Beyond Ibn Hawqal's Bahr al-Fars: 10th -13th Centuries AD: Sindh and the Kij-u-Makran Region, Hinge of an International Network of Religious, Political, Institutional and Economic Affairs

Studies in the Archaeology and History of Baluchistan. Volume II

The first section of the present volume is a report of the Italian involvement in Southern Makrn and Kharn, its aims and objects, modus operandi. It is essentially restricted to the Islamic era and represents a discourse preliminary to the second section. The methodological approach of combining historical sources (written and manuscript, Persian and Arabic) with archaeological evidence and geo-morphological study has allowed for a re-reading of the traditional literature and the role played by Makrn and, in particular, the Kj-u-Makrn region during the 10th-13th Centuries AD. Many questions put by this mystifying region still stand only partly answered, if not completely un-answered. After three seasons of archaeological field-work and research - complemented with accurate geo-morphological surveys and studying - we are still confronted with an elusive region and some crucial queries. 'Part Two' of this study is the follow up of the archaeological and geo-morphological research-work: a historical study, which focuses on the 10th-13th Centuries AD.