This chapter considers the physical change of the workspace chronologically, geographically, and by industry. From the case studies of pottery, glass, and textile making, as well as food processing, it discusses the standardization of the Roman practice, as seen at Timgad in North Africa, of zoning and conglomerating crafts in early Islam across the Near East and Central Asia. While acknowledging this continuity with the past, it examines the novelty and significance of manufacturing after 800, when ‘post-Roman’ ceased to be a meaningful description of Near Eastern economy, and questions whether urban crafts experienced differentiated or similar forms of development.
Near East and North Africa