Flour for the Caliph: Watermills in the "Land behind Mosul"

This paper discusses settlement, land use and resource management in an area north of Mosul in the Early Islamic period, with a specific focus on milling installations. The study of a milling complex in the Wadi Bandawai valley, within the archaeological project ‘Land behind Mosul,’ made it possible to date its foundation to the Early Islamic period, and to show continuity of use up to the early 20th century. The evidence from the mills and the results of the archaeological survey of a large area north of Mosul illustrate its importance as cereal/flour supplier for the Caliphate not only in the early Abbasid period, to feed the growing population of the new capitals, but already in the Umayyad period, matching the information provided in the written texts.