Details
This well produced volume uses the relatively new discipline of garden archaeology to engage with Islamic history and culture over a wide timespan (7th-19th centuries) and covering countries from Spain to Afghanistan. The essays approach the subject from a variety of different perspectives, such as the political uses and symbolism of gardens, gardens as part of the economy, cultural transmission and reception, and practical questions of method. Ultimately they ask what is distinctive about Islamic gardens, comparing them both across the Islamic world and with non-Islamic gardens with similar climatic and landscape conditions.