Pierre SIMÉON
I am a French senior archaeologist, specialist of the Islamic world with a focus on the Arabian Peninsula. I completed my PhD in Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne University, (Islamic Archaeology Department) (2008).
Based on my experiences studying material culture in order to understand economic and social history of the Mediaeval Islamic society;
and following several years of researchs on Central Asian countries,
I am currently more interested in the in-depth collaborative field study of cities, oases including monumental buildings, and what they renew to the understanding of medieval and modern regional history of Saudi Arabia.
Since 2000, I have been working in archeological excavations in Bahrain, Mongolia, Pakistan, Yemen, Uzbekistan,Tadjikistan and Turkmenistan...
Between 2010 and 2015, I was involved in multidisciplinary teams in Dumat al-Jandal and al-Kharj (Saudi-Arabia) (CNRS UMR 8167 / SCTH Riyad), Turkmenistan (SCA Genève) and Afghanistan (Oxford University and DAFA).
I had the chance to be research associate in the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin between 2014 and 2017.
More recently (2019-2021) I was part of two multidisciplinary team projects in al-'Ula (Saudi Arabia) : first in Dadan (Rohmer J. & Suhaibani A., CNRS UMR 8167 / RCU al'-Ula / KSU Riyad) second considering the whole oasis (Charbonnier J. & Kanhoush Y., ARCHAIOS / UCOP/Royal Commission for Al-Ula / AFALULA). I have studied the defence of the territory and the fortification systems along the 'longue durée' (Iron-age till the Ottoman Period).
I just joined the NEOM Archaeological Department (2022) within the NEOM project (Saudi Arabia) as Archaeological Surveys and Excavations Senior Manager.
Based on my experiences studying material culture in order to understand economic and social history of the Mediaeval Islamic society;
and following several years of researchs on Central Asian countries,
I am currently more interested in the in-depth collaborative field study of cities, oases including monumental buildings, and what they renew to the understanding of medieval and modern regional history of Saudi Arabia.
Since 2000, I have been working in archeological excavations in Bahrain, Mongolia, Pakistan, Yemen, Uzbekistan,Tadjikistan and Turkmenistan...
Between 2010 and 2015, I was involved in multidisciplinary teams in Dumat al-Jandal and al-Kharj (Saudi-Arabia) (CNRS UMR 8167 / SCTH Riyad), Turkmenistan (SCA Genève) and Afghanistan (Oxford University and DAFA).
I had the chance to be research associate in the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin between 2014 and 2017.
More recently (2019-2021) I was part of two multidisciplinary team projects in al-'Ula (Saudi Arabia) : first in Dadan (Rohmer J. & Suhaibani A., CNRS UMR 8167 / RCU al'-Ula / KSU Riyad) second considering the whole oasis (Charbonnier J. & Kanhoush Y., ARCHAIOS / UCOP/Royal Commission for Al-Ula / AFALULA). I have studied the defence of the territory and the fortification systems along the 'longue durée' (Iron-age till the Ottoman Period).
I just joined the NEOM Archaeological Department (2022) within the NEOM project (Saudi Arabia) as Archaeological Surveys and Excavations Senior Manager.
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Forthcoming by Pierre SIMÉON
Books by Pierre SIMÉON
Collective Books & Field Reports by Pierre SIMÉON
- The geographic and historical setting
- Description on the Registration system
- Report of the exploration of the site of al-Yamāma: geophysical survey, topographical survey, archaeological sounding, excavation of a mosque, zooarchaeological study, restoration process
- A geomorphological study of al-Kharj area.
- The survey on the prehistoric occupation
- The archaeological excavation of a Bronze Age necropolis at Ayn al-Dila
- The exploration of the site of al-Yamāma (geophysical survey, archaeological excavation of the Great Mosque).
- The survey and excavation of Middle Palaeolithic sites
- The archaeological survey and excavation of the bronze age necropolis of Umm al-Sa’al [in Arabic]
- The archaeological excavation of the site of al-Yamāma : Great Mosque and sounding in area K17.
- Environmental studies : archaeobotanic and archaeozoological studies in al-Yamāma; palynological study on the palaeolake of al-Hayathim.
Results of two archaeological field season in the oasis of al-Kharj - Saudi Arabia.
Collective Papers & Book Chapters by Pierre SIMÉON
tion and evolution of Islamic trade and urbanism in Central Asia. Outlines of the medieval societies are known, but the details remain unclear. This chapter follows the main river
basins (Amu Darya and Syr Daria) and steppic and desert interfaces to understand the basis and extent of Russian archeology in Central Asia from the Tsarist period (c. 1850–1917) until today. The construction of a field of Central Asian Islamic archaeology and the main challenges confronting researchers in the five Central Asian republics are also considered.
Qasr Jawhar, was briefl y mentioned in the 2010 report.1 One of the objectives of the 2011 campaign was to look for this structure repeatedly described by Western explorers.
Due to the large increase in domestic construction and transformation of the urban space in the oasis, identifying such remains in the field and collecting data is still diffi cult. The present article is the first step in a long-term research. Past textual descriptions of Qasr Jawhar will be summarized, going on to describe our first discoveries in the field and their comparison with these
ancient descriptions.2
- The geographic and historical setting
- Description on the Registration system
- Report of the exploration of the site of al-Yamāma: geophysical survey, topographical survey, archaeological sounding, excavation of a mosque, zooarchaeological study, restoration process
- A geomorphological study of al-Kharj area.
- The survey on the prehistoric occupation
- The archaeological excavation of a Bronze Age necropolis at Ayn al-Dila
- The exploration of the site of al-Yamāma (geophysical survey, archaeological excavation of the Great Mosque).
- The survey and excavation of Middle Palaeolithic sites
- The archaeological survey and excavation of the bronze age necropolis of Umm al-Sa’al [in Arabic]
- The archaeological excavation of the site of al-Yamāma : Great Mosque and sounding in area K17.
- Environmental studies : archaeobotanic and archaeozoological studies in al-Yamāma; palynological study on the palaeolake of al-Hayathim.
Results of two archaeological field season in the oasis of al-Kharj - Saudi Arabia.
tion and evolution of Islamic trade and urbanism in Central Asia. Outlines of the medieval societies are known, but the details remain unclear. This chapter follows the main river
basins (Amu Darya and Syr Daria) and steppic and desert interfaces to understand the basis and extent of Russian archeology in Central Asia from the Tsarist period (c. 1850–1917) until today. The construction of a field of Central Asian Islamic archaeology and the main challenges confronting researchers in the five Central Asian republics are also considered.
Qasr Jawhar, was briefl y mentioned in the 2010 report.1 One of the objectives of the 2011 campaign was to look for this structure repeatedly described by Western explorers.
Due to the large increase in domestic construction and transformation of the urban space in the oasis, identifying such remains in the field and collecting data is still diffi cult. The present article is the first step in a long-term research. Past textual descriptions of Qasr Jawhar will be summarized, going on to describe our first discoveries in the field and their comparison with these
ancient descriptions.2
playing techniques). We also publish a Persian graffiti and propose an interpretation of the scene, supported by textual evidence, regarding female slave singers or ḳiyān, frequent in Abbasid Iraq and Tang and Song China. It questions the status and the musicians’ ethnic origin, suggesting that pre-Islamic habits were preserved in the princely courts of mediaeval Central Asia. Taken together, these data give new insight into the history of musical instruments and Mediaeval Central Asian culture.
Keywords:
mural painting; ethnomusicology; organology; rubāb; bow; chang; graffiti; elite; courtesan; Tajikistan.
The stratigraphic sequence, architectural analysis, material study, and AMS radiocarbon dating at al-Yamāmah clarify the development of early Islamic Najdī religious architecture. This architecture is at the origin of a central Arabian indigenous tradition, which received little influence from outside the Peninsula and remained unchanged until recent times.
ceramics on a broader view to apprehend production (workshops) and distribution (trade) in the pre‑Mongol period in Central Asia.
Ключевые слова:
• Средняя Азия
• исламская керамика
• средневековый Хутталь
• Саманиды
• Central Asia
• Islamic pottery
• medieval Huttal
• Samanids
This critical examination specifically includes polychrome animate buff ware with red slip as a very distinctive type, well represented in the Linden-Museum (type 4). Finally, the whole set of new arguments supports efforts to determine different workshops and helps specify distribution and relative chronology.
couleurs turquoise et bleu cobalt. Le visiteur ignore généralement que ces céramiques, représentent une innovation technique et stylistique sans précédent dans l’ensemble du monde médiéval autour de l’an 1000.
Les pièces complètes de la collection du musée national de Céramique à Sèvres permettent de questionner l’origine de cette technique et l’apport du monde islamique.
Ce corpus permet également de proposer, à partir de nos recherches de terrain récentes, un premier inventaire des ateliers ayant produit et commercialisé des pâtes siliceuses à l’Est de l’Orient médiéval.
the fifth century, a strong increase happened after the Muslim conquest and in the
medieval period, throughout the ninth-eleventh century. Five major mining regions
provided the main part of the demand for iron ore and non-ferrous metals (mercury,
tin, lead) and precious metals (gold, silver). Up to 10 000 miners worked in some
mines and the production of a part of the silver mines, including striking of silver
coins, was estimated at several tens of tons per year. We present the exploitation
of mining regions and political issues in their historical context in a prospect of
socio-economic history.
The state of knowledge on this subject is reviewed and a new basis for classification, dating and distribution is put forward. Other aspects now being investigated are discussed, such as the study of workshops and medieval techniques using historical and ethnological data.
Kyrgyzstan (in Russian), by . Publishing House of Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Saint Petersburg, 2019. 434pp.
ISBN-13: 9785806426100.