New Approaches to a collective grave from the Umm An-Nar Period at Hili (UAE)

Abstract

In the Oman peninsula, the Umm an-Nar circular tombs, easily seen in the landscape because of their monumental architecture, have usually been robbed for building stones and for their objects. This was not the case for a pit-grave discovered at Hili (United Arab Emirates) in 1984, which presented a stratigraphy nearly 2 meters deep, with 4 phases of main funeraiy deposits dating to the end of the Umm an-Nar period (ca 2 200-2 000 ВС). Such a stratigraphie depth is unknown in the collective tombs of the Near East (or in France), where funerary deposits are never deeper than 50 cm. On the resumption of excavations in 1 998, the main objective was to record local funerary practices, using the latest techniques for excavating collective tombs, never before applied in this part of the world. The grave contained the remains of a large number of individuals, easily exceeding 500, most of which were primary burials. The biological study has provided information on the composition and state of health of the buried population. The mortality profile corresponds to that of a so-called traditional population, in this case agricultural and village-dwelling. A parallel analysis of the economic and social structures of the population, based on the study of craft production, particularly pottery and funerary architecture, was also undertaken. The study of the pottery includes experimental reconstruction.