Two Late Umm an-Nar Tombs at Mowaihat-Ajman, United Arab Emirates: Excavations and Human Bone Remains

Two Late Umm a-Nar Tombs at Mowaihat-Ajman, United Arab Emirates presents information resulting from rescue excavations at two collective tombs (A and B), belonging to the last quarter of the third millennium BC. The excavations at Tomb A, a disturbed above-ground, circular grave, and the diversity of the materials discovered in Tomb B, a rectangular subterranean pit-grave, in the mid-1980s, have confirmed that the sphere of the Umm an-Nar Culture in the United Arab Emirates is much wider than originally thought. Whilst Tomb A was fully excavated, Tomb B was only partially uncovered (Al Tikriti 1989). Excavation at the latter was completed by Late Ernie Haerinck (1991). The aim of this report is therefore to summarize the two preliminary published reports, and more importantly, to introduce an osteological study on the human bone remains from Tomb B. Since the discovery of the Umm an-Nar culture by the Danish Archaeological Expedition in the late 1950s, subterranean tombs of the period are still rare. Tomb N at Hili and Tomb B in Ajman are the only ones known so far. However, despite belonging to the same period and showing similarities in burial customs, the bone study of the Ajman remains demonstrated some differences between the dead of Tombs B and N.

Table of Contents:
Prelude Acknowledgments Abstract الملخص   Mowaihat, Ajman: The excavations – Walid Yasin Al Tikriti Introduction The two Mowaihat tombs at Ajman The circular tomb The rectangular tomb (Tomb B) Conclusion   Mowaihat, Ajman: The human remains – Kathleen McSweeney Background to the research Tomb B Mowaihat Minimum number of individuals (MNI) Age at death Assessment of sex Estimation of stature Health and disease Summary of the collated data from the Mowaihat Tomb B remains The Mowaihat Tomb B remains in the wider context Jar burial   APPENDIX 1 List of objects from Mowaihat, Ajman: Tombs A and B (1986/1987) Tomb A, Group P (pottery) Tomb B (pottery) Stone vessels – Group S (chlorite?) Miscellanea – Group M   APPENDIX 2 List of objects from Mowaihat, Ajman, Tomb B (1990) (NB: copied from Haerinck 1991) APPENDIX 3 Key for Figure 68 – Ajman Rectangular Tomb B References 

About the Author :
Walid Yasin Al Tikriti (PhD, University of Cambridge, Trinity College 1982) is a former archaeologist in the Antiquities Directorate, Baghdad and a former head of the Archaeology Section at the Abu Dhabi Authority of Culture and heritage. A former lecturer at the United Arab University, he led and supervised several excavations at Bronze and Iron Age sites in the United Arab Emirates. He is the author of several papers on the archaeology of the UAE and on water heritage including a book on the falaj irrigation system (English and Arabic). His most recent publication is Qidfa 1: Excavations at a Late Prehistoric site in Fujairah, UAE (Archaeopress 2022). Kathleen McSweeney (PhD, Ma Hons., FSA Scot) is an Honorary Fellow at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh. Recently retired as Senior Lecturer in Human Osteoarchaeology, she has conducted several osteological researches in the United Arab Emirates and Bulgaria. She is a Member of the National Archaeological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Science.