Matthew Harrison

Fustat’s Just the Way It Is: Towards a model of a medieval Egyptian City

Supervisor: Dr. Alison Gascoigne

Abstract:

In the 11th century AD the Egyptian city of Fustat was at its zenith, a thriving commercial hub just outside al-Qahira (Cairo), the newly-founded seat of government of the Fatimid Caliphate. My research is focussed on using 3D modelling technologies as a means to explore and crystallise an interpretation of the form of the city at this time, as well as to provide a platform for further insights into the social realities of life in Fustat through formal analysis of movement, visibility and acoustics. This paper will outline the sources available for the creation of a model of the city, the range of parallels from other sites and periods that can be drawn upon, and the approaches and technologies that could be used to model a site of such scale, complexity and uncertainty.

email: Mjh1g10@soton.ac.uk