FAY‐NE15 — Another Neolithic graveyard in the Central Region of the Sharjah Emirate?

Abstract

The paper describes indications for the existence of another substantial Neolithic graveyard of the fifth millennium BC besides al-Buhais 18 (BHS18) in the Central Region of the Sharjah Emirate. Archaeological explorations in 2006 recovered skeletal remains of three individuals from a primary burial. Deposition of the deceased was similar to BHS18. All three were richly adorned with different kinds of beads found in the head and neck areas. A total of 949 finds of beads from FAY-NE15 are compared to the large complex of personal adornments from BHS18. There are slight deviations that might indicate that the two graveyards were used by different groups. Implications for the relations between the groups are discussed.

New Neolithic sites in the western al‐Hajar mountains

“…/7) was found on the surface of QA 6, the only non‐lithic artifact there. This most elaborate of the shell beads has parallels in 5th millennium BC materials at FAY‐NE15 (Kutterer & De Beauclair, : 141, fig. 14).…”

“…/5); a popular bead type, it has parallels stretching from 7th–6th millennium BC to at least the 3rd millennium BC. It is also firmly rooted in the Neolithic tradition, with abundant finds from the burial sites of Buhais 18 (De Beauclair, : 146) and FAY‐NE15 (Kutterer & De Beauclair, : table 1, fig. 8), as well as Akab Island (Méry, : fig.…”

“…/1) finds parallels in Neolithic materials from 5th and early 4th millennium BC SWY‐2 (Charpentier et al, : 33, fig. 10) and FAY‐NE15 (Kutterer & De Beauclair, : 139). Two tubular beads were of the Akab type, characterized by a double‐angled distal perforation.…”

Neolithic cremation in south‐east Arabia: archaeological and anthropological observations at FAY‐NE10 in the Emirate of Sharjah (UAE)

“…The nearest location, where a large enough pyre may have been set up, would have been the area of the Late Neolithic site and burial ground of FAY‐NE15. There, our excavations in 2006 and 2010 revealed remnants of an eroded fifth‐millennium BC graveyard with primary and secondary inhumations and a contemporary campsite (Kutterer & de Beauclair ; Uerpmann M et al, in press). There are as yet no indications for sixth‐millennium BC activities.…”

Life at the end of the Holocene moist phase in south‐east Arabia — the Late Neolithic site of Jebel Thanais 1 (JTH1)

“…The discovery of a second, presumably widely contemporaneous graveyard at the north‐eastern tip of Jebel Faya (FAY‐NE 15) suggests that BHS18 does not represent a singular case. It is more likely that the area around the anticline was densely inhabited at least for part of the year, probably by different population groups that shared a common cultural background (Kutterer & de Beauclair 2008). During that time, the site of Jebel Thanais 1 located at the western flank of Jebel Thanais was also visited, as indicated by the radiocarbon date from fireplace 9.…”