Landscapes of Death: Early Bronze Age tombs and mortuary rituals on the Oman Peninsula 

This article is from World Archaeology issue 131

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REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH

The Oman Peninsula and the surrounding Gulf States have been the focus of archaeological research for at least 120 years. Although the region’s archaeological record extends as far back as the Middle Palaeolithic – including evidence of our cousins, Neanderthals, as well as early modern humans – most visible are the drystone burial-ritual monuments of the Bronze Age. This was certainly made apparent to me when visiting the area around the slopes of Qarn bint Sa’ud and the eastern hinterlands of Jebel Hafeet (north and south of the city of Al-Ain) where over 150 monuments stand in distinctive clusters, in varying states of decay (see CWA 116 and 124). These two groups of monuments possess identical architecture and similar dimensions, including circular plans, entrance orientations, building materials, and construction methods, as well as ritual depositions. Locally, the monument tradition is referred to as the Hafit-type group (sometimes described as ‘beehive tombs’). It should be noted that other clusters using different names are dispersed widely across the Oman Peninsula, in and around the Al-Hajar Mountain Range, which stretches from the modern political boundaries of Oman to the eastern and northern lands of the UAE.

This highly anticipated volume by Kimberly Williams will do much to enlighten the reader, providing a user-friendly narrative for what is very much an underrated archaeological resource. The volume contains six chapters, along with an all-important index.

The introduction and Chapter 1 provide essential context, discussing the distribution and architectural intricacies within a generic theme that comprises a circular beehive-type drystone-constructed monument with distinct orientation patterns relating to the entrance and internal detail. Both chapters also discuss chronological development, burial, and artefact deposition, and the unique way the body and grave goods are arranged, along with landscape-clustering. It should be noted that this monument type does not usually appear as a single entity but as a group or cluster. These factors indicate a society that is immersed in complex social and ritual practices. Interestingly, the monument clusters stand close to distinctive rock outcrops, anticlines, and mountains (for instance, the Al-Hajar Mountains in Oman and eastern UAE).  

Chapter 2 is concerned with the earliest monument phase, which dates to between 3200 and 2700 BC. The early architectural phase of these and later monuments is supported by archaeological and artefactual evidence from various excavations that have taken place over the past 70 years, with particular interest in the Jemdet Nasr/Early Dynastic ceramic jars that were deposited with the dead during this early phase. These artefacts were prevalent within the burial sequence of the cairns around Jebel Hafeet.  

In Chapter 3, Williams discusses the later phase, dated 2700 to 2000 BC and distinguished from their earlier counterparts by a more elaborate internal monument layout, comprising stone-walled compartments. This later circular cairn group, referred to as the Umm an-Nar group, is a communal monument where more than one burial is usually present. The complex internal arrangement for this later group suggests that these structures represent houses for the dead.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 discuss the emergence of a distinct architecture, changes between early and later burial practices, increased architectural complexity over time, and their final demise and the move towards a different way of burying the dead. In Chapter 5, Williams uses bioarchaeological techniques to provide meaning for the various burial practices over the 1,200-year period when these monuments were in use. Finally, Chapter 6 deals with future research and recommendations, of which there are potentially many.  

In summary, this book is an essential baseline tool for understanding the size and architectural deviations within many monument groups, as well as their landscape setting and geographic distribution. Clearly, there appears to be a synergy between Early Bronze Age communities and tomb builders across the Oman Peninsula (and beyond). I congratulate the author and the publisher for producing such a handsome book – and will add that it is a must-read!

Landscapes of Death: Early Bronze Age tombs and mortuary rituals on the Oman Peninsula 
Kimberly D Williams
Archaeopress, £52
ISBN 978-1803275291