Bronze Age burial practices at the oasis of Taymāʾ, north-west Arabia: archaeology, bioanthropology, chronology
Keywords:
Taymāʾ, Bronze Age, burial practices, bioanthropology, chronologyAbstract
Bioanthropological and archaeological investigations in Rujum Saʿsaʿ, located south of the oasis of Taymāʾ, Saudi Arabia, examined the remains of fifty-four individuals from nineteen stone-built graves. While architectural features and associated finds have been used for establishing a general archaeological chronology for the graves, a new series of systematically obtained radiocarbon dates on bone bioapatite refines the occupational history of these graves. The dates demonstrate that the cemetery was used continuously from the late Early Bronze Age (twenty-third century cal BC) to the Middle Bronze Age and into the early Late Bronze Age (twelfth century cal BC). They further reveal repeated, sequential burial episodes within several tombs and provide the first opportunity to integrate chronological, bioanthropological, and archaeological evidence to investigate the spatial organization and development of funerary practices at Rujum Saʿsaʿ.
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