Archaeological Review

The following is a selection of reports received, covering work during the course of the 1999-2000 winter/spring season. Reports from other archaeological teams and Departments are always welcome.

The Directorate of Antiquities of the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information and an archaeological team from the University of Tubingen (Germany) conducted further excavations at Jebel Buhays, near Al-Madam, in the early part of the year.

The work shed new light on the beginnings of human settlement in the interior of south-eastern Arabia.

It now appears that nomadic tribes first came to the area around Jebel Buhays more than 7000 years ago. They left traces in the form of 'roasting pits,' shallow holes in the ground filled with burnt cobblestones and black ash. Around these pits, small splinters of animal bones were found, the remains of meals which have been dated to between 5200 - 4300 BC. Stone knives used for cutting the meat and other flint tools have also been recovered, and indicate a particular Late Stone Age technology typical for this area and period of time.

Most remarkable of the Jebel Buhays finds is a graveyard which contains the remains of more than 300 people in a very small area, measuring less than 20 m. square. Skeletons are closely packed, while later burials were often cut into earlier ones, making it extremely difficult for the skeletal remains to be separated. Many skeletons had personal adornments. Women appear sometimes to have worn a carnelian bead or a pearl on a nose ring. Even children were buried with jewellery, like necklaces, armlets and anklets, often consisting of strings of more than a hundred beads. Casts of several burials have been made, which are on display in the Sharjah Archaeological Museum.

Laboratory analysis of the bones, both human and animal, carried out in Germany has revealed that the Jebel Buhays site was only occupied by the Late Stone Age inhabitants in spring, during a period from c. 8000 to 4000 BC, when the climate in south-eastern Arabia was slightly moister than it is today. Further studies of a dried-up spring identified in an earlier season suggest that it dried up towards the end of the Fifth Millennium BC. This climatic change probably forced the inhabitants to leave the interior parts of the peninsula and to retreat to the coasts of the Gulf, where they survived into the Fourth and Third Millennia BC, forming the basic stock of the area's population.

Between March 1st and April 15th 2000, the Australian Archaeological Mission to Muweilah (University of Sydney) conducted a sixth season of research at the Iron Age settlement of Muweilah, near Sharjah University City. The settlement was previously produced the earliest evidence of writing yet known from the Emirates.

The work was supported by an Australian Research Council Small Grant and by the Directorate of Antiquities, Sharjah Department of Culture and Information, which, through its Director Dr Sabah Jasim, provided much of the necessary support to make the work possible. The results obtained are testimony to the interest and support of H.H. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed al-Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah.

The aims of this season were largely dictated by the geophysical results obtained in the previous seasons which indicated that the Area C settlement consisted of a walled compound with a perimeter of 360m. Our attention was focussed on this area and several other extra-mural anomalies indicated by the geophysical survey.

Test trenching of several of the extra-mural points revealed evidence for campsites or fireplaces, most of which were buried under 1-2m of sand and were less than 1m in size. In addition to fine ash, blackened sand and shells, a number these firepits revealed evidence for Iron Age II pottery. When considered in light of the Area B excavations conducted in 1994-5, these results suggest that the walled compound (Area C) was surrounded by temporary campsites, perhaps occupied by nomads travelling to and from the coast. Of prime importance for future research is the date of these features: Are they contemporary with Area C or do they represent an initial use of this landscape which transformed into the more complex settlement in Area C?

In Area C two areas were targeted for excavation. In one area we sounded where the geophysical survey had indicated the presence of the surround wall. This excavations confirmed the existence of this feature. Of more interest was the fact that inside the wall was a series of rooms which had clearly been destroyed by a fire - just like the excavated areas to the west. This would appear to confirm the hypothesis that the entire settlement of Muweilah was destroyed by a single fire. Also within Area C, we focussed on part of a building which we had exposed in the 1998 season.

After five weeks of excavation, it was clear that this building was a columned hall which contained within the central room the bases for twenty columns and several large storage jars sunk into the ground. In the ancillary rooms, large quantities of imported ceramics and numerous iron artefacts were recovered. The shape and associated finds of the building suggest that it must have formed the economic and social centre of the entire settlement and it is tempting to see it as an ancient form of a 'majlis'.

The Australian Archaeological Mission intends to continue research at Muweilah for several more seasons. The finds of the 2000 season suggest that the site is of singular importance in understanding settlement dynamics during the Iron Age. It has provided the first evidence for social hierarchies and provided an insight into the mechanisms by which these were maintained.

Besides the work reported upon in the two previous items, two other overseas archaeological teams worked in Sharjah during the last season. One, a British team directed by Carl Phillips, continued work at the major settlement site at Kalba, which has produced evidence of continuous settlement for a period of at least 2000 years, from as early as 2500 BC. The earliest levels of the site have yet to be reached.

A summary of work by the second team, from Spain, at Al Thuqaibah, follows, and is adapted from the preliminary report submitted to the Sharjah Directorate of Antiquities.

Between 13th February and 10th March 2000, a Spanish team from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, led by Prof. J.M. Cordoba continued studies in the Al-Thuqaibah area, on the Madam plain, not far from Jebel Buhays, and the site of a major Iron Age settlement.

The work included both excavations and a continuation of geographical surveys carried out in previous seasons, utilising both geo-magnetic and electro-magnetic methods.

The excavations included several soundings in an area outside the protective fence around the site. These produced evidence of walls, probably a new house, which has provisionally been dated to the second phase of the village. Numerous late Iron Age II period potsherds and stone objects were also recovered.

Stratigraphical soundings inside the complex formed by houses H1 & H2 have permitted confirmation, in principle, of the different typologies of Phases I and II at Al-Thuqaibah, which appears to have a greater extent of stratigraphy than any other settlement of the period in south-eastern Arabia.

(The following review, by Peter Hellyer, summarises some recent fieldwork by the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, ADIAS, and C14 dating results. See Page 7 for a report on the dating of ceramics from two sites on the island of Abu Dhabi).

As part of continuing work to investigate the evolution of the shorelines of Abu Dhabi over the past few thousand years, along with evidence for changes in sea levels, Professor Graham Evans of Southampton University and Dr. Tony Kirkham paid visits to Marawah, Balghelam and al-Aryam (Bu Khushaishah) islands in mid-November 1999, and also carried out studies under the aegis of ADIAS on the shoreline to the north east of Abu Dhabi. As part of their work, they also visited several Qasasir (rock outcrops) in the shallow lagoon between al-Aryam and Futaisi.

Their investigations confirmed that Marawah has the most complete sequence of Pleistocene and Holocene geology yet recorded anywhere in the Arabian Gulf. Fossil corals recorded on Marawah have not been identified anywhere else in the region.

The research has been of considerable use to ADIAS in terms of understanding the evolution of the shoreline and coast over the last few thousand years. Clear evidence has been found of a higher sea level, approximately 80 cm. higher than the present, around 4,000 years ago, while studies on Marawah have also showed that the shape of the island has changed considerably over the same period as a result of changes in shorelines and the infilling of bays and inlets.

Evidence was also found on Marawah and on the Qasasir of the former presence of forests of large mangrove trees, whose fossilised root casts were identified on the surface of wave-cut platforms.

The results of this work have helped in the interpretation of archaeological sites on Marawah, in particular their location. During the examination of the Qasasir, groups of small cairns were identified on the top of three of the outcrops. No sites of this type had previously been identified by ADIAS anywhere in the coast and islands of Abu Dhabi.

Further work was then undertaken by ADIAS in the area in late December, directed by the ADIAS Academic Director Dr. Geoffrey King. The short season of work showed that four of the Qasasir between al-Aryam and Futaisi contain a total of 36 individual small cairns, three in groups of 8, 10 and 17, and one single cairn. There are also a number of water catchment systems, comparable to that found on a small Qassar in the Dabb'iya area.

The initial conclusion was that all of the cairns were man-made, although in the absence of any pottery or other finds nearby, it was impossible to suggest a date. Although small, it seemed possible that they might represent pre-Islamic graves. A test excavation of the largest cairn showed that it was certainly man-made, but that there was no burial, and it was not possible to determine its purpose. Further work is planned at a later date, to see if the reason for their construction can be established. The discovery of the cairns represents an interesting addition to knowledge of the archaeology of Abu Dhabi. Of particular interest is the fact that they are all a considerable distance away from areas of possible settlement.

During the process of the December work, significant new data was also gained on the pattern of settlement on the al-Aryam / Bahrani group of Abu Dhabi's offshore islands.

With the permission of Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a survey was first undertaken on the northern and western coats of al-Aryam. Two groups of sites were identified, one a collection of four shell middens, of probable Late Islamic date, and the other the remains of a large Late Islamic village site on the eastern side of al-Aryam, overlooking the lagoon. Pottery from the village suggests occupation from the 17th or 18th Centuries until the early 20th Century.

One discovery at the site was the presence of a number of shells of the large edible marine gastropod Terebralia palustris, which now survives in the UAE only on the East Coast, at Khor Kalba and Khor Fakkan. Terebralia is well-known from archaeological sites in the northern Emirates, from sites ranging in date from the 1st Millennium AD back to the Late Stone Age, but has never before been reported from sites in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It is also very rare for Terebralia to be found on Islamic sites, an indication, perhaps, that it was over-exploited by the former coastal inhabitants of the Emirates.

Studies into the distribution and dating of Terebralia in the UAE are currently being carried out by ADIAS environmental archaeologist Mark Beech and by Gary Feulner, Chairman of the Dubai Natural History Group, and the discovery of the species on al-Aryam is a major extension of its previously-known range.

It is not possible,. however, to determine whether the Terebralia were collected locally, or whether they were imported to al-Aryam from further afield.

Following completion of the work on al-Aryam, a preliminary visit was also made to the western shoreline of the island of al-Bahrani. A total of four sites from the Late Islamic period were identified, including an area of occupation, although the extent of the site was noticeably less than at the al-Aryam village site. A preliminary interpretation is that the al-Aryam village was the major centre of occupation in and around the lagoon between the three islands. Further work is planned.

The results of the work are not dramatic, but show, once again, that there are still many archaeological sites on the coast and islands of Abu Dhabi that have yet to be recognised.

Logistic support for the onshore work was provided by the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, ADCO, while Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed and Sheikh Surour bin Mohammed granted permission for work to be undertaken on Marawah, al-Aryam and Balghelam, respectively.

Surveys by ADIAS on the coast and islands of Abu Dhabi have identified a large number of sites characterised by rectangular stone-lined hearths, or by low, roughly circular, mounds with evidence of burnt stone on the top and evidence of ash below.

These hearths, the vast majority of which have been identified on islands, have been found both in small groups of five or less, and in larger grouping.. The two largest yet identified are on Balghelam (over 30) and on Marawah (a group of more than 150 at Site MR-9).

Dating of the hearths has proved in the past to be problematical. In some cases, Late Islamic pottery has been found in the vicinity - on Balghelam, for example - while in others, as on Marawah and Rufayq, pottery from the early 1st Millennium AD has been identified in the area. A few hearths of this type identified on the island of Ghanadha in the early 1980s by a team from the Department of Antiquities and Tourism in the Diwan of the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region were assigned an Iron Age date. On Marawah, dating of a hearth from MR-9 undertaken by ADIAS last year provided a date of between 320-200 BC.

Further study of these hearths was clearly necessary in order to assess their age, or their range of ages. In order to permit this, carbon samples were taken in early 1999 from the main groups of hearths on Balghelam and Marawah, and were submitted to the radiocarbon laboratory of the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, SURRC, at Scotland's University of Glasgow. The results provide important new evidence on patterns of occupation on Abu Dhabi's islands.

Four samples were taken from hearths on Balghelam. Of these, one, at Site BG 5/6, produced a calibrated radiocarbon date of 2100 +/- 170 BC, i.e. around the beginning of the Second Millennium BC, 4,000 years ago. Pottery from the Barbar period in Bahrain, of roughly the same date, has also been recovered in the area.

Of the other three Balghelam hearths, one from Site BG-3 produced a date of 595 +/- 195 BC, and two more from Site BG-5/6 produced dates of 1705 +/- 175 BC and 580 +/- 180 BC.

Five samples were taken from hearths at Site MR-9 on Marawah. These produced calibrated dates of 2080 +/- 200 BC, 600 +/- 200 BC, 300 +/- 100 BC, 250 +/- 150 BC and 260 +/- 130 AD.

Together, these indicate that the hearth sites were used in the following periods:
Late Umm al-Nar / early Wadi Suq period (c. 2100 BC to 1700 BC), the late Iron Age, (c. 600 - 580 BC), the 'Hellenistic' period (c. 250 BC) and the late pre-Islamic period ( c. 175 BC).

The results show that the simple, but effective, technology represented by these hearths was not only used over a very long period, but extended back much further than had been suspected, to around 2,000 BC, or 4,000 years ago. Use is also suspected to have extended into the Islamic period, although as yet there are no C14 dates to confirm this. Further samples have been taken for dating from other groups of hearths on the island of Rufayq. Results are expected later this year.

ADIAS Academic Director Dr. Geoffrey King comments: " The coast of the UAE was known to Classical authors like Strabo as the land of the Ichthyophagi, the fish-eaters. Increasingly archaeology is giving concrete form and chronological evidence, based on Carbon 14 (C14) analysis, to date the great antiquity of the fishing tradition in the economy of the coast. The quality and quantity of the fish and shell-fish in the waters of the Gulf is such that in all periods since very ancient times, the harvesting of the sea has persisted by man using technologies which survived down to the onset of the modern oil period. Indeed, some older inhabitants of the UAE still know exactly how to use the stone-lined fish baking hearths of a type that we now know were in use at least as early as 4000 years ago.

This is supported by the new C14 results, which show that small stone-lined hearths for baking fish have continued in use and virtually unchanged since very ancient times through the Islamic period.

This new evidence should be seen against ADIAS's broader archaeological research in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi over the past decade which has found very widespread evidence of Late Stone Age settlements and smaller sites, concentrated mainly on the islands off the coast. These have been dated so far principally by finely-made stone tools and weapons and sometimes ceramics of types known elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf and Iraq, and all dated to the Late Stone Age, about 5000 BC. There are also a very large number of sites which are dated by pottery to the Later Islamic period, from about 15th-16th C. These are very widespread in the coastal region of Abu Dhabi.

All of this is now quite well known in terms of UAE archaeology but the new data provided by the C14 results from Balghelam and Marawah offers an entirely new range of dating for occupation on the islands off the Abu Dhabi coast.

The Carbon 14 analysis by the SURRC has been applied to burnt ash and wood samples taken from archaeological sites on the islands of Marawah, west of Abu Dhabi, and of Balghelam, east of Abu Dhabi which hitherto have lacked any obvious means of dating such as ceramics or flints. The C14 results, however, offer a whole new range of dating that demonstrates settlement on these islands across a considerable period of time.

The results are of great interest as they represent evidence of periods which have been markedly absent in Abu Dhabi coastal archaeology so far. It is only the use of C14 analysis that has allowed us to recognise the extent of human activity during these periods, although further data is now becoming available as a result of the study of the pottery assemblages from a number of the sites.

These results indicate a far broader range of dating for the Abu Dhabi islands than hitherto suspected.