Seminar for Arabian Studies

Abstracts - 2008 Seminar

The 2008 Seminar for Arabian Studies will be held at the British Museum in London from Thursday 24th - Saturday 26th July 2008.

All lectures will be held in the Stevenson Auditorium in the Clore Centre within the British Museum.

This is supported by the MBI Al Jaber Foundation. Visit their website at: www.mbifoundation.com and read details about their sponsorship at http://www.mbifoundation.com/mbi-foundation-projects/seminar-for-arabian-studies.html

Booking Form - click here for a booking form to register for the 2008 Seminar for Arabian Studies, and to book your accommodation in Schafer House. Please don't delay in making your booking as only a limited number of rooms are available.

Final Programme for the 2008 Seminar.

Download a Poster form - please email us this form as soon as possible if you plan to present a poster at the 2008 Seminar. Posters will be placed in screens approximately 1.8m tall and 1m wide so please size your presentation accordingly.

All the abstracts below are for papers which are to be orally presented at the Seminar, except where otherwise stated.

View the Abstracts for Posters which have been already offered.

ABSTRACTS

THURSDAY 24 JULY 2008

09:00 - 9:45: Initial Registration

09:45: Welcome - Neil MACGREGOR (Director, British Museum, UK)

SESSION 1 - Early Prehistory
Chair: Robert Carter

09:55 – HDOR 419 site: Early to Mid-Holocene occupations in Wadi Wa‘shah (Hadramawt, Yemen), Remy CRASSARD (Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, U.K.), Hussein AL-‘AIDARUS (GOAM, Say'un, Yemen), Khalid AL-HAJ (GOAM, Say'un, Yemen), Gaëlle BRULEY-CHABOT (INRAP, Pantin, France), Vanessa LÉA (CNRS, Toulouse, France) & Céline THIÉBAUT (CNRS, Aix-en-Provence, France).

Contact details:

Crassard, Rémy (rcrassard@prehistoricyemen.com)
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, The Henry Wellcome Building, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, UK

Al-‘Aidarus, Hussein
(GOAM, Say'un, Yemen)

Al-Haj, Khalid
(GOAM, Say'un, Yemen)

Bruley-Chabot, Gaëlle
(INRAP, Pantin, France)

Léa, Vanessa
(CNRS, Toulouse, France)

Thiébaut, Céline
(CNRS, Aix-en-Provence, France).

Biographies:
Dr. Rémy Crassard is a research fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK. His research interests are the cultural evolution and development of the lithic industries in the Arabian Peninsula during the Upper Pleistocene and the Early/Mid-Holocene.
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/actions-france_830/archeologie_1058/les-carnets-archeologie_5064/afrique-arabie_5068/yemen-jawf-hadramawt_18776/prehistoire-du-hadramawt_61293.html

Hussein al-Aydarûs is an archaeologist and official representative of the General Organization for Antiquities and Museum in the Hadramawt region (Ministry of Culture, Say'ûn, Republic of Yemen)

Khâlid al-Hâj is an archaeologist and official representative of the General Organization for Antiquities and Museum (Ministry of Culture, Sana'a, Republic of Yemen)

Dr. Gaëlle Bruley-Chabot is an archaeologist from the Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (Pantin, France) http://www.inrap.fr/

Dr. Vanessa Léa is a researcher at CNRS-TRACES (Toulouse, France) and specialist of the Neolithic period in Western Europe.?
http://www.univ-tlse2.fr/1191853803182/0/fiche___laboratoire/&RH=erech

Dr. Céline Thiébaut is a post-doctoral associate researcher at CNRS-LAMPEA?(Aix-en-Provence, France) and specialist of the Middle Paleolithic period in Western Europe.
http://www.mmsh.univ-aix.fr/esep/accueil/page-titre.html

Abstract:
The site HDOR 419, which was already partly presented during a former Seminar for Arabian Studies (Crassard & Bodu, PSAS 2004), was discovered in 2002 in Wâdî Wa'shah (Hadramawt, Yemen) during the operations carried out by the French Archaeological Mission in Jawf-Hadramawt (dir. M. Mouton, A. Benoist, CNRS). At that time, a preliminary excavation of three 6 m² soundings was carried out. Following the promising results of the C14 dates from the first soundings which all fell within the beginning of the 6th millennium BC, an excavation was carried out in January 2008 (35 m²).
The lithic material from HDOR 419 is characterized by an abundant bifacial production of tools. Three types of bifacial sequences can be distinguished. The first sequence includes a production of thin and long bifaces made on local tabular plaquettes. The second sequence, stratigraphically present for the first time, includes a production of thin and wide bifaces such as the ones found in great numbers at HDOR 538. The latter production sequence appears to be earlier than the first. Finally, a third bifacial production sequence can be characterised by the presence of many arrowheads at different stages of thinning. Fluted arrowheads are also present on site, though their production is not confirmed at HDOR 419 given that no channel flakes were excavated such as those found at the site of Manayzah (Wâdî Sanâ, Crassard et al. PSAS 2006). In addition, very few non-bifacial pieces were encountered in a stratigraphic context. Nevertheless some elements indicate a production of flakes.
In the earliest layers, a blade production sequence resembling the Wa'shah method of debitage (Crassard, PSAS 2008) was documented. The stratigraphic occurrence of the laminar Wa'shah method followed by the bifacial production sequences confirms the fact that the Wa'shah method is earlier and provides us with the occasion to date its use in the region.

10:20 – The Neolithic period in Arabia – the view from the lithic technology, Heiko KALLWEIT (Freiburg, Germany)

Contact details:

Kallweit, Heiko (heiko_kallweit@yahoo.de)
Astrid Lindgren Straße 10, D 79100 Freiburg, Germany

Biography:
After his PhD, Heiko focused on research on the Neolithic period on the Arabian Peninsula. His main research interests include lithic technology from the oldest evidence onwards, as well as the Palaeoecology and -geography in the Near- and Middle East. His latest research projects are research early man in the Middle East, in cooperation with the Senckenberg Institute in Frankfurt/Germany and Reconstruction of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Landscape of Qatar in cooperation with Birmingham University.

Abstract:
Based on the analysis of numerous lithic assemblages records from all over the Arabian Peninsula, several assumptions about the Neolithic on the Arabian Peninsula are discussed. Terms like 'Qatar B' and 'Qatar D' as well as 'Fasad Points' represent different chronological positions in terms of lithic technology or typology, suggesting a somewhat two-phased stage of the Neolithic. The objective of this paper is to discuss the problems mentioned above, such as subsistence strategies or chronological questions based on their analysis.
Lithic technology is an extremely valuable source of information as it is primarily the only handcraft activity of the Neolithic that there is material evidence of. As a result, a picture is drawn about the Neolithic tool inventory, particularly local peculiarities and general regionally shared features. The traditional two-phased model of the Neolithic is questioned, and further suggestions for the origin of the Neolithic groups in Arabia are provided.

10:45-11:15 COFFEE

SESSION 2 - Archaeology and Environment
Chair: Robert Carter

11:15 – Towards a history of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) cultivation: integrating morphometric and genetic analyses of modern varieties, Claire NEWTON (Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, U.K.), Norbert BILLOTTE (Développement et Amélioration des Plantes, équipe 'Génome et Sélection', CIRAD, Montpellier, France), Sarah IVORRA (Centre de Bio-Archéologie et d'Écologie - Cnrs/Université Montpellier II/EPHE, Institut de Botanique, Montpellier, France), Michel FERRY (PHOENIX Research Station on the Date palm and on Oasis Agriculture, Elche, Spain) & Jean-Frédéric TERRAL (Centre de Bio-Archéologie et d'Écologie - Cnrs/Université Montpellier II/EPHE, Institut de Botanique, Montpellier, France).

Contact details:

Newton, Claire (claire.newton@nottingham.ac.uk)
Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK & Centre de Bio-Archéologie et d'Écologie (Cnrs/Université Montpellier II/EPHE), Institut de Botanique, 163 rue A. Broussonnet, 34090 Montpellier, France

Billotte, Norbert (Norbert.billotte@cirad.fr)
Développement et Amélioration des Plantes, équipe 'Génome et Sélection', CIRAD, Avenue Agropolis, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Ivorra, Sarah (ivorra@univ-montp2.fr)
Centre de Bio-Archéologie et d'Écologie (Cnrs/Université Montpellier II/EPHE), Institut de Botanique, 163 rue A. Broussonnet, 34090 Montpellier, France

Ferry, Michel (m.ferry@telefonica.net)
PHOENIX Research Station on the Date palm and on Oasis Agriculture, Apartado 996, 03201 Elche, Spain

Terral, Jean-Frédéric (terral@univ-montp2.fr)
Centre de Bio-Archéologie et d'Écologie (Cnrs/Université Montpellier II/EPHE), Institut de Botanique, 163 rue A. Broussonnet, 34090 Montpellier, France

Biographies:

Claire Newton is lecturer in archaeobotany. Her main interests deal with the history of date palm based oases and oasis agricultural systems. This includes palaeoenvironmental and palaeoagricultural aspects, based on the analysis of archaeological macroscopic plant remains. Her archaeological fieldwork currently focuses on North Eastern Africa (Egypt).

Sarah Ivorra is an engineer (Ingénieur d'Études) in Biology with the CNRS. She is in charge of the Image analysis platform of the CBAE. She masters the principles of geometrical morphometry (Fourier Elliptic Transforms) and participates in research programs concerning plant domestication (Olive, Grapevine and Date palm).

Dr. Michel Ferry is a researcher of the French National Agronomic Research Institute (INRA). He is an international expert on date palm and oasis agriculture and has supervised research development projects in East Africa, Sahel and Middle East. He is presently in charge of the Phoenix Research Station of Elche (Spain).

Jean-Frédéric Terral is a University Lecturer in Biology, Botany and Palaeoecology at the University of Montpellier 2 (Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc). His main research interests include history and biogeography of cultivation, evolution of emblematic woody plants under domestication and palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic changes through quantitative ecoanatomical and morphometrics approaches.

Abstract:
The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) plays a central role in Middle Eastern oasis agriculture. Archaeobotanical data point to:
1) a possible origin of the crop in the Persian gulf - the most ancient date seed remains found (end-6th millennium BC) on the island of Dalma (U.A.E.) and
2) the beginnings of oasis agriculture in the same region during the 4th millennium BC, with a widespread development during the Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC).
Our aim is to gain a greater insight into the geographical origin, the time and place of domestication, the history of cultivation and the historical biogeography of the date palm, through the morphological study of archaeological date seeds. However, before we do so, we need:
1) to make sure that we can distinguish different Phoenix species from the seed,
2) to gain better a understanding of the present varietal diversity in the region and beyond.
We are therefore currently building a model, based on the joint morphometric and genetic study of modern individuals collected throughout the date palm distribution area.
The purpose of this paper is to present our preliminary results - based upon individuals collected in the Sultanate of Oman, in Tadmor oasis (Syria) and in Elche (Spain) - their significance concerning the recent history of date palm varieties, and their implications on further examination of archaeological material.

11:40 – Prehistoric Camels in South-Eastern Arabia: the Discovery of a New Site in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region, United Arab Emirates. Mark BEECH (Historic Environment Department, Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, U.A.E.) & Marjan MASHKOUR (UMR 5197 Muséum national d'histoire naturelle/ CNRS, France).

Contact details:

Beech, Mark (mark.beech@cultural.org.ae)
Historic Environment Department, Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), P.O. Box 2380, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Mashkour, Marjan (mashkour@mnhn.fr)
UMR 5197 Muséum national d'histoire naturelle/ CNRS, "Archéozoologie, Histoire des Sociétés Humaines et des Peuplements Animaux", Département d’Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, Bâtiment d'Anatomie comparée, 55, rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France

Biography:

Mark Beech. Phd Thesis (2001, University of York, U.K.). He has been involved in archaeological excavations and survey in the Gulf region for over 14 years, carrying out projects in Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. From 2002-2006 he was Senior Resident Archaeologist for the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey (ADIAS). Since June 2006 he has been head of the Cultural Landscapes Division within the Historic Environment Department of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Marjan Mashkour - PhD Thesis (2001, University of Paris I-Sorbonne): “Chasse et élevage du Néolithique à l’Âge du Fer dans la plaine de Qazvin (Iran). Étude archéozoologique des sites de Zagheh, Qabrestan et Sagzabad”. She is working on subsistence economy patterns in the Middle East. She has also trained in biochemistry for archaeological applications. Since her PhD she has been working particularly on the question of seasonal mobility of ancient societies and the upheaval of nomadic societies.

Abstract:
A remarkable new site consisting of a concentration of as many as 60+ camel skeletons has been discovered in Abu Dhabi's Western Region in the United Arab Emirates. Three camel bone samples from the site have been AMS radiocarbon dated by the Kiel Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory in Germany revealing that they date from between the late 6th millennium BC to the early 3rd millennium BC. The site is located in an interdunal area located to the south-east of the Baynunah Plantation, not far from the Ruwais-Habshan pipeline. The spread of camel bones extends over an area of about 100 square metres. Preliminary analysis of the bones suggests that they are from wild camels. Other archaeological finds associated with the camel bones include a finely made flint arrowhead. This important newly discovered site will provide a valuable opportunity to examine a large sample of wild camel bones during the later prehistory of south-eastern Arabia. Future detailed investigations at the site will throw fresh light on the early interactions between the communities inhabiting late prehistoric Arabia and the camel.

12:05 – Early Arabian Pastoralism at Manayzah in Wadi Sana, Hadramawt, Louise MARTIN (Institute of Archaeology - UCL), Joy MCCORRISTON (Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University, U.S.A.) & Remy CRASSARD (Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, U.K.).

Contact details:

Martin, Louise (louise.martin@ucl.ac.uk)
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H OPY, UK

McCorriston, Joy (mccorriston.1@osu.edu)
Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University, 244 Lord Hall, 124 W. 17th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210-1364, USA

Crassard, Remy (rcrassard@prehistoricyemen.com)
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, The Henry Wellcome Building, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, UK

Biographies:

Louise Martin is a zooarchaeologist whose primary research focus is the on prehistoric hunting and herding regimes, animal domestications and pastoralism. She has worked with a number of Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic projects in Jordan, Anatolia, and more recently with the RASA Project in Yemen.

Dr. McCorriston researches agricultural origins and development and paleoenvironmental conditions in the ancient Near East. Dr. Joy McCorriston are co-directors of the RASA project in Hadramawt, Yemen.

Dr. Rémy Crassard is a research fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for Human?Evolutionary Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK. His research interests?are the cultural evolution and development of the lithic industries in the?Arabian Peninsula during the Upper Pleistocene and the Early/Mid-Holocene.
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/actions-france_830/archeologie_1058/les-carnets-archeologie_5064/afrique-arabie_5068/yemen-jawf-hadramawt_18776/prehistoire-du-hadramawt_61293.html

Abstract:
Excavations at the site of Manayzah have yielded a small but important sample of animal bone in stratigraphic contexts dated to the 6th millennium BC. The site itself is significant for its excellent preservation of occupation surfaces and features at a rockshelter beside a spring in the upper drainage of the main Wadi Sana channel. Because there are no contemporary sites with comparable stratigraphic and material remains in the archaeological record of Southern Arabia, preliminary data from small scale excavations at Manayzah play a major role in the interpretation of cultural historical and economic strategies in the first quarter of the Holocene. A pilot analysis of the faunal assemblage at Manayzah so far suggests that the cattle and goats were present, and furthermore indicates the hunting of wild animals such as gazelle. In broader chronological perspective, this picture may provide evidence for early pastoral economies, but it also gives a baseline for the long history of cattle pastoralism in Southern Arabia.

12:30-13:35 LUNCH

SESSION 3 - Archaeology in Eastern Arabia
Chair: Mark Beech

13:35 – Archaeological investigations in Shenah, Oman, Mohammed A. AL-BELUSHI & Ali Tigani ELMAHI (Department of Archaeology, Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman).

Contact details:

al-Belushi, Mohammed Ali (belushi@squ.edu.om) & ElMahi, Ali Tigani
Department of Archaeology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O.Box 42, P.C 123 Al-Khoudh, Sultanate of Oman

Biographies:

Mohammed Ali al-Belushi is an Assistant Professor and the Head of the Department of Archaeology, Sultan Qaboos University. He is currently engaged in a number of research projects in the Sultanate of Oman, financed by Sultan Qaboos University. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Oman Studies.

Ali Tigani ElMahi headed the Department of Archaeology, University of Khartum, for several years and the Department of Archaeology, Sultan Qaboos University. He is currently engaged in a couple of research projects in the Sultanate of Oman, financed by Sultan Qaboos University. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Arts and Social Sciences.

Abstract:
Shenah is a small village located in Welayat Al Qabil in Al Sharqiyah Region in the Sultanate of Oman. It is located in a depression surrounded by mountains. Evidence of hydrological activities in the area is visible and is reflected by ancient dissected gorges and watercourses. This topographical setting has shaped Shenah area into a pan. The reason for this is the continuous water draining from the surrounding mountains, which brought alluvial soil forming Shenah's depression. Such a habitat with favourable conditions must have attracted man and other species. In essence, Shenah is an ancient oasis.
Archaeological evidence, on the other hand, indicates that man has occupied Shenah for early times. A variety of rock scenes testify for the antiquity of the area. In addition, a large number of beehive tombs of the Third Millennium BC over-tower the depression of Shenah. This investigation confirms that Shenah has the largest concentration of beehive tombs in the whole of Oman. The tombs are documented, studied and catalogued. A few samples of these tombs have been excavated.
This paper presents the results of a two years project that investigated Shenah site. The paper focuses on the beehive tombs, their locations, the building technique and material. Equally, the paper pays attention to Shenah's advantageous location in connection with natural resources in this part of Oman. The location furnished potential conditions for the development of oasis. Furthermore, the paper examines the natural and other agents that worked on the degradation of these beehives.

14:00 – Space Syntax at the Early Bronze Age sites of HD-6 and RJ-2 (Ja’alan, Sultanate of Oman), Valentina AZZARÀ (CNRS UMR 7041, Paris, France).

Contact details:

Azzarà, Valentina (Valentina.Azzara@malix.univ-paris1.fr & azzar.valentina@libero.it)
CNRS UMR 7041-ArScAn, Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, Université de Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne, 21 allée de l'Université - 92023 Nanterre Cedex, France

Biography:
Valentina M. Azzarà is a Ph.D student at Université Paris I. Her research primarily concerns domestic architecture and use of space in the Early Bronze Age Arabian Peninsula. Particular emphasis is given to the social organisation of households and arrangement of craft activities.

Abstract:
Primarily using the space syntax methodologies advanced by B. Hillier and J. Hanson in 'The Social Logic of Space' (1984), this paper focuses on the spatial configuration of buildings, and in-dwelling\open-space topological features. The analysis relies on an architectural graph-based method for evaluating social organisation by quantifying the relations between inhabited spaces, using field data from the Early Bronze Age settlements of HD-6 and RJ-2 (both located on the Ja'alan coast, Sultanate of Oman). Related archaeological and ethnographic information supplement these data sets.
The study sheds new light on the progression of a weakly-structured social system to a more complex tribal system, between the first and the third quarter of III millennium BC.
The results focus on relationships between the spatial layouts of buildings and socio-economic characteristics of interacting social groups. The investigation of architectural spaces at HD-6 and RJ-2, as well as the systems of activities occurring in them, indicates an egalitarian social organization, while demonstrating rigid segregation between families, which seem to strongly control their private space.
From an evolutionary perspective, comparing the two settlements suggests an evident progression. The analysis of the dwellings hints at regroupings of nuclear families indicative of an emerging clan-structured society.

14:25 – The Early Bronze Age at Kalba (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates), Daniel EDDISFORD (Institute of Archaeology, UCL, U.K.).

Contact details:

Eddisford, Daniel (d.eddisford@ucl.ac.uk)
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK

Biography:
I have worked as professional field archaeologist for a number of years. I am currently a graduate student at the Institute of Archaeology (UCL), pursuing my research interests in the prehistory of the Near East and Arabian Peninsula.

Abstract:
Kalba is located on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates. Evidence of the Early Bronze Age occupation at Kalba will be presented. This comprises information from the excavation site K4, a multi-period (Early Bronze Age to Iron Age) settlement, and contemporary burials. Evidence from the settlement, including architecture, pottery and stone vessels, will be examined alongside the contents of the tombs. Aspects of the site's economy will also be considered, with the objective of placing it in the broader Early Bronze Age landscape of the region. Evidence from Kalba indicative of long-distance trade between Mesopotamia, the Gulf, Iran and the Indus will also be presented.

14:50 – Funerary landscape as part of the social landscape and its perception: Three thousand Early Bronze Age burials in the eastern Ja'alan (Sultanate of Oman), Jessica GIRAUD and Serge Cleuziou (CNRS, France).

Contact details:

Giraud, Jessica (jessicagiraud@aol.com)
CNRS, UMR 7041, Équipe du village à l'État au Proche et Moyen-Orient, 21 allée de l'Université, F-92023, Nanterre cédex, France

Cleuziou, Serge (cleuziou@mae.u-paris10.fr)
CNRS, UMR 7041, Équipe du village à l'État au Proche et Moyen-Orient, 21 allée de l'Université, F-92023, Nanterre cédex, France

Biographies:

Jessica Giraud is doctor at the University of Paris 1. Her PhD is about Social Landscape in the Ancient Bronze Age, in the province of the Ja'alan. She was in charge of the survey in the Ja'alan (Oman) within the Joint Hadd Project. Now she leads surveys and soundings in the area of Adam (Oman).

Serge Cleuziou is Professor of oriental archaeology at University of Paris 1. He excavated, from 1977-1984, Early Bronze Age remains of settlements and graves at Hili (UAE). He also directed survey in Yemen (1986-1993). Since 1985, he's co-directing with Prof. M. Tosi, the Joint Hadd Project in the Ja'alan (Oman).

Abstract:
Surveys carried out during the last five years by the Joint Hadd project have allowed to plot over 3000 Early Bronze Age collective burials (Hafit and Umm an-Nar type) within an area of ca. 3000 sq. km in the eastern part of the Ja'alan province (Sultanate of Oman). These monuments have been plotted in relation with all other features of the natural and cultural landscape into a GIS system, and allow us to characterize and interpret in depth the location of the ancestors during a time span of over one millennium in the Land of Magan.
The spatial analysis of this extensive and rich funerary data allows studying in details the links between dwellings, land use (fishing, herding, agriculture, mineral resources) and the world of the dead as created by the Early Bronze Age society. A predictive model can be built that accounts for the intertwined location of these various types of data, in relation with social evolution and environmental change. It has already worked as an efficient tool not only for the interpretation of actual data but also for recovering new data and test the accuracy of our data base.
Out of this large set of data, we will present several meaningful cases of this evolution, and discuss their relevance for the whole Oman Peninsula. This integration of funerary and socio-economic landscape can retrieve some insights of the perception of their space by these populations. Interesting comparisons can also be traced with the modern perception of the Bedouins who have been our collaborators and informants during this long term study.

15:15-15:45 TEA

15:45 – A Bronze Age Settlement at Al-Khidr, Failaka Island, State of Kuwait, Lucie BENEDIKOVÁ & Petr BARTA (Institute of Archaeology, Nitra, Slovak Republic).

Contact details:

Benediková, Lucia (luciabenedikova@yahoo.com)
Archeologický ústav SAV (Institute of Archaeology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences), Akademická 2, SK-949 21 Nitra, Slovakia

Barta, Peter (peterbarta@chello.sk)
Dendrochronological laboratory Bratislava, Jura Hronca 23, SK-841 02 Bratislava, Slovakia

Biographies:
Lucia Benediková has been an employee of the Institute of Archaeology SAS (Nitra, Slovakia) since 1999. In 2007 she defended her PhD. Thesis, which concerned the late prehistory and protohistory of the northern Carpathian Mountains. In the 1990s and 2000s she joined the Turkish-German team's research in Turkish Thrace and the Turkish team's excavation on upper Euphrates.
Since 2004 she is a field director of the Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission to Failaka (Al-Khidr site).

Peter Barta is one of two principal authors of project of KSAM. Since 1998, he has worked in Turkey with Istanbul University, DAI Eurasien-Abteilung, and ARIT. In Slovakia, he is involved in chronometry of the Continental ?Bronze Age and dendrochronology. He is lecturer at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra.

Abstract:

The paper presents preliminary results of international research project of the Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission (KSAM) focused on the Bronze Age site Al-Khidr, Failaka Island. It offers a summary of stratigraphy and introduces a variety of evidence gathered during four excavation campaigns (2004-2008) by means of archaeology, environmental archaeology, mapping, survey, geophysics and GIS, paired with conservation, restoration and mass-tailored IT applications.
The Al-Khidr site is situated in the north-west of Failaka, on the shore of a natural harbour (Al-Khidr bay). The Bronze Age (Dilmun) habitation represent three mounds: KH-1 on the shore, and KH-2 and 3 within afenced area of a modern Islamic cemetery.
The fieldworks has concentrated on KH-1 (616 m2 excavated). This flat mound with settlements from the first half of the second millennium BC has yielded abundance of pottery, copper objects, Dilmun stamp seals, bitumen objects and lumps, knapped and ground stones, bone and shell objects. Unlike archaeobotanical finds, faunal remains and shells constitute a rich and representative assemblage.
According to stratigraphic observations, the site has two or three main occupation horizons. The uppermost horizon is represented by rectangular ground plans (stone foundations). However, understanding of individual buildings is complicated by massive rebuilding and refurbishments severely changing the layouts. The second horizon represents a mighty shell deposit and the third, lowermost horizon characterises irregular or oval ground plans best preserved in the south of the mound.
A preliminary interpretation views the oldest evidence on Al-Khidr shore as a group of seasonal fishermen shelters, later paired with or replaced by a massive oyster shells processing activity. The third, uppermost horizon settlement with rectangular architectures may represent a redistribution point located close to Shatt Al-Arab.

16:10 – The First Season of Kuwaiti-Polish excavations in As-Sabiyah, Lukasz WOJNAROWICZ (Poland).

Contact details:

Wojnarowicz, Lukasz (lukasz.wojnarowicz@gmail.com)
Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland

Biography:
I'm student at Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University. I'm member of Syrian-Polish Archaeological Mission on Tell Arbid since 2005 and of Kuwaiti-Polish Archaeological Mission in As-Sabiya since 2007. Currently I prepare MA about settlements in The Persian Gulf during 3rd millennium BC.

Abstract:
In 2007 the joint Kuwaiti - Polish mission directed by Prof. Piotr Bielinski conducted an intensive survey of burial sites within the As-Sabiyah region and same time excavated there three burial cairns.
All were erected of local stones. Two of them were rather small constructions with diameters about 6 meters and height less than 0.7 m, the third one was similar but rather oval. In the centre of these constructions we have found small single chambers, set on the ground level. All chambers were empty, filled only with loose sand and stones, except tumuli labeled as SMQ 30. There, we have found inside over 40 artifacts. Most of them were beads, in majority made of shells, but also four made of lapis lazuli, stone and one made of pearl. We have also collected large number of microbeads. Noteworthy is a pendant made of large flat piece of mother of pearl, decorated from the inside with dot-in-circle patterns. At the bottom of the chamber we have discovered badly preserved long-bones of an human skeleton, while the lower part of filling yielded splints of skull and teeth. Around chamber there was a ring-wall made of big unshaped stones.
Dating of the SMQ 30 burial at this moment can be based only on the occurrence of the well know dot-in-circle pattern engraved on one of our findings. It gives us as a terminus post quem date around end of the 3rd and beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. Disturbed human remains tends us to believe that it was a secondary burial. As to the rest of cairns no reasonable answer can be given.
During excavations of graves discussed above part of our team surveyed adjacent areas to the north, west and south. Westwards along edge of plateau we were able to localize more than 10 new stone tumuli, southwards on smaller rocky plateau we have found three stone cairns, while to the north towards the modern road we have found only one presumably artificial structure. All area covered by this survey measured about 120 ha.

16:35 – Bronze and Iron Age Cornelian Beads in Oman and Armenia: Exposition of different networks of circulation through technological study, Olivier BRUNET (Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France & French Archaeological Mission in the U.A.E.)

Contact details:

Brunet, Olivier (o.b2@laposte.net)
Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UMR-7041 and French Archaeological Mission in the U.A.E., Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, 21 allée de l'Université, 92023, Nanterre cedex, Paris, France

Biography:
Olivier Brunet is a doctoral student in the university Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He began the study on the cornelian beads during his Master when he worked on the beads from Hili N tomb (UAE). He excavates some sites in the Middle East, especially in the UAE and Armenia.

Abstract:
Indus and Little Caucasus are the two main areas producing cornelian ornaments in the Protohistory. A technological comparison between the material of these two areas has been done, which allows us to build a referential and to highlight the exchange of cornelian beads in Arabia and in the Middle East.
Cornelian, or red agate, has appeared since the Neolithic in the Omani peninsula and since the Bronze Age in the Indo-Iranian borderlands, in Armenia. This stone, be it in Oman or in Armenia, has essentially been found in graves because it has mostly been used to make ornaments.
This lecture offers the opportunity to present the results of on-going doctoral research. The purpose is to compare the different productions in Oman with each other but also with other further collections, such as in Armenia, from a technological point of view. The aim is to find the origin of these productions.
In Oman, cornelian becomes particularly frequent in the collective graves of the Umm an-Nar period, integrating the great network of exchange between Indus and Mesopotamia, through Arabia. In the 3rd millennium BC, workshops in Indus valley produced most of the cornelian beads found in Oman. In contrast, in the 2nd millennium BC, another network of exchange has to be defined. This study is focused on the material from the Hili, Shimal and Dhayah necropolises, and from tomb UNAR 1 in Ras al-Khaimah. This constitutes a corpus of more than 5000 beads.
On the other side of Iran, in Armenia, cornelian is no less present than in the Omani peninsula. Where does it come from? From Indus? The survey, organized by the author, gives us the opportunity of renewing the vision of the exchanges of this red stone in this part of Middle East, finding no less than 15 sources. The study is focused on 10 Bronze and Iron Age sites distributed all over the country, which represent a corpus of more than 1300 beads.
A technological study allows us to observe distinct production methods, different expertise and various levels of skill, and rejuvenates the established understanding of the Eastern network.

17:00 – The Iron Age ceramic tradition in the Gulf: a re-evaluation from the Omani perspective, Marco IAMONI (Verona, Italy).

Contact details:

Iamoni, Marco (marco.iamoni@gmail.com)
Dipartimento di Storia e Tutela dei Beni Culturali, Università degli Studi di Udine, Palazzo Caiselli Vicolo, Florio, 2/B 33100 Udine, Italia

Biography:
I am a member of the Italian Mission of the University of Pisa working in Oman, at Salut; I also work in Syria at Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna since 1999 as area supervisor and pottery expert with the Italian component of the joint Syrian-Italian mission.

Abstract:
Iron Age ceramic tradition in the gulf: a re-evaluation from the Oman perspective Iron Age pottery has been widely discussed in the UAE. Its role has been assessed as of primary importance for establishing a safe chronology, which might be valid for the south eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula (i.e. UAE and Oman). However, a large part of this has been based on the presence of imported materials, especially from Iran, thus underestimating the role of locally produced pottery and to some extent neglecting its importance. In particular new data from Oman may help to redraw this picture: excavations at Salut near Nizwa provide a substantial body of data, which, in combination with those from other UAE and Oman sites, might help to provide a more detailed synthesis of the main ceramic traits in the Iron Age. Goal of this paper is thus to investigate the relationship between UAE and Omani Iron Age ceramic horizons, focusing on the Iron Age II and verifying the existence of common traits or of sharp diversities between the two areas. Variability of types will be analysed with the aim of highlighting the occurrence of more 'regional' ceramic assemblages in Oman, and, if possible, to propose the occurrence of different traditions within SE Arabian peninsula.

18.30 SPECIAL LECTURE

MBI Al Jaber Lecture
Cartography and Cantatas: Arabia and the European Enlightenment
Professor D.T. Potts, University of Sydney
School of Archaeology, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Author of numerous studies in Arabian archaeology, founder and editor-in-chief of Arabian Archaeology & Epigraphy, currently co-directing the Mamasani Archaeological Project in Fars Province, Iran.

The Enlightenment was a period in which an interest in and scholarly engagement with Arabia, via a combination of freshly edited literary sources, cartographic efforts and exploration, was on the rise. This lecture examines, in particular, the scholarship and cartography of Bourguignon d'Anville; the results of the Arabian Expedition of the Danish monarch, Frederik V, as published by Carsten Niebuhr; and the music of J.S. Bach, particularly in relation to the use of Martin Luther's work, as exemplars of Enlightenment engagement with matters Arabian.

This lecture forms part of the British Museum’s public programme and is free.

09:55 – The soft-stone vessels from Hamad Town, Bahrain: An analysis towards the mortuary economy of the Dilmun society, Marta SOBUR (Harvard University, USA).

Contact details:

Sobur, Marta (msobur@fas.harvard.edu)
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Peabody Museum 57 I, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Biography:
Marta Sobur is third year Ph.D. student in the Anthropology Department, Harvard University. She has received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. She is a member of the Bahrain Burial Mounds Project under the direction of Flemming Hojlund.

Abstract:
This paper presents the results of the analysis of the previously unpublished collection soft-stone (steatite) vessels from the burial mounds of Hamada Town, Kingdom of Bahrain. A particular focus is placed on the function of this assemblage in the funerary customs of the Dilmun period. The collection consists of over 50 soft-stone vessels, recovered and archived over the course of the last two decades from the area of Hamad Town in the archaeological rescue efforts conducted under the auspices of the Bahrain National Museum. Drawing on typo-chronological parallels of soft-stone objects from the neighbouring third millennium BC polities (Magan) and from other burial and domestic contexts on the island of Bahrain (Saar), the vessels were relatively dated and examined macroscopically for traces of contents, re-use and repair, in attempts to verify their function and their longevity as burial goods, as well as to shed light on their origin and intention of their placement inside the burial mounds. A hypothesis is offered on the role of soft-stone trade in the broader economy of the Dilmun society, as viewed from the reconstructed assemblage of a single cemetery area in Bahrain and in correlation with the published evidence from the Arabian Peninsula and adjacent regions. Further spatial and contextual analysis of the Hamad Town and other soft-stone collections is under way in collaboration with the Bahrain Burial Mounds Project between the Bahrain Directorate for Culture & National Heritage and Moesgaard Museum, Denmark.

10:20 – Southeast Arabian pottery at ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, U.A.E): its origin, distribution, and role in the local economy, Katrin RUTTEN (Département d'Assyriologie et Archéologie, de l'Asie Antérieure, Université de Liège, Belgium).

Contact details:

Rutten, Katrien (katrienrutten@yahoo.com)
Département d'Assyriologie et Archéologie, de l'Asie Antérieure, Université de Liège, 7 Place du 20 Aout, B-4000, Liège, Belgique

Biography:
Katrien Rutten received her PhD from the University of Ghent in 2006 and is currently associated with the University of Liège in Belgium. She is specialised in late Pre-Islamic pottery of the Gulf and has excavated at late Pre-Islamic and early Islamic sites in the U.A.E., Bahrain, Turkmenistan and Jordan. With the University of Liège she is now working at Chagar Bazar in Syria and studying the Bronze Age pottery from that site.

Abstract:
This paper offers a synopsis of the study results on the southeast Arabian pottery in the late Pre-Islamic assemblage of ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, U.A.E). A recent archaeological and petrographic analysis of this local pottery has provided us with a detailed characterisation of the different wares and new data on their origin, dating, and regional distribution. This has resulted in new insights in the evolution and role of this pottery in the local economy, the occupation of ed-Dur, and the site's interaction with inland settlement.
This synopsis will be illustrated with an unpublished selection of the local wares, while several maps will indicate the regions of production and the distribution of the pottery in southeastern Arabia and other regions around the Gulf.

10:45-11:15 COFFEE

SESSION 4 - Archaeological Science
Chair: Lloyd Weeks

11:15 – The Provenance Postulate in Archaeological Softstone Analysis. Results from Arabian and Iranian Analysis, Peter MAGEE (Department of Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College, U.S.A.), Don BARBER (Department of Geology, Bryn Mawr College, U.S.A.) & Z. RUGE.

Contact details:

Magee, Peter (pmagee@brynmawr.edu)
Department of Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College, 101 North Merion Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010, USA

Barber, Don
Department of Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College, 101 North Merion Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010, USA

Ruge, Zoe
Department of Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College, 101 North Merion Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010, USA

Biographies:
Peter Magee received his PhD from the University of Sydney in 1996. He has excavated in Greece, Jordan, Syria, Pakistan and The United Arab Emirates. Since 1994, he has been directing the excavations at Muweilah in the Emirate of Sharjah (UAE).

Abstract:

Softstone artifacts are some of the most common found at Bronze and Iron Age sites in eastern Arabia and Iran. For many years, it was thought that tracing the movement of these materials was not possible due to the complex metamorphic background of softstone. This study tests the feasibility of addressing two different archaeological sourcing questions. First, can softstone artifacts be separated into compositionally defined groups (that may have originated from different quarry sites or even different regions)? Second, can mountain quarry localities be identified or eliminated as possible sources for carved softstone artifacts? To achieve this we analysed the mineralogy (using XRD) and major, trace and rare-earth element abundances (using ICP-OES/MS) of softstone artifact fragments and mining debris. In this paper we present this data and suggest a positive response may be achieved for some of these questions.

11:40 – Wadi Hilo (Sharjah, UAE) – a new Bronze Age mining and melting site in SE Arabia, Johannes KUTTERER (Instititut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, University of Tübingen, Germany) & Sabah A. JASIM (Directorate of Antiquities, Department of Culture and Information, Government of Sharjah, U.A.E.)..

Contact details:

Kutterer, Johannes (johannes.kutterer@uni-tuebingen.de)
Instititut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, Schloss Hohentübingen, Burgsteige 11, 72070 Tübingen, Germany

Jasim, Sabah A. (sjasim@archaeology.gov.ae)
Directorate of Antiquities, Department of Culture & Information, Government of Sharjah, P.O. Box 5119, Sharjah, UAE

Biographies:
Johannes Kutterer studied Pre- and Protohistory, Geology and Informatics at the University of Tübingen and holds an MA in Prehistory and Informatics (2006). From 2003 to 2006 he was field director of the excavations at the site Fay-NE 1 (Sharjah, UAE). Since 2007 he has excavated the Bronze Age smelting site in Wadi Hilo (Sharjah, UAE).

Dr. Sabah A. Jasim is the head of the Directorate of Antiquities of the Department of Culture and Information of the Government of Sharjah, UAE, and thus is the local counterpart of all archaeological projects in the region. He actively participated in the explorations at the Wadi Hilo site.

Abstract:
In 2006 indications for Bronze Age metallurgy were discovered by members of the Directorate of Antiquities of Sharjah in the upper reaches of Wadi Hilo in the central Hajar Mountains west of Khor Kalba. Explorations carried out under the direction of the author in 2007 revealed an extended site on a high wadi terrace with several large stone-build foundations visible at the surface. Slag finds on the surface in varying densities indicated a melting site. An associated vein of copper-ore was discovered at the crest of the nearby mountain-ridge. Along the slope horseshoe-shaped structures indicated work-shops. A sondage in one of them yielded a large semispherical copper ingot. A small mound with a diameter of some 12m at the terrace edge, which first appeared like a grave-structure, turned out to contain the base of a round tower. Ashes from a fire pit associated to the outside of this tower yielded a radiocarbon date in the early 2nd millennium BC. Small fragments of pottery from the surface all over the site seem to indicate an EBA occupation of the site. Another season of explorations will take place in March. Analyses of slag and metal finds are under way and will be reported in the lecture.

12:05 – Lead isotope analyses of Bronze Age copper-base artefacts from Al-Midamman, Yemen: Towards the identification of an indigenous South Arabian metal production and exchange system, Lloyd WEEKS (University of Nottingham, U.K.), E. KEALL, S. STOCK, J. EVANS & V. PASHLEY.

Contact details:

Weeks, Lloyd (Lloyd.Weeks@nottingham.ac.uk)
Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

Keall, Edward (edk@rom.on.ca)
Near Eastern and Asian Civilizations Department, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C6, Canada

Stock, Susan (susans@rom.on.ca)
Conservation Department, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C6, Canada

Evans, Jane (je@nigl.nerc.ac.uk)
NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK

Pashley, Vanessa (vpashley@bgs.ac.uk)
NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK

Biographies:

Lloyd Weeks is interested in early metal production and exchange systems in Arabia and Iran. This is part of his more general research on the prehistoric archaeology of southern Iran and the Persian Gulf region, where he has been conducting fieldwork since 1993.

Ed Keall is Curator Emeritus in the Department of World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada. He studied Latin and Greek literature at Sheffield and in 1962 joined a University of Manchester expedition to Iran, leading to Fellowships at the British Institute of Persian Studies. Appointed as a Curator to the ROM in 1971, he continued his Iranian fieldwork until halted by Khomeini's Revolution. The ROM's Canadian Mission in Yemen resulted from his wish to pursue fieldwork in the study of Islamic cities.

Susan Stock is Metals Conservator at the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada, and an expert on the corrosion products of copper and its alloys. In addition to her studies of archaeological artefacts in the ROM collections, she has participated in major Canadian public works projects (e.g. the restoration of the Library of Parliament, Ottawa) and education programmes.

Jane Evans is head of archaeology studies at the NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory (NIGL). Past research in geology included modelling the behaviour of isotope systems during low-grade metamorphism. She now specialises in the application of radiogenic isotopes to archaeological problems, including movements and migration, trade, and technology.

Vanessa Pashley is responsible for day-to-day running and maintenance of the Multicollector Inductively Coupled Plasma Ionisation Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) laboratory at NIGL. Her research incorporates radiogenic isotope mass spectrometry for the analysis of geological, environmental and archaeological materials.

Abstract:

Lead isotope analyses of Bronze Age copper-base artefacts from Al-Midamman, Yemen: Towards the identification of an indigenous South Arabian metal production and exchange system
In this paper, we present the results of a pilot programme of lead isotope analysis (LIA), incorporating the analysis of 21 archaeological copper-base samples from the Bronze Age site of Al-Midamman, Yemen. Although the number of lead isotope analyses from al-Midamman is small, when integrated with previous archaeometallurgical studies of the al-Midamman metals the new isotope data are able to provide the first tentative evidence attesting to the existence of a distinct, indigenous, regional copper production and exchange system in Bronze Age South Arabia. The Al-Midamman data are discussed and assessed in relation to the archaeological evidence for metal production and extraction in greater Arabia, and their interpretation is contextualised within the wider debate on the application of LIA to archaeological provenance studies. The results highlight the need for future archaeological fieldwork and laboratory research on the issue of prehistoric South Arabian metal extraction.

12:30-13:35 LUNCH

SESSION 5 - Ancient South Arabia
Chair: Alexandra Porter

13:35 – Les monolithes dans l’architecture monumentale de l’Arabie du Sud Antique, Christian DARLES (Laboratoire MHA-APB de l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Toulouse, France).

Contact details:

Darles, Christian (christian.darles@toulouse.archi.fr)
Laboratoire MHA-APB de l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Toulouse, 83 rue Aristide Maillol, BP 10629, 31106 Toulouse Cedex 1, France

Biography:


Abstract:
Au XIXe siècle les premiers visiteurs du Yémen ont été surpris et s'enthousiasmèrent pour ces "énormes pierres taillées" qui étaient utilisées dans l'architecture de nombreux monuments antiques qu'ils identifièrent à juste titre comme des sanctuaires. Ces blocs monumentaux de plusieurs mètres de long caractérisent l'architecture des temples de l'Arabie du Sud antique et les chercheurs s'interrogent encore sur leur fabrication, leur taille et leurs décors en dissertant sur l'apport des civilisations voisines et notamment sur les supposées influences égyptiennes. En l'absence de fouilles archéologiques et de dégagements ce sont bien souvent ces seuls grands blocs qui émergent; ils sont encore "in situ" et signalent la présence de temples aujourd'hui dévastés clandestinement.
Aucune étude scientifique n'a été consacrée à l'emploi architectural de ses grandes pierres qui ne sont mentionnées que brièvement dans les articles consacrés à l'architecture religieuse ou aux techniques de construction.
Notre contribution tente de faire le bilan sur les connaissances que nous avons de ces monolithes qui caractérisaient les temples antiques. Les fouilles actuelles de Sirwah, les recherches menées à Baraqish et Mâ'rib et surtout les fouilles de sauvetage menées dans le Jawf contribuent aujourd'hui à une approche renouvelée de cette architecture en cours de pillage et de destruction.

Bibliographie sommaire:
Arbach, M & Audouin, R. 2004: Nouvelles découvertes archéologiques dans le Jawf. Opérations de sauvetage franco-yéménite du site d'as-Sawdâ (l'antique Nashân).
Bessac, J.-C 1998: Techniques de construction, de gravure et d'orenementation en pierre dans le Jawf.
Breton, J.-F, Arramond, J.-Ch. & Robine, G. 1990: Le temple d'Athtar d'as-Sawdâ.
Darles, Ch. 1997: Les Temples, Catalogue: "Yémen, au pays de la Reine de Saba".
Hitgen, H. 2005: Marib, Cultural Tourist Guide
Jung, M. 1988: The Religious Monuments of Ancient South Arabia, a preliminary Typological Classification.
Maigret, A. de 2004: Baraqish, Minean Yathill, excavation and restoration of the temple of Naqrah.
Sedov, A.V. 2005: Temples of Ancient Hadramaut

14:00 – House and household: A contextual approach to the study of south arabian domestic architecture - A case-study from Yala'ad-Durayb, Romolo LORETO (Università di Napoli 'L'Orientale', Italy)

Contact details:

Loreto, Romolo (romololoreto@gmail.com)
Università di Napoli 'L'Orientale', Dipartimento di Studi Asiatici, piazza San Domenico Maggiore 12, 80134 Napoli, Italia

Biography:


Abstract:
The present work focuses on the organization of the domestic space and the location of the activity areas within that space, based on the distribution of the house contents. Every archaeological context inevitably undergoes formative processes that can cause a more or less evident change in the actual distribution of materials and the activities carried out in a single space. Nevertheless, proper excavation techniques, as well as a carefully conducted examination of the artifacts discovered in the various spaces of the house, can help to form a much more complete picture of its occupation. It has been possible to carry out a contextual analysis of the architecture of the 'House A' in Yala. The term 'Archaeological Context' here refers to the location of the artifacts in the level of habitation. Thus, it is composed of the architectural space itself and the materials therein contained. The theoretical assumption of the present work is the reciprocity of the relation existing between architecture and the materials found in the architectural space. This approach aims to rediscover the spatial relationships of domestic behavior.

14:25 – The Annex of Awam: origin and alteration, Zaydoon ZAID (American Foundation for the Study of Man, U.S.A.).

Contact details:

Zaid, Zaydoon (zaydoon@web.de)
American Foundation for the Study of Man, P.O. Box 2136, Falls Church, VA 22042, USA

Biography:
Dr-Ing. Zaydoon Zaid, MA, Archaeology and a PhD of Architecture from the Technical University of Aachen, Germany. Involved in the archaeology of Jordan and Yemen for the last 20 years. Current fieldwork in Yemen focuses on temples Architecture, especially, the Awam in Marib.

Abstract:
The archaeological excavations at the Awam temple and the more recent excavations by the American Foundation for the study of man uncovered one of the most significant temple complex in ancient South Arabia, the Awam temple, located near the ancient city of Marib, about 160 km to the east of the Yemeni capital Sana'a. The main concern of this Paper is the presentation of the architectural layout of the Annex area.

14:50 – Fieldwork in Zafar, Capital of Himyar (Yemen), Paul YULE (Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients, University of Heidelberg, Germany) & Manfred RÖSCH (Landesamt für Denkmalpflege im Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, Germany).

Contact details:

Yule, Paul (paul.yule@t-online.de)
Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients, University of Heidelberg, Schulgasse 2, D-69126 Heidelberg, Germany

Rösch, Manfred (manfred.roesch@rps.bwl.de)
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege im Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, Fischersteig 9, D-78343 Hemmenhofen, Germany

Biographies:
Paul Yule completed his habilitation from the University of Heidelberg, where he currently teaches. His most important publications deal with the early metallurgy of South Asia as well Arabia of the Late Iron Age and early medieval Period. He is a proven fund raiser with numerous successful projects. korrespondierendes Mitglied of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut.

Manfred Rösch is a botanist. He completed his habilitation 1993 at the Innsbruck University and 2003 at the Heidelberg University, where he currently teaches. He is head of the Archaeobotanical Laboratory of the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege. Most of his numerous publications deal with the history of agriculture, vegetation and landscape in central Europe. He is a proven fund raiser with several successful projects.

Abstract:
From 1998 to 2008, eight seasons of survey-mapping, museum cataloguing and excavation in and around Zafar have revealed considerable information about the Himyarite empire (c. 270-523 CE) and late/post (523-630 CE) periods, which comprise the temporal emphasis of our project. The subject of this presentation is the excavation results of the forthcoming campaign which is to take place in February and March of 2008. The main object of study is the so-called Stone building, which we began to investigate in 2004. This turns out to be a large (presently 18m x 18m) courtyard which lies inside of what appears to be temple, to judge from the motifs in the reliefs. The campaign of 2007 cleared most of the northern end of the court and associated building. This season we propose to clear the rest of the adjacent features in the central portion. To date, this excavation has yielded several hundred relief fragments - more than other sites. Radiocarbon determinations suggest that these do not date as late as suspected, but rather largely in the 3rd and 4th centuries CE. Palaeobotanic investigations are intended to shed light on the ancient environment, particularly its vegetation.

15:15-15:45 TEA

SESSION 5 - Ancient South Arabia
Chair: Nadia Durrani

15:45– Sabaean animal economy at Yala ad-Durayb, eastern Yemen lowlands, Francesco FEDELE (University of Naples, Italy).

Contact details:

Fedele, Francesco (ffedele01@yahoo.it)
Università degli Studi di Napoli 'Federico II', via Mezzocannone 8, I-80134 Napoli, Italia

Biography:
Francesco Fedele is Chair professor of anthropology at the University of Naples 'Federico II', Italy. His chief research interests focus upon human palaeoecology, archaeological correlates of cultural behaviour, and the early peopling of unfamiliar environments. He has conducted fieldwork in Yemen as a member of the Italian Archaeological Mission since 1984, initially on the Neolithic of the Yemen highlands and currently at Baraqish.

Abstract:
In 2007-08 it was possible finally to complete the study of the large archaeofaunal collection from the Sabaean walled town of Yal? (8th-7th century BCE; A. de Maigret's excavations, 1987), begun in 1990. This collection represents the whole bone refuse from a single two-storey house for which also the ceramic assemblage is known and dated. Several thousand pieces were examined and identified to species, in what may be one of the most detailed analyses of a Sabaean fauna. The significance of this work is twofold. It casts some light on the food economy of an early Sabaean town, a kind of knowledge which has remained very limited until now. Secondly, the spatial distribution of animal bone, together with indications derived from house architecture and pottery refuse (R. Loreto's study, in progress), allows some suggestions to be made about daily behaviour and the function of rooms. Overall, sheep and goat are the most represented animal species, followed by cattle and in much smaller numbers by donkey and the very occasional camel. The dog was also present, whereas truly wild animals are extremely rare in the collection: gazelle, ibex, hare. This broadly matches the picture now obtained from both Hajar ar-Rayhani (B. Hesse's study) and Sabaean Baraqish (author's excavation and study, 2005-08).

16:10– The status of sacred pastures according to Sabaic inscriptions, Sergei A. FRANTSOUZOFF (Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St Petersburg Branch), St Petersburg, Russia).

Contact details:

Frantsouzoff, Serge A. (frants@spios.nw.ru)
Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Oriental Studies, St Petersburg Branch, 18 Dvortsovaya nab., 191186 St Petersburg, Russian Federation

Biography:
The main spheres of my researches are the following:
1. South Arabian Studies, i.e. the reconstruction of the history, culture and religion of pre-Islamic Yemen mostly on the basis of the epigraphic documentation, with a special attention to the Hadramitic epigraphy; 2. Arab Christian Studies; 3. Ethiopian Studies, especially the pre-Axumite and Axumite epigraphy.

Abstract:
Among the monumental Sabaic inscriptions originated in Nihm (in North Western Yemen) there is a group of decrees related to the institution of sacred pastures. In MAFRAY - al-'Adan 10 + 11 + 12 the commune of the twin cities known as Miswaratayn imposed fines on those people whose beasts penetrated into the pasture reserved for the god Ta'lab in the mountain 'Adaf (l. 7: mh;.g?T'lb/d-'r?'df). In Gl 1142 the same status was established for "the uncultivated areas and pastures of the mountain D;.abu;-'ana;-n" (ll. 7-8: wtm|t/w-mr't/'r?d-D;.b'nn), but no penalty was specified for its violation. The authors of the unpublished text MAFRAY-Mahazza 1 referred to the divine will in order to substantiate their privilege to be reimbursed for a victim sacrificed to Ta'lab by an animal from His flocks. The term drm 'beasts pasturing where they please', by which His animals were designated, has a close parallel, sawa;-m, in Ya;-qu;-t's decription of the idol al-Djalsad.
As to the Sabaic word h;.mt, which first occurs in Fr-S;.an'a;-' 1 (l. 2) recently discovered on a bronze goblet, it derives from the same root and has the same meaning 'sacred pasture' as h;.ima;-n in Arabic.

16:35 The function of ceramic jar Type 4100: Performance characteristics, archaeological and inscriptional evidence, and organic residue analyses, Alexandra PORTER (Middle East Department, British Museum), Brendan DERHAM (Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow, Scotland) & Rebecca STACEY (Conservation, Documentation and Science Department, British Museum).

Contact details:

Porter, Alexandra (alexandra.porter@gmail.com)
Middle East Department, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG, UK

Derham, Brendan (b.derham@archaeology.arts.gla.ac.uk)
Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow, The Gregory Building, Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland

Stacey, Rebecca (rstacey@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk)
Conservation, Documentation and Science, The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG, UK

Biographies:

Dr Alexandra Porter is a curator for the MENCAWAR project, a European Community funded project organised by the University of Pisa, which aims to publish the British Museum's collection of ancient South Arabian antiquities in a catalogue and online. Her main interest is researching ceramic and stone objects, and investigating evidence for trade and the movement of raw materials. An examination of the production, distribution and function of ceramic jar Type 4100 will be published shortly.

Dr Derham works on a Leverhulme Trust funded project at Glasgow University to develop micro-sampling and non-destructive techniques for the chemical analysis of frescoes, ceramics and the decorative arts from museum collections, for their organic and inorganic components as well as the location of craft workshops through geo-chemical archaeological survey.

Dr Rebecca Stacey trained in archaeological sciences, specialising in analytical chemistry applied to ancient organic materials. The principal focus of her work in recent years has been use of chemical characterisation to understand the source, production and use of natural products (e.g. resins, gums and waxes) in the British Museum's collections.

Abstract:
Ceramic jar Type 4100 is attested on numerous archaeological sites in Yemen and in the northern Horn of Africa. The distribution of the vessel across such a wide territory may be associated with the presence of Sabaeans throughout the region during the early first millennium BC. However, rather than being widely traded, as was previously suggested, thin-section analysis has proven that these jars were largely locally/regionally produced. The movement of potters was probably an important factor in the dissemination of this ceramic tradition. Why were the jars and their contents required throughout this vast region? What did the jars contain? The function of this jar is a particularly important and intriguing question. To fully address these questions we will examine, 1) the performance characteristics of the Type 4100 jar (the narrow neck, everted rim, and dense fabric suggest that the vessel contained a liquid), 2) the archaeological contexts in which they are found (temples, associated temple buildings, domestic quarters, and tombs), 3) the historical evidence for potential contents (fermented beverages, honey, fruit juices, milk products and oils) and possible uses (religious or funerary rituals, feasting, domestic use, prestige gifts, and/or institutional storage), 4) what the inscriptions on the jars reveal about how they were used and, 5) the organic residues preserved in the walls of the jars. A preliminary organic residue analysis on five jars using Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) has been undertaken by Brendan Derham at Glasgow University, Department of Archaeology. Rebecca Stacey in the Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science at the British Museum has also tested for residues in another jar using the same technique. Both analyses have provided very interesting results. The function of the Type 4100 jars will be discussed in the light of morphological, archaeological, and historical evidence as well as the first organic residue analyses results on ancient South Arabian pottery.

17:00 – The struggle for Oman: the Second Ibadi Imamate and the Wajihid, Abdulrahman AL-SALIMI (Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Sultanate of Oman).

Contact details:

al-Salimi, Abdulrahman (aalsalimi@yahoo.com)
Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, P.O Box 3232, 112, Sultanate of Oman

Biography:
Abdulrahman AL-Salimi, chief in editor of al-Tasamoh Journal, he is special interest on Omani classical history, Ibadi and Mu'tazilte studies. He authored and edited several works.

Abstract:
The downfall of the first Omani Imamate in 280/885 represented the beginning of clashes between Ibadi ideology and the emerging family dynasties in different Omani provinces. The dynastic rulers sought to abolish the Imamate system in the country, which led to serious conflict between distinguished political families and Ibadi scholars. Perhaps Wajihid's reign in the 4th/10th century symbolizes this best. This important family's rule of the country brought about fundamental changes in the areas of politics and commerce, which in turn has occupied the interest of many historians and archaeologists. I shall try in this paper to shed some light on the following three points: First, the emergence of the Wajihid. Second, their relations with Omani Ibadis and the subsequent political and economical changes in Oman. Finally, I shall examine this development in relation to the centre of Caliphate in Baghdad, Buyids and Qarmatians.

18:00 RECEPTION
Clore Centre, The British Museum

SATURDAY 26 JULY 2008

SESSION 5 - Ancient South Arabia
Chair: Peter Stein

09:30 – Barrages in the Western Mountains of Yemen: A Himyarite Model of Water Management, Julien CHARBONNIER (Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité, Université de Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne, Nanterre Cedex, France).

Contact details:

Charbonnier, Julien (sargon331@hotmail.com)
Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité, Université de Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne, Maison René Ginouvès, 21 allée de l'Université, F-92023, Nanterre Cedex, France

Biography:
Julien Charbonnier is a PhD candidate of the University Paris I -Panthéon-Sorbonne. He has now a grant of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and works in the French Centre for Archaeology and Social Sciences at Sana'a (Yemen).

Abstract:
In the Western Mountains of Yemen, about sixty barrages were recognized during the last thirty years. Inscriptions date these barrages between the first century B.C. and the fourth century A.D., which corresponds approximately to the Himyarite era. Most of these structures exhibit the same construction pattern: a high masonry wall associated with spillways.
A new classification of the highland barrages will be proposed, based on their function and not on their shape. Furthermore, their similarities led us to think that most of them were gravity dam used for irrigating fields.
The major problem faced by agriculturalists of ancient South Arabia was the seasonality of rain. Barrages made possible the storage and the allocation of water year-round in order to increase agricultural yields.
Therefore, associated irrigation systems were functioning in quite a different way from the irrigation systems of the lowland kingdoms that were based on the immediate allocation of floodwaters. It would seem that we are facing a break in terms of water and land management.

10:20– Stela CIH 611=BM 102600 in the British Museum, Giovanni MAZZINI (Department of Science, University of Pisa, Italy) & Alexandra PORTER (Middle East Department, British Museum).

Contact details:

Mazzini, Giovanni (mazzini@sta.unipi.it)
Dipartimento di Scienze, Storiche del Mondo Antico, Universitá di Pisa, Via L. Galvani 1, I - 56126 Pisa, Italia

Porter, Alexandra (alexandra.porter@gmail.com)
Middle East Department, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG, UK

Biographies:

Giovanni Mazzini is a lecturer of Semitic Philology and Semitic Epigraphy at the University of Pisa. His main fields of research are comparative Semitic linguistics, the documentation of ancient Arabia, and the Northwest Semitic languages. A principal focur of his work is the legal documentation of ancient Arabia.

Dr Alexandra Porter is a curator for the MENCAWAR project, a European Community funded project organised by the University of Pisa, which aims to publish the British Museum's collection of ancient South Arabian antiquities in a catalogue and online. Her main interest is researching ceramic and stone objects, and investigating evidence for trade and the movement of raw materials. An examination of the production, distribution and function of ceramic jar Type 4100 will be published shortly.

Abstract:
In 2007 the University of Pisa began a joint project with the British Museum to create a catalogue of the ancient South Arabian collection in the British Museum. The project is funded by the European Union. In a reanalysis of the documents in the collection, we were able to closely examine inscription, CIH 611=BM 102600, which revealed a number of interesting physical and textual features.
The inscription runs counter clockwise around the stela and it is carved into fine-grained, high quality, limestone. Traces of red paint have been preserved on the surface, which suggests that the stela was originally painted red. There also are indications that the stela may have been mounted on a plinth. Accordingly, this stela would have been an impressive monument, emphasising the importance of the inscription, erected in an agricultural setting close on the border of two neighbouring estates.
The inscription is legal document regulating the administrative issues of two bordering estates. With close inspection, the key verb form y??n could be read clearly on a damaged part of the surface. The use of this verb is a technical one indicating the legal employment of the water supply and occurs in a series of juridical documents, mostly attested in the archaic Jawf. These inscriptions deal with the administration of bordering private land properties and they primarily concern the management of water supply. The inscription CIH 611 can be viewed in the light of these documents. Accordingly, a specific juridical tradition can be identified in the ancient South Arabian legal system. Noticeable is the involvement of the communal political bodies in issuing these documents from Jawf. The involvement of the political authority in the administration of the resources of the territory is strong evidence for viewing this juridical tradition as a kind of ancient South Arabian 'administrative law'.

10:45-11:15 COFFEE

SESSION 6 - Ancient and Islamic Arabia
Chair: Giovanni Mazzini

11:15– The Ancient South Arabian minuscule inscriptions on wood - state of research, Peter STEIN (Lehrstuhl für Semitische Philologie und Islamwissenschaft, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany).

Contact details:

Stein, Peter (MultiStein@t-online.de)
Lehrstuhl für Semitische Philologie und Islamwissenschaft, Löbdergraben 24a, D-07737 Jena, Germany

Biography:
Born 1970. Apprenticeship and work as a tool maker 1987-1990. Studies in Assyriology, Semitistics and Theology at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, 1992-1998. Studies at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1995-1996. M.A. in Assyriology 1998. Promotion (Ph.D) in Semitistics 2002. Research assistant at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, since 2002.

Abstract:
In the past years, more than 200 minuscule inscriptions from the collection of the Bavarian State Library in Munich have been analysed. These inscriptions cover a span of about 1000 years - from the latest stage of the Early Sabaic period (5th/4th c.BC) until the Late Sabaic time in the early 6th c.AD. Compared with the three-dozen minuscule inscriptions published so far, they provide sufficient as well as representative evidence for a comparative analysis of the different formulae. Particularly, the large group of business and legal documents can now be classified in more than ten distinct subgroups. The paper will give a general overview over the entire material, and focus on some specific historical and material aspects of these inscriptions.

11:40– People of powerful South Arabian kings or just ‘people like others’, Manfred KROPP (Collège de France).

Contact details:

Kropp, Manfred (kropp@uni-mainz.de)
Collège de France

Biography:


Abstract:
One recurring theme of the Qur'an narrates the fates of peoples called upon by God's messengers, refusing the divine call to confess His unity and suffering the subsequent divine wrath and punishment. There are proper names given to some of these people, their regions or towns as well as to some of the messengers, while others remain anonymous. Behind these proper names are clearly known Biblical figures as Fir'awn (Pharao), Lut (Loth) etc. However, some of the messengers, e.g. Salih and Hud, and peoples, e.g. 'Ad, are commonly thought to be part of an Arabian historical or legendary heritage. Other proper names have remained ambiguous or unclear since the beginning of the study of the Quranic texts, despite the efforts of outstanding Muslim commentators.
Thus I do not intend to go astray or get lost in the 'thicket' (al-Ayka) but try to give a different meaning to the 'people of the Tubba' according to Muslim tradition interpreted as the powerful South Arabian, especially Sabaean or Himyarite kings. Tradition takes it as a proper name in the sg. to which a pl. tababi'a is formed - and later 'national' Yemenite tradition preserves the memory of the deeds and misdeeds of these kings. In general the allusion made twice in the Qur'an to the 'people of the Tubba' ?' is accepted as a vague historical memory of invasions or campaigns of South Arabian kings and armies into Central and Northwestern Arabia. But one gets the feeling that these stories (rather than the Tubba' !) are intruders and stand out from most other attested peoples of Biblical origin. Other allusions to South Arabia and Yemen, besides the story of queen Bilqis (this one also tributary to Biblical and Misdrashic sources), are likewise hypothetical (Sura 85; Sura 105).
There is an alternative way to interpret the presumed proper name. It may well originate in a common Arabic and can be explained by a common morphological pattern (participle or adjective in the plural). It would then be an attribute to the preceding qawm 'people', an expression with several parallels at least as far as morphology and syntax are concerned. What remains of the common explanation is in the semantic field of the Arabic root, where, according to the context of the two passages, qawm tubba? refers to 'people who follow their example, people who stick to them, people of their kind'.
The proposed method is not new, but it needs to be applied more consistently in Quranic studies in order to gain new insights into the history of its text and to steer interpretation away from age-old beaten tracks.

12:05– A parallel to the Second Commandment ‘revisited’, Anne MULTHOFF (Lehrstuhl für Semitische Philologie und Islamwissenschaft, Jena, Germany).

Contact details:

Multhoff, Anne
Lehrstuhl für Semitische Philologie und Islamwissenschaft, Löbdergraben 24a, D-07737 Jena, Germany

Biography:
Born 1976. Studies in Semitistics, Islamic Sciences and Philosophy at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, 1996-2004. M.A. in Semitistics 2004. Research assistant at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, since 2006. Dissertation in Semitistics in prep.

Abstract:
About ten years ago, Serguei Frantsouzoff presented a Hadramitic inscription at the Arabian Seminar which contained a rather obscure passage that was then thought to refer to an interdiction of producing images of Hadramitic deities. However, a thorough analysis of this inscription, in comparison with other material published in the meantime, shows that this interpretation is not convincing. Neither does the passage in question refer to an interdiction, nor does it mention any image at all. On the contrary, a recently published Sabaic inscription makes explicit mention of 'statues of Gods'. The alleged origin of the Second Commandment in the ancient Semitic culture of South Arabia is not based on any epigraphic evidence. Consequently, the paper will give a new interpretation of the Hadramitic inscription in question.

12:30-13.35 LUNCH

SESSION 7 - Islamic Arabia
Chair: Derek Kennet


13:35– New Epigraphical Evidence on the Ancient North Arabian-Nabataean Bilingualism, Hani HAYAJNEH (Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Jordan)

Contact details:

Hayajneh, Hani (hani@yu.edu.jo)
Dean of the College of Archaeology, Tourism and Hotel Management, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University

Biography:
I am conducting research on the Ancient near Eastern languages and cultures with special focus on the Arabian Peninsula before Islam. I am currently on leave from Yarmouk University to work as a dean of the College of Archaeology and Tourism at Al-Hussein Bin Talal University in Petra.

Abstract:
Some Ancient North Arabian (Hismaic - Thamudic E) inscriptions accompanied by Nabataean texts from al-Hisma desert in Southern Jordan will be the focal point of this paper. The texts represent a further evidence of a bilingual tradition, which seems to have existed in the Pre-Islamic al-Hisma region. The texts in both languages will be philologically treated. The linguistic aspects that distinguish both versions (ANA and Nabataean) will be highlighted, especially the implementation of the definite article 'l- in the Nabataean version and its absence in the ANA counterpart, and the usage of the ANA verb kh-T-T to express its Nabataean version as S-w-r. The historical and cultural significance of the geographical location of those texts and similar ANA - Nabataean texts from other peripheral areas in the desert of the North Arabian realm, i.e from Bayer, Der al-Kahf and the Harra region, will be tackled in the light of some existing theories related to the problematic of bilingualism among ancient and modern societies.

14:00– Territory and Settlement Patters during the Abbasid Period: the village of Murwab (Qatar), Alexandrine GUÉRIN (Maison de l'Orient et de la mediterranee, France).

Contact details:

Guérin, Alexandrine (alexandrine1g@free.fr)
UMR 5195, GREMMO (Groupe de Recherche et d'Étude sur la Méditerranée et le Moyen-Orient), Université Lumière Lyon 2, Maison de l'Orient et de la méditerranée - Jean-Pouilloux, 5/7 rue Raulin, 69365 Lyon Cedex 07, France

Biography:


Abstract:
After an inventory of the Arab sources concerning the Abbassid period, it proves that documentation available is not only rare but everyday life does not treat at all on Qatar during the IXth century. The archaeological investigation only become and single source of comprehension of settlement patterns of nomadic populations at this period. In comparison with the work undertaken not only in the Gulf but also in the whole of the Arabic peninsula like to the Middle East, Murwab is the only site occupied at this period circumscribed at one century of occupation. What makes of Murwab an exceptional site of reference for the knowledge of the material culture of the Abbasid period. Murwab is a village-street made up of 221 cells forming 41 housing units, of two mosques; the village group is associated 2 quadrangular forts. This site discovered and was excavated in 1959 by the Danish mission. A second program of excavations was undertaken by the French archaeological Mission, under the direction Cl. Hardy-Guilbert (1979 to 1981). The French mission resumed work in 2006 by opening two new zones of excavations for a better comprehension of the processes of sedentarization/nomadization of the populations.

14:25 – The Battle of Julfar (1475 A.D.), Valeria PIACENTINI (Facoltà di Scienze Politiche, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy) & Christian VELDE (National Museum of Ras Al-Khaimah, U.A.E.).

Contact details:

Piacentini, Valeria (valeria.piacentini@unicatt.it)
Facoltà di Scienze Politiche, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo A. Gemelli, 1 - 20123 Milano, Italia

Velde, Christian (christian_imke@hotmail.com)
Department of Antiquities and Museums, Ras Al-Khaimah, P.O. Box 94, Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE

Biographies:
Valeria Fiorani Piacentini - Full professor of History and Institutions of the Muslim World, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milano, Italy, Director of the Athaeneum Research Centre on the Southern System and the Wider Mediterranean. Graduated in Political Sciences, Specialised on Near and Middle East, History. Field-work so far carried out: Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Oman, UAE. A collaboration with the Centre of Documentation and Research, Ministry for Presidential Affairs, Abu Dhabi, is under way (issue: Arabian Culture in the Italian Archives). Main Publications: The Mulk and Kingdom of Hurmuz - Accademia delle Scienze di Milano, 1975; Baluchistan 'Terra Incognita', BAR International Series, Oxford 2003; various essays on Islamic and early Islamic history in PSAS, Annali of the Oriental Institute of Naples, Accademia dei Lincei (Roma).

Christian Velde studied, Proto- and Prehistory, Near Eastern Archaeology and Cuneiform Studies at Goettingen University, Germany. He has worked in Germany, Italy and Syria but concentrated since 1985 on archaeological work in the Arabian Gulf and predominantly in the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, UAE. Since 1998 he is the Resident Archaeologist of the Department of Antiquities and Museums in Ras al-Khaimah, U.A.E.

Abstract:
Only personal loyalties and marriage-ties could keep together and provide some form of legacy to the political system structured by Turanshah II.
His succession (1470-1475) was punctuated by civil wars, following a period of chaos, in which there were new rival claimants (including Turanshah II's sons, all pretenders to the throne), migrations, tribal movements. New forms of tribal aggregation began to emerge on the Arabian Peninsula.
The proposed paper - complementing contemporary sources with archaeological data - aims at focusing on the battle of Julfar, the pitched battle which, opening the accession to the throne to Salghur Shah (1475-1505), reshaped the structural system of the kingdom. Within this new framework, Julfar stood out as one of the most powerful dependences of the maritime realm and one of the most prominent and magnificent outlets and harbours of its time (pilgrimage, shipping, pearls and horses' trade, dyes, perfumes, dates, incense and frankincense etc.).
This event must be read within the general context of the time.
On the Arabian scene, new turbulences were shaking the Arabian Peninsula. In Yemen, the last Rasulid prince, al-Malik al-Mas'ud, abdicated in face of the rising power of the Sunni Tahirids of Lahij and Aden. After a period of chaos and rival claimants to the throne, in the fifties power passed to the Tahirids, who in their turn held much of the Yemen down to the Ottoman conquest early in the sixteenth century. Power disrupted in the eastern regions of the Arabian Peninsula, too. In the Omani hinterland, the disintegration of the previous order provoked fierce feuds between Malikite and Ibadi sheikhdoms. All along the coastal region, where the Harmuzi rulers held a de jure sovereignty, bedouin tribes and Ibadi principalities under Nabhan emirs were well established and enjoyed a great material prosperity based on trade (both sea and land-trade) and agriculture. Whereas in the hinterland, growing strife and the disruption of any power-structure was made ever worse by rebellions and revolts, laying waste everywhere. Taking advantage of the religious enmities, tribal groups began to overrun a large part of the interior. In 843 A. Hg. / 1439-1440 A.D., contemporary chroniclers tell us that Qatif was repeatedly attacked and savagely pillaged. The main caravan route linking the Hijaz with Bahrain was de facto impracticable, to the greatest disadvantage of pilgrimage and trades. It was within this precarious situation that we witness the rising of a new power, that of the Bani Jabr. By the early fifties, Zamil b. Hasan al-Amiri al-'Uqayli al-Jabri al-Najdi emerges as the new strong personality of his time, great promoter of the cause of Malikite Islam. After a temporary occupation of Qatif (it would seem around the 1440), he began to contrast the Ibadi power in the hinterland and the Nabhan emirs along the Omani coastal area. In the seventies, the Bani Jabr were amongst 'the major powers in Eastern Arabia…champions of the Malikite orthodoxy'.
Appointed governor of Qalhat (Oman) by his own father Turanshah II, Salghur Shah felt himself to be in danger after this latter's death. At the moment he was to have succeeded him, having married an Omani woman, he fled to the interior of Oman to seek refuge with his father in law, that same Ajuwad ibn Zamil of the Bani Jabr. Here, however, he did not receive the hoped-for help against his brother and pretender, Shah Vays, so he embarked and sailed to Shilaw, where he succeeded in winning over the two local ra'is, Ra'is Nur al-Din and Ra'is Kamal, to whom he was also related. Thus he acquired new formidable allies.
The confrontation with Shah Vays - after an interminable series of intrigues, corruption, defections by the ru'asa' of both sides - took place in 1475 at Julfar, on the large plain of that beautiful city, one of the most powerful and wealthiest Arabian dependences. Shah Vays, lured out of the fort, was abandoned by his troops who betrayed him in favour of Salghur Shah; he surrendered to the Bani Jabr, placing himself at the mercy of Ajuwad b. Zamil, who handed him over to Salghur on the condition that he allowed him to live.
Thus, Julfar, despite it succumbed politically to the new ruler of Harmuz, would highly benefit both from his pragmatic polity. Moreover, Suhar's decay and its privileged environmental position, allowed it to become the rallying-point and nerve centre for the power of Harmuz throughout the Arabian coastal area and even far beyond for the following decades.

14:50 – Islamic Urbanism in Eastern Arabia, Andrew PETERSEN (Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Wales, Lampeter, Wales).

Contact details:

Petersen, Andrew (andrewduncanpetersen@yahoo.co.uk)
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Wales, Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, UK

Biography:
Before coming to the University of Wales Andrew was Assistant Professor of Islamic Archaeology at the UAE University and before that was based in Amman as Research Officer for the CBRL. Andrew has carried out fieldwork throughout the Islamic world including Oman, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Turkmenistan and the Swahili coast of East Africa.

Abstract:
In this talk I will discuss the evidence for towns and cities in eastern Arabia during the pre-modern Islamic period. In general discussions of Islamic urbanism the evidence for towns in Arabia is either ignored or discussed in purely theoretical terms, which do not relate to archaeological evidence. The aim of this talk will be to combine archaeological evidence with theories of how Middle Eastern cities did or did not develop a specifically Islamic form. Eastern Arabia is particularly important in this respect, as it is the region of Arabia where the most intensive archaeological work has been carried on in recent years and is also an area, which can be said to have direct relevance to the formation of a wider Islamic culture. Two types of urban settlement will be distinguished ports and oasis settlements. Examples of the former include Sohar, Jumeirah, Qalhat, Balid, Muscat, Mutrah, Julfar and Ras al-Hadd whilst examples of the latter include Nizwa, Ibra, Rustaq, Bahla and al-Ain/Buraimi. Particular emphasis will be given to distinguishing between planned settlements and those where organic growth can be detected. The paper will also discuss the potential for further archaeological work in the al-Ain Buraimi oasis and questions which will need to be addressed.

15:15-15:45 TEA

SESSION 7 - Islamic Arabia
Chair: Janet Starkey

15:45 – Water and sign magic in al-Jabin, Yemen, Ingrid HEHMEYER (Department of History, Ryerson University, Canada).

Contact details:

Hehmeyer, Ingrid (ihehmeye@ryerson.ca)
Department of History, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5B 2K3, Canada

Biography:
Ingrid Hehmeyer is an Assistant Professor for the History of Science and Technology at Ryerson University, Toronto. She specialises in human-environmental relationships in the arid regions of ancient and mediaeval Arabia. Her current fieldwork in Yemen focusses on questions of technical innovations in hydraulic engineering and strategies for water management.

Abstract:
The winter 2007-2008 field season of the joint Royal Ontario Museum-Ryerson University Yemen Project surveyed the water storage cisterns of al-Jabîn, Jabal Rayma area. Al-Jabîn's preserved heritage offers a unique opportunity for documentation of universal traditional Yemeni water engineering principles, but defined by local characteristics. The town is positioned on the western escarpment of the Yemeni highlands at an altitude of 2400 m. The climate is characterized by high spatial and temporal variability of rainfall. Localized out-of-season rains are nothing unusual, nor are dry years, to the point of no precipitation occurring at all. Since the town of al-Jabîn is perched at the edge of the mountain ridge, with the ground falling away sharply to the west, there are no springs in the immediate vicinity. Even today, provision of domestic water comes from open cisterns that collect surface run-off following a rain. On one of these cisterns, depiction of the so-called seven magical signs indicates how the perpetual threat of scarcity of water led people to resort to irrational measures in the hopes that these might change the course of events and lead to a guaranteed water supply. The magic signs are dated by an inscription on the cistern to 1885-86.

16:10 – (bracelet): Jewish Art or Islamic Art?, Ora BERGER (Department of Art History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel).

Contact details:

Berger, Ora (oraberger@yahoo.com)
Department of Art History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus Jerusalem, 91905, Israel

Biography:


Abstract:
Yemenite Jewellery is famous. However, Jewellery from the 18th century has been less scrutinized. The aim of this paper is in respect of Mi'dad (bracelet) from the 18th century, San'a. It will be examined from new attitudes of comparative research of Jewish and Islamic Art.
Even though the concept for Mi'dad (bracelet) was based on Carpet Pages of Hebrew Illuminated Bible from the 14th /15th centuries, the actual work was operated under the new Law of the Zayd? Imams from the beginning of the 18th century - known as Qanun San'a.
Mi'dad (bracelet) is very important as a test case to analyze Yemenite Jewellery in the 18th century as it juxtaposes Jewellery, Hebrew Illuminated Bibles, Islamic Art and the Islamic Law.

16:35 – Yemen: Religion, Magic and Jews, Bat-Zion Eraqi KLORMAN (Department of History, The Open University of Israel, Raanana, Israel).

Contact details:

Klorman, Bat-Zion Eraqi (bater@openu.ac.il)
Department of History, The Open University of Israel, 108 Ravutski St., P.O. Box 808, Raanana 43107, Israel

Biography:
Ph.D., History, 1981, University of California Los Angeles. Editor, Hamizrah Hehadash. Published numerous books and articles in English and in Hebrew relating to the history, society and culture of Yemeni Jews. Recent publication: "Muslim Society as an Alternative: Jews Converting to Islam," J S S, 14, no. 1 (2007), 88-117.

Abstract:
This paper will examine Muslim Jewish relations in tribal Yemen. It will focus on the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, until most of the Jews emigrated from Yemen. The majority of the Jews lived in the tribal-rural areas, alongside the tribesmen, in hundreds of small settlements (the remainder lived in San'a' and in a number of towns). The paper will discuss the Jews' status as dhimmis, their living under tribal protection customs, and their integration into the tribal economy. The core of the discussion will elaborate on two issues that were not studied before: 1. the role of religion in shaping the attitude towards the Jews, and Jewish religious principles best known to the tribesmen; 2. the Jews' perception as professing mystical-magical knowledge, and the Muslims' reliance on the Jews magical services. The discussion will argue that the Jews' magical skills have intensified their position in the society as the ultimate 'other'. The methodology for this study is based on both oral history (personal interviews) and written historical sources.

POSTERS


POSTER

The Bat type: an example of an early Bronze Age tomb in Oman, Manfred BÖHME (Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Heritage and Culture, Sultanate of Oman)

Contact details:

Böhme, Manfred (bat_restoration@yahoo.com)
Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Heritage and Culture, P.O. Box 668, Muscat 113, Sultanate of Oman

Biography:
Manfred Böhme: Studied pre- and protohistory at the University of Munster, Germany. He has been involved in the archaeology of the Bat site since 2004 and leading the restoration workshop since 2006.

Abstract:
The poster of the research and restoration project shows the stages of excavation and restoration. It also illustrates the find of a prominent Hafit tomb at the Bat Heritage Monument site (Sultanate of Oman).

POSTER

Techno-functional analysis of the bone tools unearthed at the fishing settlement of KHB-1, from the beginning of the IV millennium BC (Ra's al-Khabbah, Ja'lan region, Sultanate of Oman), Fabio CAVULLI, E. CISTIANI (both Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy) & Simona SCARUFFI (University of Bologna, Italy).

Contact details:

Cavulli, Fabio (Fabio.Cavulli@lett.unitn.it)
Laboratorio di Preistoria 'B. Bagolini', Dipartimento di Filosofia, Storia e Beni Culturali, Università degli Studi di Trento, Corso 3 Novembre, 132, I-38100, Trento, Italia

Cristiani, E
Laboratorio di Preistoria 'B. Bagolini', Dipartimento di Filosofia, Storia e Beni Culturali, Università degli Studi di Trento, Corso 3 Novembre, 132, I-38100, Trento, Italia

Scaruffi, Simona (simonascaruffi@yahoo.it)
Dipartimento di Archeologia, University of Bologna, Department of Archaeology, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte, 2, I-40124, Bologna, Italy

Biographies:
Fabio Cavulli is a graduate of the University of Trento and conducted his PhD research in the University of Padua on Early Neolithic settlement structures in Northern Italy. His principle research interests include stratigraphies, structures, features and the spatial distribution of artefacts, as well as computer applications regarding archaeology in intra- and inter-site research. The periods covered are mainly the Mesolithic and the Neolithic. He is currently employed at the University of Trento. Since 2001 he has been working in the Ja'lan region in the Sultanate of Oman.

Emanula Cristiani - Ph.D. candidate at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". She is specialized in technological and functional analysis on osseous (bone, antler, ivory, shell) and stone tools. She carried out use-wear analyses on osseous artefacts coming from Palaeolithic to Bronze Age Italian sites and from Holocene contexts of north Africa (Libya, Egypt) and north-east Anatolia (archaeological missions of Dep. of Historical Archaeological and Anthropological Antiquities of the University of Rome "La Sapienza"). She carried out techno-functional analysis of stone and osseous ethnographic artefacts from Artic, Subartic and Brazil contexts. At the moment, she is performing the functional study of osseous and stone artefacts from Mesolithic and Neolithic sites of Trentino (north-eastern Italy). She has published 28 articles in Italian and foreign journals and books.

Simona Scaruffi is a graduate of the University of Bologna with final dissertation concerning the Middle Holocene population in the eastern regions of the Sultanate of Oman. She worked in several field projects on Neolithic sites in Southern Italy, Sultanate of Oman and Tunisia. She is interested in hunter-gatherer societies of the Early and Middle Holocene, especially in coastal and arid environments, and in the passage to Neolithic period. She is currently a graduate student (MA in Archaeology of Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East) at the Institute of Archaeology (UCL).

Abstract:
A techno-functional study has been carried out on a sample of bone tools coming from different occupational phases of the coastal settlement of KHB-1 (Ra's al-Khabbah, Ja'lan region, Sultanate of Oman) dating back to the end of the V and the beginning of the IV millennium BC.
Bone awls, pins, and a ring were at first analysed at low magnification by means of a stereoscope with the aim of reconstructing the modalities of their production; later artefact surfaces were observed at high magnification in order to identify and interpret micro-traces connected to possible utilisation of the tools.
In this paper the authors emphasise the aspect of the technological traces recognized on the bone tools in relation to the use, morphology and the façonnage stage of specific sandstone grinders/files/sharpener coming from the same layers.

POSTER

Environmental Research at Al-Khidr, Failaka Island (State of Kuwait), Maria HAJNALOVA (Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra, Slovakia), Zora MIKLIKOVA and Tereza BELANOVA (both Institute of Archaeology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Nitra, Slovakia)

Contact details:

Hajnalova, Maria (maria_hajnal@yahoo.com)
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University, Hodzova 1, SK - 94971 Nitra, Slovakia

Miklikova, Zora (zora.miklikova@gmail.com)
Institute of Archaeology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Akademicka 1, SK - 94901 Nitra, Slovakia

Belanova, Tereza (tereza.belanova@gmail.com)
Institute of Archaeology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Akademicka 1, SK - 94901 Nitra, Slovakia

Biographies:
Dr. Mária Hajnalová specializes in ancient plant remains, agriculture and land use. Her archaeological and ethnobotanical research is focused mostly to regions of East Central Europe and Arabian Peninsula. She worked in the Institute of Archaeology of Slovak Academy of Sciences from 1996 to 2006. Since 2007 she became a lecturer in environmental archaeology at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra.

Zora Miklikova is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Archaeology of Slovak Academy of Sciences. She specializes in archaeozoology and anthropology. Her research focuses on human remains of the early Bronze Age sites from Slovakia and the animal remains from archaeological excavations carried out in Slovakia, Turkey and Greece. As a member of Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission, she is overseeing the study of the mammal and bird remains from Al-Khidr, Failaka.

Tereza Belanova, M.A. is specialized on textiles and basketry in archaeology. Since 2003 she has been working at the Institute of Archaeology, Slovak Academy of Sciences. Within her PhD (in preparation) she is focusing on textile production North of the Middle Danube area during the Iron Age and Roman Period. As a member of Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission, she has been working from 2006 with the assemblage of bitumen finds from Al-Khidr, Failaka.

Abstract:
Environmental conditions were of fundamental ecological, economic and social importance for the Bronze Age civilizations of the Arabian Gulf. Albeit a variety of archaeological sources suggests that they were more favourable than today, the direct archaeobotanical and archaeozoological evidence is limited and seems not to be much conclusive in this respect.
This paper explores the potential and limits of environmental archaeology disciplines for reconstruction of the past local environment and subsistence strategies of an island community in the Arabian Gulf.
The rigorous sampling strategy employed at the site of Al-Khidr at Failaka Island (Kuwait) was aimed at collection of representative eco-facts assemblages. The first analyses of terrestrial and marine fauna, plant remains preserved in charred form and imprinted in bitumen were carried out to track down exploitation strategies relevant to life subsistence strategies on an island (e.g. use and localization of plant and animal resources, seasonality of the site).
The obtained results are being evaluated and tested against the palaeoclimate, geomorphology and sea level change data.

POSTER

Copper smelting at RJ-2 (Ra's al-Jinz, Sultanate of Oman), Alexandre DE RORRE (CNRS UMR 7041-ArScAn, Paris, France)

Contact details:
De Rorre, Alexandre
CNRS UMR 7041-ArScAn, Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, Université de Paris I, Panthéon Sorbonne, 21 allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex, France
derorrealex@yahoo.fr

Biography:
Alexandre De Rorre is a PhD student at University of Paris I. His research concerns metal-working in Early Bronze Age Arabia by the means of technical and chemical analyses.

Abstract:
This poster focuses on copper smelting at the Early Bronze Age site of RJ-2 (Ra's al-Jinz, Sultanate of Oman). 2006 excavations recorded a workshop area with a certain amount of fireplaces, metal objects and different tools. Functional study of those evidences identified three phases, each showing the same spatial arrangement, while located in different places. The analysis points out, nevertheless, structural transformation of pyrotechnological devices, which evolved into more complex features. Furthermore, the last phase presented a well structured storage area with a vast quantity of finished and unfinished objects. Data hint at technical evolution of copper smelting and, most likely, at stronger organisation both of the system and of workers' categories.

© Seminar for Arabian Studies 2008.

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