Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to analyse the ways in which geological processes affect society and the environment. The museum holds medieval reports of earthquakes and of their effects on towns, buildings and people; why the ground moves, and other geological processes, are for your class. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- E1.1 analyse ways in which geological processes impact society and the environment
2 Before you start
A thought to carry into the lesson.
3 The lesson
Who and what was affected?
The expectations ask for effects on society and on the environment. Sort what you read into effects on people, on buildings and on the land or sea, and note which came first and which came later.
Go deeper
The record of the year 425 AH says Ramla was shaken and about half of it was destroyed. Villages sank into the ground, part of the wall of Jerusalem fell, and the minaret of the mosque of Ascalon collapsed 2. After the devastating earthquake of 1033, the Fatimid caliph al-Zahir had al-Aqsa rebuilt between 1034 and 1036 3. The new mosque was smaller than its predecessor, with seven aisles instead of fifteen 3.
Think about it
The record lists a wall, a minaret and whole villages, and then a rebuilt mosque. Which of these losses would a town find hardest to replace, and why?
Into the museum
- Earthquake at Ramla and the sea's recession, 425: what else the record says happened in that year, including the sea.
- The Fatimid rebuilding of al-Aqsa: how the mosque changed when it was rebuilt.
Try this
Read about the year 425 AH and the rebuilding of al-Aqsa. Make a timeline with the damage on one side and the response on the other.
4 Carry it further
Where this lesson leads in the museum.
5 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Earthquake at Ramla and the sea's recession, 425 have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
The year of the great shaking. Ibn al-Imad's chronicle, the Shadharat al-Dhahab, reports that in 425 AH an earthquake destroyed about half of Ramla, villages sank into the ground, part of the wall of Jerusalem fell and the minaret of the mosque of Ascalon collapsed. The sea also receded about three farsakhs, and some of the people who had gone out to gather fish and shells were caught when the water returned. What happened to the people, the buildings and the land?
In your own words: what does The Fatimid rebuilding of al-Aqsa after the 1033 earthquake have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
A mosque rebuilt smaller. After the earthquake of 1033, which devastated Jerusalem, the Fatimid caliph al-Zahir had al-Aqsa rebuilt between 1034 and 1036, and the work was completed under al-Mustansir in 1065. The new mosque was smaller, with seven aisles instead of fifteen, and the Encyclopaedia of Islam counts the earthquake among the causes of a major reorganisation of Jerusalem. How did a geological event change a city's buildings?
I can now