite the Iraqi war ending in 2011, the city of Samarra is still included on the UNESCO List of Sites in Danger (since 2007). The study of the city presented here began three years ago with the analysis of optical data. The work showed an urban and agricultural expansion affecting the integrity of the city. An attempt to study Samarra by using the polarimetric SAR technique was made in previous years with the employment of the ALOS PALSAR satellite. That study was limited to the analysis of polarimetric descriptors such as entropy and alpha angle, parameters that gave results regarding prevalence of double-bounce and volume scattering mechanisms in the area investigated. The second archaeological site, Djebel Barkal, is one of five archaeological sites located in a semi-desert area along the River Nile, in the Napatan Region considered to be part of Nubia. The site was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003. Polarimetric descriptors considered in previous studies of the zone were entropy and alpha angle. Also in this case, a deeper analysis was carried out with the addition of a second ALOS PALSAR polarimetric SAR image, acquired 3 years later. In the present work, more polarimetric parameters, such as Freeman and Yamaguchi decompositions, are taken into account in order to observe scattering mechanisms both upon the structures already known and the area around them. Thanks to these decompositions and the archaeological maps that were available, it was possible to validate backscattered responses in ALOS PALSAR images as archaeological structures. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The aim of the present work was to compare Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) with RADARSAT-2 C-band satellite in order to identify the most suitable method for the detection of ground anomalies due to the presence of shallow underground archaeological structures. This comparison was performed over two UNESCO archaeological sites: Djebel Barkal (northern province of Meroe, Sudan) and Samarra (130 km north of Bagdad, Iraq). The choice of these two cultural sites was motivated by their position in a desert area (especially the Djebel Barkal site) where soil moisture has smaller impact on radar wave penetration, thus not compromising data interpretation. The largest difference between the satellites is the spatial resolution, around 20 m for the PALSAR sensor and 9 m for the RADARSAT-2 satellite. Given the importance of spatial resolution for archaeological purposes, that difference is balanced by the wave band utilized, which can be translated in differences in soil penetration. However, the quite superficial remains in both the sites give different but complementary responses. Polarimetric SAR data were analysed with PolSARpro software, and all the products were then compared with archaeological maps and available optical satellite images, used as a basis for the georeferencing process. This work constitutes a fundamental step in archaeological research toward a correct interpretation of all the scattering mechanisms above or around ancient structures. Additional information, such as meteorological conditions where available and archaeological maps (that can be consulted from the UNESCO website), was used as a support for interpretation of the archaeological areas; in the case of the Iraqi city of Samarra and of the archaeological area of Gebel Barkal, ground-truth surveys in situ are not allowed for political reasons. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What kind of society does Islamic architecture reflect? What are the basic units and forms of Islamic society associated with Islamic architecture, and what kinds of relationships existed among its individuals? Is Islamic society a 'uniform society' or a 'multi-layered society'? These fundamental questions are at the centre of this study. This paper explores the basic intellectual, social and environmental aspects that have shaped Islamic architecture. It explores these aspects as reflected in the building forms of Muslim societies. Functionalism and interactionism are two major schools of modern sociology. As a social phenomenon, Islamic architecture is examined in the light of these two schools. The urban fabric of the traditional Islamic city as an example of functionalism in architecture is examined with reference to the ruined city of Samarraʾ, in Iraq; and examples of Ottoman architecture are considered as models of interactionism in city planning and architecture. The works of three major figures in contemporary Arab thought, Muḥammad Abed Al-Jabri and ʿAbdullah Al-ʿArawī from Morocco, and Mohammad Al-Anṣarī from Bahrain, are considered in this paper. Their thoughts and views are used as vehicles to test some innate features of Islamic architecture. The influence of language and the desert, two exceptionally important factors that have shaped the culture of Muslim societies and its manifestation in architecture, is also explored. The findings of this paper, although still at a preliminary stage, reiterate the major concepts of the medieval Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun, in his Muqaddimah, in an architectural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, it is mentioned a journey which Ottoman's former grand vizier Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha traveled to Russia in 1910. During this unofficial journey, Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha has met with Muslim Turks living in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Samarra and told his thoughts on their sustenance. In Russian and Tatar newspapers of that time, it had been written and discussed on this journey. As sources, we have taken the columns published in newspapers of 'Novoye Vremya' (Saint Petersburg), 'Vakit' (Orenburg), 'Yıldız' (Kazan) etc and the reports of two scholars, N. F. Katanov and N. Ashmarin, who guided and interpreted for Hilmi Pasha while he was in Kazan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hakemi Use is a mound in southeastern Anatolia where rescue excavations have recently brought to light cultural remains dated to the late Neolithic from the Hassuna and Samarra periods. The lithic assemblages from this site were produced from flint and obsidian. Although flint is available locally, obsidian was imported but its sources are as yet unknown. Retouched elements are generally rare among the lithic assemblage. Most of the blades and bladelets are represented by the mesial parts of the blanks, and were obtained by unidirectional flaking. Debitage products such as core tablets and crested blades are rare. The study of the groundstone objects is still ongoing. Thus, this paper reports the results of the analysis of the knapped stone products recovered during the first and the second excavation campaigns at Hakemi Use. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The current study was conducted as a preliminary study in the Samarra city of Iraq. The study explored direct and indirect impact on people exposed to Internet network towers on residential premises in the cities of Iraq. The study included collection of samples from people exposed to radioactive frequencies of Internet towers for a period ranging from 1 to 10 years. In all, 43 blood samples of males and female participants (age: 20-35 years) were collected exposed to radioactive frequencies (present at the places where constellations were located); also, 20 samples were collected from those (20-35-year old) not exposed to radioactive frequencies (from places far from the Internet towers), which acted as a control group. Measurements and analyses were made for antioxidants that included the following enzymes: glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and peroxynitrate (or peroxonitrite [ONOO - ]). Antioxidants are one of the most essential lines of defense against free radicals that cause diseases and premature aging. The results demonstrated a significant increase in the levels of GPx and SOD concentrations and a decrease in the levels of GSH concentration in the blood serum of participants exposed to electromagnetic waves of Internet towers compared to the control group. The results also showed a significant increase in the concentrations of both MDA and ONOO - compared to the non-exposed subjects of the control group., Competing Interests: The authors of the study had no conflicts of interest to declare.