Buried far from home: Sasanian graves at Jebel al‐Emeilah (Sharjah, UAE)

Abstract

Human skeletons were recovered in two unmarked burials blown to the surface of a dune south‐west of Jebel al‐Emeilah in the Central Region of the Sharjah Emirate (UAE). Sasanian stamp seals were found associated with one of the individuals. A bone fragment of this individual provided a direct radiocarbon date placing it in the Middle Sasanian period. With the aid of strontium isotope analysis it was possible to determine that the two individuals were immigrants to the area that is now part of the UAE.

Fulayj: a Late Sasanian fort on the Arabian coast

“…30; Potts 1997; Benton & Potts 2010; Jasim 2012: 263; Düring & Olijdam 2015: 102–103; Kutterer et al . 2015). Other unpublished examples have recently been revealed 15km inland from the coast at Liwa, north of Sohar, and the Wadi al-Arad, where as many as 50 tombs are located (S. Laurenza pers.…”

Oman and late Sasanian imperialism

“…In later sources we read anecdotes about traders from around the Gulf coming to Oman: a good example is the ancestor of the famous early Islamic Muhallabid family Abū Ṣufra, who in polemical accounts is said to have been a Persian Zoroastrian weaver from Kharg originally called Baskhara b. Bahbūdhān, who migrated to Oman (Ibn Rusta, : 205–206; Hinds, : 12–13, n. 10; Morony, –2002: 33–34). Radiocarbon and strontium isotope analysis from two burials in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates has now confirmed that during the Sasanian period some migrants did come to south‐east Arabia from other parts of the Sasanian empire, although in what capacity we can only guess (Kutterer, Jasim, & Yousif, ). Otherwise, although certainly not implausible, the trade argument seems to be based on thinly evidenced claims for the prosperity of Gulf merchant activity in late antiquity, together with a historiographical trend that sees empires as the geo‐political manifestations of economic systems .…”

Neolithic nomadism in south‐east Arabia — strontium and oxygen isotope ratios in human tooth enamel from al‐Buhais 18 and Umm al‐Quwain 2 in the Emirates of Sharjah and Umm al‐Quwain (UAE)

“…This information is based on a geological map of the Northern Emirates produced by the British Geological Survey (Ministry of Energy, Petroleum and Minerals, ). A detail of this map for the area under discussion is found in A. Kutterer, Jasim and Yousif (). The plain east of BHS18 has a slight inclination from east to west, which causes water from the mountains to flow across the plain, both on the surface and underground.…”

“…For the respective area, A. Kutterer et al. (: 47–50) have already discussed the related problems. As a pragmatic solution, it was decided to use the wood of trees as a source for securely localised 87/86 Sr ratios.…”

“…By shedding their leaves and branches, they transfer their Sr content to the surface soils, where it is taken up by lower plants and then by plant‐eaters that distribute it further with their dung or by being eaten by carnivores or humans. The data from the interior of the UAE provided a pattern of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios, which could be evaluated not only in order to identify ‘foreigners’ (Kutterer A. et al., ), but also for the understanding of potential seasonal movements of people within the respective landscape.…”