Some issues in the study of the pre-Islamic weaponry of southeastern Arabia

'it is not fine raiment or stores of gold, silver and gems that bend our enemies to respect or support us; they are kept down solely by fear of our arms'(Vegetius, 1.13) (1).     

Structuring the Late Stone Age of Southeastern Arabia

This paper treats the classification of a number of facies in the Late Stone Age of Southeastern Arabia. The basis for this classification is a selection of substantial find complexes of chipped stone artifacts from sites located along the coast of Oman. Human occupation in the region dates to the beginning of the Holocene, but insufficient material is available for the first quarter of the post-Pleistocene era. At the beginning of the second quarter of the Holocene, we find a relatively undifferentiated stone tool-using facies (Wadi-Wutayya-Facies) which was appar- ently contemporary with the Qatar B blade-arrowhead horizon in the interior of the Oman peninsula. Early in the 5th millennium BC, the Wadi-Wutayya-Facies was superseded by the Saruq-Facies which can be seen as a local variant of the “Arabian bifacial tradition”. The high point in the Late Stone Age occupation of the coast was reached early in the 4th millennium BC when various local facies can be distinguished. These include the Ra's-al-Hamra-Facies in the central coastal zone around Muscat and the Bir-Bira-Facies in the area around Sur. This phase, which was characterized particularly by the formation of shell middens, seems to have lasted only about 500 years. An essentially aceramic occupation on the coast of the Gulf of Oman, called the Bandar-Jissa-Facies, represents the final phase in the classification of Late Stone Age occupation outlined here. This facies was characterized by the use of a simple stone tool industry alongside of metal artifacts, and was contemporary with the Early Bronze age occupation of the southern and southwestern flanks of the Oman mountains. Information on categories of finds other than chipped stone, particularly those made of groundstone and shell, as well as observations on the economic and environmental history of the periods discussed, complement the study of the stone tool industries and form the basis for an outline of the history of Southeastern Arabia in the second quarter of the post-glacial era.     

Rare Himyaritic coins from Hadramawt

Three rare Himyaritic coins found in the territory of the ancient Hadramawt kingdom are published for the first time. Two of the coins bear the name of the king,'Amdan Bayyin, while the third has the name of Tha'ran Ya'ub.     

New Evidence of the Initial Appearance of Iron in Southeastern Arabia

The third season of excavations at Muweilah in the United Arab Emirates has revealed new evidence of the initial use of iron in southeastern Arabia. The evidence is contextualised within existing evidence of iron use in this region and some tentative interpretations of the importance of the find are presented.     

Pre-Alexandrine Phoenician staters from northeastern Arabia

Five Phoenician staters from northeastern Saudi Arabia, four of them previously unpublished, are presented and discussed. The potential significance of Phoenician material in this region is treated briefly.     

Six copper Tawilah from northeastern Arabia

Tawilah are bent bars of bronze, silver or billon bearing an often illegible Arabic legend. They are peculiar to the region of al-Hasa, while forming part of a much more widespread corpus of bent coins known as larins. This category of coinage will be examined, and six "new" tawilah published in the present article.     

Cave occupations in Southeastern Arabia in the second millennium BCE: Excavation at Mugharat al-Kahf,North-Central Oman

This paper reports the results of excavation at Mugharat al-Kahf (WTN01) in Wādī Tanūf, North-central Oman. It also provides information on the nonmortuary and nonsedentary activities in central Oman during the Wādī Sūq period (2000–1600 BCE), as the subsistence and social arrangements of this period are the subject of much debate. Previous surveys had discovered a substantial amount of Wādī Sūq pottery at the site. This project took forward the excavation for further exploration. The excavation at Test Pit 1 identified Layers Ia and Ib, wherein pottery sherds, charred date stones and other samples for radiocarbon dating were discovered. These prove the cave's occupation during the early third millennium BCE, early second millennium BCE and the Islamic period. The analysis of artefacts and floral remains provided insights into the sojourn, storage and consumption of dates in the cave, and the mobile lifestyle in central Oman.     

中国古代钱币诗话

古钱币系列是中国历史经济现象的载体,亦是承载时代进程的脉络与脚印。其见证了不同时期因政权更替的兴盛与衰败。在华夏古代文学宝库里,有关货币的诗话占有独特的重要地位。     

Magnetic properties of ancient coins

The almost ubiquitous presence of small amounts of iron in ancient coins gives them remanent magnetic properties which can be measured easily on commercial magnetometers. The stability of the remanence suggests that ancient coins might retain information about the geomagnetic field at the time and location of manufacture and so be valuable in setting up archaeomagnetic dating curves. However, measurements show that the remanence directions tend to be too scattered for this purpose, although it is quite possible to distinguish magnetically the obverse and reverse faces of struck coins.Saturation remanence studies of coins and coin analogues indicate that the main carrier of the remanence in struck coins is precipitated fine-grained iron (rather than the oxides of iron) which is produced during the minting process. The intensity of the remanence generated depends upon the thermo-mechanical history of the flan prior to striking, which suggests that the magnetic properties of such coins are not simply related to the provenance of the ores used.     

A late pre-Islamic burial at al-Khatt, U.A.E.

Gravegoods comprising local and imported pottery together with iron arrowheads were 'rescued'from a burial at al-Khatt, U.A.E., in 1993. Their relation to the chronology established at Mleiha suggests that they date from the late 3rd to early 2nd centuries BC, a period as yet little known in the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah.