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Peter J Brown

@peterjbrown.bsky.social
67 followers 27 following 21 posts

Honorary Fellow @arcdurham.bsky.social | Landscape archaeology of medieval Eurasia | Water Management | Islamic Archaeology | Environmental History p-j-brown.github.io

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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Dan Lawrence @dl-arch.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Thanks to the @antiquity.ac.uk team for making this cool video summarising our recent paper, featuring drone footage from the steppe hero @peterjbrown.bsky.social himself!
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Peter J Brown @peterjbrown.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Our work, led by @dl-arch.bsky.social and Miljana Radivojević on the Bronze Age site at Semiyarka (NE Kazakhstan) published today in @antiquity.ac.uk
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Durham University @durham.ac.uk · 22/08/2025
In this article, our Honorary Fellow in Archaeology @peterjbrown.bsky.social sheds new light on the story of the Zanj rebellion – a slave revolt that took place in the late 9th century in southern Iraq. Peter and his team have unearthed the timelines. Read more 👉 www.durham.ac.uk/research/cur...
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Peter J Brown @peterjbrown.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
My piece in The Conversation @africa.theconversation.com based on our recent article in @antiquity.ac.uk Read the original article here: doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
doi.org
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq - Volume 99 Issue 406
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 21/08/2025
Earthworks cover southern Iraq, built by slave labour during the Early Islamic period A slave rebellion was thought to have caused their abandonment, but new research suggests other factors, such as Mongol invasion and the plague, were responsible 🏺 #Archaeology Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
CORONA satellite imagery of a landscape covered in linear ridge/earthwork features. A dotted line annotates a canal channel running through the earthworks. Photograph number DS1035-1040DF019 captured 23 September 1966 (reproduced courtesy of the US Geological Survey).
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 16/06/2025
Did enslaved people build the monumental agricultural earthworks of Early Islamic Iraq? #MedievalMonday 🏺 Scientific #archaeology sheds light on the impact of the Zanj rebellion, Mongol invasion, plague and climate change on the Iraqi landscape. Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Aerial; view of several linear ridge features stretching across a desert landscape.
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Live Science @livescience.com · 13/06/2025
Around 1,200 years ago in what is now Iraq, enslaved people who were forced to build a vast canal system defied authority and rebelled www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
livescience.com
Enslaved Africans led a decade-long rebellion 1,200 years ago in Iraq, new evidence suggests
The Zanj, enslaved people largely from Africa, rebelled at the same time they were ordered to build a massive system of canals in what is now Iraq, a new study finds.
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 09/06/2025
NEW Did a slave revolt cause the decline of medieval farming in southern Iraq? 🏺 New dates suggests earthworks in the region stayed in use following the 9th-century-AD Zanj rebellion, questioning the traditional historical narrative. Learn more 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
CORONA satellite imagery of a landscape covered in linear ridge/earthwork features. A dotted line annotates a canal channel running through the earthworks. Photograph number DS1035-1040DF019 captured 23 September 1966 (reproduced courtesy of the US Geological Survey).
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Peter J Brown @peterjbrown.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
More coverage of our recent research in @antiquity.ac.uk Read the original paper here: doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
doi.org
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Archaeology Magazine @archaeologymag.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
The Shatt al-Arab floodplain, an agricultural system outside of the Iraqi city of Basra, was likely dug by enslaved Africans exploited by the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century A.D. archaeology.org/news/2025/06/05/enslaved-africans-built-ancient-agricultural-system-in-southern-iraq/
(Durham University)
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Peter J Brown @peterjbrown.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
A fascinating and highly thought provoking volume!
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
European Association of Archaeologists @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
🏺 Recent research suggests that thousands of earthen ridges and canals in the Shatt al-Arab floodplain outside Basra in Iraq, part of an ancient agricultural system, were constructed with slave labour during the early Islamic period associated with the 'Zanj rebellion'. #Archaeology #Iraq
cambridge.org
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 05/06/2025
📰 Discovery of over 7000 earthworks in southern Iraq offers fresh insight into slavery during the early Islamic Period #AntiquityResearch #ArchaeologyNews via @arcdurham.bsky.social‬ www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/...
durham.ac.uk
Archaeologists shed new light on ancient Mesopotamian landscape - Durham University
Archaeologists have uncovered new evidence about an ancient Mesopotamian landscape, offering fresh insight into the legacy of black slavery during the early Islamic Period.
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Brian Ulrich @brianjulrich.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
New dating of ridges in southern #Iraq show the agricultural system developing not only in the 800s, but until the 1200s This was the landscape at one point worked by the Zanj, slaves from sub-Saharan Africa whom I talked about in my @archumanities.bsky.social book The Medieval Persian Gulf
cambridge.org
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq
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Peter J Brown @peterjbrown.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Coverage of our article published in @antiquity.ac.uk. Full paper available here: doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
doi.org
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
The landscape of the Zanj Rebellion? Dating the remains of a large-scale agricultural system in southern Iraq
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Louise Rayne @louiserayne.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
News article on our new paper www.independent.co.uk/news/science...
independent.co.uk
Archaeologists solve mystery of Iraq’s huge network of ridges and canals
The researchers reviewed images from the 1960s showing the remains of more than 7,000 massive ridges
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 02/06/2025
A slave revolt, Mongol invasion, spread of plague and climate change. Find out how agricultural features in southern Iraq can teach us about all of these in this great thread, then check out the new Research Article in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
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Reposted by Peter J Brown
Louise Rayne @louiserayne.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Our latest article is out today. It describes results of remote sensing and OSL dating of archaeological earthworks near Basra in Iraq. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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Peter J Brown @peterjbrown.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Our new article published today in @antiquity.ac.uk focuses on interesting archaeological landscape features in southern Iraq. Groups of long linear earthen ridges sit on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab river in the Basra region, north of the shores of the Gulf… 🧵
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