The Cyprus Institute

Salama Kassem

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Research Topic: “Social and Economic Networks in Late Medieval Rural, Southern Greater Syria: An Archaeometrical Study of Mamluk Pottery (13th -16th CE)”

Salama is a Ph.D. candidate at the Bonn International Graduate School – Oriental and Asian Studies (BIGS-OAS), Islamic Archaeology Research Unit, University of Bonn. Under Supervision: Prof. Dr. Bethany J. Walker

She is currently working on Social and Economic Networks in Late Medieval Rural, Southern Greater Syria. In her thesis, she is concerned specifically with the social and economic relationships among small communities in the Trans-Jordanian countryside in the late medieval era. The technical study of pottery, its glazes, clay, and paint will provide a window into these relations. Ultimately, the main aim of this study is to document the social and economic fabric of the region through the ceramic assemblages of a number of archaeological sites. This is crucial for our understanding of the overall glazed and unglazed pottery industry during the Mamluk period, especially in terms of the differences between urban and rural areas

Salama is motivated by the prospect of applying the latest scientific techniques to the material culture designated by her project to uncover many aspects of social human behaviour in the late medieval period, undetected in the historical sources. 

Salama has been part of the CyI team since 1st of February 2023 as a Research Assistant in the STARC, for her fellowship within the PlaCe-ITN project.  Her main aims during the fellowship are to prepare thin sections of samples and to carry out petrographic and SEM analysis.