Ali Darmoul is a freelance researcher in the Islamic maritime history and archeology in the Mediterranean 7th–15th centuries. He graduated from Paris–Sorbonne University (Paris IV) specializing in maritime and art history. He obtained his PhD from the University of Pantheon–Sorbonne (Paris 1) in 1994. His research interest varies between archaeological excavation, topography and photogrammetry, pedology, epigraphy, town planning, geology and historical geography. He also has technical and laboratory professional experience in naval architecture, ships, ethnography underwater archaeology and pottery restoration. Darmoul has a license in diving and as a ship pilot. In addition to his professional experience in archaeological and historical research in several Mediterranean and European countries, he participated in international projects with the European Council 1982, UNESCO; Convention on The Protection of The Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001; and ICOMOS as an associate member.

 

In terms of maritime culture of the Mediterranean Arab–Muslim World (7th–15th cent. CE), we know almost nothing about ships, shipbuilding and their infrastructures. The subject proposed here concerns a key period which can provide solutions thanks to the access to edited papyrological documents directly related to the first maritime experience of the Arabs in the Mediterranean Sea, where Egypt  apparently had simultaneously initiated and exported it to, at least, Central Mediterranean since 643 CE and before 750 CE. These documents in Greek, Coptic or Arabic, produced under Egyptian administration, inform us of a large amount of various data about an early-raised navy, its ship activities and shipbuilding, which required that Egypt, with all its resources, must provide men, materials and other supplies for making arsenals and the utilization of ships.

This data, in itself, represents a contribution to Arab Maritime History, even if unreliable. The most important contributions of our documents to be highlighted here is giving a rare example of many broad “context factors”, which would determine shipbuilding techniques, types of ships and their functions, which archaeological examination of the wreck could not identify. Therefore, in the light of Mediterranean Nautical Archaeology and well-documented problematics, we can also discuss the implications of such a shipbuilding experience, the evolution of architectural systems and the process of transition, more than ever.