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Umm Al Nar ( ar, أُمّ الـنَّـار, Umm an-Nār or Umm al-Nar, lit=Mother of the Fire) is a
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
culture that existed around 2600-2000 BCE in the area of modern-day
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...
and Northern
Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
. The Arabic name has in the past frequently been transliterated as Umm an-Nar and also Umm al-Nar. The etymology derives from the island of the same name which lies adjacent to
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dha ...
city and which provided early evidence and finds attributed to the period. The Umm Al Nar people were important regional trading intermediaries between the ancient civilisations of
Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of ...
ia in
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
and the
Indus Valley The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
Harappan culture. Known to the Sumerians as '
Magan Magan may refer to: Places *Magan (civilization), also written Makan or Makkan, an ancient region referred to in Sumerian texts *Magan, Russia, a rural locality (a ''selo'') in the Sakha Republic, Russia *Magan Airport, an airport in the Sakha Re ...
', the area was the source of their copper and
diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-sil ...
as well as a trading entrepot for other goods from the Indus Valley, including
carnelian Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker (the difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often used ...
jewellery.


Location

The key site is well protected, but its location between a refinery and a sensitive military area means public access is currently restricted. The UAE authorities are working to improve public access to the site, and plan to make this an Abu Dhabi cultural location.


Attributes

One element of the Umm Al Nar culture is circular tombs typically characterized by well fitted stones in the outer wall and multiple human remains within. The tombs are frequently associated with towers, many of which were built around water sources. The Umm Al Nar culture covers around five or six centuries (2600-2000 BCE). The name is derived from Umm Al Nar, a small island located on the southeast of the much larger island Abu Dhabi. It is one of 200 islands that dominate the coast of Abu Dhabi.


Excavations

The first archaeological excavations in Abu Dhabi began at Umm Al Nar in 1959, twelve years before the foundation of the United Arab Emirates. Seven tombs from a total of fifty and three areas at the ruins of the ancient settlement were examined by the Danish Archaeological Expedition. During their first visit they identified a few exposed shaped stones fitted together at some of the stone mounds. The following year (February 1959) the first excavations started at one of the mounds on the plateau, now called Tomb I. Two more seasons (1960 and 1961) involved digging more tombs, while the last three seasons (1962/1963, 1964 and 1965) were allocated to examining the settlement. The Danish excavations on Umm Al Nar halted in 1965 but were resumed in 1975 by an archaeological team from
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. During the Iraqi excavations which lasted one season, five tombs were excavated and a small section of the village was examined. Between 1970 and 1972 an Iraqi restoration team headed by Shah Al Siwani, former member of the Antiquities Director in
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, restored and/or reconstructed the Danish excavated tombs. At
Al Sufouh Archaeological Site Al Sufouh Archaeological Site at Al Sufouh in Dubai is owned and managed by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, and consists of extensive but scattered areas of ancient occupation by a population known as the Magan. The site is distinguished by hea ...
in Dubai, archaeological excavation between 1994 and 1995 revealed an Umm Al Nar type circular tomb dating between 2500 and 2000 B.C. An Umm Al Nar tomb is at the centre of the
Mleiha Archaeological Centre Meliha Archaeological Centre is a visitor centre and exhibition based around the history and archaeology of the areas surrounding the village of Mleiha in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates. Built around a preserved Umm Al Nar era tomb, the cen ...
in
Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...
.
Dilmun Burial Mounds The Dilmun Burial Mounds ( ar, مدافن دلمون) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising necropolis areas on the main island of Bahrain dating back to the Dilmun and the Umm al-Nar culture. Bahrain has been known since ancient times ...
in Bahrain also feature Umm Al Nar Culture remains. At
Tell Abraq Tell Abraq (Til Abrook) was an ancient Near Eastern city. Located on the border between Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain in the United Arab Emirates, the city was originally on the coastline of the Persian Gulf but changing sea levels have placed the re ...
, settlements associated with the start of the Umm Al Nar Culture began c. 2500 BCE.


Occupation phases

The
Ubaid period The Ubaid period (c. 6500–3700 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Wo ...
(5,000-3,800 BCE) followed the neolithic Arabian bifacial era. Pottery vessels of the period already show contact with Mesopotamia. The
Hafit period The Hafit period defines early Bronze Age human settlement in the United Arab Emirates and Oman in the period from 3200 to 2600 BC. It is named after the distinctive beehive burials first found on Jebel Hafit, a rocky mountain near Al Ain, borde ...
followed the Ubaid period. During the Hafit period (3200 - 2600 BCE) burial cairns with the appearance of a beehive appeared, consisting of a small chamber for one to two burials. The distinctive circular tombs of the Umm Al Nar period (2,600-2,000 BCE) distinguish it from the preceding Hafit period, together with finds of distinctive black on red decorated pottery and jewellery made with gems such as carnelian, sourced from the
Indus Valley The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
. A number of important Umm Al Nar sites in the UAE such as Hili, Badiyah,
Tell Abraq Tell Abraq (Til Abrook) was an ancient Near Eastern city. Located on the border between Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain in the United Arab Emirates, the city was originally on the coastline of the Persian Gulf but changing sea levels have placed the re ...
and
Kalba Kalba () is a city in the Emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is an exclave of Sharjah lying on the Gulf of Oman coast north of Oman. Khor Kalba (Kalba Creek), an important nature reserve and mangrove swamp, is located south ...
feature large, towers presumably defensive in purpose. At Tell Abraq, this fortification is 40 metres in diameter, but most are between 16 and 25 metres. These fortifications typically are built around a well, presumably to protect important water resources. During this period, the first Sumerian mentions of a land of Magan (Akkadian ''Makkan'') are made, as well as references to 'the Lords of Magan'. Sumerian sources also point to 'Tilmun' (accepted today as modern
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...
) and Meluhha (thought to refer to the
Indus Valley The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
). Akkadian campaigns against Magan took place in the twenty-third century, again possibly explaining the need for fortifications, and both Manishtusu and Naram-Sin and Manishtusu, in particular, wrote of campaigning against '32 lords of Magan'. Magan was famed for its shipbuilding and its maritime capabilities. King Sargon of Agade (2,371-2,316 BCE) boasted that his ports were home to boats from Tilmun, Magan and Meluhha. His successor, Naram-Sin, not only conquered Magan, but honoured the Magan King Manium by naming the city of Manium-Ki in Mesopotamia after him. Trade between the Indus Valley and Sumer took place through Magan, although that trade appears to have been interrupted, as Ur-Nammu (2,113-2,096 BCE) laid claim to having 'brought back the ships of Magan'.Archaeological finds dating from this time show trade not only with the Indus Valley and Sumer, but also with Iran and Bactria. They have also revealed what is thought to be the oldest case on record of poliomyelitis, with the distinctive signs of the disease found in the skeleton of a woman from Tell Abraq. Domestic manufactures in the late third millennium included soft-stone vessels, decorated with dotted circles. These, in the shapes of beakers, bowls and compartmentalised boxes, are distinctive. The archaeological record of the Hafit and Umm Al Nar periods show the area of southeastern Arabia formed a locus for a bipolar field of trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus where the people of Magan were intermediaries, suppliers and consumers, but also political agents acting in their own interests. The trade with Mesopotamia collapsed in and around 2,000 BCE, with a series of disasters including the Aryan invasion of the Indus Valley, the fall of the
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
n city of Ur to
Elam Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...
in 2,000 BC and the decline of the Indus Valley Harappan Culture in 1800 BC. The abandonment of the port of Umm Al Nar took place at around this time. There is some dispute as to the exact cause of the end of the trading era of the Umm Al Nar period and the inwardly focused domestication of the Wadi Suq period, but archaeologists are generally agreed that the domestication of the camel at around this time led to nomadism and something of a 'Dark Age' in the area. Modern consensus is that the transition from the Umm Al Nar to the Wadi Suq period was evolutionary and not revolutionary. After Umm Al Nar, the
Wadi Suq culture The Wadi Suq culture defines human settlement in the United Arab Emirates and Oman in the period from 2,000 to 1,300 BCE. It takes its name from a wadi, or waterway, west of Sohar in Oman and follows on from the Umm Al Nar culture. Although arch ...
followed (2,000-1,300 BCE), a period which saw more inland settlement, increasingly sophisticated metallurgy and the domestication of the camel. The poorly represented last phase of the Bronze Age (1,600-1,300 BCE) has only been vaguely identified in a small number of settlements. This last phase of the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
was followed by a boom when the underground irrigation system (the ''
qanāt A qanat or kārīz is a system for transporting water from an aquifer or water well to the surface, through an underground aqueduct; the system originated approximately 3,000 BC in what is now Iran. The function is essentially the same acros ...
'' ( fa, ), here called ''falaj'' ( ar, فَـلَـج)) was introduced during the
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
(1300-300 BCE) by local communities.''The Island of Umm-an-Nar Volume 1: Third Millennium Graves ''(Jutland Archaeological Society Publications) (v. 1) ardcoverKaren Frifelt (Author), Ella Hoch (Contributor), Manfred Kunter (Contributor), David S. Reese (Contributor)]; ''Island of Umm-an-Nar Volume 2: The Third Millennium Settlement ''(Jutland Archaeological Society Publications) December 1, 1995]


See also

*
Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates The area currently known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (previously the Trucial States) was formerly populated by inhabitants of a number of coastal and inland settlements, with human remains pointing to a pattern of transmigration and settleme ...
* List of Ancient Settlements in the UAE *
Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes ...


References


Bibliography

*P. Yule–G. Weisgerber
The Tower Tombs at Shir, Eastern Ḥajar, Sultanate of Oman
in: ''Beiträge zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Archäologie'' (BAVA) 18, 1998, 183–241, . * Karen Frifelt, ''The Island of Umm-an-Nar.'' Jutland Archaeologcia Society Publications, Aarhus 1995 ** Vol. 1: ''Third Millennium Graves''. . ** Vol. 2: ''The Third Millennium Settlement''. {{ISBN, 8772885777. * Walid Yasin Al Tikriti: ''Archaeology of Umm an-Nar Island (1959–2009)''. Abu Dhabi Culture & Heritage, Department of Historic Environment, Abu Dhabi 2011 * About Umm an-Nar culture, a
academia.edu
website: ** Charlotte Marie Cable, Christopher P. Thornton: ''Monumentality and the Third-millennium “Towers” of the Oman Peninsula.'
online
** Daniel T. Potts: ''The Hafit – Umm an-Nar transition: Evidence from Falaj al-Qaba'il and Jabal al-Emalah''. In. J. Giraud, G. Gernez, V. de Castéja (Hrsg.): ''Aux marges de l'archéologie: Hommages à Serge Cleuziou''. Paris 2012: Travaux de la Maison René-Ginouves 16, S. 371–377
online
History of the United Arab Emirates Cultural history of the United Arab Emirates Ubaid period Ancient Near East History of Oman Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates