Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-c9gpj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T02:36:29.311Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Al-Ḥajar oasis towns again!

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Jocelyn Orchard  and
Gordon Stanger
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

There is absolutely no doubt that D. T. Potts does not agree with the conclusions — based on long-term fieldwork in the al-Ḥajar region of south-eastern Arabia (Fig. 1) — that Gordon Stanger and I recently published in Iraq (Orchard and Stanger 1994, Orchard 1995), and he has said so most forcefully in a “Reply” also published in this journal (Potts 1997). Stanger and I have read Potts's article with considerable interest and, given that his arguments are not only flawed but also confused, and that he often places emphasis on the wrong things, such as on the calibration of carbon-14 dates rather than on the provenance of carbon-14 samples, and on architectural detail rather than on the location and layout of monuments, we have come to the conclusion that his piece requires an equally firm response. Stanger's comments on Potts's statements regarding the climate of the al-Ḥajar region form Part 2 of this article.

In Potts's “Reply” two attitudes predominantly govern his arguments. The first is high indignation that anyone should have the temerity to “challenge” what he regards as “the foundations of Arabian Prehistory”, an indignation that affects the entire tone of his article and culminates in a particularly hostile concluding statement (pp. 70–1), to which I shall return later. The second, and more regrettable, is a propensity to ignore the archaeological landscape, which is truly extraordinary given that Potts is discussing a region where landscape archaeology is of fundamental importance.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 61 , 1999 , pp. 89 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1999

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

Adams, Robert McC. and Nissen, Hans J., 1972. The Uruk Countryside. University Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Al-Tikriti, W. Yasin, 1981. Reconsideration of the Late Fourth and Third Millennium B.C. in the Arabian Gulf, with special reference to the United Arab Emirates. University of Cambridge PhD thesis (unpublished).Google Scholar
Al-Tikriti, W. Yasin, 1989. Umm an-Nar Culture in the Northern Emirates: Third Millennium BC Tombs at Ajman. Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates 5: 89–99.Google Scholar
Benton, J. N., 1996. Excavations at Al Sufouh: A Third Millennium Site in the Emirate of Dubai. (Abiel I). Brepols.Google Scholar
Burney, Charles and Lang, David Marshall, 1971. The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.Google Scholar
Brunner, Ueli, 1997. The History of Irrigation in the Wadi Marḫah. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 27: 75–85.Google Scholar
Buffa, Vittoria, Brunner, Ueli and Vogt, Burkhard, 1998. Ma'aleiba and Bronze Age Irrigation Systems in Lahj. Paper presented at the Seminar for Arabian Studies, London.Google Scholar
Carter, R., 1997. The Wadi Suq Period in South-East Arabia: A Reappraisal in the Light of Excavations at Kalba, UAE. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 27: 87–98.Google Scholar
CCEWR, 1986. Council for Conservation of the Environment and Water Resources, Oman [now Ministry of Water Resources], Hydrology and Water Resources of the Greater Manah Area. Report CCEWR 86-9 (10).Google Scholar
Clark, Anthony, 1990. Seeing Beneath the Soil: prospecting methods in archaeology. Batsford, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleuziou, S., 1978/1979. The Second and Third Seasons of Excavations at Hili 8. Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates 2/3.Google Scholar
Cleuziou, S., 1989. Excavations at Hili 8: A Preliminary Report on the 4th to 7th Campaigns. Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates 5: 61–87.Google Scholar
Cleuziou, Serge and Tosi, Maurizio, 1997. Hommes, climats et environnements de la péninsule arabique à l'holocène. Paléorient 23/2: 121–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleuziou, S. and Tosi, M., 1998. Evidence for the Use of Aromatics in the Early Bronze Age of Oman: Period III at RJ-2 (2300–2200 BC). In Profumi d'Arabia. (Saggi di Storia Antica 11): 57–81.Google Scholar
Cleuziou, S. and Tosi, M., 1998-a. The Joint Hadd Project: New Perspectives on the Late Prehistory of Eastern Arabia and Man's Conquest of the Ocean. Paper presented at the Seminar for Arabian Studies, London.Google Scholar
Davey, Christopher J., 1985. The Negub Tunnel. Iraq 47: 49–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
David, Hélène, 1996. Styles and Evolution: Soft Stone Vessels during the Bronze Age in the Oman Peninsula. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 26: 31–46.Google Scholar
de Cardi, B., Bell, R. D. and Starling, N. J., 1979. Excavations at Tawi Silaim and Tawi Sa'īd in the Sharqiya, 1978. The Journal of Oman Studies 5: 61–94.Google Scholar
de Cardi, B., Collier, S. and Doe, D. B., 1976. Excavations and Survey in Oman 1974–1975. The Journal of Oman Studies 2: 101–87.Google Scholar
Doe, D. B., 1983. Monuments of South Arabia. Falcon-Oleander Press, Naples-Cambridge.Google Scholar
Eagle, A. B. D. R., forthcoming. Toponym Gazetteer. In Orchard, , Jeffery, and Orchard, , Jocelyn, (eds.). Reports of the University of Birmingham Archaeological Expedition to the Sultanate of Oman.Google Scholar
Findlater, J., 1977. A Numerical Index to Monitor the Afro-Asian Monsoon during the Northern Summers. Meteorological Magazine 106. 170–80.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K., 1969. Archaeological Investigations in the Oman Peninsula. Kuml 1968: 170–5.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K., 1971. Jamdat Nasr Graves in the Oman. Kuml 1970: 374–83.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K., 1975. On Prehistoric Settlement and Chronology of the Oman Peninsula. East and West 25: 359–424.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K., 1975-a. A Possible Link between the Jemdet Nasr and the Umm an-Nar Graves of Oman. The Journal of Oman Studies 1: 57–80.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K., 1985. Further Evidence of the 3rd Millennium BC Town at Bat in Oman. The Journal of Oman Studies 7: 89–104.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K., 1990. Investigations at Bat, Oman, 1989. In During Caspers, E. C. L. (ed.). The Arabian Gulf Gazetteer 1/1. 1989–90:20.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K., 1991. The Island of Umm an-Nar 1. Third Millennium Graves. (Jutland Archaeological Society Publications 26: 1). Moesgård, Aarhus.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K., 1995. The Island of Umm an-Nar 2. The Third Millennium Settlement. (Jutland Archaeological Society Publications 26: 2). Moesgård, Aarhus.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K., forthcoming. Bat, a Centre in Third Millennium Oman. Paper presented at the Arabia Antiqua Congress in Rome, 05 1991.Google Scholar
SirGibb, Alexander and Partners, 1976. Water Resources Survey of Northern Oman (unpublished). Main Report and Appendix D — Vol. 5 (survey of water use in villages).Google Scholar
Glennie, K. W., 1970. Desert Sedimentary Environments. Developments in Sedimentology 14. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Glennie, K. W., Pugh, J. M. and Goodall, T. M., 1994. Late Quaternary Arabian Desert Models of Permian Rotliegend Reservoirs. (Shell) Exploration Bulletin 274/3: 1–19.Google Scholar
Grant, K., 1982. The July Lower Troposphere over the Middle East. Meteorological Magazine 111: 179–82.Google Scholar
Jacobsen, Thorkild and Lloyd, Seton, 1935. Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan. (Oriental Institute Publications 24). University Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Laessøe, Jørgen, 1951. The Irrigation System at Ulhu. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 5: 21–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
le Cour Grandmaison, Colette, 1977. Spatial Organization, Tribal Groupings and Kinship in Ibra'. The Journal of Oman Studies 3/2: 95–106.Google Scholar
McCorriston, Joy, 1998. Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia. Paper presented at the Seminar for Arabian Studies, London.Google Scholar
Membury, D. A., 1983. Lower Level Wind Profiles during the Gulf Shamal. Weather 38/1: 18–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Méry, S. and Schneider, G., 1996. Mesopotamian Pottery Wares in Eastern Arabia from the 5th to the 2nd Millennium BC: A Contribution of Archaeometry to the Economic History. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 26: 79–96. 5 Tables and 1 Plate.Google Scholar
Orchard, Jeffery, forthcoming. The Layout and Monuments of an al-Ḥajar Oasis Town at Besya in the Wadi Behla, Oman (late fourth-late third millennium BC). Paper presented at the 44th Rencontre assyriologique Internationale, Venice 1997.Google Scholar
Orchard, Jocelyn, 1995. The Origins of Agricultural Settlement in the al-Ḥajar Region. Iraq 57: 145–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orchard, Jocelyn, forthcoming. Water, Rock and Trees: Early Oasis Landscapes in the Al-Ḥajar Region, South-Eastern Arabia. Paper presented at the 44th Rencontre assyriologique Internationale, Venice 1997.Google Scholar
Orchard, Jocelyn and Orchard, Jeffery, forthcoming. Archaeological Survey in the Wādī Behla (Jawf) and the Wādi Meleḥ (Sharqiya). In Orchard, Jeffery and Orchard, Jocelyn (eds.). Reports of the University of Birmingham Archaeological Expedition to the Sultanate of Oman.Google Scholar
Orchard, Jocelyn and Stanger, Gordon, 1994. Third Millennium Oasis Towns and Environmental Constraints on Settlement in the Al-Ḥajar Region. Iraq 56: 63–100.Google Scholar
Özgüç, Tahsin, 1972. An Assyrian Trading Outpost. In Old World Archaeology: Foundations of Civilisation. (Readings from Scientific American). San Francisco: 242–9.Google Scholar
Pedgeley, D. E., 1970. The Climate of Interior Oman. Meteorological Magazine 99: 29–37.Google Scholar
Philby, H. St J. B., 1939. Sheba's Daughters. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Potts, D. T., 1993. Four Seasons at Tell Abraq (1989–1993). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 23: 117–26.Google Scholar
Potts, D. T., 1997. Rewriting the Late Prehistory of South-Eastern Arabia: A Reply to Jocelyn Orchard. Iraq 59: 63–71.Google Scholar
Potts, D. T. and Weeks, Lloyd, 1999. An AMS radiocarbon chronology for the late Umm an-Nar type tomb at Tell Abraq. Tribulus (Bulletin of the Emirates Natural History Group) 9/1: 9–10.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E., 1978. Studies in Assyrian Geography. Part I: Sennacherib and the Waters of Nineveh. Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale 72: 47–72, 157–175.Google Scholar
Roberts, N., 1982. Lake Levels as an Indicator of Near-Eastern Palaeoclimates: a Preliminary Appraisal. In Bintliff, J. L. and Van Zeist, W. (eds.), Environmental Evidence for Climatic Change in the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean over the last 20,000 years. BAR International Series 133/1, Oxford.Google Scholar
Safar, Fuad, 1947. Sennacherib's Project for Supplying Erbil with Water. Sumer 3/1: 23–5, 71–86.Google Scholar
Safar, Fuad and Basmaji, Faraj, 1946. Sennacherib's Project for Supplying Arbil with Water. Sumer 2/2: 50–2.Google Scholar
Sharon, D., 1972. The Spottiness of Rainfall in a Desert Area. Journal of Hydrology 17: 161–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smalle, I. J. (ed.), 1975. Loess: Lithology and Genesis. Benchmark Papers in Geology 26. Stroudsberg, NY.Google Scholar
Stanger, G., 1982. Sedimentation and Hydrology in Oman. Paper presented at the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Oxford (unpublished).Google Scholar
Stanger, G., 1986. The Hydrogeology of the Oman Mountains. Open University PhD thesis (unpublished). 2 vols.Google Scholar
Steimer-Herbet, Tara, 1998. Jabal Ruwaik, Megaliths in the Yemen. Paper presented at the Seminar for Arabian Studies, London.Google Scholar
Vogt, Burkhard, 1985. Zur Chronologie und Entwicklung der Gräber des späten 4. bis 2. Jtsd. v. Chr. auf der Halbinsel Oman: Zusammenfassung, Wurdigung und Analyse publizierter wie auch unveröffentlichter Grabungsergebnisse. Gottingen University doctoral thesis (unpublished).Google Scholar
Vogt, Burkhard, 1985-a.. 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: 20–37.Google Scholar
Vogt, Burkhard, 1994. Asimah (Department of Antiquities and Museums, Ras al-Khaimah). Shell Markets Middle East, Dubai, UAE.Google Scholar
Weisgerber, G., 1980. … und Kupfer in Oman — Das Oman-Projekt des Deutschen Bergbau-Museums. Der Anschnitt 32/2–3: 62–110.Google Scholar
Weisgerber, G., 1981. Mehr als Kupfer in Oman. Der Anschnitt 33/5–6.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, J. C., 1977. Water and Tribal Settlement in South-East Arabia: a study of the aflāj of Oman. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, J. C., 1983. The Origins of the Aflāj of Oman. The Journal of Oman Studies 6/1: 177–94.Google Scholar
Yule, Paul and Weisgerber, Gerd, 1998. Prehistoric Tombs at Shir/Jaylah, Sultanate of Oman. Beiträge zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Archäologie 18: 183–241.Google Scholar
Zarins, J., Ibrahim, M., Potts, D., and Edens, C., 1979. Saudi Arabian Archaeological Reconnaissance 1978. Atlal 3: 9–42.Google Scholar