A Friday Mosque founded in the late first century A.H. at al-Yamāmah: origins and evolution of Islamic religious architecture in Najd

Abstract

Archaeological excavations have only rarely documented the birth and development of Islamic religious architecture in the Ḥijāz and none had in Najd. In this respect, the fieldwork conducted by the Saudi-French archaeological mission in the oasis of al- Kharj (central Arabia, 2011–2017) filled this gap by discovering and excavating the Friday Mosque at al-Yamāmah, ancient Jaww al-Khaḍārim, a major city in the region of al-Yamāmah. The five-year-long project revealed a late Islamic mosque (sixteenth– eighteenth century AD). Soundings and a careful examination of its floor demonstrated that it had been laid over an early Islamic mosque (eighth–tenth century AD), itself built over pre-Islamic dwellings. 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.