Some thoughts on the burial space inside QA 1-1, an Umm an-Nar tomb in Wādī al-Fajj (Oman): a case of incomplete paving of the tomb’s floor
Keywords:
Oman, Umm an-Nar, tomb, spatial analysis, mortuary analysisAbstract
The complex of ten Umm an-Nar tombs at the site of QA 1 is one of the objectives of a joint Omani-Polish research project1 carried out in the micro-region of Qumayrah situated in the interior of north-western Oman, c.60 km to the south-east of the archaeological site of Hili in the UAE. Excavations focused first on the Umm an-Nar tomb QA 1-1. The tomb interior included four chambers delimited by two cross walls; two of these chambers were targeted for full excavation from 2016 to 2018. They yielded an abundance of human skeletal remains with associated grave-goods, the vast majority of which were securely dated to the Umm an-Nar period. There is an intriguing issue related to the tomb’s floor and the distribution of bone deposits. Most human remains were recovered in areas where the stone-paved floor was missing. It can thus be assumed that that QA 1-1 most likely represents an Umm an-Nar use of the structure that included remodelling the interior of the tomb itself to create more space for successive burials. This remodelling consisted mainly of dismantling a large area of the floor. The discovery of a stone-paved floor, which extended only to the front part of one of the excavated chambers, and a narrow paving along its walls, may indicate an internal division of the chamber into a ‘vestibule’ and an appropriate burial space, along with communication passages.
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