The reuse of tombs in the necropolis of Bat, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

The reuse of Umm an-Nar tombs in later periods on the Oman peninsula is an often neglected phenomenon. Within the scope of this paper, the results from the excavation conducted by the University of Tübingen of two Umm an-Nar tombs in the necropolis of Bat, Sultanate of Oman — Tomb 155 and Tomb 156 — will be presented. In these two tombs, we find clear evidence for their reuse in the Iron Age. In addition, indications for the reuse of other tombs within the necropolis, excavated by the German Mining Museum Bochum and by the Danish expedition in the 1970s—Tombs 154,401,402,403,1142, and 1143 — will also be discussed. Together they give a broad picture of the different kinds of Iron Age reuse in the necropolis of Bat, consisting of individual inhumations within the Umm an-Nar tombs, the creation of new Iron Age tombs in the direct vicinity of the Umm an-Nar tombs and the reuse of their building materials, and scattered stray finds dating to later periods in the debris of the Umm an-Nar tombs. Finally, I will attempt to link the reuse of Umm an-Nar tombs to practices connected to collective memory.