The Social, Spatial, and Bioarchaeological Histories of Ancient Oman project: the mortuary landscape of Dhank

Abstract

The Social, Spatial, and Bioarchaeological Histories of Ancient Oman (SoBO) project has conducted three seasons of survey and excavation in north-western Oman. Focusing on third-millennium BC archaeological features, this project is unique because of the combination of geospatial survey and bioarchaeological excavation of mortuary monuments in and around the town of Dhank. Here we report our initial findings, define our survey area and techniques and discuss excavated funerary structures and associated radiocarbon dates from both charcoal and human skeletal remains. This report presents preliminary results that introduce this new project on the prehistoric mortuary landscapes of Oman and highlight the techniques the SoBO team employs to examine Bronze Age communities in this rural location.

Hafit tombs in ash‐Sharqiyah, Oman: assessing the accuracy and precision of Google Earth remote‐sensing survey and analysing their distribution in the landscape

“…Recently, numerous archaeological projects have investigated these structures and shed light on Hafit society, including surveys and excavations across the region (Kennet et al . ; Deadman , ; al‐Jahwari , ; Williams & Gregoricka ; Giraud et al . , ; Giraud & Cleuziou ; Giraud ).…”

If a picture is worth a thousand words…3D modelling of a Bronze Age tower in Oman

“…Umm an-Nar tombs are most commonly found, not along cliff edges, but in lower-lying areas (Giraud 2009(Giraud , 2010. The specifics of links between different tomb types, land, water and early agriculture form a topic of deep significance that warrants spatial analyses beyond the scope of this article (see Cable 2012;Cleuziou 2002;Deadman 2012;Harrower et al 2013, forthcoming;Williams and Gregoricka 2013). Yet even a qualitative understanding suggests that Umm an-Nar tombs and towers often appear together in water-rich areas, signalling the importance of agriculture, mortuary practices, monuments and monumentality in the rise of early complex polities (Cleuziou 2001(Cleuziou , 2007Tengberg 2003Tengberg , 2012Potts 1994;Yule and Weisgerber 1998).…”

Rescue excavation of a third‐millennium BC tomb at Al‐Khubayb, Sultanate of Oman

“…In 2011 Manfred Boehme introduced the term ‘Bat type’ for a specific group of transitional tombs found in the necropolis of Bat (Boehme, ). The most recent addition to investigated transitional tombs is from Kimberly Williams, in the necropolis of Al‐Khubayb, only 5 km from the tomb discussed in this article (Williams & Gregoricka, ). The tombs she designated as transitional blend Hafit and Umm an‐Nar elements and provided radiocarbon dates from charcoal and bone that places them directly between the Hafit and Umm an‐Nar periods (2013: 147).…”

“…The reuse of third‐millennium BC tombs in the Samad period is a widespread phenomenon. Among others, it can be encountered at Jebel el‐Emaleh (Benton, ; Potts, ; : 189), Bat (Döpper, , ), Al‐Khutma (Williams & Gregoricka, : 141–146), Adam South (Gernez, : 66–67; Gernez & Giraud, : 111), and Maysar (Weisgerber, : 92; Yule, : 388). The Samad‐period burials in reused third‐millennium BC tombs differ in some respect from contemporaneous regular burials.…”

“…The tomb is located 13 km to the north of the modern town of Dhank, about 5 km to the north‐east of the Al‐Khubayb necropolis (Fig. ), one of four necropolises around Dhank, currently investigated by the Social, Spatial, and Bioarchaeological Histories of Ancient Oman (SoBO) project (Williams & Gregoricka, ). It is situated on a wadi terrace at the entrance to a pass through the first mountain ridge of the Hajar mountains, together with four other tombs (Fig.…”