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

Muñoz, Olivia; Cotty, Marianne; Charloux, Guillaume; Bouchaud, Charlène; Monchot, Hervé; Marquaire, Céline; Zazzo, Antoine; Crassard, Rémy; Brunet, Olivier; Boschloos, Vanessa; al-Malki, Thamer

doi:10.15184/aqy.2020.81

Cited by 18 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(53 reference statements)

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“…5000 BC falls both spatially and temporally between the sixth millennium BC rectangular structures of the Levant and the fifth millennium BC platform structures of southern Arabia, as discussed above. How the recently dated Dûmat al-Jandal stone platform ( Munoz et al, 2020 ), originating in the sixth millennium BC, relates to mustatils remains to be clarified. The southern Arabian sites are interpreted as locations where social aggregation occurred, in the context of emerging territoriality, perhaps in the form of ritual slaughter and/or conspicuous consumption (cf e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Likewise, three cairns at Jubbah have been dated to 6372–6060 BC, 5306–5216 BC and 5301–5061 BC respectively ( Guagnin et al, 2017b , 2020 ). A recently published stone platform from Dûmat al-Jandal in northern Arabia ( Munoz et al 2020 ), on the other side of the Nefud Desert from our study area, is also interesting from the perspective of mustatils. This platform was constructed over several phases, beginning with a trapezoidal structure 20.6 m in length constructed around 5500–5600 BC.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…600 AD ( Alsharekh, 2004 ). As discussed more below, a recently published stone platform from Dûmat al-Jandal also had a funerary aspect, and dates to the sixth millennium BC ( Munoz et al, 2020 ). Little is known of larger, more complex, forms of stone structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon

et al. 2020

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Between 10 and six thousand years ago the Arabian Peninsula saw the most recent of the ‘Green Arabia’ periods, when increased rainfall transformed this generally arid region. The transition to the Neolithic in Arabia occurred during this period of climatic amelioration. Various forms of stone structures are abundant in northern Arabia, and it has been speculated that some of these dated to the Neolithic, but there has been little research on their character and chronology. Here we report a study of 104 ‘mustatil’ stone structures from the southern margins of the Nefud Desert in northern Arabia. We provide the first chronometric age estimate for this type of structure – a radiocarbon date of ca. 5000 BC – and describe their landscape positions, architecture and associated material culture and faunal remains. The structure we have dated is the oldest large-scale stone structure known from the Arabian Peninsula. The mustatil phenomenon represents a remarkable development of monumental architecture, as hundreds of these structures were built in northwest Arabia. This ‘monumental landscape’ represents one of the earliest large-scale forms of monumental stone structure construction anywhere in the world. Further research is needed to understand the function of these structures, but we hypothesise that they were related to rituals in the context of the adoption of pastoralism and resulting territoriality in the challenging environments of northern Arabia.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon

et al. 2020

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“…Indeed, the beginnings of territoriality in the Arabian Peninsula is believed to have its origins in the late 4th millennium B.C. (Magee 2014, 83-84), although this assertion has recently begun to be challenged (see Munoz et al 2020;Thomas et al in press). At present, comparatively few Neolithic burials (pre-4000 B.C.)…”

Section: Monumentality Social Memory and Territoriality In Neolithic-chalcolithic Northwestern Arabiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Northwestern Arabia is characterized by a rich and varied archaeological landscape spanning millennia, with the region marked by hundreds of thousands of monumental stone structures collectively known as the "Works of the Old Men" (Kennedy 2011;Guagnin et al 2017;Hausleiter and Eichmann 2018;Munoz et al 2020;Petraglia et al 2020). Amongst these are tens of thousands of funerary features.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monumentality, Social Memory, and Territoriality in Neolithic–Chalcolithic Northwestern Arabia

Thomas

Kennedy

McMahon

et al. 2021

Journal of Field Archaeology

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Recent excavations undertaken by the Aerial Archaeology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (AAKSA) project have recovered significant skeletal material, evidence for funerary offerings, including jewelry, and the earliest chronometrically dated domestic dog in the Arabian Peninsula. Despite being heavily disturbed by recent looting, these monumental funerary structures were found to be collective burials dating to the 5th and 4th millennia B.C. The evidence recovered from these graves provides new insight into the social and funerary landscapes of northwestern Arabia during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, shedding light upon issues of social memory, territoriality, and monumentality in the Middle Holocene of the Arabian Peninsula.

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Taphonomy of an excavated striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) den in Arabia: implications for paleoecology and prehistory

Stewart

Andrieux

Clark-Wilson

et al. 2021

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Studies of modern carnivore accumulations of bone (i.e., neo-taphonomy) are crucial for interpreting fossil accumulations in the archaeological and paleontological records. Yet, studies in arid regions have been limited in both number and detailed taphonomic data, prohibiting our understanding of carnivore bone-accumulating and -modifying behavior in dry regions. Here, we present a taphonomic analysis of an impressive carnivore-accumulated bone assemblage from the Umm Jirsan lava tube in the Harrat Khaybar region, Saudi Arabia. The size and composition of the bone accumulation, as well as the presence of hyena skeletal remains and coprolites, suggest that the assemblage was primarily accumulated by striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena). Our findings (1) identify potentially useful criteria for distinguishing between accumulations generated by different species of hyenas; (2) emphasize the need for neo-taphonomic studies for capturing the full variation in carnivore bone-accumulating and modifying behavior; (3) suggest that under the right settings, striped hyena accumulations can serve as good proxies for (paleo)ecology and livestock practices; and (4) highlight the potential for future research at Umm Jirsan, as well as at the numerous nearby lava tube systems. We encourage continued neo-taphonomic efforts in regions important in human prehistory, particularly in arid zones, which have received little research attention.

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

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 18 publications

References 27 publications

Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon

Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon

Monumentality, Social Memory, and Territoriality in Neolithic–Chalcolithic Northwestern Arabia

Taphonomy of an excavated striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) den in Arabia: implications for paleoecology and prehistory

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