Department of History of Art and Archaeology

Dr Geoffrey R D King

Key information

Roles
Department of History of Art and Archaeology Emeritus Reader
Qualifications
Dip Fine Art, PGCE, MPhil, PhD(London), FSA

Biography

Dr King researched principally on the architecture, archaeology and art of Arabia, greater Syria, Iran and the Indian Ocean. His first degree is from the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London and he paints, particularly water-colours. His M.Phil. (1972) was on a mosque in Toledo and his Ph. D. (1976) was on the mosaics of the Great Mosque of Damascus. Subsequently he taught at the American University in Cairo, Egypt (1977-1980) and King Saud University, al-Riyad, Saudi Arabia (1980-1987).

He held a research fellowship at the Classics Department of King's College London from 1987 until 1989 when he joined SOAS. He directed a survey of Byzantine and Islamic sites in Jordan from 1980 until 1983 and excavated with a Saudi team of archaeologist at the Islamic pilgrimage road site of Rabadha from 1980 until 1987. He directed the British team excavating at Julfar, Ra's al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 1989 until 1993 and was Academic Director of the Abu Dhabi Islands Survey from 1992 until 2003. He worked with Iranian colleagues on Islamic devotional architecture in Iran and also worked on inter-relationships between Arabia, Iran, Africa and China via the Indian Ocean.

Dr King has contributed to BBC World Service radio programmes on the archaeology of Yemen, of Abu Dhabi, Syria and on the Islamic pilgrimage and the Ottoman railway system from Damascus to al-Madina al-Munuwarra; he has also participated in programmes on Islamic art, architecture and culture on UK's Channel 4 and on Iranian and Syrian television.

Research interests

The Islamic architecture and archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula, greater Syria and Iran; the inter-relationships of the Indian Ocean from central Africa to the Far East. Religious architecture of the Islamic world; the art and architecture of the late antique world and the period of the emergence of Islam. The devotional monuments of Islam in al-'Iraq, Iran and Syria; the transition from the late antique to the art and architecture of early Islam; the pilgrimage route from Syria to Makka al-Mukarrima; the intercultural relationships of the Indian Ocean--Arabia, east Africa and the Far East; the Musandam peninsula of northern Oman; the archaeology of the 'Empty Quarter' sand desert; textual and archaeological evidence for the history of Julfar and Ra's al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates; and the archaeological evidence for camel sacrifice in pre-Islamic Arabia.

Publications