The central subject of this book is a fascinating account of the efforts undertaken in the last years of Ottoman rule in Tunisia to create a frontier fortress at Haïdra, ancient Ammaedara, while at the same time attempting to sedentarize the Frashish community. Neither aim was achieved at the time, but the detailed research that Ahmed Sayadi has done, especially in the contemporary archives, as well as through his fieldwork, paints an interesting picture of the difficulties that all parties faced and to what degree these were overcome.
Roman Ammaedara was a prosperous town with all the monuments one would expect of a provincial capital, from theatre to forum, a beautifully paved decumanus and a fine arch to the emperor Septimius Severus, as well as marble imported from Chemtou (giallo antico). The wealth that allowed for the creation of these monuments did not last into the Middle Ages; at Haïdra (then Meïdara) this is indeed a dark age, about which little can be found in the historical sources, and material remains are equally scant (or unexplored).
The volume is divided into two parts. First, the ‘Monographie Historique’, where in the course of four chapters the historical background of the area and the site are described, with particular emphasis on the modern period, which in this case is the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1866 there was a drive to fortify Haïdra by reusing the Byzantine citadel, constructing two circular towers/bastions at the north-east and north-west corners of the earlier fortification, as well as strengthening and raising the perimeter walls. A watchtower, higher than the round towers, was planned to be built in a central location to avoid the need to raise the level of all the towers. The reasons for doing this was in part to defend the area against attacks from Algeria, fully under French control since 1848: the border, still a somewhat fluid term in the 1860s, lies barely 9 km to the west of Haïdra. The Ottoman government in Tunis also wished to control raiding nomads and to quell the practice of transhumance, as well as to establish a customs post to combat cross-border smuggling. To encourage and facilitate a more sedentary lifestyle, shops were built and the market at nearby Thala was moved to Haïdra. Some domestic dwellings were also built in conjunction with the military construction, although these were not part of the government scheme itself.
Work on construction of the round towers and rebuilding the Byzantine wall linking them began in 1866 and was beset with various problems from the start: funding, the availability and cost of skilled craftsmen and architects, and a reliable workforce. Raw material was the least of the problems: building material in the form of stone and brick (the latter used in very small quantities) was taken from the Roman and Byzantine buildings in the vicinity, and lime mortar was made in kilns using marble from the site. Wood was available from the nearby pine forests and water flowed perennially in the wadi a few hundred metres away.
Sayadi has consulted a plethora of sources, including the National Archives in Tunis, and it is clear that funds were slow in coming from the capital. This may be why there is a great deal of exaggeration in the reports sent in as to how many men worked on the site and how the new wall was built from the foundations up (actually it rests on the Byzantine wall). Progress was nevertheless made in the first year, but 1867 was a disastrous year in the region, with drought, famine and disease, and ensuing unrest among the local peoples. Work on the military installations appears to have come to an end in 1868, leaving the towers and wall unfinished, while there is no trace of even the foundations of the planned central watchtower. Work on the civilian ‘settlement’ was more successful, with the completion of two private houses of note (1,010 m2 and 564.2 m2, respectively), two blocks of shops (both on the same alignment, next to each other) and two other buildings, presumably modest private dwellings.
Exactly how much funding eventually arrived from the central government is not clear, but Sayadi’s research has revealed that the original number of craftsmen brought in from other major towns was cut or heavily reduced early on, and eventually the workforce was almost entirely made up of the local inhabitants. These were employed by their chief, ‘Ali Al-Sghayyar (head of the Awlâd Wazzâz, a subdivision of the Frashish Berbers), and in fact were often not paid directly for their work.
The second part, the ‘Monographie Architecturale’, is divided into two chapters. Chapter 2.1 deals with the civilian area and presents six buildings (B1–B6), while Chapter 2.2 deals with the military zone, the two bastions and guard house that were built in conjunction with the drive to fortify Haïdra (‘chantier militaire’) and turn it into a burj with a civilian settlement and shops (‘chantier civil’). The French term ‘chantier’ translates as ‘construction site’, and is used in the book because an equivalent Arabic term, ‘Mrammat’, was used in the archives to refer to the two areas of construction begun in 1866. The private dwellings, belonging to the Frashish qaids Al-Sghayyar (see above) and Harrâth b. Muhammad of the Awlâd Nâji – another Frashish subgroup, are reasonably well preserved (apart from most of their roofs) and are possible to interpret; the shops have also survived reasonably well, while only the lower courses of buildings B5 and B6 survive, and even those are not very clear. The wall of what was possibly the original (1860s) customs post survives near the later French colonial-period watchtower, located by the present excavation house and site museum (which originally served as the customs post from the 1880s onwards).
The author describes the various buildings, illustrating his analysis with photographs and drawings of sections of the walls and roof-construction methods. The frequent reuse of Classical architectural elements and inscription fragments as building material is highlighted and illustrated. So also is the use of different types of mortar and plaster, which gives us some idea of the original construction and later repairs. It is clear that the spolia are used in a completely ad hoc manner, with no effort being made to use the carved pieces in a decorative manner: in one instance one piece with drilled decoration is used in a windowsill, but a similar piece is simply built into the wall, although it could have been used in a second window for symmetry.
From the minutiae of the descriptions, we learn that of the two types (white and yellow) of limestone available locally, it is the yellow type that is more hardwearing, and the study of the walls at both chantiers shows that in fact the white type is avoided as much as possible. The earliest mortar used is the most durable, but in subsequent construction and repairs less strong variants, cheaper to produce, are used. The roofs in the civilian zone that are vaulted have survived more successfully than the more common flat version of pine logs supporting an earthen cover, which, however, had the advantage of requiring less-skilled builders. It is not surprising that the most elaborate house, belonging to the most prominent among the Frashish qaids, was not only the largest, but the most solidly built and has the only instance of a deliberate decorative architectural element in its courtyard with polylobed arches; wealth bought quality but this was not a realistic option for all.
The value of Sayadi’s research lies in its account of the context in which the various buildings were erected and his detailed record of the constructions. Being able to compare the information from the archives and what is known of the local history of the period with the material remains is unusual in the context of North African archaeology, and the occasional discrepancies between the two are illuminating. They give an insight into the issues that accompanied turning government directives and policies into reality in the provinces, not just in the late nineteenth century but perhaps in earlier periods as well. It would be interesting to follow Sayadi’s approach at other sites where correspondence and official documents in the archives can be ground-truthed. Apart from its historical interest, Sayadi’s work is also a useful architectural record of the present state of these buildings, which clearly are in need of both restoration and protection in order to stop their eventual collapse. As the author’s remit was surveying and recording the upstanding remains, the floors in the civilian sector remain largely unknown under accumulated earth and debris, and some archaeological issues, such as whether the shops rest directly on the decumanus or on other earlier buildings, have had to remain unresolved; there is scope here for a follow-up article.
While both the historical background and the architectural remains are well presented and illustrated, there are a few technical faults that could easily be corrected in future editions or certainly in the eBook: on p. 52 the reference to Figure 23 should be to Figure 21; the caption of Figure 28 is missing; the text of two paragraphs is repeated (in three paragraphs) on pp. 132–33, one with the wrong figure reference; the images of Figures 115 and 116 are reversed (but not the captions); the ‘tracé de Random de 1846’ should read ‘Randon’ (pp. 28 and 32). Finally, although they are all duly explained at their first occurrence in the text, a glossary of local and Arabic terms such as smala, habus, mhalla, gourbi and wrak would have been useful for the reader who is not a native speaker.
The one actual criticism that might be levelled at this very interesting book is its title, which is somewhat misleading: it is not an account of the transformation of a Roman city into a modern town, as this reviewer originally expected. This, however, was clearly never the author’s intention. The historical background of the site, from the Roman period through the Middle Ages and up to the nineteenth century, is indeed covered adequately but not in great detail; this is perfectly reasonable as this was not the intended topic of the research. The focus on a particular aspect of the late Ottoman period has been dealt with very well, resulting in a fascinating account of a subject that is often overlooked. It is, however, a warning to not take a book’s title at face value.
