Experiment and innovation: early Islamic industry at al-Raqqa, Syria Julian Henderson\ Keith Challis^, Sarah O'Hara\ Sean McLoughhn'^, Adam Gardner^ & Gary Priestnall^ The city ofal-Raqqa in north central Syria rivalled early Baghdad in scale, and ivas briefly during the 'Abbasid caliphate the imperial capital of an empire stretching from North Africa to Central Asia. Noiv largely levelled the multifaceted Islamic cityscape is revealed hy aerial and satellite imagery. It is at this site that the evidence of innovative Islamic industries has been revealed by excavations undertaken by the Raqqa Ancient Industry project since 1994. Here they discuss the production models for glass and ceramics in their socio-economic contexts. Keyivords: Islamic, Syria, Ragga, industry, glass, ceramics, technology Introduction The city ofal-Raqqa in north centra! Syria is located close to the confluence ofthe river Euphrates with its tributary the Balikh (Figure 1). The origin of settlement at the location occupied by al-Raqqa probably lies in the third century BC with the foundation of a Hellenistic city usually identified as Nikephorion. This city was enlarged by Seleucus II Kallinikos (246-226 BC) and renamed Kallinikos/Callinicum after him. Destroyed in AD 542, Callinicum was rebuilt by the emperor Justinian (AD 527-565) and formed part ofthe fortification ofthe Byzantine border along the Euphrates. Callinicum was overcome in AD 639/640 by the Muslim army under 'Iyad b. Ghanm and given the Arabic name al-Raqqa. In AD 771-772 the caliph al-Mansur built a new walled city to the west oi al-Raqqa in order to protect the border with the Byzantine Empire. Called al-Rafika ('the companion) this new city served as a garrison town, housing troops from Khurasan in eastern Iran. For a brief period (AD 796-808), the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid lived in al-Rafika and was responsible for the construction of an extensive imperial city (Meinecke 1996) that served as the administrative centre tor the Islamic Caliphate—an empire stretching From North Africa to Central Asia. Although Harun ai-Rashid returned to Baghdad in AD 808 where he died a year later, al-Raqqa/a!-Rafika, remained the capital of the western Islamic provinces. From the Abbasid period onwards the city was associated with extensive ' Department oj Archaeology, School of Humanities. University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK (Email: jtdi(ULhenderson@nottingham.ac.uk) ^ Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham. Edghaston, Birmingham. BIS27"!', UK. ^ School of Geography, Unifersity of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD. UK. Department of Materials. Imperial College of Science and Technology, Prince Consort Road. London SW7 2BP, UK. ^ John Rylttnds University l.ibraiy of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester MI 3 9PP. UK. Received: 22 December 2003: Accepted: 26 May 2004: Revised: 20 August 2004 ; (2005): I30-14S 130