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Marking the sacral landscape of a north Arabian oasis: a sixth-millennium BC monumental stone platform and surrounding burials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2020

Olivia Munoz Open the ORCID record for Olivia Munoz [Opens in a new window] ,
Marianne Cotty ,
Guillaume Charloux Open the ORCID record for Guillaume Charloux [Opens in a new window] ,
Charlène Bouchaud ,
Hervé Monchot ,
Céline Marquaire ,
Antoine Zazzo ,
Rémy Crassard ,
Olivier Brunet  and
Vanessa Boschloos Open the ORCID record for Vanessa Boschloos [Opens in a new window]
...Show all authors
Olivia Munoz*
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Archéologie et Sciences de l'Antiquité, France
Marianne Cotty
Affiliation:
Musée du Louvre, Département de Antiquités Orientales, France
Guillaume Charloux
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Orient et Méditerranée, France
Charlène Bouchaud
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques et environnements, France
Hervé Monchot
Affiliation:
Labex Resmed, Paris Sorbonne Universités, France
Céline Marquaire
Affiliation:
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne—UFR d'Archéologie, France
Antoine Zazzo
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques et environnements, France
Rémy Crassard
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), French Center for Archaeology and Social Sciences (CEFAS), Kuwait
Olivier Brunet
Affiliation:
Archéologie et Sciences de l'Antiquité, France
Vanessa Boschloos
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Ghent University, Belgium
Thamer al-Malki
Affiliation:
Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ [email protected]
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Abstract

Prehistoric stone structures are prominent and well-studied in the Levantine desert margins. In northern Arabia, however, such structures have received less attention. This article presents the results of investigations of a 35m-long stone platform, first constructed in the mid sixth millennium BC, overlooking the oasis of Dûmat al-Jandal in northern Saudi Arabia. Excavation of the platform has yielded bioarchaeological and cultural remains, along with evidence for several phases of construction and intermittent use down to the first millennium BC. Analysis of the platform and nearby tombs highlights the persistent funerary and ritual use of this area over millennia, illuminating nomadic pastoralist lifeways in prehistoric Arabia.

Keywords

Arabian PeninsulaNeolithicMid-Holocenemonumentalityfunerary landscapenomadic pastoralism
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 94 , Issue 375 , June 2020 , pp. 601 - 621
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2020

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