Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T19:30:30.803Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The diffusion of light by translucent media in antiquity: à propos two alabaster window-pane fragments from ed-Dur (United Arab Emirates)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

D. T. Potts*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia

Abstract

From a University of Copenhagen excavation in the United Arab Emirates come two fragments of sheet alabaster, from a large private house dated to the 1st century AD. They prompt consideration of alabaster's use for windows and of provision for natural lighting in the ancient buildings of the broad region, using ethnohistoric observations, medieval literary sources and ancient epigraphic evidence.

Type
Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aurenche, O. 1981. La maison orientale: L'architecture du proche orient ancien des origines au milieu du quatrième millénaire. Paris: Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique; 109.Google Scholar
Baarmann, J. 1882. Abhandlung über das Licht von Ibn al-Haitam, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 36: 195237.Google Scholar
Cressidi, G. 1960. Finestra, Encicopledia dell'Arte Antica 3: 694-6.Google Scholar
Delougaz, P., Hili, H.D., & Lloyd, S.. 1967. Private houses and graves in tile Diyaia region. Chicago (IL): Oriental Institute. Publication 88.Google Scholar
Elchholz, D.E. 1962. Pliny Natural History Vol. X, Libri XXVI–XXVII. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Finkbeiner, U. (ed.). 1993. Materialien zur Archäologie dor Seleukiden- und Partherzeit im südlichen Babylonien und Golfgebiet. Tübingen: Wasmuth.Google Scholar
Folsach, K. Von. 1990. Islamic art: the David Collection. Copenhagen: Davids Samling.Google Scholar
Forest, J.-D. 1986. L'architecture Obeidionne et le problème do l'étage, in Huot (ed.): 437-45.Google Scholar
Gross, W.H. 1979. Fenster. Der Kleine Pauiy 2: 534.Google Scholar
Haerink, E., Phillips, C.S., Potts, D.T. & Stevens, K.G.. 1993. Ed-Dur, Umm al Qaiwain (UAE), in Finkbciner (ed.): 183-94.Google Scholar
Hansen, H.H. 1968. Investigations in a Shi-'o village in Bahrain. Copenhagen: Publications of the National Museum. Ethnographical series XII.Google Scholar
Herbig, R. 1929. Fenster an Tempeln und monumentalen Profanbauten. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 44: 224-62.Google Scholar
Huot, J.-L. (ed.). 1986. Préhistoire de la Mésopotamie. Paris: Editions du CNRS.Google Scholar
King, G.R.D. 1978. Islamic architecture in Eastern Arabia, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 8: 1527.Google Scholar
Lecomte, O. 1993. Ed-Dur, les occupations des 3e et 4e s. ap. J.-G.: contexte des trouvailles et matériel diagnostique, in Finkbeiner (ed.): 195218.Google Scholar
Marcueron, J.-G. 1986. Quelques remarques concernant l'architecture monumentale à l'époque d'Obeid, in Huot (ed.): 349-77.Google Scholar
Mau, A. 1909. Fenestra, Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopadie die der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft 12: 2180-85.Google Scholar
Moorey, P.R.S. 1994. Ancient Mesopotamian materials and industries. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Müller, W.W. 1989. Marib, Encyclopaedia of Islam 6: 559-67.Google Scholar
Müller, W.W. 1995. CIH 325: Die jüngste datierte sabäische Inschrift, in Etudes sud-arabes: recueil offert à Jacques Byckmans: 117-31. Louvain: Publications de l'Institut Orientaliste de Louvain.Google Scholar
Munro-Hay, S.C.H. 1991. The coinage of Shabwa (Hadhramawt), and other ancient south Arabian coinage in the National Museum, Aden, Syria 58: 393418.Google Scholar
Palgrave, W.G. 1865. Narrative of a year's journey through Central and Eastern Arabia (1862–63). London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Pellat, C. 1953. Le milieu Basrien et la formation de Gahiz. Paris: Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient.Google Scholar
Plotrovsky, M.B. 1988. The fate of Castle Ghumdan, in Ancient and mediaeval monuments of civilization of Southern Arabia: investigation and conservation problems. 28-38. Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
Potts, D.T. 1994. Supplement to the pre-Islamic coinage of Eastern Arabia. Copenhagen: Carsten Niebuhr institute. Publications 16.Google Scholar
Rathjens, C. & Von Wissman, H.. 1932. Vorislamische Altertümer. Hamburg: Rathjens-v. Wissmannsche Sudarabien-Reise 2. Hamhurgische Universität Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiet der Auslandskunde 38, Reihe B 19.Google Scholar
Ravn, O.E. 1942. Herodotus' description of Babylon. Copenhagen: Nyt Nordisk Forlag.Google Scholar
Roaf, M. 1989. Social organization and social activities at Tell Mardhhur, in Henrickson, E.F. & Thuesen, I. (ed.), Upon this foundation — the ‘Ubald reconsidered: 91-346. Copenhagen: Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications 10.Google Scholar
Serjeant, R.B. 1976. South Arabian hunt. London: Luzac.Google Scholar
Smith, P.E.L. 1990. Architectural innovation and experimentation at Ganj Daren, Iran, World Archaeologv 21: 323-35.Google Scholar
Turner, H. 1853. Some account of domestic architecture in England from Edward I to Bichard II. Oxford: Parker.Google Scholar
Turner, H. 1859. Some account of domestic architecture in England from Richard II to Henry VIII. Oxford: Parker.Google Scholar
Vernet, J. 1971. Ibn al-Haytham, Encyclopaedia of Islam 3: 788-9.Google Scholar
Winster, H.J.J. 1954. The optical researches of Ibn al-Haytham, Centaurus 3: 190210.Google Scholar
Winterhalter, C.P. 1981. Indigenous housing patterns and design principles in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Dissertation submitted to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.Google Scholar
Wright, G.R.H. 1988. Mud building in Yemen, Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen 4: 204-17.Google Scholar