The Bioarchaeology of Individuals

8. Lesley: A Unique Bronze Age Individual from Southeastern Arabia

8  dLesley A Unique Bronze Age Individual from Southeastern Arabia Debra L. Martin and Daniel T. Potts Individual Profile Site: Tell Abraq Location: Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (on the coast about 16 km north of Dubai) N25°29.36.5, E55°33.03.0 Cultural Affiliation: Bronze Age Date: Ca. 2100–2000 B.C. Feature: Collective tomb Location of Grave: Within a multiperiod settlement mound, 10 m west of a contemporary fortification tower Burial and Grave Type: Circular Umm an-Nar–type burial built of beach rock and limestone ashlar masonry Associated Materials: In the collective tomb—ceramics, soft-stone and alabaster vessels, bronze weaponry, jewelry including carnelian, lapis, gold, silver, agate beads Preservation and Completeness: Complete but fragmentary with much exfoliation of bone surfaces Age at Death and Basis of Estimate: 18–20, based on pubic symphysis, epiphyseal union, dental eruption Sex and Basis of Determination: Female, based on pelvis morphology including sciatic notch, subpubic angle, and ventral arc Conditions Observed: Neuromuscular disease of unknown origin Specialized Analyses: Radiography Excavated: 1993–1998 Archaeological Report: Potts 2000a Current Disposition: Department of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Human Remains Storage Facility WRI C206 113 114 · Debra L. Martin and Daniel T. Potts Tell Abraq is a multiperiod settlement on the Persian Gulf coast of the United Arab Emirates that was occupied continuously from ca. 2200 to 400 B.C., with evidence of limited reuse in the first and third centuries A.D. (Potts 2000a) (figure 8.1). The site consisted originally of a massive fortification tower, about 40 m in diameter and 8 m high, built of a combination of mudbrick and stone, around which the inhabitants lived in palm-frond houses, similar to the traditional barasti or ‘arish constructions that can still be found in the mountains and along the coast to the north of the site (Dostal 1983). The people of Tell Abraq herded sheep, goats, and cattle (Stephan 1995; Uerpmann 2001); grew date palms; and intercropped domesticated wheat and barley (Willcox and Tengberg 1995), probably in the shade of the date palms. These resources were supplemented by locally available fish and shellfish, marine mammals like dugong, green turtle (Chelonia mydas), and wild terrestrial fauna such as oryx, gazelle, and dromedary camel (Uerpmann and Uerpmann 2002). Although rainfall in this part of Arabia is insufficient for dry-farming, a 16 m deep well in the center of the fortification tower provided a stable source of water for drinking and irrigation. While Tell Abraq today is located slightly inland from the coast, on the edge of a sabkha, or salt flat, local geomorphology indicates that in the third millennium B.C., when the site was founded, the fortification tower and surrounding houses were less than 100 m from the water’s edge (Dalongeville 1990). Until the late first millennium B.C., the dead in this part of Arabia were typically buried in collective rather than individual tombs. In the late third millennium B.C. (Umm an-Nar period, ca. 2500–2000 B.C.) such tombs were circular (Blau 2001; Potts 2001: 40) and were typically constructed of unworked local stone, faced with finely masoned blocks of limestone. For use at Tell Abraq, this stone had to have been transported from a distance of at least 50 km. Tombs of this sort vary from about 4 to 14 m in diameter, with a variable number of internal walls dividing the space into separate chambers. One such tomb, about 6 m in diameter, was discovered 10 m west of the fortification tower at Tell Abraq (Potts 1990, 1991, 2000a, 2000b) (figure 8.2). The tomb was constructed of beach rock, a calcareous concretion that forms immediately offshore in the shallow waters of coastal lagoons, faced with standard cut limestone blocks. A single internal wall running south from the northern side of the tomb divided the internal space into two chambers. The wall stopped short of the southern side of the tomb, creating a passageway between the eastern and western chambers. This passageway was situated almost directly opposite a large, trapezoidal stone in the outer wall, which gave the appearance of being removable, perhaps functioning as a portholelike point of entry to the interior of the tomb. The entry would have been used for the addition of the dead over the one or possibly two centuries that the tomb was in use. Several large, flat slabs of...