Excavations at ed‐Dur (Umm al‐Qaiwain, U.A.E.)

The present article proposes an examination of the human terracotta figurines found during the course of eight archaeological seasons carried out by a Belgian team at the coastal site of ed‐Dur in the Emirate of Umm‐al‐Qaiwain. Since most fragments lack a secure archaeological context, the figurines will be studied mainly in comparison with similar data occurring at other contemporary sites throughout the Gulf and Mesopotamia. We shall see that the ed‐Dur figurines appear mostly to be isolated cases coming from abroad instead of objects playing a prominent part in local religious or ritual beliefs.

Section: Figurinementioning

confidence: 98%

The terracotta figurines from ed‐Dur (Umm al‐Qaiwain, U.A.E.): the human representations

Daems

2004

“…Although the style of the ed‐Dur bowl is somewhat naïve and comparisons should therefore be considered with caution, the peculiar bulbous way in which the horses’ noses are fashioned does present a striking parallel with the horse‐shaped spouts on bronze vessels from ed‐Dur and Mleiha (Haerinck, : pls. 93, 116–117; Jasim, Uerpmann & Uerpmann, : 130) (Fig.…”

Section: Concluding Remarks On Date and Provenancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A bronze vessel with a horse spout from a tomb at ed‐Dur (after Haerinck, : pls. 93 & 117) [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”

Section: Concluding Remarks On Date and Provenancementioning

confidence: 99%

A late pre‐Islamic bowl with Levantine‐inspired decoration from ed‐Dur (UAE)

Overlaet

Yule

2018

Around 1977 the British engineer Peter Hudson found a corroded copper alloy bowl during a walk c.100-150 m south-east of the ed-Dur fort in Umm al-Qaiwain. Ed-Dur is one of the largest and most extensively explored sites along the UAE Gulf coast. Its main occupation dates from the late first century BCE to the early second century CE (PIR, Période préislamique récente, C). After cleaning, the bowl showed profuse engraved and repoussé decoration. It is compared with Levantine bowls from Nimrud, with several unprovenanced "South Arabian" bowls and with excavated bowls from the UAE and Oman. Although the bowl's iconography copies familiar themes from Early Iron Age Levantine bowls, the data suggest a much later, local production. The bowl is attributed to the late pre-Islamic period (PIR), phases A to C (third century BCE-early second century CE).

“…Ed-Dur is a coastal site in the United Arab Emirates covering as much as 800 ha, although occupation within that area was probably a patchy mixture of tombs and low-density settlement (292). There are some traces of much earlier settlement, but the main site appeared in the late first century BC or the first century AD and achieved its maximum extent during the first and early second centuries AD (293). Amongst the grave goods the site has yielded plentiful evidence of trade with the Roman world as well as with South Asia, Iran and Mesopotamia.…”

Section: Large Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The decline of eastern Arabia in the Sasanian period

Kennet

2007

This paper lists and reviews the archaeological evidence for the Sasanian period in eastern Arabia (third–seventh centuries AD). Much of the published evidence is shown to be either erroneous or highly doubtful, leaving very little evidence that is reliable. It is argued that the paucity of evidence in comparison to the Hellenistic/Parthian period indicates that this was a time of marked and continuing decline in the number and size of settlements, the number of tombs and the amount of coinage in circulation, all of which probably result from a population that was both declining in size and participating less in the types of production and consumption that leave discoverable traces in the archaeological record. This is in contrast to the historical evidence, which, although patchy, is stronger for the Sasanian period than it is for the Hellenistic/Parthian period. The argument for decline challenges some generally accepted historical views of eastern Arabia at this time, which see the region as undergoing a notable period of growth. In conclusion, some brief consideration is given to the possible causes of the decline.