Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T16:47:37.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fragmentary endings: a discussion of 3rd-millennium BC burial practices in the Oman Peninsula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Soren Blau
Soren Blau*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of Pacific & Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia, soren@coombs.anu.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper reviews the architectural and human skeletal remains from Umm an-Nar period tombs (c. 2500–2000 BC), found across the Oman Peninsula. Possible meanings for the regional dispersal of the tombs across the region are considered. Tomb Unar 2 may provide possible interpretations of 3rd-millennium BC burial practices.

Keywords

Umm an-Nar periodOman Peninsulaburial practicesskeletal remainstomb design
Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 289 , September 2001 , pp. 557 - 570
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Al-Tikriti, W.Y. 1981. Reconsideration of the late 4th and 3rd millennium BC in the Arabian Gulf with special reference to the United Arab Emirates. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Al-Tlkrlti, W.Y. 1989. Umm and-Nar culture in the northern Emirates: 3rd millennium BC tombs at Ajman, Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates 9: 89–98.Google Scholar
Al.-Khalil, S. 1991. The monument: art, vulgarity and responsibility in Iraq. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press.Google Scholar
Barrett, J.C. 1990. The monumentality of death: the character of early Bronze Age mortuary mounds in southern Britain, World Archaeology 22(2): 179–89.Google Scholar
Benton, J.N. 1996. Excavations at Al Sufouh: a 3rd millennium site in the Emirate of Dubai. Turnhout: Brepols. Forthcoming. Excavations at Jabal al-Emaleh: a third millennium site in the Emirate of Sharjah. Turnhout: Brepols.Google Scholar
Blau, S. 1998. Finally the skeleton: an analysis of archaeological human skeletal remains from the United Arab Emirates. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney.Google Scholar
Blau, S. 2001. Limited yet informative: pathological alterations observed on human skeletal remains from 3rd and 2nd millennia BC collective burials in the United Arab Emirates, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 11: 173–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, S. & Beech, M.. 1999. One woman and her dog: an Umm an-Nar example from the United Arab Emirates, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 10: 34–42 Google Scholar
Bloch, M. & Parry, J.. 1982. Introduction: death and the regeneration of life, in Bloch, M. & Parry, J., (ed.), Death and the regeneration of life: 1–44. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bondioli, L., Coppa, A. & Macchiarseli, R.. 1996. From the coast to the oasis in prehistoric Arabia: what do the human osteodental remains tell us about the transition from a foraging to an exchange economy? Evidence from Ra’s al-Hamra (Oman) and Hili North (U. A.E.). Paper presented at the 13th International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences. Forlì: Italy.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1984. The social foundations of prehistoric Britain: themes and variations in the archaeology of power. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Cannon, A. 1989. The historical dimension in mortuary expression of status and sentiment, Current Anthropology 30: 437–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, J. 1991. The creation of social arenas in the Neolithic and Copper Age of SE Europe: the case of Varna, in Garwood, P., Jennings, D.J., Sketes, R. & Toms, J. (ed.). Sacred and profane: Proceedings of a conference on archaeologies, ritual and religion, Oxford 1989: 152–71. Oxford: Oxford Committee for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Chapman, R. 1995. Ten years after – megaliths, mortuary practices, and the territorial model, in Beck, L.A. (ed.). Regional approaches to mortuary analysis: 29–51. New York (NY): Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleuziou, S. & Vogt, B.. 1985. Tomb A at Hili North (United Arab Emirates) and its material connections to southeast Iran and the greater Indus Valley, in Schotsmans, J. & Taddei, M. (ed.), South Asian Archaeology 1983: 249–77. Naples: Istituto Universitaro Orientale.Google Scholar
Crawford, H. 1998. Dilmun and its Gulf neighbours. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
De Cardi, B., Collier, S. & Doe, D.B. 1976. Excavations and survey in Oman, 1974–1975, Journal of Oman Studies 2:101–75.Google Scholar
Downes, J. 1999. Cremation: a spectacle and a journey, in Downes, J. & Pollard, T. (ed.), The loved body’s corruption: archaeological contributions to the study of human mortality: 19–29. Glasgow: Cruithne Press.Google Scholar
El-Naflar, M.Y. 1985. An anthropological study on skeletal remains from Tomb A Hili North, Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates 4: 38–42.Google Scholar
Fenelon, K.G. 1976. The United Arab Emirates: an economic and social survey. 2nd edition. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K. 1975. On prehistoric settlement and chronology of the Oman Peninsula, East and West 25: 359–423.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K. 1991. The island of Umm an Nar: 3rd millennium graves 1. Jutland: Jutland Archaeological Society Publications.Google Scholar
Haerinck, E. 1991. The rectangular Umm an-Nar period grave at Mowaihat (Emirate of Ajman, United Arab Emirates), Gentse Bijdragen tot de Kunstgeschiedenis en Oudheid-kunde 29: 1–30.Google Scholar
Heard-Bey, F 1982. From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates: a society in transition. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Højgaard, K. 1980. Dentition on Umm an-Nar (Trucial Oman), c. 2500 BC, Scandinavian Journal of Dental Research 88:355–64.Google ScholarPubMed
Højgaard, K. 1981. Dentition on Umm an-Nar, c. 2500 BC, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 11: 31–6.Google Scholar
Kunter, M. 1981. Skeletal remains dating from the Bronze and Iron Ages in Oman. Commentaries on the history of population in Eastern Arabia, Homo 32 (3–4): 197–210. (English translation by E.J. Blau.)Google Scholar
Kunter, M. 1991. The human skeletal remains from the graves of Umm an-Nar, Abu Dhabi, UAE (3rd millennium BC)), in Frifelt (1991): 163–79.Google Scholar
Kunter, M. 1996. Human skeletal remains from the Oman Peninsula dating from the 4th to the 2nd millennium BC, Homo 47/ 1–3: 43–60. (English translation by E.J. Blau.)Google Scholar
Magee, P. 1996. The chronology of the southeast Arabian Iron Age, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 7: 240–52.Google Scholar
Magee, P. 1998. The chronology and regional context of late prehistoric incised arrowheads in southeastern Arabia, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 9: 1–12.Google Scholar
Orchard, J. 1995. The origins of agricultural settlement in the al-Hajar region, Iraq 57: 145–58.Google Scholar
Orchard, J. & Stanger, G.. 1994. Third millennium oasis towns and environmental constraints on settlement in the al-Hajar region, Iraq 61: 63–100.Google Scholar
Phillips, C.S. 1997. The pattern of settlement in the Wadi al-Qawr, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 27: 205–18.Google Scholar
Potts, D.T. 1990. The Arabian Gulf in antiquity: from prehistory to the fall of the Archaemenid empire Oxford, I.: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Potts, D.T. 1993. Four seasons of excavation at Tell Abraq, Proceed ings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 23: 117–26.Google Scholar
Potts, D.T. 1997. Before the Emirates: an archaeological and historical account of developments in the region c. 5000 BC to 676 AD, in Ghareeb, E. & Abed, E.I. (ed.), Perspectives on the United Arab Emirates: 36–73. London: Trident Press.Google Scholar
Potts, D.T. with Blau, S.. 1998. Identities in the East Arabian region, Mediterranean Archaeology 11: 27–38.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. 1976. Megaliths, territories and populations, in Laet, S.J. de (ed.), Acculturation and continuity in Atlantic Europe: 198–220. Brugge: De Temple.Google Scholar
Roberts, C. 1986. Palaeopathology: cottage industry or interacting discipline?, in Bintliff, J.L. & Gaffney, CF. (ed.), Archaeology at the interface: studies in archaeology’s relationships with history, geography, biology and physical science: 110–28. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. International series 300.Google Scholar
Rogers, J., Waldron, T., Dieppe, P., & Watt, I.. 1987. Arthropathies in palaeopathology: the basis of classification according to the most probable cause, Journal of Archaeological Science 14: 179–93.Google Scholar
Sahm, N. 1988. Preliminary report of the excavation of the Um an Nar tomb in Shimal North, in Kstner, J-M., Sahm, N. & Velde, C., Excavations of the German archaeological mission to Ras al-Khaimah: Report of the 4th season 1988: 1–4. Unpublished MS in possession of author.Google Scholar
Schutkowski, H. 1988. Report on the anthropological activities during the 1988 campaign at the sites of Shimal and Dhayah, Ras al-Khaimah, UAE: 7–10. Unpublished MS in possession of author.Google Scholar
Schutkowski, H. 1989. Report on the anthropological activities during the 1989 campaign and a brief sketch of first results: 1–7. Unpublished MS in possession of author.Google Scholar
Stirland, A. 1991. Diagnosis of occupationally related paleopathology: Can it be done?, in Ortner, D.J. & Aufderheide, A.C. (ed.), Human paleopathology: current synthesis and future options: 40–47. Washington (DC): Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Stone, P.K. & Martin, D.L.. Forthcoming. Human skeletal remains, in Benton forthcoming.Google Scholar
Taha, M.Y. 1974. Pottery from the United Arab Emirates, Sumer 30: 159–74.Google Scholar
Ucko, P. 1969. Ethnography and archaeological interpretations of funerary remains, World Archaeology 1(2): 262–80.Google Scholar
Van Gennep, A. 1960. The rites of passage. (Trans. Vizedom, M.B. & Caffee, G.L..) London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Vogt, B. 1985a. Zur chronologie imd entwicklung der graber des spãten 4.-2. Jtsd.v.Chr. auf der halbinsel Oman: Zusammen–fassung, analyse und würdigung publizierter wie auch un-veroffentlichter Grabungsergebnisse. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Department of Archaeology, University of Göttingen.Google Scholar
Vogt, B. 1985b. The Umm an-Nar Tomb A at Hili north: a preliminary report on three seasons of excavation, 1982–1984, Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates 4: 20–35.Google Scholar
Vogt, B. 1994. Asimah: an account of two months rescue excavation in the mountains of Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emir ates. Dubai: Shellmarkets Middle East.Google Scholar