Scrapping ritual: Iron Age metal recycling at the site of Saruq al-Hadid (U.A.E.)

Stepanov, Ivan; Weeks, Lloyd; Franke, Kristina; Rodemann, Thomas; Salvemini, Filomena; Cable, Charlotte; Ali, Yaaqoub Al; Radwan, Mansour Boraik; Zein, Hassan; Grave, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.003

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…However, the presence of pits also suggests the possible reuse of material such as bone and iron deposited during the earlier periods of use at the site. This hypothesis is supported by analyses of the poorly preserved and heavily fragmented iron remains from Horizon I, which testify to the scavenging and reprocessing of this material after its initial deposition in the early Iron Age (Stepanov et al 2019), although the chronological timeframe for these later activities is difficult to determine.…”

Section: Horizon Imentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Some fragmentary iron Dating Persistent Activity at Saruq al-Hadid 1067 artifacts display typological features suggestive of a Late-or Post-Iron Age date (Weeks et al 2018: Fig. 12), and many iron pieces show traces of fragmentation and other processing indicative of their reworking or recycling after their original deposition in the early Iron Age (Stepanov et al 2019). Herrmann et al (2012: 65) noted (but did not illustrate) the occurrence of green glazed pottery at the site, which they suggest may belong to the Late Pre-Islamic period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This use clearly changed through time: early activities focused on the exploitation of local wild animal resources and the presence of seasonal grazing for domestic herds (Roberts et al 2018); later occupations are characterized by increased craft activity-likely incorporating the production of metal, bone, shell and wood artifacts-in contexts of apparent ritual activity and deposition and involving the interaction of members of multiple communities (Karacic et al 2017;Weeks et al 2018). The latest periods of use of the site include the "scavenging" and recycling of earlier ferrous metal remains (Stepanov et al 2019), as well as copper smelting on a significant scale (Weeks et al 2017) and later, historically and archaeologically documented seasonal occupation by modern mobile groups (e.g., Wilkinson 1977;Contreras Rodrigo et al 2017: Fig. 4).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dating Persistent Short-Term Human Activity in a Complex Depositional Environment: Late Prehistoric Occupation at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai

et al. 2019

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The archaeological site of Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, presents a long sequence of persistent temporary human occupation on the northern edge of the Rub’ al-Khali desert. The site is located in active dune fields, and evidence for human activity is stratified within a deep sequence of natural dune deposits that reflect complex taphonomic processes of deposition, erosion and reworking. This study presents the results of a program of radiocarbon (14C) and thermoluminescence dating on deposits from Saruq al-Hadid, allied with studies of material remains, which are amalgamated with the results of earlier absolute dating studies provide a robust chronology for the use of the site from the Bronze Age to the Islamic period. The results of the dating program allow the various expressions of human activity at the site—ranging from subsistence activities such as hunting and herding, to multi-community ritual activities and large scale metallurgical extraction—to be better situated chronologically, and thus in relation to current debates regarding the development of late prehistoric and early historic societies in southeastern Arabia.

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Section: Horizon Imentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dating Persistent Short-Term Human Activity in a Complex Depositional Environment: Late Prehistoric Occupation at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai

et al. 2019

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“…Casana et al [ 3 ] report extensive Neolithic lithic scatters within ten kilometres of Saruq al-Hadid, and this may have been the closest chert source for the Wadi Suq/Late Bronze Age flintknappers. Material recycling (see [ 48 ]) was a persistent behaviour at Saruq al-Hadid: soft stone from Wadi Suq/Late Bronze Age deposits was recycled during the Iron Age [ 49 ], and on-site Iron Age and post-Iron Age metallurgical practices also involved substantial recycling [ 50 ].…”

Section: Results Of the Lithic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Bronze age stone flaking at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai, southeastern Arabia

et al. 2022

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Excavations at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai, UAE, discovered a stone tool technology with backed microliths dating to the Wadi Suq period and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1750–1300 BCE). The stone technology is a contemporary with metal production in the region, and the assemblage was recovered from a thick bone midden deposit at this multi-period site on the edge of the Rub’ al-Khali Desert. Small cobbles of chert were imported to the site and were reduced into flakes by hard-hammer percussion. Cores were frequently rotated during knapping and the reduction strategy was ad hoc, lacking hierarchical reduction stages. Flake tools were used as-is or modified by retouching. Some flakes were selected for backing into geometric microliths, and backing techniques often reflected high levels of stoneworking skill to produce stylised scalene shapes. A review of contemporary archaeological evidence, and the context of the Saruq al-Hadid assemblage, suggest that microliths may have been made as stone armatures for arrows despite the contemporary use of copper-based arrowheads.

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“…Both gold and silver must have been heavily recycled throughout history, and yet few publications have addressed this. With a few exceptions (e.g., Fleming, 2012;Park et al, 2019Park et al, , 2020Schwab, 2002;Schwab et al, 2006;Stepanov et al, 2019), iron is also generally excluded from this debate, and yet there is enough historical evidence to suggest that iron was indeed recycled in both antiquity and the early modern period. This represents a gap in our knowledge, since iron featured heavily in later prehistoric life, but is poorly represented within materials studies of archaeological metals, largely because of the generally poor preservation of iron artefacts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The sword that was broken …’: The detection of recycled iron in the archaeological record

2023

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Although the recycling of materials such as copper and glass is widely known and generally well understood within archaeological contexts, far less is known about the recycling of iron. Iron recycling is more complex than that of other metals for two reasons. First, normal manufacturing processes, which include forging several components to make a composite object, offer the opportunity to include recycled iron. Second, the material itself is more complex than Cu alloys. The alloys of Fe, depending primarily on C content, are very different in terms of properties and can be interconverted by (normally) removing C such as decarburizing cast iron to make wrought iron. Thus, recycling practices are potentially intimately combined with such processes. These factors, combined with the poor preservation of archaeological iron and the consequent reluctance to carry out extensive studies (which often require destructive analysis via metallography), mean that there are no clear criteria for identifying recycled iron. However, limited historical documentation suggests, at least indirectly, that such recycling was common. This paper is neither comprehensive nor definitive, but merely intends to promote discussion and awareness of iron recycling by hypothesizing several possible mechanisms and providing a few illustrative archaeological examples.

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Scrapping ritual: Iron Age metal recycling at the site of Saruq al-Hadid (U.A.E.)

Cited by 7 publications

References 26 publications

Dating Persistent Short-Term Human Activity in a Complex Depositional Environment: Late Prehistoric Occupation at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai

Dating Persistent Short-Term Human Activity in a Complex Depositional Environment: Late Prehistoric Occupation at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai

Bronze age stone flaking at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai, southeastern Arabia

‘The sword that was broken …’: The detection of recycled iron in the archaeological record

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