NEW PUBLICATIONS ON ARABIA

structures whereupon the state's legitimacy was buttressed and finding out how these states related with their own populations and with other neighbouring states.

The project is funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant and it will run for five years. During this time the StateHorn team will develop a multidisciplinary program and carry out the most comprehensive study of medieval statehood in the Horn of Africa to date. Relying on Somaliland as a case study, the project will combine different disciplines, from archaeology to historiography, linguistics, literature and ethnography and pursue five research lines, which were deemed central in the study of the phenomena of statehood in the region: Territory, Material Culture, Written and Oral Sources, Urbanisation and Trade.

Figure 2: Remains of the main mosque of the medieval town of Abasa (western Somaliland) ©The Incipit Archaeological Project in Somaliland

the medieval era. Thus, two major towns, a small hamlet, a caravan station and a coastal trading post will be studied and comprehensively published. The work of survey and excavation will be complemented with information from other medieval sites in the region and in the neighbouring areas occupied by Djibuti and Ethiopia as well as with the analysis of the great amount of geographical and historical data available.

Altogether, the study of these sites and of the larger context will provide a comprehensive corpus of information about medieval Somaliland, its links with the surrounding areas and on the process of emergence and consolidation of states in the region. Moreover, buttressed on the archaeological and historical findings, StateHorn aims to propose a theory of statehood in the Horn of Africa which helps in analysing the current political situation in the area and in other places where weak or failed states have emerged. Updated information about the project will be available at the project website (www.statehorn.com).

References González-Ruibal, A. and Torres, J. de (2018): «The fair and the sanctuary: gathering places in a nomadic landscape (Somaliland, 1000-1600 AD)». World Archaeology 50 (1): 23-40 https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1489735

González-Ruibal, A.; Torres, J. de; Franco, M.A.; Ali, A.M.; Shabelle, A.; Martínez, C. and Aideed, K. (2017): «Exploring long distance trade in Somaliland (AD 1000–1900): preliminary results from the 2015–2016 field seasons». Azania 52 (2): 135-172.

The StateHorn team will excavate in five different sites which are expected to provide relevant data (both qualitative and quantitatively) to understand how states and communities related to each other in Somaliland during Torres, J. de (2020): Built on diversity: Statehood in Medieval Somaliland (12th-16th centuries AD). Anejos de Nailos 6: 153-185.

Cleuziou, S., Tosi, M., 2020. In the Shadow of the Ancestors: The Prehistoric Foundations of the Early Arabian Civilization in Oman Second Expanded Edition, Frenez D., Garba, R., eds Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman ISBN 9781789697889

Hatke, G., Ruzicka, R 2021. South Arabian Long-Distance Trade in Antiquity: “Out of Arabia” Cambridge Scholars Publishing ISBN13: 978-1-5275-6456-5 Maestri, E., 2019 The Arabian City and its Territory. Historical Identity and Heritage Issues, EDUCatt Università Cattolica. ISBN 9788893354493

Morris, N., Porter, V., Tripp, C. 2020. Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa, British Museum Press ISBN 9780714111957

Reisz, T., 2020. Showpiece City: How Architecture Made Dubai, Stanford University Press, ISBN: 9781503609884

Ibrahim, M., M., Strachan, L., M., 2020 The Tangible and Intangible Cultural Landscape of Wadi Bani Kharus: Investigations in the Sultanate of Oman Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman. ISBN 9781789698053 Schmidt, C., 2020 Die Bestattungsgruben in Bat (Arabia Orientalis 1) Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781789697391

Spalton, A., Al Hikmani, H. M., 2021 Dhofar: From Monsoon Mountains to Sand Seas Celebrating the Natural