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be arranged alphabetically at the end of the text asfollows:a) Books: Mauger, T. 1987. Bedouins of Arabia.

Alsagi Bookshop, London.b) EditedBooks:Goldberg,P.andIan Wihitbread 1993.

«Micromorphological Study of a Bedouin TentFloor». In: P. Goldberg, D. Nash and M. Petraglia(eds), Formation Processes in ArchaeologicalContext, pp. 165-188. Monographs in WorldArchaeology No. 17, Prehistory Press.

c) Journals: lewis, Roger 1993. «Paleolithic PaintJob" Discover, 14 (7): 64-70.

d) Dissertations: AI-Ghamedi, Abdul Kareem, 1983,«The influence of the Environment on Pre-IslamicSocio-Economic Organizations in SouthwesternArabia». Ph.D Dissertation, Department ofAnthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe,U.S.A.

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ISSN: 1319-8947

Cover Photo: An Ubaid site on Marawah Island (Abu Dhabi): view of stone structure.

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ADVISORY BOARD

1. Prof. Abdallah, Abdulgader M.

Dept. of Research and Development

Open Univdrsity of Sudan, Khartoum, Sudan

2. Dr. Alnaim, Nora A.

Department of History, College of Arts, King

Saud University.

3. Prof. Aouraghe, Hassan

universite Mohamed I, Faculte des Sciences,deprtament de Geologie, Morocco.

4. Prof. Bailey, Geoff

Department of Archaeology, University of York,

The King's Manor, York, UK.

5. Dr. Beech, Mark

Historic Environment Department, Abu DhabiTourism and Culture Authority (ADTCA), Abu

Dhabi, U A E.

6. Prof. Biagi, Paolo

Department of Asian and North African Studies

Ca' Foscari University, Venezia, Italy.

7. Prof. Eichmann, Ricardo

Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, Orient,

Abteilung, Berlin - Germany

8. Prof. AI-Ghabban, Ali I.

Vice-President of the General Authority forTourism and Antiquities, Saudi Arabia

9. Prof. Hassan, Fekri A.

French University in Egypt .Cairo.

10. Prof. Healey, John Francis

Department of Middle Eastern Studies School ofLanguages, Literatures and Cultures - Universityof Manchester, Manchester, England

11. Prof. Joukowsky, Martha Sharp

Brown University.

12. Prof. Kafafi, Zeidan

Department of Archaeology & Anthropology,.Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.

2 ISSUE No. 27 January 2013

13. Prof. Kahlawi, Mohammed

Faculty of Archaeology - Cairo University -

Egypt

14. Prof. Lardj, Abdul Aziz M.

Department of Archaeology -

University of Hail - Saudi Arabia

15. Prof. Magee, Peter

Department of Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College,

USA.

16. Prof. Maraqten, Mohammad Husein

Phillips - University, Marburg - Germany

17. Prof. Muhaisin, Sultan

Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Lettres,

Damascus University, Syria.

18. Prof. AI-Qmair, Abdullah I.

Faculty of Arabic Language and Social Studies

Qassim University - Saudi Arabia

19. Prof. Quachi, Mostafa

Sale - Kingdom of Morocco

20. Prof. AI-Saad, Ziad

Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology,

Yarmouk University, Irbid-Jordan.

21. Prof. AI-Selwi, Ibrahim M.

Faculty of Arts - University of Sanaa - Yemen

22. Prof. Sid Ahmed, Abbas

Department of Archaeology -

University of Hail - Saudi Arabia

23. Prof. Tairan, Salem A.

Faculty of Tourism and Antiquities - King Saud

University, Saudi Arc.bia

24. Prof. ViUeneuve, Francois Robert

Paris -

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

PAPERS4

• Palaeolithic Survey in Southwest Saudi Arabia: Methodology andPreliminary Results.

7Dr. Maud Deves, Dr. RobynInglis, Dr. Matthew Meredith-Williams, Dr. Saud AI Ghamdi,Dr. Abdullah M. Alsharekh,Prof. Geoffrey N. Bailey

Dr. Mark Beech• In The Land of The Ichthyophagi - Prehistoric Occupation of TheCoast and Islands of The Southern Arabian Gulf: A RegionalReview.

31

INDEX• A List of Published Papers in past issues. 49

ARABIC SECTION

EDITORIAL 4

PAPERS

• "Ta-Wr": Concept and Symbolic Significance in Ancient Egypt: An Dr. Sameer Adaib 7Archaeological Analytical Study of the Topography of the Site.

• Petroglyphs of Wadi al-Jifr, Sultanate of Oman: Meaning and Dr. Nasser S. AI-Jahouri 29Signification.

• Islamic Archaeological Remains in Suakin , Sudan. Dr. Abdul Rahman I.Saeed Ali 49

• Ghaibi Ibn al-Turaizi. Potter (8-9 Hijra Centuriesll4-15 Gregorian Dr. Abdul Alkhaliq A. Al-Sheikha 59Centuries): A New Insight in light of a Signature published for theFirst Time.

• Managing and Securing Archaeological Sites: The Prototype of Dr. Ahmad H.Abdulrahman 73Nauri in the Sudan.

SYMPOSIA AND CONFERENCES

• Report on the European Science Foundation Exploratory Workshop Dr. Remy Crassard & 89on the Neolithic of Arabia held in Lyon, France. Dr. Philipp Drechsler

Translated by Dr. Abdullah M.AI Sharekh

ISSUE No. 27 January 2013 3

A number of authors have pointed out how earlyhumans coming out of Africa may have reliedheavily on coastal resources to enable them tosurvive. Marine resources provide an importantregular and fairly reliable and predictableresource, which could be exploited and used asa buffer enabling survival. This is why someauthors have utilised phrases like "Cruising outof Africa" (Stringer 2000).

Pioneering work was carried out in theKingdom of Saudi Arabia by Dr Abdullah HassanMasry in his "Prehistory in Northeastern Arabia- The problem of interregional interaction"(1974, reprinted in 1997). In this ground-breaking study he discussed the presence in thenortheastern deserts of Arabia and its easterncoastline of artefacts associated with the earliestinhabitants of southern Mesopotamia. A seriesof archaeological excavations carried out byMasry in the early 1970's along the coastline of

In The Land of The Ichthyophagi - Prehistoric Occupationof The Coast and Islands of The Southern Arabian Gulf:

A Regional Review(1)

Mark Beech

Abstract: This paper provides a regional review of the prehistoric occupation of the coast and islandsof the southern Arabian Gulf. The earliest archaeological evidence for settlement in this region datesto the Middle Palaeolithic, between around 200,000 to 150,000 years ago. The site of Jebel Barakah,whilst located on the present day coastline of Abu Dhabi emirate's Western Region, was at that timea hill overlooking the eastern edge of the Sabkha Matti river valley, whichflowed northwards into theGulf basin, Inundation of the Gulf took place from around 18,000 years ago. The earliest radiocarbondates for occupation of the coast and islands of the southern Gulf suggest that human occupationflourished here by the mid to late 6th millennium BC These were Ubaid-related sites founded soonafter the filling up of the Gulf to its maximum sea level stand, nearly two metres above present ataround 6000 BC. The results of the author's excavations on Dalma and Marawah Islands will bediscussed. New evidence will be presented which demonstrates that the people of the southern Gulfformed a cohesive social group distinguishing themselves from the peoples of the central and northernGulf, Evidence for coastal activities during the Bronze and Iron Age periods is also discussed.

Introduction

"Archaeological research in the Middle Easthas evaded the poorly visible remains of the IndianOcean's populations of prehistoric fishermen,with the result that this aspect has remainedunknown ... For the Greeks, to whom we owethe most accurate evidence, from Herodotus tothe geographers of the Roman era, the coasts ofthe Erythraean Sea were inhabited by poor andbackward people with no interest in commerce,scornfully united under the name Ichthyofagoi,the fish-eaters" (Tosi 1986: 95-96).

Is this above statement still a fair descriptionof the present status of research? Let us first ofall consider some of the major archaeologicalresearch carried out on the coast and islands ofthe Eastern Arabian seaboard.

New discoveries of Palaeolithic sites hasintensified over the course of the past two decades.

ISSUE No. 27 January 2013ISSN: 1319-8947 (pp. 31-48)

31

Mark Beech

the Eastern Province revealed the presence ofUbaid pottery. This indicated contacts betweenthe region and southern Mesopotamia. He alsodescribed the evidence for animal domesticationin a region which previously had not beensuspected to maintain settled populations.

Since Dr Masry's excavations evidence forcontact with the makers of Ubaid pottery hasbeen found throughout the Gulf including itssouthern limits. This has been interpreted asbeing a technological by-product of intensiveinterregional interactions, this material culture,or its ideas, spreading to east Arabia throughcontacts (Roaf 1974, 1976,2003; Oates 1977;Flavin and Shepherd 1994; Uerpmann andUerpmann 1996; Beech and Elders 1999; Beechet al 2000; Carter 2002, 2006, 2008; Carter andCrawford 2010).

There has of course been substantial progress inresearch on the prehistoric coastal communities ofthe western Indian Ocean since Tosi's statementin 1986. He himself, along with the late SergeCleuziou, undertook the so-called "Joint HaddProject", a mammoth undertaking working at Ra'sAl-Jinz and the Ja'alan area on the coast of theSultanate of Oman. They co-directed a number ofinternational projects sponsored by the Ministryof Heritage and Culture aimed at uncovering themaritime aspects of the Magan civilization, alongwith the beginnings of navigation and trade in theIndian Ocean, by piecing together the remains ofprehistoric fishermen scattered along the coastsof Oman. This project resulted in the publicationof a large number of important articles, as well asthe monograph "In the Shadow of the Ancestors:The Prehistoric Foundations of the Early ArabianCivilization in Oman" (Edited by Serge Cleuziouand Maurizio Tosi, 2007, published by theMinistry of Heritage and Culture, Sultanate ofOman).

In my Phd, entitled "In the Land of theIchthyophagi - Modelling fish exploitation inthe Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman from the 5th


millennium BC to the Late Islamic period" (Beech2004), I attempted to adopt an inter-disciplinaryapproach to model regional interactions betweencoastal communities and their environment. Thegeographical framework for this study was theArabian Gulf/Gulf of Oman, with a particularfocus on the southern Gulf region and presentday coastline of the United Arab Emirates. Theprincipal data forming the basis for this studywere 23 archaeological fish bone assemblagesfrom sites located throughout the region. Thechronological focus was from the 5th millenniumBC to the Late Islamic period. This researchprovided for the first time a detailed insight intothe status of past fisheries resources in the regionas well as an insight into the fishing strategiesutilised by the early coastal inhabitants of theGulf during the course of the past 7000 years. Thework focused on the use of biometrical techniquesto enable size reconstruction of economicallyimportant fish groups. The overall aim of thisresearch was to consider the interactions betweenthe goals of the coastal societies, their fishingstrategies and environment. The thesis andsome of my subsequent work has examined thekey questions of relevance to the archaeologyof south-east Arabia, such as the degrees oftechnology available in different periods, thecapabilities of ancient prehistoric fishermenand their seasonal interactions with coastalenvironments (Beech 2002, 2003a, 2004, 2010;Beech and Al-Husaini 2005; Mery et aI2008), aswell as with the desert interior (Uerpmann andUerpmann 2000; Uerpmann et al2000; Cuttler eta12007; Kallweit et al2005, 2008).

,

,

,

More recently excavations have beenundertaken of an important Ubaid-related site inKuwait, known as site H3 located in As-Sabiyahon the north-east coast of Kuwait Bay (Carter2002,2006, 2008; Carter and Crawford 2010).This has provided a valuable insight into anUbaid-related coastal site in the northern Gulf. Itprovides some of the earliest evidence for boats

In The Land of The Ichthyophagi . Prehistoric Occupation of The Coast and Islands of The Southern Arabian Gulf: A Regional Review

•

Fig. I: Location of key prehistoric sites located on the coast and islands of Abu Dhabi emirate (Source: ADACH).Key: (1) .Jebel Barakah; (2) Dalma Island; (3) Jebel Dhanna; (4) Marawah Island; (5) Rufayq; (6) Umm AI-Nar;(7) Abu Dhabi International Airport; (8) Balghelam Island; (9) Ra's Ghanadha.

in this time period, as well as for the deliberatepiercing of pearls for jewellery in the Gulf.

This present paper aims to provides an upto date regional review of the archaeology ofprehistoric occupation of the coast and islands ofthe southern Arabian Gulffrom the Palaeolithic toIron age periods. The geographic area addressedhere is confined to the present day coast andislands of Abu Dhabi emirate where the authorhas carried out extensive fieldwork over thecourse of the past two decades (Figure 1).

Jebel Barakah - a Middle Palaeolithic Site Byan Ancient River

, The earliest archaeological evidence forsettlement in Abu Dhabi dates to the MiddlePalaeolithic, between around 200,000 to 150,000years ago. The site of Jebel Barakah, whilstlocated on the present day coastline of Abu Dhabiemirate's Western Region, was at that time a hilloverlooking the eastern edge of the Sabkha Mattiriver valley, which flowed northwards into theGulfbasin. The site of Jebel Barakah first becameknown to science as the type section for the so-called Baynunah formation (Whybrow 1989).This geological formation consists of a series ofreddish sands,gravels and carbonates representing6-8 million year old riverine deposits dating to theLate Miocene. The Baynunah formation contains

ISSUE No. 27 January 2013

.')

a rich selection of fossils of mammals includingancient ancestors of elephants, giraffes, three-toed horses and antelopes, as well as reptiles,birds and fish (Whybrow and Hill 1999; Beechand Hellyer 2005; Hill et al. 2012).

The strategic location, topographic situation andgeology of Jebel Barakah is key to understandingits selection by the earliest prehistoric inhabitantsof the southern Gulf. They visited the site to exploitthe chert capping rock occurring on this hill onwhich they used Levallois-type technologicalmethods to knap and produce stone tools.

The presence of prehistoric lithics at the sitewas first noted by McBrearty (1993, 1999). Morerecent studies have provided clear evidence fora Middle Palaeolithic presence in the region(Wahida et a12008, 2009a,b). The artefacts comefrom five localities around Barakah. The fivecluster sites represent a single techno-typologicalindustry. Most artefacts were collected fromlocality BRKI (on the western side of the jebel),that lies between the sea cliffs and the first lineof ridges, some 40 m from the sea, which may bethe site described by

McBrearty. The presence of a Levallois flakecore, a Levallois point flake, two broken bifaces/hand-axes, and the centripetal radial or discoidform and the prepared Levallois technique

33

Mark Beech

Fig. 2: The author holds a bifacial centripetal corefrom the Middle Palaeolithic assemblage at JebelBarakah (top); a unifacial radial core found in-situ, with a one dirham UAE coin for scale (bottom)(Source: TCAAbu Dhabi).

of manufacturing flakes, place the Barakahassemblage in the Middle Stone Age (Figure2). The total absence of blade implementsfurther points to a Middle Palaeolithic industry.The Barakah material complements the recentdiscovery of Palaeolithic material elsewhere inthe UAE (Scott-Jackson et al 2009) and in Oman(Jagher 2009; Rose and Usik 2009), as well asthe material already known within the kingdomof Saudi Arabia (Petraglia and Alsharekh 2003;Petraglia et al 2009). The only problem witharchaeological material like this, as is the case ofthe majority of these sites, is that it is unstratified.


The tools are from the surface of an open-air site,not from a datable stratified context. -\Recent work at Jebel Fiyah in Sharjah, on

the western flanks of the Hajar mountain spineshows that early prehistoric people moved notonly along the coastline, but also along the edgeof mountain areas where they could tap naturalsprings and water supplies. Here, a rock shelteris currently being excavated by a joint team fromthe University of Tuebingen and the SharjahDirectorate of Antiquities, which provides theonly stratified Palaeolithic site known in theUnited Arab Emirates (Marks 2009). It hasseveral layers of stratified Palaeolithic layerswhich provide the first clear dating of the earliesthumans to occupy the United Arab Emirates.These are interpreted as relating to the twoidentified waves of migration of Homo sapiensout of Africa between around 100,000-76,000and 50,000 and 45,000 years ago.

Something to bear in mind, as stated earlier, isthe fact that that Jebel Barakah was not located bythe sea at the time it was occupied. Examinationof satellite images of Abu Dhabi's WesternRegion clearly illustrate the Sabkha Matti whichcan be viewed as an ancient river course flowinginto the so-called Ur-Schatt River basin. How dowe know the positions of these ancient rivers inthe Gulf? To some extent we have an idea aboutthe more ancient river courses (at least between6-8 million years ago) from the distribution ofLate Miocene fossil sites along the coast of AbuDhabi's Western Region. The discovery of bonesfrom hippopotamus, crocodiles, freshwatercatfish and turtle, provide direct evidence ofsome of these ancient rivers.

Another more innovative approach using 3Dseismic data to identify the ancient river coursesbeneath the Arabian Gulf is currently beingcarried out by a team from the University ofBirmingham (U.K.) in conjunction with the QatarMuseums Authority (Cuttler et al. 2012).

,In The Land of The Ichthyophagi • Prehistoric Occupation of The Coast and Islands of The Southern Arabian Gulf: A Regional Review

It has been suggested that early modernhumans were able to survive periodic hyperaridoscillations by contracting into environmentalrefugia around the coastal margins of the peninsula(Rose 2010). These early populations would haveundoubtedly exploited the freshwater springs andrivers available within the Gulf Basin.

Inundation Of The Gulf

,.

Inundation of the Gulf took place, however,from approximately around 18,000 years ago.The Gulf gradually filled up as the melting of theice at the end of the last ice age led to a global risein sea-levels. Various authors have attempted tomodel the inundation of the Gulf, based primarilyon simple bathymetric data (e.g. Lambeck 1996).Lambeck subsequently noted that " ... the Gulfis fairly shallow, at 12,000 years ago it waseffectively dry. You had this beautiful flat valleyfloor and river meandering down it, you candemonstrate that there were lakes and one thingand another. And my hunch is that these peoplecame up from the east and just migrated graduallyup the Gulf floor as sea level rose and then theyfinished up in lower Mesopotamia where they hitthe barrier from people coming down from thenorth and they sort of stayed there" (Lambeck2005).

Hopefully, the Birmingham/Qatar projectwill go some way to answering some of ourunanswered questions about the location ofancient river courses and lakes. They are usingseismic data provided by petroleum and marineengineering companies to model in 3D the precisetopography of the Gulf basin in proximity toQatar. This should provide a much more accuratepicture of the ancient landscape which the earlyprehistoric peoples of the Gulf encountered.Hopefully such work can be eventually extendedto the neighbouring countries to Qatar to providean even more complete picture of the lost worldunderneath the Gulf.

....-. The earliest radiocarbon dates for occupation


of the coast and islands of the southern Gulfsuggest that human occupation flourished hereby the mid to late 6th millennium BC (Figure3). These were Ubaid-related sites founded soonafter what is generally believed to be the fillingup of the Gulf to its maximum sea level stand,nearly two metres above present at around 6000BC. The key results of the author's excavationson Dalma and Marawah Islands will now bediscussed.

Dalma Island - The Discovery Of An Ubaid-Related Settlement

Dalma is an island located in the westernregion of Abu Dhabi emirate, about 80kms eastof the Qatar peninsula. The island is about 9 kmsfrom north to south (not taking into account its

Marawah Island--_ ..__ ._--_ ...,--Hd-201Se ~308P ~ MIU(~ .,1SUERC-f'2 S7SOt.~ -!.. MIUl (e. ~1 SIl)

~ I!I&?~ 4- ~1Rll(E$S) 1Hd·201S$ $4~ _j_ MRI ( C)

Hd.2Q1S5 6J14s74BP _._ 111,1 (WllpleA)

~1i"81~ ._..._ MR.\] (CC""""1 21

SueRc..1182~ __jj_ MRll (COII~lrl)-.-, ·L_-I . ~,.-4-- -M-35s.1~ MR?q-v.I(2)~ ,

~'2~+ .-. --t-----_ -+-MR9~sa)~

O>l.iI..tIOIS 2255%35BP I MR9 che..M)'() --M-"'''''''- MR' i'-' '''LI.-~ 1775:t458P ,i''''><'''''''''~-~ - I- ~--OZE·1M 1317:t488l> MR6.\ (Fl,L12)-I-

~ZE'lM! 1239H58P MM.I (fl. i.12)-'....-MR6.3(hb)~-NZA-a042 981ffi7SP

1l0000calBP eoooc.IBP ~ISP ~ 2000C.18P 0C;01BP

CIobboMld.s.te

Q.it.l.m.I.lsland

SOOOCnIBf> iSOOCillBP iOOOC~IBP 6SOOCn16P

Calibrnl~ d.~Ie-

Fig. 3: Radiocarbon dates for the earliest coastalsettlement sites in Abu Dhabi emirate, Marawah andDalma Islands (Source: ADIAS) .

35

Mark Beech

modem landfilled peninsula to the south) and is5kms from east to west. Its central hills rise toa maximum elevation of 98 m above sea-level.Dalma is a salt-dome island with a central hillyinterior of pre-Cambrian age. The island hasa modern population of around 6-7000 people.Dalma is known in the past to have had apermanent population which was made possibleby the presence of wells near Dalma town, themain settlement located at the southern tip of theisland. Around 200 wells are reputed to have onceexisted there, with freshwater being supplied toAbu Dhabi island until the 1950s.

The Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey(ADIAS) carried out an initial archaeologicalsurvey of Dalma island in I992 (King I998). Atotal of more than 20 archaeological sites wereidentified on the island, ranging in time from theNeolithic (Late Stone Age) to important earlytwentieth century buildings.

The earliest traces of human settlementdiscovered on Dalma island were identified atsite DAll, located within the former Abu DhabiWomen's Federation compound in Dalma town.Excavations were carried out in 1993-4 by anADIAS team led by Kate Flavin and ElizabethPopescu (nee Shepherd). Preliminary resultsof this work were published in a paper in theProceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies(Flavin and Shepherd 1994). In 1998 furtherexcavations were carried out at DA II by theauthor and Dr Joseph Elders. The ten day longexcavation in 1998 re-excavated the two trenchesexcavated earlier in 1993-4 by Flavin andShepherd, and confirmed for the first time thepresence of building structures at the site, as wellas providing suitable samples for radiocarbondating the sequence (Beech and Elders 1998,1999; Beech and Shepherd 200 I; Beech etal. 2002; Elders and Beech 1998). This workdemonstrated that just 1O-20cm below the baseof the trenches excavated in 1994 was an intactground surface. The 5x2m trench contained what


appeared to be half of a circular structure (Figure4). A series of postholes arranged in a semi-circlesuggested that some sort of 'arish-type buildingwas erected here. A summary of the work at siteDA11 is provided by Shepherd Popescu (2003).

In November 2001 some accidental damageoccurred to site DA11 due to the installationof a new sewage pipe system on Dalma island.The author, together with Dan Hull and PaulaWallace, visited the island and carried outrecording of the exposed sections within theirtrenches. These were drawn and photographed,and several charcoal and ash samples were takenfrom hearths

visible in the exposed section.

The DA 11 fish bones from the 1993-4excavation seasons were then analysed by the

Fig. 4: Site DAB, the Ubaid-related settlement onDalma Island: (a) trench excavated by the author in1998 showing the circular structure; (b) carboniseddate stones; (c) date impressions in mud-brick; (d)limestone bowl; (e) Ubaid potsherds (Source: ADIAS/.Dr Mark Beech).

In The Land of The Ichthyophagi • Prehistoric Occupation of The Coast and Islands of The Southern Arabian Gulf: A Regional Review

author as part of his PhD at the University ofYork, and subsequently published (Beech 2000,2002, 2003, 2004; Beech and Glover 2005).Work is currently underway on completion of thefinal publication on the excavations at site DAll.This will be in a volume edited by ElizabethPopescu and the author (Popescu and Beech,forthcoming).

This work provides important informationabout one of the region's earliest knownsettlements, as well as the earliest evidence forthe consumption of dates in SE Arabia. The twocharred datestones recovered from the 1993-4and 1998 excavations were radiocarbon datedto the late 6th-early 5th millennium BC (Beech1999; Beech and Shepherd 2001; Beech 2002;Beech et al. 2002).

Other important finds recovered from theexcavations included sherds of 'Ubaid pottery,painted and plain plaster vessel fragments,finely flaked stone tools, and a variety of shelland stone beads. Fragments from plaster vesselswere discovered which proved to be extremelyinteresting. Samples of the plaster vessels havealready been analysed in collaboration with theDepartment of Scientific Research at the BritishMuseum (Joyner 2001). The plaster vessels arediscussed in more detail below.

An additional interesting artefact was alimestone mortar. A very similar type of mortarwas found at Umm az-Zamul, deep in the desertinterior of south-east Abu Dhabi (Cuttler et al2007, Kallweit et a12005, 2008). Similar artefactsare also reported by Juris Zarins from Neolithicsites at the edge of the Rub al-Khali in Dhofar(Zarins 2001).

The animal bones from site DA II were studiedby the author (Beech 2000, 2002, 2004), andEmily Glover, a research fellow at the NaturalHistory Museum in London studied the marinemollusca from the site (Beech and Glover2005). These analyses revealed the presence of


domestic sheep/goat at the site, but most of thefaunal remains consisted of marine remains, withfish and shellfish predominating, as well as smallquantities of turtle, dugong and dolphin beingpresent.

Marawah Island - a Place for The Living andThe Dead

The island of Merawah lies around 100kilometres to the west of the city of Abu Dhabi,and is located just to the north of the Khor alBazm. To the west is the small island of AI Fiyah,to the southeast the island of Junaina, and to theeast the island of Abu al Abyad. It is around 15km north of the main coastline and about eightkm north west of Juna ina. Marawah is around13 kilometres from east-west and a maximum of5.5 kilometres north-south. The structure of theisland is formed from relict Pleistocene limestoneplatforms linked by Holocene (recent) sand andbeach deposits and intervening patches of sabkha(salt flats) (Evans et al. 2002).

ADIAS carried out a preliminary survey of thearchaeological sites on the island in 1992 (King1998). This identified a total of 13 major sitesranging in date from the Late Stone Age to LateIslamic period. Two sites, both located towardsthe western end of the island, were recognisedas being important Neolithic/Late Stone Agesettlement sites. These were designated as siteMRI and MRII.

Site MRI was briefly examined in 1994 byJakub Czastka who excavated a small evaluationslit trench across a long mound at the site. Thisidentified a stone wall within the mound, and asingle bifacially retouched flint arrowhead, typicalof the Arabian Bifacial tradition. Subsequently asystematic collection of flint artefacts was madefrom the surface of the site (Figure 5). The entirelithic collection from the site has now been studiedand is shortly to be published (Charpentier andBeech, in prep).

The site known as MR II is located in the

37

"Mark Beech

south-western corner of Marawah island. It wasoriginally described as consisting of a group ofseven cairns located 2kms NW of the modernvillage of Ghubba at the NW tip of a limestoneridge. These mounds were initially interpretedas pre-Islamic burial mounds. It was noted thatthey seemed to be circular structures/mounds towhich stones had been added over time. All thecairns were similar, made from mounded sandwith large (50-60cms; 10cms thick) and medium(20-30cm) slabs of local beachstone. The sitewas subsequently briefly examined by Dr JosephElders and John Martin in 2000 and 2003. A testsondage was made into one of the mounds, aswell as some surface clearance in order to clarifythe nature ofthe walls and layout of the structure.An initial hypothesis was that an apsidal shapedbuilding was in actual fact a "church", as its sizeand dimensions were at first glance very similarto the example excavated by ADIAS on the islandof Sir Bani Yas (Elders 2001). This assumptionsubsequently proved to be incorrect. Ash samplestaken during the 2003 season and two charcoalsamples from the 2004 season however providedradiocarbon dates which confirmed that the sitein actual fact dated back as early as the mid 6thmillennium BC. Occupation at the site lasteduntil around the mid 5th millennium BC.

In April 2004 ADIAS undertook systematicexcavations at MRll, directed by the present

..

IL~J

Fig. 5: Site MR1, an Ubaid-related site on MarawahIsland: selection of flint arrowheads collected fromthe surface of the site (Source: ADIASNincentCharpentier).

38 ISSUENo. 27 January 2013

author, who was at that time, ADIAS SeniorResident Archaeologist in Abu Dhabi (Beech etal 2005, 2008). The team also included: RichardCuttler and Derek Moscrop (BirminghamArchaeology, UK), Dr Heiko Kallweit (Freiburg,Germany), and John Martin (Carlisle, UK). Thesite, formerly believed to be a "church", has infact turned out to be one of the best-preservedexamples of a neolithic stone structure everexcavated in the United Arab Emirates. A singleroom (room I) was excavated in one of the lowermounds visible. This proved to be an apsidalended room with additional walls and roomsbutting onto it. The room had three openings intoneighbouring rooms or spaces.

A rich variety of finds were discovered duringthe excavations at MRII including an almostcomplete Ubaid vessel (Mery et ai, in prep).Other finds included plaster vessel fragments(discussed below), lithics, beads and otherartefacts, including two attractive buttons madefrom pearl oyster shell (Figure 6).

Our initial hypothesis concerning the site wasthat we were dealing with a settlement, consistingof a series of interlocking rooms, forming part ofa series of buildings. A human burial discoveredin Room I, placed inside but across the apparentdoorway was considered secondary to the initialdomestic occupation of the structure (Beech etal 2005). Subsequent analysis of all the humanbone material from Room 1 revealed howeverthat a minimum of at least five individuals hadoriginally been buried at the site (McSweeneyand Beech, in prep.). This throws into questionwhether the site represents some special sortof mortuary site where secondary burials wereinterred. Only further excavations may help toanswer this question.

,

Social Cohesion and Ubaid Interactions

Did the people of the southern Gulf form acohesive social group distinguishing themselves. from the peoples of the central and northern

"

In The Land of The Ichthyophagi - Prehistoric Occupation of The Coast and Islands of The Southern Arabian Gulf: A Regional Review

Fig. 6: Site MRll, an Ubaid-related site on Marawah Island. From top left, in clockwise order: view of' stonestructure (Room 1); adult male skeleton found in Room 1; pearl oyster buttons from Room 1; Ubaid vessel fromRoom 1(Source: ADIAS).

Gulf? A remarkable class of artefact not foundat other Ubaid-related site in the Gulf was thepresence of painted plaster vessels on bothDalma and Marawah islands.

At the site of MRll on Marawah Island alarge number of fragments of plaster vesselswere found within Room I.Most were plain,although some had traces of pinkish-red anddark grey paint on the outside of them (Figure7). Some were clearly pieces of quite largevessels with walls almost lcm thick. Therewere also some very fine fragments of plaster


vessels only 4mm thick.

Similar painted plaster vessel fragmentshave been discovered at the Ubaid-related siteof DAII on Dalma Island. Some of these havepainted black chevrons and lines on them, as wellas pink colouration (Carter, in prep.). Some ofthese fragments have been analysed by Dr LouiseJoyner (Department of Archaeology, CardiffUniversity), when she was formerly employedin the Department of Scientific Research atthe British Museum (Joyner, 2001). Her workdemonstrated that whilst more were manufactured

39

Mark Beech

Fig. 7: Painted plaster fragments from Dalma Island(top) and Marawah Island (bottom) (Source: ADIASIDr Mark Beech).

from local gypsum, some were also made of limeplaster.

The tradition of using plaster is, of course,known from the early Pre-Pottery Neolithicperiod in the Levant and Mesopotamia. It isfascinating that the peoples of the southern Gulffelt the need to manufacture such vessels andin particular, that the painted patterns on someof these apparently emulated the designs on theimported Ubaid pottery. This perhaps goes someway to supporting Masry's original hypothesisof inter-regional interactions, rather than the sea-faring merchants of Ur delivering their waresdown the Gulf.

Whilst Masry reported at Dosariyah thewidespread distribution of reed-impressionedlime plaster fragments, which he speculates werepossibly used to strengthen the interior faces of


reed-bundle walls round the settlement (Masry1997: 115), he did not identify any plaster vesselfragments from any of the sites he investigatedin the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Neitherhas such material been found elsewhere, e.g. atsite H3 at Sabiyah in Kuwait, where extensivearchaeological excavations were undertaken ofthe settlement structures.

Umm An-Nar - Copper Trade And CoastalConnections

The first archaeological excavations to becarried out in the United Arab Emirates were thoseby a Danish archaeological expedition in 1959.This work identified a large settlement site and acemetery from the 2nd half of the 3rd millenniumBC on the island of Umm Al-Nar (sometimes,incorrectly referred to as Umm an-Nar), just tothe east of Abu Dhabi island (Hoch 1979; Frifelt1991, 1995). Limited excavations were alsoconducted at the settlement site of Umm Al-Nar in 1979 (Al-Tikriti 1983). This site becamethe so-called type site for Umm Al-Nar culturewhich was subsequently identified as having adistribution from Ras Al-Khaimah in the north toJa'alan and beyond in the Sultanate of Oman, i.e.covering a large par1 of south-eastern Arabia.

The Al Ain Museum also carried out two shortseasons of excavation in 1982-3 on the islandof Ghanadha, some 65 kilometres north-east ofUmm AI-Nar. These demonstrated that the islandwas first inhabited in the 2nd half of the 3rdmillennium BC, showing that seasonal settlementsof the Umm Al-Nar culture were spread along thecoastline, and were not simply confined to UmmAl-Nar and Al Ain (A1-Tikriti 1985).

Afurther important site relating to Umm AI-Naris a site discovered by Abu Dhabi InternationalAirport by the Abu Dhabi Islands ArchaeologicalSurvey (ADIAS). This was first discovered in1995. Besides producing extensive evidence foroccupation during the Late Stone Age/Neolithicperiod (Beech et al 2004), the site was littered

In The Land of The Ichthyophagi- Prehistoric Occupation of The Coast and Islands of The Southern Arabian Gulf: A Regional Review

t(. ....\. •• • ••• \ ,.. \ . .-• ... ' ••• •..I

I !<. .."A~ ·fI ' -••_.

t-•••

with pottery some of which had parallels withHafit pottery from the earliest sequence at Hili8, but most of which dated to the Umm AI-Narperiod (De Cardi 1997). Two large stone-linedwells were identified at the site, which weresurrounded by a dense scatter of fragments ofUmm Al-Nar pottery. The topographic locationof this site is the key to understanding it. It standson the old raised coastline above the sabkha thatis closest to Umm Al-Nar, and may have providedthe water supply to this important site.

Occasional finds of Bronze age pottery havebeen noted on a number of other islands alongthe coastline of Abu Dhabi's Western Region(Carter 2003). It has been suggested that theseare the result of way stations for traders to orfrom Dilmun who were heading along the coast,island hopping, i.e. stopping temporarily to takeon board fresh water and food supplies.

Iron Age - Passing Camels And Caravans

Comparatively little evidence has beenidentified for the Iron Age period along the coast

Site Type

• FO':I~ISi1H

• Ard>oeolGgicai SiIM

and islands of Abu Dhabi. The only sparse dataavailable are the presence of cooking hearthsdated by radiocarbon dating of charcoal and ashto that period. These have been identified onthe islands of Marawah, Rufayq and Balghelam(Garfi 1996; Hellyer and Beech 2001a). Thesehearths are generally constructed of slabs oflocally available rock inserted vertically into thesandy substrate, forming circular, sub-circular ornear-rectangular shapes.

The largest known grouping of such hearths ison the island of Marawah, where site MR-9 hasin excess of 150 hearths. At Rufayq there was agroup of six fireplaces and raised sub-circularmounds at site RU-2, and in excess of twentyhearths, as well as other features, were identifiedat site RU-5.

Radiocarbon dating of some of these hearthsprovides the only evidence for securely datedoccupation on the islands west and north-eastof Abu Dhabi. The only other evidence for thisperiod are the burial cairns at Bitashar, a mesalocated a few kilometres inland from Jebel

Fig. 8: Map produced from the GIS system of Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority showing the distributionof palaeontological sites, archaeological sites and historic buildings along the coast and islands of Abu Dhabiemirate (Source: TCA Abu Dhabi/Landsat 15m 2002).

ISSUE No. 27 January 2013 41

Mark Beech

Dhanna, where some Iron Age metal weaponfragments were excavated (Vogt et al 1989). Notethat at least one of the hearths noted at Ghanadhawas also ascribed an Iron Age date of 2470 +/-100 BP (Al-Tikriti 1985).

An interesting phenomenon during the Iron ageis that marine resources seem to penetrate morereadily into the interior from the coast at this time(Beech, Hogarth and Phillips 2008). This may bedue to a combination of factors like domesticationof the camel, new trade routes opening up as wellas increasing population growth spurred by thedevelopment of aflaj systems in the oases.

Final Comments

A number of years ago Maurizio Tosi wrotethat" ... the conquest of the ocean has remainedone of the least comprehensible chapters inprehistory. Somehow archaeology has not yetdeveloped adequate research strategies in thisarea ... " (Tosi 1986: 94).

Archaeologists working in the region now havemany modern tools at their disposal. The adventof Geographic Information Systems' (G.l.S.)and computer technology means that it is mucheasier today to map and analyse the distributionof archaeological sites in any given region.There is an urgent need for the GCC countrieswhich make up the Eastern Arabian seaboard tocollaborate on the sharing of precise geospatialdata relating to their Historic EnvironmentRecord Systems. The location of sites and inparticular their elevation in relation to sea-levelis of great interest in modelling changing patternsof coastal exploitation in different time periods.Only by a greater degree of collaboration betweenresearchers will we successfully develop effectiveregional models of prehistoric settlement patternsalong the coast and islands of the Gulf.

Maps identifying palaeontological sites,archaeological sites and the locations of historicbuildings on the coast and islands of Abu Dhabiemirate are all documented within the Abu Dhabi

42 ISSUENo.27 January 2013

sites GIS database system managed by the AbuDhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA AbuDhabi). This is used as a management tool toensure protection for all key sites (Figure 8). Allnew major construction projects undertaken inAbu Dhabi require not only a construction andenvironmental permit but also cultural heritageclearance from TCA Abu Dhabi. This is carriedout through a procedure known as PreliminaryCultural Review (PCR). More details areavailable via the TCA Abu Dhabi website at:http://tcaabudhabi .ae/en/eservices/preliminary-cultural-review /Pages/ defau It.aspx

Much of the coastline of the Gulf is now undersevere threat by modern coastal development,dredging and the construction of artificial newislands, etc. If we do not act sooner, ratherthan later, much of the archaeology of the Gulfcoastline and islands will soon be gone. We willnot have any coastal sites left to protect unlesswe establ ish networks of marine protected areasalong the coastline of the Gulf (Hellyer andBeech,200Ib).

"

Archaeologists have a duty to provide anadequate Historic Environment Record Systemfor their region. Where such records exist theycan be effectively used in Integrated Coastal ZoneManagement (ICZM) strategies in the region.Too often the planners and developers are aheadof the environmentalists and archaeologists.There is a need to be better prepared so that wecan protect the important rich cultural heritage ofthe eastern seaboard of Arabia.

-I

,Acknowledgments

Thanks go to Professor Al-Ansary and DrAbdullah Al-Sharekh for kindly inviting meto participate in the 2nd Adumatu conference,"Man and Environment in the Arab World in the\ light of Archaeological Discoveries", Sakaka,Saudi Arabia from 4-6 May, 2010. Much of thework presented in this paper is directly a result of

. collaboration with a number of colleagues from

,,

,

In The Land or The Ichthyophagi - Prehistoric Occupation of The Coast and Islands of The Southern Arabian Gulf: A Regional Review

-,

the former Abu Dhabi Islands ArchaeologicalSurvey (ADIAS), the former Abu DhabiAuthorityfor Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and presentcolleagues from Abu Dhabi Tourism and CultureAuthority (TCA Abu Dhabi). Special thanksare also due to the following: Richard Cuttler,Vincent Charpentier, Sophie Mery, Joseph

Elders, Rob Carter, Heiko Kallweit and JohnMartin. I am also grateful to Dr Geoffrey King(former academic director of ADIAS) and toPeter Hellyer (former ADIAS executive director)for first encouraging my research interest in theprehistoric coast and islands of Abu Dhabi, theland of the Ichthyophagi.

Dr. Mark Beech: Cultural Landscapes Manager, Historic Environment Department, AbuDhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), P.O. Box 2380, Abu DhabiUnited Arab Emirates. Email: [email protected].

;U}:il r_':'101 ·'.J.?3 ",j-<ll ~I "'~ j>.U i:-'_Jl:LIlJt1 t.. 0~'lI4...foll...;,J" ~I I:u. r~:~

~.JAj .(~_y;:; <G.... 10','" ~1r,·"" ~) Lf~1 _r=>ll ~ ~l "J',! ~I.:u. 0~1 ~ "=.!lJ':Il,~ ~y.:J1 ;;:'WI ~ J.lo= )l:; ~yl dJ~0' 0\5 ,~yl ;.)t..)' ~UI .bJ1 ~ r.wl c?= ''';1CO,45.)-!~<G.... IA'" Jt1 1..1:;,1~ ~I 0~ t..l .~I c)ay>- 0' ~ ,JL.,.,:JI.1..",:;1" Lf~ Lf:.ul ,.,;;t.. Lf,,13~

~),I ~ 0' .J-"''') ·.J.?3 ~I "'~ j>.U Lf~ 0~1 r_':'101~l~y~1 ~I ~3' L.,_Y;:;

.1..1.<>~I ~1 ~I ,t".. tL;:;) <.S~ JJ-'""3-'-'-! ;~t".. ~t.:; ~~ ~I.JA ~Iyll ,:u.3 ',,)l,.ll Jt1d...."UI

.,;; .)-'....P.- 0' ..:;~ ~ t:;.; ~ l.}1~ ~. (r.w I 4,;k J-"> t.. u-c- L!-'y.." -,,_y' t L;:;) J-">3) ,,)l,.ll Jt1 L.,_Y;:; "\. • • <G....

0l5.....u-c- ~I 1~3 l5.....L.:<.. ~ I~ ~I cr.~ j>.L..~~ 01 ' .'- ;..c,~ ;U"I c)a.>-'-'..3 ';.3.>-"3U"- -'Lf..c,..L>J1_r=>l13Lfyjj+ll _r=>l1.,;;Y'> J)G.. 4.:b-UI ~),I ~ ;U"I~~ lL .~I <}wJ.b....j

Note(I) This paper was submitted to the seminar: "Man and Environment in the Arab World in the light of Archaeological

Discoveries 2nd Adumatu Conference, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia - May 4-6, 2010".

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