Pre-Islamic Central Asia [In this article the Russian rendering of place names based on local pronunciation is generally followed. In each of the Academies, there is a special department of archeology, and the universities of Tashkhent, Samarkand, and Alma-Ata have special departments of archeology. The main remains of this time are the caves of Shugnou in Tajikistan and the Samarkand station, in which one can find implements both of thin, narrow plates as well as in the form of pebbles. Various cultural traditions are being traced through the remains of the Mesolithic period as well. In complexes of the Namazga I type, ceramics typically display black paintings on a red and greenish-white background with large geometric drawings and, occasionally, figures of hooved animals.

For archeological expeditions and discoveries prior to 1920 see Central Asia.] The study of Central Asian archeological remains began on a large scale in the 1920s and 30s with the organization of large archeological expeditions which uncovered the Kushan remains in the south of Uzbekistan (M. Masson), the ancient civilization of Ḵᵛārazm (Choresm) (S. Archeological research is carried out by the Republics’ Academies of Sciences jointly with Moscow and Leningrad institutions, first of all with the Institute of Archeology of the U. On the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea the cave complexes of Dzhebel (Jebel) and Dam-Dam-Chesme (early, with elongated triangles, and late, with trapezoids) have direct analogies in the materials of Zarz (Iraq) and Gari (Ḡār-e)-Kamarband (Iran). Clay bi-conical whorls () and terra-cotta figures of standing women are widespread.

As a result, archeological remains of almost all the major epochs have now been uncovered, numerous compilations have been published, and materials have been obtained that describe comprehensively the ancient civilizations of Central Asia of the pre-Islamic period. The earliest Paleolithic remains in Central Asia were found in Kopet-Dag, in the valley of the Sumbar river, and belong to the ancient Ashel, or possibly to the pre-Ashel period (see V. Lyubin, “Paleolit Turkmenii” (The Paleolithic period of Turkmenistan), , 1984, no. At that time, Paleolithic man had established himself throughout the region.

to a region of the present-day Middle East situated on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea west of Jordan.

The name is derived from the Greek Palaestina, or "Land of the Philistines," a seafaring people who settled a small coastal area northeast of Egypt, near present-day Gaza, around the twelfth century Also known as the Holy Land, Palestine is held sacred by Christians, Jews, and Muslims, some of the most important events in each religion having taken place there, especially in the city of Jerusalem. Palestine's geographical area has varied greatly over the centuries, as the land was conquered repeatedly by the great empires that came to power in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Could it be otherwise for a faith that powers one of the greatest living civilizations – one whose dynamism and creativity supplied a foundation for countless aspects of modern society?

Shariah is the Islamic Law – the disciplines and principles that govern the behavior of a Muslim individual towards his or herself, family, neighbors, community, city, nation and the Muslim polity as a whole, the Ummah.