Salama Kassem

Salama Kassem is a PhD candidate at the Bonn International Graduate School–Oriental and Asian Studies (BIGS-OAS), Islamic Archaeology Research Unit, University of Bonn, under the supervision of Prof. Bethany J. Walker. She is currently working on social and economic networks in late medieval rural southern Greater Syria. In her thesis, she is concerned specifically with the social and economic relationships among small communities in the Trans-Jordanian countryside in the late medieval era. The technical study of pottery, its glazes, clay, and paint will provide a window into these relations. Ultimately, the main aim of this study is to document the social and economic fabric of the region through the ceramic assemblages of several archaeological sites. This is crucial for our understanding of the overall glazed and unglazed pottery industry during the Mamluk period, especially in terms of the differences between urban and rural areas. She is motivated by the prospect of applying the latest scientific techniques to the material culture designated by her project to uncover many aspects of social human behavior in the late medieval period undetected in the historical sources. Her 2025–2026 Kenneth W. Russell Fellowship will support her participation in the Tall Hisban Project.