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The German Samarra Expedition 1911-1913
In winter 1907/1908, the art historian Friedrich Sarre (1865-1945) then Director of the Islamic Department of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, and the archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld (1879-1948), made a journey to the Euphrates and Tigris valleys. As a counterpart to and in a sense competing with the contemporaneous German Babylon and Assur Expeditions the journey aimed at finding a place for the first large-scale archaeological research on early Islamic antiquities. They decided on the caliphal residence Samarra for their scientific investigation, which seemed to be most suitable for archaeological research because of its outstanding position and well-defined period of occupation between 221-279 H / 836-892 AD.
In 1911 and 1912/1913, Ernst Herzfeld conducted two campaigns of excavation. This research not only led to discoveries which were important for understanding Abbasid art, but were also instrumental in the establishment of an 'Islamic' discipline within the wider scientific field of archaeology. Herzfeld explored the city and excavated the great palace of the caliph al-Mu'tasim (reigned 218-227 H / 833-842 AD), the 'Dar al-Khilafa', which Herzfeld called the "Djausaq al-Khaqani"; seventeen 'private residences'; the Friday Mosque and the Balkuwara palace, both built by the caliph al-Mutawakkil (reigned 232-247 H / 847-861 AD); and the al-Ma'shuq palace / mod. Qasr al-'Ashiq, which was build by the caliph al-Mu'tamid (reigned 256-279 H / 870-892 AD).
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Stucco wall revetment, I. Samarra style or 'Style C'
Berlin, Museum of Islamic Art (SMB)
Iraq, Samarra, German Samarra Expediton 1911, 'House III'
Abbasid period, middle of 3rd / 9th century
Photo: Ernst Herzfeld, 1911
E. Herzfeld, Erster vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen von Samarra (Berlin 1912) pl. 4.
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