Faunal remains from the Islamic fort at Luluyyah (Sharjah,UAE)

Knowledge about human subsistence and the role of animal economy in the Islamic period of south‐east Arabia is still sketchy. The analysis of faunal remains from the coastal fort at Luluyyah (Sharjah, UAE), dated to the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century CE, provides some information. People depended on marine resources and domestic animals, a trait observable in the region since the Neolithic. Livestock breeding was not particularly developed. Judging by the distribution of their skeletal remains, the animals were slaughtered at the fort, implying that they either lived there or reached it alive.     

HLO1‐south: An Early Neolithic site in Wadi al‐Hilo (Sharjah,UAE)

Site HLO1 (Sharjah, UAE), situated in a particularly favourable geographical position, has provided an extraordinary range of anthropogenic radiocarbon dates, spanning before 8000 to Zero BCE. The Neolithic is represented by finds from the eighth to the fifth millennium BCE. Apart from the dated fireplaces, however, there are almost no typical artefacts of this period. Small stone structures appear to have been early Neolithic graves. A middle Neolithic grave consisted of a large rounded stone heap which was reused as a grave during the Late Bronze Age. The site is interpreted as a campsite of nomadic herders, used throughout the Neolithic period. After a break in the fourth millennium BCE, the site became a Bronze Age smelting site which continued to be settled until the Late Iron Age.     

Camels and Arabian balîya and other forms of sacrifice: a review of archaeological and literary evidence

The paper surveys the recent archaeological information for the balîya immolation tradition of pre-Islamic Arabia, whereby a camel or other valued animal was slaughtered to accompany a person of status in death so that they had an animal to ride or to maintain their status in the afterlife. In contrast to the dhibh immolation, which is prescribed in the Holy Qur'ân in memory of the sacrifice of the Prophet Ibrâhîm, the balîya is forbidden in Islam. Unlike the dhibh immolation, the balîya sacrifice was interred whole and provides precise archaeological information about the circumstances of its slaughter and burial. Information about such immolations derives largely from excavations in southern and eastern Arabia.     

FAY‐NE15 — Another Neolithic graveyard in the Central Region of the Sharjah Emirate?

The paper describes indications for the existence of another substantial Neolithic graveyard of the fifth millennium BC besides al‐Buhais 18 (BHS18) in the Central Region of the Sharjah Emirate. Archaeological explorations in 2006 recovered skeletal remains of three individuals from a primary burial. Deposition of the deceased was similar to BHS18. All three were richly adorned with different kinds of beads found in the head and neck areas. A total of 949 finds of beads from FAY‐NE15 are compared to the large complex of personal adornments from BHS18. There are slight deviations that might indicate that the two graveyards were used by different groups. Implications for the relations between the groups are discussed.     

Dibba: an ancient port on the Gulf of Oman in the early Roman era

In this paper recent archaeological evidence from the port city of Dibba in the United Arab Emirates is presented. Finds of both ceramics and elite objects detail the extensive maritime trade network that connected this part of Arabia with the broader Indian Ocean World.