Moain Sadeq ( ar, معين صادق) is a
Palestinian-Canadian archaeologist specialising in the archaeology of Gaza. He teaches at
Qatar University and has worked at colleges in Canada. After completing a doctorate at the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
, Sadeq co-founded the Faculty of Education in Gaza, which later became
Al-Aqsa University
Al-Aqsa University ( ar, جامعة الأقصى) is a Palestinian university established in 1955 in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Established in 1955 as the first higher education institution in the Gaza Strip, Al-Aqsa University is the oldest gove ...
. In 1994, Sadeq co-founded the Department of Antiquities of Gaza. While working at department, Sadeq jointly led excavations at
Tell es-Sakan and
Tell el-‘Ajjul.
Early life and education
Sadeq was born in
Khan Yunis
Khan Yunis ( ar, خان يونس, also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus; translation: ''Caravansary fJonah'') is a city in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan Yunis had a population of 142,6 ...
in Palestine.
Sadeq graduated from the
Cairo University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in
Islamic archaeology
Islamic archaeology involves the recovery and scientific investigation of the material remains of past cultures that can illuminate the periods and descriptions in the Quran, and early Islam. The science of archaeology grew out of the older mul ...
. He then studied at the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
, completing a doctorate in Islamic history and archaeology.
Career
With support from Klaus Brisch and funding from the Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienst, Sadeq developed his doctoral thesis into a book, published by Klaus Schwarz Verlag in 1991. ''Die mamlukische Architektur der Stadt Gaza'' was a survey of
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ar ...
in Gaza. Also in 1991 Sadeq co-founded the Faculty of Education in Gaza, which later became
Al-Aqsa University
Al-Aqsa University ( ar, جامعة الأقصى) is a Palestinian university established in 1955 in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Established in 1955 as the first higher education institution in the Gaza Strip, Al-Aqsa University is the oldest gove ...
.
The
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, established the Department of Antiquities in 1994 with responsibility for managing Palestine's
cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...
sites. Sadeq was one of the founders of the department's Gaza branch,
and is an expert on Gaza's archaeology. In his role as Director of the Department of Antiquities in Gaza, Sadeq was involved in a number of archaeological projects, such as the Gaza Research Project which began in 1996 and was led by
Louise Steel,
Joanne Clarke, and Sadeq. The project searched for evidence of archaeological remains dating to the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
in the region. Sadeq discovered a Bronze Age site in 1996, al-Moghraqa, which became one of the foci of the Gaza Research Project and underwent excavation. In 1999, Sadek and
Peter M. Fischer
Peter M. Fischer is an Austrian-Swedish archaeologist. He is a specialist on Eastern Mediterranean and Near Eastern archaeology, and archaeometry. He belongs to the University of Gothenburg (PhD 1980, habilitation 1986) and is associated with th ...
led excavations at
Tell el-‘Ajjul which was last excavated in the 1930s.
Building projects in Gaza led to the discovery of new archaeological sites such as
Tell es-Sakan, a Bronze Age fortified settlement discovered in 1998 where Sadeq led archaeological investigations with
Pierre de Miroschedji between 1999 and 2000. The site began as an
Egyptian settlement before it was abandoned and reinhabited by the
Canaanites
{{Cat main, Canaan
See also:
* :Ancient Israel and Judah
Ancient Levant
Hebrew Bible nations
Ancient Lebanon
0050
Ancient Syria
Wikipedia categories named after regions
0050
Phoenicia
Amarna Age civilizations ...
; Tell es-Sakan is the oldest known Egyptian fortification to have been excavated.
With archaeological fieldwork in Gaza impractical due to conflict with Israel, Sadeq left Gaza in 2007
[ and moved to Canada where, through the Scholars at Risk project, he worked at Massey College and the ]Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...
. In 2010, Sadeq was a visiting professor at the Institute for Global Citizenship at Centennial College in Canada. In August that year, Sadeq took up a position teach archaeology at Qatar University.[
]
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
Gaza Research Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadeq, Moain
21st-century educators
Cairo University alumni
Free University of Berlin alumni
Living people
Massey College, Toronto people
Palestinian archaeologists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Academic staff of Qatar University
People from Khan Yunis Governorate
20th-century archaeologists
21st-century archaeologists
1955 births