The Archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula 2
Connecting the Evidence. Proceedings of the International Workshop held at the 10th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East in Vienna on April 25, 2016
1. Auflage, 2021
The volume presents the proceedings of the second international workshop on the Archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula. Following the first publication on the archaeology of Arabia (OREA 4), this second volume is devoted to connecting the evidence across the Arabian Peninsula and bridging the gap between traditionally distinct scholarly fields.
Spanning a chronological range from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) to the Islamic period and encompassing regions from the south-eastern tip to the north-eastern corner of the subcontinent, from Oman to the Negev and the Red Sea, we commit to reconstructing a broader, more interconnected picture of the archaeology of this underexplored, vast territorial expanse.
In this edition we discuss the formation of the oldest peri-maritime settled communities of the Neolithic and investigate similarities and dissimilarities in landmarks, territorial appropriation and environmental conditions of the Early Bronze Age funerary landscape (al-Kharj oasis) and the settlement landscape created by the early-3rd-millennium-BCE emergence of Hejazi ‘urbanism’ in the most ancient megasites of the peninsula, the famous walled oases of Qurayyah and Tayma. We highlight the varied modalities of cultic landscapes of nomadic pastoral peoples in the Negev and Oman and the symbolic value of copper-alloy metallurgy, and investigate epigraphic and regional trade connections and routes throughout an extended region, as well as the formation of mining landscapes and specialised sites for the selective exploitation of mineral resources such as copper, silver and gold (Al-Baha area) in the Islamic period.
The book offers the first answers to questions of agency, networks, chronologies and the complex legacy of reconstructing history based on Greek, Roman and the far from comprehensive local epigraphic evidence.
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10th ICAANE
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Excavations at Wadi Sharma 1: New Insights into the Hijaz Neolithic, North-western Arabia
Wadi Sharma 1 is a small Neolithic settlement at the north-western corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Ourrecent excavations have revealed some 60 ground- or semi-subterranean-type masonry structures, which were connectedto each other to form an elongated settlement with a total area of c. 0.1ha. The settlement was poor in materialculture and small finds centred around chipped stone artefacts, grinding implements and seashell/snail ornaments.The small settlement size and the scarcity of artefact variety, coupled with the custom of temporary entrance sealingattested throughout the settlement, suggest that the outpost-size settlement was used only on a seasonal basis. A total often 14C dates converge equally on the second half of the 8th millennium calBCE, indicating that the seasonal settlementdates back to the Late PPNB (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) of the Levantine chronology. The site is the first fully-excavatedPPNB settlement in the Arabian Peninsula and is expected to shed new light on the issue of the Neolithisation in thetrans-Levantine arid subcontinent. This paper summarises the research outcomes at the key site and briefly discussestheir archaeological implications in a broader context.
Keywords: Wadi Sharma 1, Hijaz, Saudi Arabia, PPNB, Neolithisation
Sumio Fujii - Abdulrahman A. al-Mansoor - Takuro Adachi - Eman Khalifa - Kazuyoshi Nagaya
Page 15 - 42
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Pottery from Tayma: Chronostratigraphy, Archaeometric Studies, Cultural Interaction
Excavations carried out by the German Archaeological Institute and the Saudi Commission for Tourism andNational Heritage (now Heritage Commission at the Ministry of Culture) at the oasis of Tayma since 2004 evidencedpottery production at the site from the late 4th/early 3rd millennium BCE onwards. The paper presents, for the first time,the chronostratigraphic pottery sequence at Tayma based on the latest excavation results. Comparative evidence of theceramic material suggests that the relations between north-western Arabia and the Levant were closer than with anyother adjacent region. On the other hand, results of archaeometric analyses of Middle to Late Bronze Age ceramicsfrom both Tayma and Qurayyah indicate a technological autonomy of individual oases in pottery production alreadyduring the late 2nd millennium BCE. Existence of the oasis’s long-distance contact during subsequent periods is evidencedby imports, e.g. Attic pottery and Nabataean Fine Ware from Petra.
Keywords: Tayma, north-western Arabia, Pottery, Chronology, Archaeometry, chemical analysis, Matrix Group by Refiring (MGR) analysis
Francelin Tourtet - Małgorzata Daszkiewicz - Arnulf Hausleiter
Page 43 - 88
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On the Formation of ‘Urban’ Oases in Arabia: New Perspectives from the North-west
New data from current research is proving decisive in questioning old tenets on the date, context and, as aconsequence, also the prime movers in the formation of so-called ‘urban’ oases in the Arabian Peninsula. This contributiondiscusses both previous scholarship and novel findings in the effort of clarifying the formation processes of theselarge, complex settlements, by looking at new discoveries in the north-west of Arabia compared to chronologicallygermane phenomena in the Levant.
Keywords: desert urbanism, Bronze Age Arabia, river oasis, irrigation systems, southern Levant
Page 89 - 118
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The Bronze and Iron Age Funerary Landscape in Central Arabia
Bronze and Iron Age tombs are a critical element in the archaeological landscape of the central Arabian oasisof al-Kharj. The Saudi-French Archaeological Mission in al-Kharj identified 17 necropolises on the ground, two of themcomprising several hundred tombs. In the major necropolis at ‘Ayn al-Ḍila‘, 13 graves were excavated in 2013 and 2016,yielding data on the funerary practices and shedding light on chronological issues. This field approach was completed byremote-sensing analysis of the oasis of al-Kharj which led to the geolocation of c. 6000 tumuli. Spatial analysis of thesegraves shows a distribution strongly dictated by proximity to building material and water sources as much as by land marking.The close proximity of the two main necropolises to palaeolakes raises the issue of the long-lasting activity of thesehydrological features in the area up to the early Bronze Age, questioning the duration of the mid-Holocene humid phasein central Arabia. All in all, remote sensing and fieldwork provide us with an insight into the way of life, appropriation ofland, and resources as well as the funerary practices of semi-mobile protohistoric populations.
Keywords: al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, Bronze Age, funerary practices, Landscape Archaeology, spatial analysis
Anaïs Chevalier - Jérémie Schiettecatte - Stéfan Tzortzis - Élodie Wermuth
Page 119 - 148
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Excavations of an Iron Age Site near Adam in Central Oman
Recent excavations near Adam (Oman) yielded new data about the margins of the desert in Central Omanduring the Iron Age. Before our 2015 season, the Iron Age in Adam was essentially unknown. Several graves and reusedburials had been identified during surveys and excavations in two graveyards, but it seemed that the area of Adam wasnot highly occupied during this period, contrary to the situation observed in the major site of Salut, only 40km to thenorth-west. However, the discovery of an Iron Age site near Adam allows us to reconsider this first impression. Thesite consists of a group of structures located on the eastern tip of Jabal Mudhmar, near Wadi Halfayn. The main stonebuilding contains unique bronze weapons (life-sized, smaller than life-sized and miniatures) including arrows, bows,quivers and daggers that could be used for ritual purposes. Judging by its geographic location and its unusual content,the site could have had several functions: as a meeting and ritual place linked to social, political or religious activitiesor a relay on the ancient road between Adam and Sinaw.
Keywords: Iron Age, Oman, weaponry, pillared hall buildings, Ritual
Guillaume Gernez - Mathilde Jean
Page 149 - 162
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Late Bronze/Iron Age Extramural Shrines of the Arid Southern Levant and the Syro-Arabian Desert Cultic Architecture
Five extramural shrines dated to the Late Bronze/Iron Ages have been excavated in the arid areas south andsouth-east of the Levant (Negev and south-central Transjordan). Although they present features congruent with the longtradition of local desert cultic architecture, most previous treatments of these shrines have focused on their relationshipwith the religions of the contemporary settled communities of the Levant and Egypt. This article re-examines this culticarchitecture in the light of current knowledge about the desert cults of the Syro-Arabian desert and steppes, from theNeolithic to the Early Islamic periods. Although the different elements of the local cults, particularly the building ofopen-air courtyard shrines and the use of standing stones, were present in several prehistoric and historical periods,these sanctuaries provide the earliest evidence of elements imported from the religions of the neighbouring settledsocieties being incorporated as integral components of the desert cult and being adapted to the cultic heritage of thesemi-nomadic pastoral peoples that inhabited the area.
Keywords: cultic architecture, arid areas, southern Levant, Western Arabia, Late Bronze Age, Iron Age
Juan Manuel Tebes
Page 163 - 178
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The Political History of North-west Arabia from the 6th to the 1st Century BCE: New Insights from Dadān, Ḥegrā and Taymāʾ
Based on the spectacular development of North-Arabian archaeology and epigraphy in the last fifteen years,this paper aims to reappraise the sequence and chronology of political powers in north-west Arabia during the secondhalf of the 1st millennium BCE. To this end, it summarises the epigraphic and archaeological evidence from the sitesof the al-ʿUlā area (notably Dadān and Ḥegrā) and confronts it with the recently published data from the third mainarchaeological site in north-west Arabia: Taymāʾ. This review of the evidence not only supports an early dating of theLihyanite kingdom (late 6th to mid-3rd century BCE?) and the hypothesis of a hitherto unknown Late Hellenistic politybased at Ḥegrā (later 3rd to mid-1st century BCE?), but it also leads to reassess the extent of Achaemenid and Ptolemaicinvolvement in north-west Arabia.
Keywords: north-west Arabia, late Iron Age, Hellenistic period, Liḥyān, Achaemenid Kingdom, Ptolemaic Egypt
Jérôme Rohmer
Page 179 - 198
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New Insights into the Nabataean Long-Distance Trade
This contribution examines the literary, archaeological and epigraphic evidence for Nabataean involvementin Transarabian trade, as well as the role in this trade of the ancient city of Hegra, modern Madāʾin Sāliḥ, at the southernend of the Nabataean Kingdom. It shows that the involvement of the Nabataeans may have been less significant than isusually thought. It also points to the key role of the Ancient South Arabian merchants up to the turn of the common eraand to the more or less simultaneous development of the maritime route up to Leuke Kome, of the Nabataean city ofHegra and of the land route from Hegra to Petra in the late 1st century BCE. A parallel is also made between the Arabianand Egyptian shores of the Red Sea.
Keywords: ancient trade routes, Arabian Peninsula, Red Sea, Nabataean inscriptions, Hegra, Leuke Kome, Darb al-Bakrah
Laïla Nehmé
Page 199 - 214
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The Islamic Productive Economic Landscape in the Southwest of Saudi Arabia: the Case for Mining
This paper will discuss the most distinctive features of the economic production sites in the Islamic period(from 7th to 10th century CE) in southern Arabia, based on the current discoveries at the al-Baha mining sites particularlyin Asham, south-west of Saudi Arabia. In addition, it will show the level of development of mining tools and methodsthat have contributed to the development of the economy during the previously mentioned periods. We assume thatthese sites played a commercial role in Arabia, particularly those sites located along the trade routes, which contributedto the provision of essential commodities for the export of mineral ores and import of other goods. These mining siteswere core economic cities that stimulated (and were regulated by) the economy of the Islamic state from its inception tothe late Abbasid era. The importance of this paper lies in presenting the characteristics and mechanisms of the mininglandscape by analysing the mining activities taking place at the mining settlement of Asham, which was the mostfamous mining settlement located in the SW of Arabia. The survey and excavated evidence of these mining settlementsconfirms that Arabia played an important and vital role in developing and enhancing the mining activities in the broaderArab-Islamic world during the 7th to 10th centuries CE.
Keywords: al-Baha, mining landscape, mineral ores, copper, Gold, Islamic period
Abdullah A. Al-Zahrani
Page 215 - 236
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Index
Page 237 - 242
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Edition:
978-3-7001-8630-4, Print, hardcover, 29.12.2021
Edition:
978-3-7001-9042-4, eBook, Digital, 30.12.2021
Edition:
1. Auflage
Pages:
242 Pages
Format:
29,7x21cm
Images:
numerous colour and b/w images, figures
Language:
English
DOI (Link to Online Edition):