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THE NEW RADIOCARBON DATASET FOR TRILITH MONUMENTS OF SOUTHEASTERN ARABIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2020

R Garba Open the ORCID record for R Garba [Opens in a new window] ,
P Demján Open the ORCID record for P Demján [Opens in a new window] ,
I Svetlik Open the ORCID record for I Svetlik [Opens in a new window]  and
D Dreslerová
R Garba*
Affiliation:
CRL DRD, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, CZ-180 86 Prague, Czech Republic Department of Asian, African and Mediterranean Studies, Università di Napoli L’Orientale, Italy
P Demján
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Letenská 4, CZ-118 01 Prague, Czech Republic
I Svetlik
Affiliation:
CRL DRD, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, CZ-180 86 Prague, Czech Republic
D Dreslerová
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Letenská 4, CZ-118 01 Prague, Czech Republic
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Triliths are megalithic monuments scattered across the coastal plains of southern and southeastern Arabia. They consist of aligned standing stones with a parallel row of large hearths and form a space, the meaning of which is undoubtedly significant but nonetheless still unknown. This paper presents a new radiocarbon (14C) dataset acquired during the two field seasons 2018–2019 of the TSMO (Trilith Stone Monuments of Oman) project which investigated the spatial and temporal patterns of the triliths. The excavation and sampling of trilith hearths across Oman yielded a dataset of 30 new 14C dates, extending the use of trilith monuments to as early as the Iron Age III period (600–300 BC). The earlier dates are linked to two-phase trilith sites in south-central Oman. The three 14C pairs collected from the two-phase trilith sites indicated gaps between the trilith construction phases from 35 to 475 years (2 σ). The preliminary spatio-temporal analysis shows the geographical expansion of populations using trilith monuments during the 5th to 1st century BC and a later pull back in the 1st and 2nd century AD. The new 14C dataset for trilith sites will help towards a better understanding of Iron Age communities in southeastern Arabia.

Keywords

ArabiaLate Iron AgeOmanradiocarbon datingtrilith monuments
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 461 - 471
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© 2020 by The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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