FIGURE 10 - uploaded by Olivia Munoz
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Examples of Umm an-Nar type tombs. A) Hili " Grand " Tomb 1059, Abu Dhabi (Photo: French archaeological Mission to Abu Dhabi); B) Shimal Unar2, Ra's al-Khaimah (Blau 2001: fig.3, p. 562); C) Plan of a sample of Umm an-Nar type graves showing their inner structural articulation (O. Munoz).
Citations
... They also represent a manifest change in mortuary practice from the burial pits of the late Neolithic, indicating profound changes in society with the onset of the Bronze Age (e.g. Bortolini and Munoz, 2015). With the overwhelming presence of tombs, research into the Hafit period is largely based on funerary evidence, while settlements are exceedingly rare, hardly numbering more than a handful (for an overview, see e.g. ...
This paper examines 2830 km2 of north central Oman with the purpose of developing a predictive model for the most likely areas to contain settlements of the Early Bronze Age Hafit period. The model is developed on the basis of the distribution of tombs, as detected by remote sensing, as well as general properties of the landscape.The model is able to narrow down the most likely areas for finding Hafit settlements to only 6.5% of the total area. This is important as hitherto only very few settlements are located in the entire region.
... Its diffusion in south-eastern Arabian contexts refers to the early Bronze Age, when these vessels are placed in Hafit-type tombs. The main examples come from the oases of the interior -e.g., Al-Ain (Jebel Aqlah and Jebel Hafit), Ibri, Bat, Amla and Zukait, just to mention some of them -although there are some from the coast as well -as confirmed by the discoveries at Jebel Dhanna on the Gulf and Ras al-Jinz, RJ-6 on the Indian Ocean (Bortolini and Munoz, 2015;Cleuziou and Méry, 2002;frifelt, 1970;frifelt, 1975a;vogt et al, 1989). ...
The rescue excavation carried out in 2016 along Package 2 of the Batinah Expressway in the Sultanate of
Oman led to the recovery of 25 funerary structures, arranged in two main clusters (the Al-Jamma foothills
and the Wadī Banif). The research area is located in the southern Batinah plain, at the foot of the Al-Hajar
Mountains. Preliminary surface investigations led to the identification of the two groups of tombs that were
excavated with stratigraphic method and documented with modern surveying and data recording techniques,
including sampling of human remains. The most interesting and best-preserved groups of cairns are located
in inland-Al-Jamma (Ar-Rustāq), on the top and on the slopes of low hills, or on the terraces and beds of the
valleys. The investigation of the tombs, in addition to the preliminary analysis of the architectural elements,
building techniques, and burial practices, allowed the identification of the structural types and the description
of tomb use, reconstruction, reuse and pillaging activities, as well as insight into rituals and funerary practices.
Confirmation of the custom of reusing earlier tombs, that persisted over the centuries, often modifying the
original appearance of the structure and altering its content, represents the most evident result of the research.
The necropolis appears to have been used from the Bronze Age, probably Hafit period, up to the PIR period
(Pré Islamique Récente), as evidenced by the grave goods that are composed mainly of personal ornaments –
such as pearls, rings and earrings – and metal weapons and tools – such as swords, arrowheads and a flat axe.
The purpose of this paper is primarily to provide original data on the funeral practices, including the custom of
reusing pre-existing tombs, and to illustrate the results of the highway rescue excavations.
... Some other parallels documented in proximate areas, at Kalba, are also dated in those periods (Phillips, 2018). This type of burial (similar both in morphology and distribution on mountain crests or prominent positions) is well studied in relatively near areas, as in Jebel al-Buhais (Jasim, 2018) and all across the Oman Peninsula (Potts, 1990;Bortolini and Munoz, 2012;Deadman et al., 2015;Méry and Tengberg, 2009;Munoz, 2015), and have been interpreted as territorial markers owing to their wide visibility (Cleuziou and Tosi, 2007: 116), occupying mountain crests or the top of elevated areas, particularly overlooking inland oases and coastal plains (Weeks, 2017(Weeks, : 1603. The landscape in Khatm al Melaha seems to be controlled, as a territorial sign of identity, by two of the more important symbolic human creations: rock art and burials, creating a veritable symbolic landscape. ...
This paper is an approach to the study and documentation of a quite large group of rock art boulders at Khatm al Melaha (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates). More than 150 decorated stone blocks, with almost 400 motifs, have been identified on a hill close to the Arabian Sea coast, highlighting its importance as a control point for communicating the coast and the hinterland. Although a domestic human occupation of the area has not yet been documented, the symbolic significance of this place is reinforced not only by rock art but also by the presence of several dry-stone tombs. Despite the limited studied area, our contribution outlines a preliminary approach to a previously very little studied territory, providing a local chrono-stylistic proposal for those figurative (humans, animals) and non-figurative (signs) engravings attending to different stylistic conventions, techniques, subject matters and varnish colour. Different digital documentation techniques (digital tracings, terrestrial and aerial photogrammetry, web mapping) have been applied in order to create an updated and accurate data corpus allowing future analysis. The ongoing research will try to find new evidence of symbolic occupation of the territory in relation to human settlements and their relationship within a wider landscape.
... Autour de 3000 avant notre ère est amorcée une profonde transformation qui marque la fin du Néolithique et le début de l'âge du Bronze ancien, avec l'apparition de nouvelles techniques telles que la métallurgie et la poterie, le développement de villages à l'architecture permanente et le déploiement de réseaux d'échanges à plusieurs échelles, notamment avec des régions éloignées comme la Mésopotamie, l'Iran ou la vallée de l'Indus [CLEUZIOU et TOSI, 2007 ;MÉRY, 2000]. L'âge du Bronze ancien est aussi caractérisé par les mutations importantes qui touchent les pratiques funéraires : les morts ne sont plus inhumés dans des fosses à proximité des habitations comme au Néolithique, mais déposés dans des tombes collectives, construites en pierre, et qui deviennent de plus en plus monumentales au cours du III e millénaire avant notre ère [BORTOLINI et MUNOZ, 2015 ;MÉRY et CHARPENTIER, 2009]. Leur distribution traduit, dès le début du III e millénaire, une expansion territoriale spectaculaire vers l'arrière-pays. ...
... Autour de 3000 avant notre ère est amorcée une profonde transformation qui marque la fin du Néolithique et le début de l'âge du Bronze ancien, avec l'apparition de nouvelles techniques telles que la métallurgie et la poterie, le développement de villages à l'architecture permanente et le déploiement de réseaux d'échanges à plusieurs échelles, notamment avec des régions éloignées comme la Mésopotamie, l'Iran ou la vallée de l'Indus [CLEUZIOU et TOSI, 2007 ;MÉRY, 2000]. L'âge du Bronze ancien est aussi caractérisé par les mutations importantes qui touchent les pratiques funéraires : les morts ne sont plus inhumés dans des fosses à proximité des habitations comme au Néolithique, mais déposés dans des tombes collectives, construites en pierre, et qui deviennent de plus en plus monumentales au cours du III e millénaire avant notre ère [BORTOLINI et MUNOZ, 2015 ;MÉRY et CHARPENTIER, 2009]. Leur distribution traduit, dès le début du III e millénaire, une expansion territoriale spectaculaire vers l'arrière-pays. ...
Dans l'imaginaire collectif, l'Arabie est perçue comme un vaste territoire désertique, parsemé de quelques oasis où des bédouins nomades font halte pour abreuver leurs dromadaires. Pourtant, les premiers systèmes agricoles oasiens n'ont fait leur apparition dans cette région qu'aux environs de 3000 avant notre ère et les dromadaires ne semblent avoir été domestiqués pour le transport qu'au tournant du Ier millénaire avant notre ère. Les recherches archéologiques menées depuis une quarantaine d'années en Arabie orientale ont mis en évidence les transformations socio-économiques importantes qui caractérisent la transition entre le Néolithique (6500-3100 avant notre ère environ) et l'âge du Bronze ancien (3100-2000 avant notre ère environ) dans un contexte continu d'aridification. Face à de fortes contraintes environnementales, et en comparaison des régions alentours, comme la Mésopotamie, l'Iran ou la vallée de l'Indus, ces sociétés ont suivi des trajectoires évolutives originales. L'élevage y est pratiqué autour de 7000-6500 avant notre ère par des communautés acéramiques et assez mobiles. Les premières évidences d'activités agricoles n'apparaissent que quatre mille ans plus tard, au début de l'âge du Bronze.
Cet article propose, après une brève présentation du contexte géographique et environnemental de la zone d'étude, une synthèse des conditions de vie des groupes humains de cette région aride, au Néolithique puis à l'âge du Bronze ancien, et précise l'état sanitaire de ces populations, à partir des données issues de plusieurs sites emblématiques. Néanmoins, du fait de conditions de conservation peu favorables aux restes osseux, il est important de souligner que la qualité de la documentation ostéologique à disposition des bio-anthropologues est, dans son ensemble, lacunaire et d'assez mauvaise qualité.
... Autour de 3000 avant notre ère est amorcée une profonde transformation qui marque la fin du Néolithique et le début de l'âge du Bronze ancien, avec l'apparition de nouvelles techniques telles que la métallurgie et la poterie, le développement de villages à l'architecture permanente et le déploiement de réseaux d'échanges à plusieurs échelles, notamment avec des régions éloignées comme la Mésopotamie, l'Iran ou la vallée de l'Indus [CLEUZIOU et TOSI, 2007 ;MÉRY, 2000]. L'âge du Bronze ancien est aussi caractérisé par les mutations importantes qui touchent les pratiques funéraires : les morts ne sont plus inhumés dans des fosses à proximité des habitations comme au Néolithique, mais déposés dans des tombes collectives, construites en pierre, et qui deviennent de plus en plus monumentales au cours du III e millénaire avant notre ère [BORTOLINI et MUNOZ, 2015 ;MÉRY et CHARPENTIER, 2009]. Leur distribution traduit, dès le début du III e millénaire, une expansion territoriale spectaculaire vers l'arrière-pays. ...
... The tomb itself acted as a processing centre for individuals who were placed within it and allowed to decompose naturally. Some Umm an-Nar tombs, such as Hili (Al Tikriti & Méry, 2000;Cleuziou & Vogt, 1983) and Ra′s Al Jinz (Bortolini & Munoz, 2015;Munoz, Ghazal, & Guy, 2012), have associated subsurface pits for secondary burial, which acted as repositories for remains processed within the tomb structure, then gathered and deposited in the secondary pits based on element (e.g., some pits contain more of cranial elements and others have more postcranial remains). The tomb at Tell Abraq is approximately 6 m in diameter, with a single opening and two chambers of roughly equal size linked by the single entrance and lacking the secondary pits associated with Hili and Ra′s al-Jinz. ...
The examination of comingled ossuary collections creates unique analytical issues as bones are rarely articulated, requiring that the skeletal elements be examined on an individual basis. A result is that the estimation of crucial demographic information like age at death and sex becomes problematic and attempts to ascertain this information involve a high degree of error. Bearing these issues in mind, however, the focus of this project is to identify and interpret signs of osteoarthritis, osteochondritis dissecans, and osteochondral fracturing, as well as to score for the presence and degree of musculoskeletal markers, on patellae from the ossuary at Tell Abraq. A secondary goal of this project was to utilize the patellae to elicit both estimations of minimum number of individuals and the ratio of sex within the population.
Preliminary results indicate a high prevalence of osteoarthritis, osteochondritis dissecans, and enchondral fracture that was not correlated to estimated sex. This lack of correlation may be due to several factors, including difficulty in sex estimation based on metric analysis of a single element, a skewed sex distribution, or an actual lack of correlation. Regardless of the difficulties of estimating sex in a comingled collection, it seems clear that both men and women were exposed to conditions that fostered the development of osteoarthritis and that trauma to the knee was a common occurrence for those ultimately interred in the ossuary.
... It must be considered, moreover, that the EBA funerary landscape of the oasis of Salut was surely more variegated than one might think, faced with the overwhelming presence of beehive tombs. Recent excavation brought to light several white calcareous polished blocks (so-called 'sugar lumps', figure 17) belonging to the outer revetment of typical umm an-Nar tombs (for a notable example see recently Bortolini and Munoz, 2015: fig. 10/A). ...
... Hafit-period (c.3200-2700 BC) tombs tend to be 4 to 7 m in diameter, with one or more thick perimeter walls forming a single small interior chamber. The tombs make use of local stone material and lack mortar, and generally contain the remains of a few (one to five) individuals with no apparent age or sex divisions (Bortolini & Munoz, 2015). ...
... Not only are Umm an-Nar tombs within previously established Hafit tomb clusters, at only 128 there are also many fewer of them. As individual Umm an-Nar tombs accommodated exponentially more people than individual Hafit tombs (Bortolini & Munoz, 2015) and the skills necessary for tomb construction increased with the development of larger and more complex architecture, Umm an-Nar community members would have had fewer opportunities to build social ties through tomb construction. I argue elsewhere (Cable, in press) that this departure from Hafit practice is linked to greater social differentiation and less equal access to limited resources. ...
In 2010-11 a pedestrian survey of the western end of the Wadi al-Hijr in northern Oman identified 1507 archaeological features in a 124 km2 area. Data were collected on each feature's architectural characteristics, associated artifact assemblages, topographic and environmental locations, condition of remains, and relations to other archaeological
features. The majority of datable features belongs to the third millennium BC and divides unequally between the Hafit and Umm an-Nar periods. While the majority of these 3rd millennium BC features were tombs, other feature types were identified, including towers,
settlements, quarries, dams, enclosures, and possible platforms. Third millennium BC features were organized into clusters and ranged considerably in size, from a few features to several hundred. All of the clusters established during the Hafit period were maintained in the Umm an-Nar period, suggesting a continuity throughout the third millennium BC. Some preliminary hypotheses regarding settlement patterns are suggested.
Excavations of a small graveyard near Adam, during the winter 2013-2014, revealed evidence of Early Bronze Age material culture and funerary practices in the Adam area. Also elements of spatial continuity through time, since a majority of other later graves were built in the same area, during the 2nd and the 1st millennium BCE. This paper focusses on the six other excavated graves from this period, in addition to the brief description of a 3rd millennium circular grave.
Despite their bad state of preservation and their multiple use, reuse and plundering, they provide information about the history of the graveyard itself. As well as the main period of occupations in Adam during protohistoric times (from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age), confirming the elements observed during the survey and previous excavations.
