The first Bronze Age bull-headed lyre from south-east Arabia? Tantalising shell inlays from the third millennium BC (Umm an-Nar) site of al-Tikha, Sultanate of Oman
Keywords:
South-east Arabia, Oman, Bronze Age, LyreAbstract
This paper looks at two finds from the third millennium BC site of al-Tikha. Located near the confluence of the Wadi Far and Wadi Sahtan in the southern part of the Batinah region of Oman (UTM 40Q 544200/2592100), the site was explored in detail and mapped for the first time as part of the Rustaq-Batinah Archaeological Survey directed by Dr D. Kennet (University of Durham) from 2013–2018, supported by the Anglo-Omani Society (Figure 1). It is one of only four known settlements of the Umm an-Nar period (2700–2000 BC) on the Batinah, with the most completely preserved plan of any Umm an-Nar site in south-east Arabia. This includes three monumental round towers, remains of numerous rectilinear buildings in separate clusters, a large scatter of surface pottery, a cemetery, and two further monumental structures. In total the site extends over some 50 hectares. The site is now largely covered by a modern cemetery but detailed mapping and surveys have thrown considerable light on the spatial organisation of one of the most significant third millennium BC sites in south-east Arabia, although it should be noted that there is evidence that occupation at the site continued into the first half of the second millennium (Deadman, Kennet and de Vreeze in press).
References
Andersen, H. H. and F. Højlund et al. 2003. The Barbar Temples. Aarhus: Moesgaard Museum and Ministry of Information, Bahrain (two volumes).
Aruz, J. and R. Wallenfels (eds) 2003. Art of the First Cities. The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ben-Tor, A. 1972. An ivory bull’s head from ‘Ay. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 208: 24–29.
David-Cuny, H. and J. Azpeitia 2012. Volume 1: Al-Khidhr (S.A.H.Shehab, ed.), Failaka Seals Catalogue. Kuwait: National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters.
Deadman, W., D. Kennet and M. de Vreeze in press. The nature of Umm an-Nar settlement: the example of al-Tikha (Rustaq) on the Batinah coast of Oman.
During Caspers, E. C. L. 1971. The Bull’s Head from Barbar Temple II, Baḥrain. A Contact with Early Dynastic Sumer. East and West 21/3–4: 217–23.
Edzard, D. O. 1997. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods, Volume 3/1: Gudea and His Dynasty. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Frankfort, H. 1939. Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from Tell Asmar and Khafājah (OIP 44). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Frankfort, H. 1943. More Sculpture from the Diyala Region (OIP 60). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Frenez, D. 2018. Manufacturing and trade of Asian elephant ivory in Bronze Age Middle Asia. Evidence from Gonur Depe (Margiana, Turkmenistan). Archaeological Research in Asia 15: 13–33.
Gensheimer, T. R. 1984. The role of shell in Mesopotamia: evidence for trade exchange with Oman and the Indus Valley. Paléorient 10: 65–73.
Glassner, J. J. 1989. Mesopotamian textual evidence on Magan/Makan in the late 3rd millennium B.C., in P. M. Costa and M. Tosi (eds) Oman Studies. Papers on the Archaeology and History of Oman: 181–91, pls 1–3. Rome: IsMEO.
Herrmann, G. 1968. Lapis lazuli: the early phases of its trade. Iraq 30: 21–57.
Jahwari, N. S. 2009. The agricultural basis of Umm an-Nar society in the northern Oman peninsula (2500–2000 BC). Arabian archaeology and epigraphy 20: 122–33.
Kjaerum, P. 1983. Failaka/Dilmun. The Second Millennium Settlements, volume 1:1. The Stamp and Cylinder Seals. Plates and Catalogue Description. Aarhus: Moesgaard Museum.
Labat, R. 1976. Manuel d’Épigraphie Akkadienne. Signes, Syllabaire, Idéogrammes. Paris: Paul Geuthner.
Laursen S. 2011. Mesopotamian Ceramics from the Burial Mounds of Bahrain, c. 2250-1750 BC. Arabian archaeology and epigraphy 22: 32-47.
Laursen, S. 2017. The Babylonian Burial Jar in the Gulf Countries, in S. Laursen and P. Steinkeller Babylonia, the Gulf Region, and the Indus. Archaeological and Textual Evidence for Contact in the Third and Early Second Millennia B.C.: 113–17. Winona Lake (IN): Eisenbrauns.
Lombard, P. 2021. The Oxus Civilization/BMAC and its interaction with the Arabian Gulf: a review of the evidence, in B. Lyonnet and N. Dubova (eds) The World of the Oxus Civilization: 607–34. London and New York: Routledge.
Marchesi, G. and N. Marchetti 2011. Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia. Winona Lake [IN]: Eisenbrauns.
Masson, V. M. 1988. Altyn-depe. Philadelphia: University Museum.
Parrot, A. 1948. Tello, Vingt Campagnes de Fouilles (1877–1933). Paris: Albin Michel.
Parrot, A. 1960. Sumer. Paris: Gallimard.
Parrot, A. 1967. Mission Archéologique de Mari, Volume III: Les Temples d’Ishtarat et de Ninni-Zaza. Paris: Paul Geuthner.
Potts, D. T. 1990. The Arabian Gulf in Antiquity. Oxford: The Clarendon Press (two volumes).
Potts, D. T. 1993. A new Bactrian find from southeastern Arabia. Antiquity 67/256: 591–96.
Rashid, S. A. 1970. Eine frühdynastische Statue von der Insel Tarut im Persischen Golfe, Gesellschaft im Alten Zweistromsland und in den angrenzenden Gebieten – XVIII. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Munchen, 29. Juni bis 3. Juli (D.O. Edzard, ed.): 159–66, pls 2–6. Munich: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, In Kommission bei Beck.
Rossi Osmida, G. (ed.) 2002. Margiana. Gonur-Depe Necropolis: 10 Years of Excavations by Ligabue Study and Research Centre. Trebaseleghe: Il Punto.
Sarianidi, V. I. 2006. Goňurdepe: City of Kings and Gods. Aşgabat: Miras.
Sarianidi, V. I. 2008. Marguş. Mystery and Truth of the Great Culture. Ashgabat: Türkmendöwlethabarlary.
Selz, G. J. 1997. ‘The Holy Drum, the Spear, and the Harp’: Towards an Understanding of the Problems of Deification in Third Millennium Mesopotamia, in I. J. Finkel and M. J. Geller (eds) Sumerian Gods and Their Representations: 167–209. Groningen: Styx.
Simpson, St J. 2003. Review: G. Rossi Osmida (ed.) Margiana. Gonur-Depe Necropolis: 10 Years of Excavations by Ligabue Study and Research Centre. Bead Study Trust Newsletter 41: 15–16.
Simpson, St J. 2020. Annihilating Assyria, in I. L. Finkel and St J. Simpson (eds) In Context. The Reade Festschrift: 141–164. Oxford: Archaeopress Archaeology.
Simpson, St J. 2021a. Shkatulki bronzovogo veka: ekzoticheskiye importy, podrazhaniya-skevomorfy i lokal’noye proizvodstvo ot Tsentral’noy Azii do Shumera [Of boxes in the Bronze Age: exotic imports, skeuomorphs and local crafts from Central Asia to Sumer]. Arkheologicheskiye vesti / Archaeological News 32: 119–32. St. Petersburg: Russian Academy of Sciences.
Simpson, St J. 2021b. The Haunting of Assyria: A Chilling New Detail from the Sack of Nimrud. Academia Letters, Article 1389, https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1389.
Sjöberg, A. W. 1984. The Sumerian Dictionary of The University Museum of The University of Pennsylvania. Volume 1/1–2. Philadelphia: The Babylonian Section of the University Museum.
Tosi M. 1974a. The lapis trade across the Iranian plateau in the 3rd millennium. Gururājamaňjarikā. Studi in Onore di Giuseppe Tucci: 3–22. Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale.
Tosi, M. 1974b. Some Data for the Study of Prehistoric Cultural Areas on the Persian Gulf. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 4: 145–71.
Van Dijk, R. M. 2013. Mesopotamian Early Dynastic Bull-Lyres. XIV Jornadas Interescuelas/Departamentos de Historia. Departamento de Historia de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza.
Woolley, L. 1934. Ur Excavations II. The Royal Cemetery. London and Philadelphia: The British Museum and University of Pennsylvania.
