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The Arabian Gulf in Antiquity 1-2
... an-Nar society (Potts, 2009), increasingly sedentary populations relied on date palm gardens, domesticated cereals and, for communities in close proximity to the coast, marine resources (Aspinall, 1998;Charbonnier, 2017;Méry & Tengberg, 2009;Potts, 1990;Al Tikriti, 1985;Uerpmann, 2001). Technological innovations accompanied this shift in social organization, including the appearance of a local ceramic tradition, the production of high-quality soft stone vessels, and a broad range of manufactured metal objects (David, 1996;Potts, 2001Potts, , 2009Weeks, 2003). ...
... Earlier, Hafittype cairns built of unworked stone and placed in rows along the ridges of foothills and mountains housed one or only a few individuals (Cleuziou, Méry, & Vogt, 2011;Deadman, Kennet, & Al-Aufi, 2015;Al Jahwari, 2013;Williams & Gregoricka, 2013, although tomb membership of up to 30 individuals has been reported in coastal Oman (Cleuziou & Tosi, 2007), suggesting at least some regional and likely temporal variability. However, by the Umm an-Nar, tombs had been relocated and were now placed in close proximity to settlements on low-lying ground, "in the shadows" of those early tombs and ancestors that came before (Blau, 2001;Cleuziou & Tosi, 2007;Munoz, 2019;Potts, 1990Potts, , 2001. These communal mortuary structures remained circular but varied substantially in size, with tomb diameters ranging from 4 to over 14 m and reaching heights of up to 3 m (Blau, 2001). ...
... The site is characteristic of other Umm an-Nar-period settlements with a mudbrick fortress tower surrounding a freshwater source and was occupied continuously from 2200 BCE to CE 200 (Potts, 2000). Located in a coastal desert environment, the inhabitants of the site employed desert farming techniques such as the use of domesticated date palms to shade additional crops (Méry & Tengberg, 2009;Potts, 1990). Postholes found at the site indicate circular habitation structures in the form of barasti-like huts made from palm fronds and posts (Magee, 1996;Potts, 2000). ...
The vast majority of individuals who died during the Umm an-Nar period (2700–2000 BCE) of the Early Bronze Age (3200–2000 BCE) in south-eastern Arabia were interred within large communal tombs, and following decomposition, their skeletons became commingled with others. Here, two women are discussed whose skeletons remained articulated – one from Unar 2 at Shimal, and one from Tell Abraq. The Unar 2 female was left unburned, exhibited a pathological lesion on her talus, and was directly associated with an articulated dog, indicating that she may have en- gaged in hunting or herding activities despite her reduced mobility. The Tell Abraq woman suffered from paralytic poliomyelitis, suggesting that she received care as a member of her community despite her disability and non-local status. Whatever the role these women played in Umm an-Nar society, both were set apart in meaningful ways, speaking to an identity that granted them special status in death.
... In southeastern Arabia, the latter half of the Early Bronze Age is known as the Umm an-Nar, extending from 2700 to 2000 BCE. The period is characterized by increased sedentism around fortified centers supported by oasis agriculture, with communities cultivating date palm, wheat, and barley, as well as exploiting marine resources, hunting camelids, and engaging in pastoralism (Blau, 1999;Cable, 2019;Méry & Tengberg, 2009;Potts, 1990Potts, , 2001. The Umm an-Nar also saw the emergence of increasingly complex trade systems as southeastern Arabia enhanced connections with Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Dilmun, and Elam (Carter, 2003;Potts & Hellyer, 2012). ...
Objectives
We estimate adult age frequencies from Unar 1 and Unar 2, two late Umm an‐Nar (2400–2100 BCE ) tombs in the modern‐day Emirate of Ras al‐Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. These collective tombs each contained hundreds of skeletons in commingled, fragmented, and variably cremated states. Previous studies placed the vast majority of this mortuary community in a generalized “adult” category, as have most analyses of similar tombs from this period. We sought to test how adult age estimation methods compare in identifying young, middle, and old‐age individuals in commingled assemblages.
Materials and Methods
We employed Transition Analysis 3 (TA3) and traditional age estimation methods to generate adult age frequencies for each tomb. We compared these frequencies between tomb contexts as well as by method.
Results
Unar 1 and Unar 2 had similar adult age frequencies within each method, but TA3 age frequencies included significantly more middle and older adult individuals than those generated by traditional methods.
Discussion
These results support findings of earlier iterations of transition analysis in regard to sensitivity in old adult age estimation, compared with traditional methods. Our findings indicate a potential use of TA3 in reconstructing age frequencies and mortality profiles in commingled skeletal assemblages. Increasing our understanding of everyday life in the distant past necessitates better understandings of adult age, and here, we illustrate how age estimation method choice significantly changes bioarchaeological interpretations of aging in Bronze Age Arabia.
Research Highlights
Adult age estimation using TA3 revealed significantly more middle and older adults than traditional methods in two commingled tombs.
Similar mean maximum likelihood point estimates by side and across skeletal elements were found between tombs.
... 3100-1250 BCE) is commonly divided into four periods: Hafit (3100-2700 BCE), Umm an-Nar (2700-2000 BCE), Wadi Suq ( -1600 and Late Bronze Age (1600-1250 BCE). Indicators of the emergence of complexity cluster in the Umm an-Nar Period, including the widespread establishment of agrarian settlements (Al-Jahwari, 2009); monumental towers (Cleuziou, 1996;Frifelt, 1975); multichambered, collective tombs (Blau, 2001;Cleuziou & Vogt, 1983); local, standardised craft industries (David, 1996;Hauptmann et al., 1988;Méry, 2000;Weeks, 2004); and intensified interregional trade with Mesopotamia, Iran and South Asia (Potts, 1990). Among these various indicators of political complexity, monumental towers are the most highly visible and prominent and, thus, serve as the focus of this study. ...
Water played an undeniably significant role in the origins of complex societies across the Near East, but political complexity in regions like Southeast Arabia diverges dramatically from the more well‐known histories of Egypt, the Levant and Mesopotamia. Through quantitative analysis, this paper investigates spatial associations between water availability and Umm an‐Nar towers in Adh Dhahirah Governorate of Oman. We hypothesise that ancient Umm an‐Nar people targeted high water flow accumulation areas for major settlements with towers. Our results lead us to reject the null hypothesis of no spatial association between tower settlements and water and help clarify the role of water in the rise of complex polities.
... 49 H. Germann, 1986 P.R.S. Moorey, Materials and manufacture in Ancient Mesopotamia: the evidence of Archaeology and Art, BAR International Series 237, 1985, p. XVII. 51 T. Potts, 1994, p. 210. 52 R. Webster, 1983, p. 252. ...
La falta de materias primas en Mesopotamia obligó a sus habitantes a buscarlas en varias direcciones. Podemos rastrear esos materiales a través del registro arqueológico y de la información textual. Así, tratamos de localizarlos topónimos antiguos y sus fuentes de materias, ya que un gran número de estos lugares están recogidos en los textos mesopotámicos y egipcios: Aratta, Tukriš, Mar?asi, Dilmun, Melu??a, Magan, Tefreret, etc. Desde el Este, estas regiones ofrecieron una gran variedad de piedras, metales, maderas o animales exóticos, que llegaron no solo a Mesopotamia sino también a Siria y a Egipto. Uno de esos materiales nos parece extraordinario; el lapislázuli, una piedra azul que aparece en templos, palacios, contextos funerarios, registros económicos y textos literarios, relacionada con reyes, gobernantes, mercaderes y dioses.Palabras clave: Comercio, III milenio a.C., Lapislázuli, materias primas, Mesopotamia, Siria, Egipto, Inanna AbstractThe lack of raw materials in Mesopotamia pressed to its habitants to look for them in several directions. We can track these materials through the Archaeological Record as well as the textual information. Thus, we try to locate ancient names of Lands and its sources, since a lot of them are included in Mesopotamian and Egyptian texts: Aratta, Tukriš, Mar?asi, Dilmun, Melu??a, Magan, Tefreret, etc. From Far East, these regions offered a huge variety of stones, metals, woods or exotic animals, which reached not only Mesopotamia but also Syria and Egypt. One of this materials seems to us remarkable; the blue Lapis lazuli, a stone that is displayed in temples, palaces, funerary contexts, economical records and literary text, related to kings, rulers, merchants and gods.Keywords: Trade, III Millennium BC., Lapis lazuli, Raw Materials, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, Inanna
... In southeastern Arabia, the latter half of the Early Bronze Age is known as the Umm an-Nar, extending from 2700 to 2000 BCE. The period is characterized by increased sedentism around fortified centers supported by oasis agriculture, with communities cultivating date palm, wheat, and barley, as well as exploiting marine resources, hunting camelids, and engaging in pastoralism (Blau, 1999;Cable, 2019;Méry & Tengberg, 2009;Potts, 1990Potts, , 2001. The Umm an-Nar also saw the emergence of increasingly complex trade systems as southeastern Arabia enhanced connections with Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Dilmun, and Elam (Carter, 2003;Potts & Hellyer, 2012). ...
... The closest kind of prehistoric tombs known at the time was so-called beehive tombs at Zukayt and at Bāt (e.g., [1], 160, Figs. 6 and 7), both located in the central part of Oman. The well-hewn stones bring to mind those of so-called Umm an-Nar collective tombs, named after the island where they first were discovered off the coast of Abu Ẓabī ( [26], 191-200), but the small tomb interior more closely resembles Hafit period beehive tombs (e.g., [14] I, 75, Fig. 8). ...
In what follows the main topic is the use of photogrammetry in the Sultanate of
Oman, with which experts have monitored archaeological resources since the
1980s. Most readers probably have no clear idea of which photogrammetric
methods are more useful. Survey and data recording there can be described as
training or experimental recording. The reader will note the juxtaposition of
photogrammetric images with conventional photographic ones. 3D scanning,
often called laser scanning, a further option for measured imagery, has advantages
and disadvantages vis à vis photogrammetry.
... This context makes it certain that vessels originating in Dilmun were meant and Ur-Nanše was probably referring to all ships from Dilmun involved in trade and not necessarily a specific type of vessel. References dating to the Early Dynastic IIIa period, however, also mention "bowls shaped as Dilmun ships" (dilim(-da) ma 2 Dilmun), which makes it certain that a distinct type of Dilmun-boat existed. 1 The bowls were dedicated to various deities, among others the Moon-god (Nanna/Suen/ Sîn) (Laursen & Steinkeller, 2017: 22;Steinkeller, 2016) and the goddess Nanše (Potts, 1990: 182, Potts, 1995. Although it is not explicitly stated if these Dilmun-boat-shaped bowls depicted vessels native to Babylonia or Dilmun, it is most probable that Dilmunite boats were meant. ...
The Early Dynastic sources make it clear that there existed a distinct Dilmun boat connected to foreign sea trade. The Babylonian Moon god (Nanna/Suen/Sîn) was symbolically associated with both a bowl and a boat that sailed across the night sky during stages in the monthly cycle before Nanna ultimately would “rise” from the bowl and boat at full moon. Sources from the Early Dynastic IIIa period mention actual votive bowls that are related to the “bowl” stage in the lunar cycle. Votive bowls shaped as boats are also mentioned in documentary sources associated with different deities. The boat shaped bowls for Nanna probably existed as a convergence of the cyclical concepts of the “Bowl” and the “Boat”. Importantly, from an Arabian Gulf perspective, these boat-shaped bowls are occasionally explicitly stated to have
been fashioned in the shape of Dilmun boats. In this article the ideological concepts are outlined and discussed and a series of boat-shaped copper bowls from Babylonia are suggested as a possible match to the votive bowls shaped as Dilmun boats of the texts
... It would also presumably have entailed paying the poll tax ( jizya), which was collected from Jews and Christians who did not convert (Al-Doy, 1993: 162), as explicitly stated by the Prophet Muhammad in a reply to Al-Munthir, after his conversion to Islam, about how he should deal with non-Muslims (Bin Seray, 1996: 324). The anger expressed by Išo'yahb III against Bishop Abraham, as 'the prince of evil who reigns in Mašmahig', in the mid-seventh century (Potts, 1990: 261) may have been an expression of the changes that were taking place with increasing conversions to Islam. Reconciliation between Beth Qatraye and the Church of the East took place after a visit by the successor of Išo'yahb III as catholicos, George I to Beth Qatraye and a synod held on Tarut Island (Darin) in 676. ...
The episcopal seat of Meshmahig or Mašmahig is referred to in various historical sources, such as the synods of the Church of the East of 410 and 576. These sources have been extensively explored, and it is suggested that Mašmahig can be linked to the village of Samahij in north‐east Muharraq Island, Bahrain. However, archaeological evidence for a Christian presence in Samahij, or elsewhere in Bahrain, was lacking. Excavations completed within the village cemetery at Samahij uncovered part of a large building complex. Based on the architecture, associated material culture and chronology, it is suggested this building was occupied by a Christian community, perhaps as part of a monastery or even the episcopal palace itself. This was abandoned after Islamisation, seemingly in the eighth century. The results of the first season of excavations are described, and the implications for Christianity, Islamisation and settlement in Bahrain are considered.
... Unraveling the complex gesticulation of these disparate forces of change in different regions and historical contexts is central to long-running debates about the beginnings of agriculture. The deep insights southern Arabia, including Oman and the United Arab Emirates provide (e.g., Cleuziou 2007Cleuziou , 2009Cleuziou and Tosi 2007 ;Potts 1990Potts , 2012, remain underrecognized and vastly underexploited beyond the purview of regional specialists (Magee 2014 ). Due to contemporary geopolitical affi liations, including alignments of language and religion, Yemen is commonly grouped with the rest of the Middle East, Near East, or Southwest Asia and it is often presumed that agriculture must have spread or diffused into the region from the north. ...
This book offers a new interpretation of the spatial-political-environmental dynamics of water and irrigation in long-term histories of arid regions. It compares ancient Southwest Arabia (3500 BC–AD 600) with the American West (2000 BC–AD 1950) in global context to illustrate similarities and differences among environmental, cultural, political, and religious dynamics of water. It combines archaeological exploration and field studies of farming in Yemen with social theory and spatial technologies, including satellite imagery, Global Positioning System (GPS), and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping. In both ancient Yemen and the American West, agricultural production focused not where rain-fed agriculture was possible, but in hyper-arid areas where massive state-constructed irrigation schemes politically and ideologically validated state sovereignty. While shaped by profound differences and contingencies, ancient Yemen and the American West are mutually informative in clarifying human geographies of water that are important to understandings of America, Arabia, and contemporary conflicts between civilizations deemed East and West.
... 34 From Nöldeke, 1879, to Pigulevskaia, 1951, scholarship of profound depth laid the groundwork, but , provides an accessible introduction, especially to the rich epigraphical remains. Yule, 2007;Potts, 1990;Robin, 1980;M. Bâfaqîh, 1990. ...
... Discoveries in Oman and the neighbouring UAE are beginning to show that there was a southern sea route as well, which funnelled raw materials such as copper and manufactured goods such as textiles across the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Those links reached deep into the eastern Arabian Peninsula to sites such as Bat, a modest settlement that by 2400 bce, which boasted massive round stone towers and tombs, an ingenious system to manage scarce water and exotic goods (Potts, 1990(Potts, , 2012. Archaeological evidence for prehistoric boat-building and seafaring activity comes from Ras al-Jinz on the Oman peninsula. ...
The article argues that UNESCO’s 1972 World Heritage Convention provides a global platform for projecting not only India’s maritime cultural heritage but also building bridges and collaborative networks with other Indian Ocean littoral countries for the promotion of shared cultural practices and traditional knowledge systems of the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, this collaborative research aspect of the World Heritage Convention has yet to be tapped for nominating and inscribing transnational heritage or cultural routes across the Ocean. This is despite the fact that India was the founder member of the intergovernmental organisation, Indian Ocean Rim Association, one of whose thrust areas relates to promoting cultural heritage on the UNESCO platform. Given India’s rich maritime past, there is an urgent need to implement measures to establish academic networks with littoral countries for not only creating awareness of the maritime cultural heritage of the Indian Ocean but also harnessing linkages between maritime communities for building a culturally diverse but harmonious future.
... 35 Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants 9.4.4;Retsö 2003: 268-9, and more generally on Alexander 263-81;see too Arrian, Indica, 43;Potts 1990, vol. 2: 5-7. ...
The á¹£alÄh (prayer) command in the Qur'an frequently accompanies zakÄh (alms-giving). Nonetheless, during the Meccan period, the command of á¹£alÄh was often stated separately. This article analyzes the command for á¹£alÄh in the Meccan verses to highlight how this ritual evolved from a personal ritual of the Prophet Muhammad into a communal one. As previous studies have highlighted á¹£alÄh about pre-Islamic rituals known to the first audience of the Qur’an, this article is intended to examine the extent to which á¹£alÄh had evolved following the nubuwwah (prophethood) paradigm of the Prophet Muhammad, which was initially intended to be more personal and vertical, into risÄlah (apostolate), which was more public and horizontal. By analyzing the Meccan verses about the command for prayer in the context of the chronology of revelation, this article argues that prayer in the Qur’an evolved from the private ritual practice of the Prophet Muhammad into a communal one through the prophetic justification of the rituals of earlier prophets and their followers. This evolution went hand in hand with the nubuwwah paradigm, namely the claim that the Prophet Muhammad was able to communicate with the metaphysical realm, on the one hand, and the risÄlah paradigm, i.e., his claim about the mission of conveying this metaphysical information to his people, on the other.
This article provides a synopsis of Parthian military architecture by an initial examination of Arsacid military requirements for the defence of their empire. Following an overview of Central Asian circular systems, Parthian architectural innovations, Seleucid-Hellenic influences, and the tripartite system, Parthian military architecture in the empire’s northeast and Central Asian territories (Margiana, Hyrcania, Aria, Bactria), Iran and the Persian Gulf, Mesopotamia and Syria are analysed. The article concludes with a discussion of possible defensive wall systems during the Parthian era.
This 10th volume of the Oblicza Wojny (Faces of War) series, contains 12 papers written by archaeologists and historians from Czechia, Greece, Canada, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Italy. Such a team of researchers not only ensures an interdisciplinary approach to the issue at hand but also guarantees a multifaceted approach. All papers address the problem named in the title of this volume: the Tools of War. We can distinguish several levels of research undertaken by the Authors: themes related to the armaments of particular armies and fortification systems; references to military formations and the impact of their development on the battlefield; diplomacy as a tool during war, and less obvious issues: money, bicycle, and even a lekythos.
In the pre-Islamic era, the Arabian Peninsula was a highway between Europe, Syria, Africa, Egypt, Asia, Mesopotamia and India, and in this sense, it was able to create a significant commercial position. This paper intends to examine the social history of Saudi Arabia in three economic, political and religious levels and explain the dominant discourses. The main question is how the dominant discourses of that era have influenced the formation of works of art? This research is of a qualitative type, with a descriptive-analytical approach and the method of collecting information in the form of library and documents, and in the theoretical framework, it has used the opinions of Norman Fairclough. He believes that in analyzing the discourse, one should analyze the productive institutions of the discourse; Institutions that shape power and ideology in the intertextual relationship. Based on this, he explains three levels of discourse: discourse as a text, discourse as an interaction between the process of textual production and interpretation, and discourse as an action space. In this approach, power relations are analyzed at three social, institutional, and situational levels, and attempts are made to analyze the social processes in the formation of the artwork, thereby analyzing the ideological structures and social system. The results of this research indicate that the dominant discourses were formed in the context of religion, Judaism and Christianity, which were strengthened by the Sassanid and Byzantine empires with a political approach. The Sasanians strengthened the Jewish religion and tried to change the ruling political discourse in their favor and use Arabia as a barrier against the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire spread Christianity in the region, so they built many churches in Arabia. Arab sheikhs were able to take over the commercial power of the region to maintain peace. Before the Jahili Arabs came to power, most of the Arab sheikhs were with the Jews, so the Sassanids were the dominant power in the eastern and southern regions. In northern Arabia, the influences of Byzantine architecture and art are quite evident, and iconography can be seen in works of art. At the same time, in the central plateau, Arab sheikhs took power in Mecca and Yathrib (Medina) and created a culture that flourished in the next era, with the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. Also, the city of Mecca became a center for religious ceremonies and the Arabs came there every year. If luxury grew in the south, east, and north of Arabia, instead of in Mecca and Medina, the discourse of simplicity became the dominant culture. After 661, the first Umayyad caliph, Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, chose Damascus as the capital. Therefore, although Islamic thought is rooted in the Arabian Peninsula, the dominant discourse in this era was simplicity and did not allow the formation of magnificent and royal art; This caused Islamic art to be influenced by non-native regions, namely Damascus with Christian thought and the Mesopotamia region with Iranian culture.
شبه جزیره عربستان در دوران پیش از اسلام، شاهراهی میان سوریه، مصر، میانرودان و هند بود. این تحقیق در نظر دارد تاریخ اجتماعی شبه جزیره را در سه سطح اقتصادی، سیاسی و مذهبی مورد بررسی قرار داده و گفتمانهای غالب را تبیین کند. سوال اصلی آن است که گفتمانهای غالب آن دوران چگونه بر شکلگیری آثار هنری تأثیرگذاشتهاند؟ این پژوهش از نوع کیفی، و روش توصیفی-تحلیلی است که جمعآوری اطلاعات در آن با شیوه کتابخانهای و اسنادی بوده و در چارچوب نظری، از آراء نورمن فرکلاف استفاده کرده است. نتایج تحقیق بیانگر آن است که گفتمانهای غالب در بستر مذهبی، یهودیت و مسیحیت بودند که توسط امپراتوریهای ساسانی و بیزانس با رویکرد سیاسی تقویت میشدند. هرچند گفتمان اقتصادی غالب، در سه منطقه شمال، شرق و جنوب بر تجارت استوار بود، اما ایجاد تمهیدات کنترل آب در دو شهر یثرب (مدینه) و مکه، موجب استقلال و قدرتیافتن اقوام عرب بومی شد و مکه را به شهری آئینی تبدیل نمود. در گفتمان هنری، میتوان تأثیر اشیاء وارداتی از ایتالیا، سوریه، مصر، میانرودان، ایران و هند، و در معماری انگارههای هنری یهودی، مسیحی و خدایان سامی میانرودان را مشاهده کرد، اما با ظهور اسلام و ایدئولوژی سادهزیستی آن، این رویکردها رو به افول نهاد.
This paper provides an archaeological perspective on pre-modern human-environment interactions in the United Arab Emirates over the past 200,000 years. It first outlines the key topographic and ecological zones and highlights localised subsistence strategies, then provides a summary of the development of human societies and their growing economic needs. It then goes on to explore past climate change and human adaptions, the social and economic implications of early farming and herding, and the transition from subsistence strategies to local industries. Generally, it is argued that human interactions with the natural world were driven largely by economic factors, with foreign demand leading to the exploitation of natural resources on an industrial scale.
Les fouilles archéologiques menées en al Madam (Sharjah, Emirats Arabes Unis) répondent à diverses questions restées en suspens relatives à l’histoire et l’archéologie del’âge du Fer dans la Péninsule d’Oman. L’ètroite collaboration entre l’histoire, l’archéologie et les sciences naturelles peutre trouver les modes de vie et l’histoire quotidienne d’une petite communauté rurale. Il a même aidé à découvrir des facettes imprévues.Mots-cles: Age du Fer, Péninsule d’Oman, villages des oasis, puits, galerie du captage, fabrication de briques. AbstractArchaeological excavations carried out in the al Madam oasis (Sharjah, UAE) are responding to various questions related to the history and archaeology of the Iron Age in the Oman Peninsula. Close cooperation between history, archaeology and natural sciences can recover the way of life and every day story of a small rural community, even discovering unexpected facets.Keywords: Iron Age, Oman Peninsula, villages of the oasis, wells, catchment gallery, mud bricks manufacture.
Antique trade amphorae illuminate a little understood but important find category for Arabia, still in the twilight of publication. Most of the find data lie buried in unpublished work regarding recent excavations at ʿAqaba/Ayla. Recent research has verified mineralogically the origin of these documents and their dating. An example fortuitously found forms the basis of this find note.
Islam is the only biblical religion that still practices animal sacrifice. Indeed, every year more than a million animals are shipped to Mecca from all over the world to be slaughtered during the Muslim Hajj. This multi-disciplinary volume is the first to examine the physical foundations of this practice and the significance of the ritual. Brannon Wheeler uses both textual analysis and various types of material evidence to gain insight into the role of animal sacrifice in Islam. He provides a 'thick description' of the elaborate camel sacrifice performed by Muhammad, which serves as the model for future Hajj sacrifices. Wheeler integrates biblical and classical Arabic sources with evidence from zooarchaeology and the rock art of ancient Arabia to gain insight into an event that reportedly occurred 1400 years ago. His book encourages a more nuanced and expansive conception of “sacrifice” in the history of religion.
Ḥaṭrā was a city in Upper Mesopotamia which gained strategic importance in Irano-Roman border zone in 2nd century AD and managed to successfully resist the attempts of capturing by the Roman army. Power shift in Iran which resulted in taking over of Iranian throne by Ardašīr I (224-242) changed the situation of Ḥaṭrā. Below considerations are an attempt to analyze economic, political and first of all military factors which allowed capturing the city in 240/241 by the Sasanian army.
During the heyday of the solar-myth paradigm it was a norm to interpret every single mythic character and his or her actions in terms of either the annual or diurnal solar movement. With the paradigm’s inevitable demise, the body of evidence that was central to its approach was relegated to a more peripheral position by the adherents of succeeding paradigms that successively dominated the field. This has left a significant number of references to solar phenomena in ancient text on the margins of scholarly interest, including those that appear in the central texts of both Mesopotamian and Greek traditions. This paper focuses on a re-evaluation of the presence of solar resonances in a section of the Epic of Gilgameš that contains clear and explicit references to the sun and its course. At the same time, following in the footsteps of many earlier scholars, it offers a parallel analysis of a section of Odysseus’ itinerary of a similar character. This re-evaluation has shown that the respective sections of the heroes’ itineraries are partly structured on an analogy with solar movement, but that the dominant use of solar references in these texts is more haphazard and reflects more circumscribed intentions of the texts’ authors.
Ongoing excavations at Tell Abraq (Emirate of Umm al‐Quwain, U.A.E.) are revealing new aspects of this multiperiod site, which was occupied from c. 2500 BC to 300 AD. Together with substantial architecture dated to the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, relevant assemblages of archaeological materials are being collected and dated to different phases of the site’s life. Among this material, exceptional is the discovery of two jars bearing the impression of two different cylinder seals, which will be presented here. Seal impressions on any media are extremely rare in the whole of south‐eastern Arabia and strongly indicate a foreign provenance for the jars. Their iconographic study, the fabric and morphological parallels for the jars, and probable chronology will be discussed, as this can highlight transmarine connections during the late 2nd‐first half of the 1st millennium BC, as well as provide new data to address chronological issues in south‐eastern Iran itself.
The last reign of ancient Iran may be known as the beginning of the formation of Christians colonies in Iran as the population of this religious minority had been added during the Sasanian era by applying some of the policies of the Sasanian court and they had been settled in different part of Iran. Christians afforded to unify and stabilize their position in Iran not only contributed to their participation in various fields such as the economic and social sphere, but also Christians in the shadow of religious tolerance of some Sasanian kings succeeded in establishing churches in Iran. Studying various "written sources" and "archaeological findings" were appeared some Christian colonies which are including the Nestorian dioceses on the coasts and hinterlands of the northern and southern of Persian Gulf in this period such as Rēv Ardašir, Mishān, Kharg Island, Bēt Mazon, Bēt Qatrāyē, Mašmāhig, Sir Baniyas, Darin, Hagar. In this paper the causes of Nestorian dioceses formation have been tried to survey in two parts of Persian Gulf with library study and analytical-descriptive method. The aim of this study is to introduce the Nestorian diocese on
Omani civilization is very old. Early Bronze Age civilization in the fourth millennium BC unified the whole Oman peninsula from the Abu Dhabi islands to Ra’s al-Hadd and Masirah Island. Coastal regions were in constant touch with the outside world as boats, loaded with copper, diorite and frankincense travelled far, from the south-eastern shores of Africa along the coast of the Indian Ocean rim. In contrast, villages in the Hajar mountains formed isolated pockets in the valleys and on the slopes of the mountains. Regardless, the irrigation was a matter for the village where agreements over irrigation systems were negotiated and managed on a customary basis. The governing power, whether it was a religious Imam, a secular king, a sultan or a foreign occupier, was a factor in the village reality. At times this was beneficial, as under the First unitary Imamate in the eighth to ninth century, when customary law and Islamic law on irrigation were consolidated into a harmonised whole. At times, the collapse of central power and subsequent internal fighting between the tribes resulted in significant destruction and the abandonment of settlement. The birth of a modern Omani state in the latter half of the twentieth century under Sultan Qaboos signalled a break with the past, except for the culture, which continues to live in the traditions and laws of the people of the land.
Although “Arabia” was on the periphery of the Persian realm, it had strategic importance as it was located just east of the troublesome Egyptian satrapy. The Qedarite kingdom controlled the northern Sinai, southern Palestine (as far north as Idumea), and northwest Arabia, and evidently had intimate and close connections with Persian administration. In Persian documentary sources it appears that “Maka” designates Oman in southeast Arabia, indicating that “Arbāya” can refer to other populations within the Arabian peninsula. Contrary to the written exogenous sources, the autochthonous evidence from within northwest Arabia with regard to Achaemenid rule is less clear. Taking together the archaeological and epigraphic sources from the oasis of Taymāʼ, a major hub of the Arabian trading networks, Achaemenid influence may have been of short‐term character, if at all direct. Most of the Achaemenid period is dominated by evidence highlighting the role of the dynasty of Lihyan at both Dadan and Taymāʼ.
Two amphoras found at burials outside the ancient city of Thāj, Saudi Arabia, bear inscriptions mentioning wine. The chemical analysis of the content of one of them confirms the presence of wine and more precisely as red wine. Contextual information from one of the graves suggests that wine was consumed as part of burial rituals. One inscription is in Aramaic and the other is in South Arabian cursive or zabūr—in fact the first attestation for this particular script in the core region of the so‐called Hasaitic writing culture. Complementing the recent discoveries of zabūr inscriptions from Mleiha (Sharjah, UAE), this inscription buttresses our idea of the emergence of writing in East Arabia in the Hellenistic period.
This chapter is a review of the prehistory of the fisher-gatherers who settled along the coasts of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. Previous research and studies have been centred mainly on the western coasts of the Indian Ocean. They have presented and discussed the general patterns and chronological frame of the coastal human adaptation since the early Holocene, and the recurrent presence of shell middens located close to mangrove environments. More recent research has been focussed on the northern shores of the Arabian Sea. From this region we have new evidence of the presence of fisher-gatherers communities that seasonally settled along the ancient coastline and islands of south-western Sindh and Las Bela (Balochistan) since the end of the eighth millennium BP indicating that early navigation already took place in that period. According to the archaeological evidence, the subsistence activities of these human groups were varied though seasonally based mainly on fishing and shellfish gathering. Broadly speaking marine and mangrove resources were widespread exploited along the two coasts of the Arabian Sea during favourable, well-defined periods of coastal adaptation following the varied environmental conditions and sea-level changes that took place since the beginning of the Holocene.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Journal of Arabian Studies (JAS), this article offers the first history of the field of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies (GAPS), including the origins and evolution of JAS. It begins with an overview of the origins and evolution of GAPS as a field of scholarship, then provides a detailed survey of the field’s institutional development, which can be traced back to the region’s post-war oil wealth and the large oil-funded archaeological expeditions of the 1950s–60s. This is reflected in GAPS’s first societies, centres, and journals, which catered exclusively to archaeologists, historians, and Arabists. The transformation of GAPS into a global interdisciplinary field (encompassing both humanities and social sciences) began in 1969, although it remained a fringe field within Middle East Studies. The expansion of GAPS into a mainstream field in its own right began in the 2000s, reaching critical mass in the 2010s, resulting in the establishment of the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies (AGAPS) and the launch of JAS. In the past decade, GAPS also expanded beyond Middle East Studies to embrace Indian Ocean Studies. The article concludes with an overview of JAS’s first decade: 2011–20.
Objective
The objective of the article is to address the following fundamental questions: First, to what extent can Bronze Age maritime technology in Mesopotamia and the Gulf be considered an example of historical innovation, given the limited set of evidence? Second, what are the challenges of effectively measuring and analyzing maritime technological “innovation” in this period? Third, what methodologies have been recently developed to help us better understand these innovations?
Methods
The method relies on historical‐archaeological analysis of the evidence as well as experimental archaeological reconstruction.
Results
The study suggest that while the archaeological and textual evidence clearly shows that innovations took place, the paucity of that evidence limits any detailed analysis of innovation.
Conclusion
Due to the limited data currently available to us, maritime experimental archaeology provides the best methodology for potentially understanding these innovations until further archaeological discoveries are made related to the subject.
En este trabajo se explica una práctica de docencia sobre Oriente Próximo en la Antigüedad ejercida durante los pasados veinte años. Partiendo de que la estrecha relación entre Historia y Arqueología es tanto herencia de la mejor tradición científica como reacción necesaria a los excesos disgregantes -que han llevado a especialidades estériles hoy en liquidación, como todas las Humanidades-, el autor explica cómo se ha llevado a la práctica una docencia que, sin dejar de atenerse a los programas específicos de Historia Antigua, ha intentado que la relación tradicional entre Historia/Arqueología, sumada a la imprescindible interdisciplinariedad con las ciencias Físicas y Naturales redunde en una Historia Antigua integral, que modifique nuestra forma de ver el pasado.
The study attempts to determine paleo recharge sources for two major aquifer units of Kuwait, namely, Kuwait Group Aquifer (KGA), and Dammam Formation (DFm) were collected and analyzed for major ions and isotopes. The obtained results of ¹⁴C ages indicated that the groundwater samples ranged from 31.9 Ky to 3.9 Ky in DFm and 23.3 Ky to 0.8 Ky in KGA. The variations in δ¹⁸O signatures with respect to age reflected that there were two major sources of rainwater such as enriched southern Indian Ocean monsoon and the depleted northwesterly (Mediterranean) vapor source. The samples found to show variations during the three marine isotopic stages (MIS 1-3), Heinrich events, Bolling-Allerod, and Dryas time periods in both aquifers. A shift in the Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) was witnessed in the groundwater of both aquifers from 7.8 Ky to 4.9 Ky. The variation in the Holocene climate is mainly due to the influence of tropospheric easterly jet governed by the swing in ITCZ , as a result of Holocene volcanism. The mean δ ¹⁸O values of DFm samples (-3.81‰) reflect depletion than KGA samples (-2.31‰), and the d-excess values were -0.95‰ and 2.05‰ respectively. Thus it could be inferred that the DFm was predominantly recharged during Late Pleistocene period and it was in a relatively cooler climate than recharge environment of KGA. The study infers that KGA was recharged between 26oN and 26.8oN latitudes, and that of the DFm was noted to be recharged (south west of Kuwait) in two different patches between 25.8oN and 26.2oN and 26.7oN-27.4oN latitudes during Late Pleistocene. The KGA was concluded to be recharged between 25.5oN and 27.5oN latitudes, south of Kuwait, during Holocene.
Th?j is considered one of the most important ancient sites in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula. However, information gained from research at the site raised many questions, which require careful consideration before reaching correct answers. For example, what are scholars able to say regarding the inscriptions and the coins which have been found in Th?j? What are new findings have been achieved from the excavations in Th?j? What is the connection between Th?j and the lost Arabian city of Gerrha? This study seeks answers to these questions and carefully reviews the discussions published in older studies.
The scope of this paper is to provide the reader of a paramount view of our knowledge on the prehistoric shell middens and coastal sites of the Arabian Sea, mainly Sindh, Balochistan and Oman
The presentation of Samad Late Iron Age (LIA) weaponry made in the final field-work report in Samad al-Shān of 2001, for different reasons was hardly received in the specialist literature. A main reason is its publication in German language. Another is the fewness of students for this period in south-eastern Arabia. Despite the modest state of research for this period/assemblage in central Oman, an update which focusses on defence in general is worthwhile and the material relatively abundant, even compared with a more intensively researched contemporary assemblage (Pré-Islamique Récente, e.g. Mouton, 2008), centred mostly in sites located in the United Arab Emirates
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