The exploitation of marine resources at Saruq al‐Hadid: Insights into the movement of people and resources in Bronze and Iron Age south‐eastern Arabia

Marine resources were an integral and consistent component of subsistence strategies employed in south‐eastern Arabia throughout late prehistory. Of particular interest is the movement of these resources from the coast to interior sites and the implications of this movement for transhumance and trade in the region during this period. Marine species were frequently identified in the faunal assemblage from the inland site of Saruq al‐Hadid, dating from the Bronze Age to Early Iron Age (c.2000–c.800 BCE). This included marine fish species, along with two cormorant species (Phalacrocorax sp.) and several fragments of dugong (Dugong dugon). Twenty‐seven families of marine shell were also identified in the remains recovered from the site. The presence of these remains at this inland site demonstrates that resources were frequently moved from the coast to the interior throughout Saruq al‐Hadid’s occupation, indicative of their enduring significance in subsistence strategies employed at the site. This paper presents the results of zooarchaeological analysis of these remains and discusses the significance of their presence at Saruq al‐Hadid, with reference to subsistence, craft production and intra‐regional exchange during the Bronze and Iron Ages.     

Iranian Studies in the United Kingdom in the Twentieth Century

This essay provides a general introductory survey of Iranian and Iran-related studies in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century (including languages, literature, and the arts), with a very brief preliminary foray into earlier Iran-related scholarship and wide-ranging imaginations of Iran in Britain and Ireland, as well as some concluding remarks on contemporary knowledge production about Britain in Iran. Among other themes covered in the essay are the varied contributions of non-Britons and non-Irish to Iran-related scholarship and imaginations in the United Kingdom, underscoring the overall transnational production, dissemination, reception, and utilization of knowledge (history, geography, archaeology, cultures, ethnography and anthropology, art and architecture, Iran-related Persian-language literatures and poetry, etc.). In particular, the essay highlights the contributions made by individuals from, and institutions in, the Indian subcontinent to “British” scholarship and knowledge about Iran.     

Recent archaeological research at Saruq al‐Hadid,Dubai, UAE

In September 2014, the University of New England (UNE), Australia, began a three‐year programme of archaeological fieldwork and post‐excavation analyses focused on the site of Saruq al‐Hadid. In this paper, we present the initial results of our current field and laboratory research particularly related to site stratigraphy and formation processes, relative and absolute chronology, and the preliminary results of various programmes of post‐excavation analyses including archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, ceramic and archaeometallurgical studies. These studies provide new data to build into the archaeological understanding of Saruq al‐Hadid that has, to date, focused largely on intensive excavation.     

A Study of Biodeterioration and Chromatic Alterations of Painted and Gilded Mummy Cartonnage at the Saqqara Museum Storeroom,Egypt

Microbial biofilms have developed on the surfaces and within the painted and gilded layers of mummy cartonnage at the Saqqara museum storeroom in Giza, Egypt. SEM–EDX, XRD and FT–IR–ATR techniques were applied to analyse the coloured and gilded materials, ground layer, textile support and binder used for the cartonnage. Aspergillus niger (24.8%), Penicillium chrysogenum (21.5%) and a novel cartonnage‐biodegrading bacterium, Bacillus sonorensis (23.7%), were the most abundant microbes growing over the cartonnage surface. In addition, Aspergillus tamari (15.4%), A. fumigates (8.1%) and Fusarium solani (6.5%) were identified. The pigments comprised Egyptian blue (cuprorivaite), cinnabar (red), orpiment (yellow) and green pigment made from a mixture of cuprorivaite and orpiment. Gold leaf was used for the gilded layer, calcium carbonate and gypsum comprised the ground layer, gum arabic was the binding medium and the fibre base was a fine linen textile. Microbial colonization tests were performed on aged cartonnage replica samples made from linen and pigments of similar composition to ancient pigments found in the cartonnage. Each sample was inoculated separately with A. niger, P. chrysogenum and B. sonorensis. Yellow orpiment samples were the exception, as no colour change was detected after colonization by the examined micro‐organisms.     

Worked and decorated shell discs from southern Arabia and the wider Near East

This article presents and discusses a corpus of worked and decorated shell discs from recently excavated archaeological sites in southern Arabia, including Dibba (northern Oman), Saruq al‐Hadid (UAE) and Sumhuram/Khor Rori (southern Oman). The artefacts are compared to a wide range of shell discs from controlled excavations in Arabia and the broader Near East in order to better understand their date, manufacture and use. The comparative study highlights the wide distribution of decorated shell discs across the ancient Near East, particularly during the early Iron Age, and the complex economic and cultural connections that underpinned the collection, crafting, exchange and significance of such items.     

Reconstructing the holocene depositional environments in the western part of Ancient Karnak temples complex (Egypt): a geoarchaeological approach

This paper presents the results of a geoarchaeological study undertaken in Upper Egypt, in the western part of the Karnak Temples complex. The geoarchaeological approach helps to better understand the fluvial dynamics of the Nile in the proximity of the Pharaonic site during the late Holocene. Until recently, most researchers assumed that Karnak was built on a fluvial island and that a large basin connected to the Nile was built in front of the first pylon during the dynastic period. However, recent excavations conducted by the archaeologists of the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities revealed a jetty or quay with probable direct access to the Nile. Therefore in order to reveal in more detail the landscape and waterscape changes in the most western part of Ancient Karnak, a palaeoenvironmental study was conducted. We studied several stratigraphic profiles, manual boreholes (maximum depth of 5.50 m) and percussion drillings (maximum depth of 25 m). Sedimentological and magnetic susceptibility analyses helped to characterize Nile River deposits and to identify the presence of aeolian deposits (associated with wadi fan deposits) in the lower part of the drillings. Fluvial dynamics characterized by flood events, sandy accretions and thick Nile silts/clay deposits are presented and discussed here for later palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Accurate leveling of the different profiles and boreholes, together with a topographic survey, allow us to recover long sedimentological sequences and to correlate the different sedimentary units. Finally, in order to obtain a chronostratigraphic sequence, radiocarbon dates were obtained from wood, charcoal and ash samples (analyses undertaken at the laboratory of radiocarbon dating of Ifao, Cairo, Egypt). The presence of the Nile River in front of the first pylon in Karnak is attested from the end of the Second Intermediate Period (SIP, ca 1600 BC) until the end of Roman Times (ca. 350 AD), which both correspond to two main phases of Nile River floods.