IMTO Italian Mission to Oman University of Pisa 2011B PRELIMINARY REPORT (OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2011)

IMTO Italian Mission to Oman University of Pisa 2011B PRELIMINARY REPORT (OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2011)

The 2011B research campaign took place in the area around Salut from October, 19 th, to December, 16 th. Under the direction of Prof. A. Avanzini, IMTO s team carried out works which, as usual, focused on different aspects of the archaeological record witnessed in the area. The hill facing the site of Salut from the north, Jebel Sebekhi, like the majority of the hills surrounding the site, hosts a conspicuous number of ancient graves, whose dating spans over two millennia, going from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age. These tombs frequently show evidence of reuse of the same structure in the different periods, with the robbing and dismantling of more ancient monuments that this brings along. These tombs will be included in the project for the Archaeological Park of Salut, and a few of them are meant for restoration. This clearly implies the necessity to fully document their current state of preservation, and to carry out exhaustive and detailed excavation of their remains. For these reasons during this campaign works were initiated on Jebel Sebekhi, on three different sites. These works will be accounted for in the first section of this report. The second section will deal with the restoration of two of the excavated tombs, carried out in order to allow a better presentation to the public. The third section concerns the third excavation campaign at Salut Bronze Age tower site. This site is also going to be included in the Archaeological park, and its further investigation is vital to the reconstruction of the ancient landscape, both during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Significant reuse of this site during the II/I millennium B. C. was in fact recorded during previous campaigns, while during this season the excavation aimed at a better understanding of the site s organization around the main tower. 1

SECTION A EXCAVATIONS ON JEBEL SEBEKHI J. SEBEKHI 1 GRAVE 1 The area of J. Sebekhi 1 Grave 1 is located on the top of the mountain, along the ridge. Grave 1 was in fact built on the surfaced bedrock. It consists of one ring wall (W1) outlining a perimeter of 5 metres and that lays on a stones levelling layer which in origin formed a kind of plinth on the south and north side. The wall W1 was built of very big and big sizes stone blocks, 1-1,60 m. thick, and preserved in two irregular courses (0,50-0,70 m.). The relatively few quantity of medium sizes stone blocks collapse observed before the begin of the excavation showed that the grave was at some point reused for other purposes. Indeed, once the collapse (US2) has been removed, no paving has noticed. Inside the all chamber surface was preserved a below-floor intentionally filling (US3), made by one row of medium sizes stones, mixed with soft brown-yellowish loam with the presence of rare mud fragments. The stone blocks were set out in a spiral way. The US3 was investigated into two small trenches. The one located in the south side of the chamber revealed two superimposed fillings: US4, a medium compact, light brown loam with rare stone chips (intentional); US5, a medium soft layer composed by sandstone chips brownish-green in colour (bedrock break-up) mixed with a low percentage of loam. The trench on the north side clearly showed that the ring wall W1 was built on the levelling layer US3. In the small area in-between the external ring wall and the surfaced bedrock, a medium compact brown loam mixed with stone blocks (US6) has given several Iron Age pottery sherds and a softstone suspending vessel fragment decorated with a double dot in circle incision. J. SEBEKHI 2 The J. Sebekhi 2 area is located 20 metres south east of J. Sebekhi 1, on a small plateau delimited by the mountain ridge rocks. Its position is exactly in front of the hill of Salut. What at first looked like a tomb, defined by a circular-shaped stones collapse, then revealed a series of interesting features grouped in a relatively small area. These features include four Bronze Age graves Grave 2, Grave 3, Grave 4, Grave 5 that represent the more ancient structures and a pillared building Shrine 1 which was built on the top of them, possibly during the Late Iron Age period. GRAVE 2 It is located in the north-east part of the area. It presents an irregular quadrangular plan of 4 m. with a partition wall/pillar which divided the chamber into two equally sections. No paving and no entrance were noticed. The tomb was built above the bedrock, that clearly appears on the surface inside the chamber and which sloping from south to north-east. Indeed, the tomb rises 0,34 m above the ground surface. The walls consist of one row of medium and rare big size stone blocks and by three-four irregular courses. The north and west portion of the grave was used as foundation for the pillared building Shrine 1. The grave was covered by stone chips mixed with soft sandy loam (US5) and, on the south-west part, by a stone blocks mixed with a medium compact loam accumulation (US3 collapse of Shrine 1). The filling inside the chamber consisting mainly of a thick layer of medium soft brown loam mixed with stone chips and rare blocks (US2). In this context few fragmentary and scattered skeletal remains were associated with several painted sherds (cups and jars), fragmentary soft stone vessels and soft-stone lids; three small carnelian beads and a shell containing probably copper oxide 2

powder were also found. Below US2, a soft brown-yellowish loam layer, 0,14 m thick, covered the bedrock (US4). A small and well done bronze snake comes from this context. In the north west side of the chamber the US4 covered a thin deposit, made from loam mixed with the yellowish-green small chips of the bedrock decay (US6). Here two small carnelian beads had been found. No traces of re-use of the tomb had been found (no one Iron Age or Early Bronze Age sherds/objects).the finds from the grave, both the pottery and the stone vessels, are clearly dated in the Wadi Suq period (Late Bronze Age), and the shape of the grave finds parallels with (Carl?!?!) GRAVE 3 The grave is located in the south part of the area. The only two preserved sides (2x2 m.) suggest that in origin the structure had a rectangular/quadrangular plan. The two walls, which run respectively SW/NE and SE/NW and are close to the bedrock, were later used as foundation for the pillared building Shrine 1. They are built in one row of medium and big size stone blocks and by one-two irregular corses. The thin layer preserved in between the two walls consisted in a soft brown-yellowish deposit (US9) where few pottery sherds have been found. From this context comes a possibly Wadi Suq painted body sherds, with vertical wavy decoration. GRAVE 4 The grave is located in the west part of the area, along the slope of the Jabal, slightly distant from the main group of features. It presents an irregular rectangular plan, almost rhomboidal, with the main preserved sides measuring 1,90x1,60 m. The East and the North wall were built in two rows of big and medium sizes stone blocks; the former is preserved in seven irregular courses while in the North wall three course of stones laying directly on the surfaced bedrock. The filling inside the grave, once removed the surface deposit, was composed by a soft sandy loam mixed with the yellowish-green small chips which represent the bedrock decay. In this context a beautiful and complete soft-stone lid has been found. Its peculiar decoration alternated double dot in circle and dot in circle suggests a date at the end of the Wadi Suq, possibly begin of Iron Age, period. GRAVE 5 Grave 5 is located in the north west part of the area. Since the pillared building Shrine 1 insists on the structure, it has been decided to investigate only part of the grave. The exposed part, which represents more than ¾ of the entire structure, clearly shows an oval-shaped plan (4,45x3,50 m) consisting of a big stone blocks ring wall, built up into two rows and 1,20 m thick. Inside the chamber the southern wall is preserved up to 0,70 m. and made of five irregular courses of medium and small size stones. The oval-shaped chamber measures 2,25x1,43 m. The tomb was built above the bedrock, which surfaces inside the chamber. No stone paving and no skeletal remains has been noticed. The top surface of the grave was covered by medium compact loam mixed with stone chips (US10), an intentional fill related with the above building (Shrine 1). The filling inside the chamber consisted by a compact brown loam mixed with medium size stones and few large stone slabs (US11), which probably formed part of the dome collapse, later used as foundation for the pillared building. Below this layer a thick medium soft silty deposit, brown-yellowish in colour, mixed with scattered medium size stones and stone chips (US13), covered the bedrock. From this context come some painted sherds - to relate to a bowl and a cup and a well preserved suspension soft-stone vessel with a double dot in circle decoration below the rim. Three carnelian beads, three very small oyster egg fragments and a shell fragment have also to be mentioned. 3

SHRINE 1 The building stands in the middle of J. Sebekhi 2 area. Despite its bad preserved state, it shows very interesting archaeological features - as the structure and the building material so that it can be considered one of the most peculiar discovery in the South East Arabian peninsula. The destination use of the building is not clear but it was likely a shrine. A BMSW sherds, found in the collapse of the building material concretion (US3) most probably dates the shrine to the Iron Age III period. It has a rectangular plan of 3,40x2,65 m. with four column bases preserved (three in the front, one on the short side), which clearly display an original plan of 3x2 columns. It is N-NW/S-SE oriented. Despite its prominent position, the shrine platform rises just 10-15 cm. It was built using the more ancient wall structures as foundation (Graves 2, 3, 5), and then levelling the surface with a layer of medium soft loam mixed with stone chips (US10-Grave 5; US5-Grave 2) or with medium sizes stone blocks (north east side, US7). The building material is very unusual. The columns and the surfaces/floors are set it up with a whitish mortar. The columns, that have a diameter of 60 cm., were made with irregular triangularshaped stones bint with the mortar and then covered from the outside with a 2 cm thick layer. J. SEBEKHI 3 GRAVE 3 Jebel Sebekhi 3 Grave 3 is a tomb, above ground, located in the north-western area of Jebel Sebekhi, in the half coast. It is a circular tomb set up directly on the bedrock. In order to bring the ground to a higher level, where the bedrock drops on the western side, the tomb was built on rows of flat and whitish in colour limestone slabs. Like some of the tombs on the top of the hill near Salut, the tomb is surrounded, on the western and northern sides, by two or three circular courses of stone. The tomb is composed by two different ring walls: the outer wall and the burial chamber. The outer ring wall measures 6 meters in diameter and was erected above the foundation ring. It is built with irregular rows of big sized stones and slabs on the external faces, following the outline of the mountain on the south side. Between this wall and the inner one the filling was composed by smaller stones, whitish in colour, bound together with mud (US ). No entrance was found in the outer wall, so it can be assumed that it completely closed the access to the burial chamber. The burial chamber is rectangular-shaped, with smoothed angles, measuring 2.40 x 1.70 meters with the access located on the south-eastern side. The corridor, 85 cm long, was intentionally locked with big and flat stones. The inner wall and the dome of the tomb were found to be quite complete, except for the northwestern side where they were partially collapsed. The wall was made up by irregular rows of big and flat stones. The chamber has a rectangular plan, with two consecutive walls going up straight (northern and western) and the other two curving inwards forming a vault. Removing the collapsed stones, a dark brown surface was found (US6) on the north-western side of the room, while on the south-eastern side nearby the entrance, on the collapsed remains, were found two burials (Burial 1 and Burial 2 - US7). 4

Burial 1 consists in the incomplete upper part of a skeleton. It has been possible to recognize some articulated zone, as the skull, completely fragmented, and part of the spinal column with some vertebrae and ribs in connection. Burial 2 consists of an accumulation of not articulated long bones from different individuals, located close by the south-east wall. A bronze clasp and a badly preserved iron javelin (spear) were also found in association with the burials. The location of the skeleton remains, near the locked corridor and on the collapse, allows to identifying the burials as a later re-use of the original Bronze Age structure. The skeleton remains lie on the collapse of the dome (US8). The same dark brown surface that was found in the north-west side of the chamber was also present below. A clear floor has not been identified, and US6 rests on the foundation level made of mud and small fragments of bedrock (US9). 5

Fig.1. General view of J. Sebekhi and Salut (Google Earth) Fig.2. J. Sebekhi, investigated Areas (Google Earth) 6

Fig.3. J. Sebekhi 2, Sketch plan 7

Fig.4. J. Sebekhi 1, Grave1 before excavation Fig.5. J. Sebekhi 1, Grave 1 after excavation 8

Fig.6 J. Sebekhi 1, Grave 1, Salut in the background Fig.7. J. Sebekhi 1, Grave 1, after reconstruction 9

Fig.8. J. Sebekhi 2, before excavation Fig.9. J. Sebekhi 2 during excavation, Grave 2 in the foreground 10

Fig.11. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 2. Fig.10. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 3. 11

Fig.12. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 4 Fig.13. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 5 12

Fig.14. J. Sebekhi 2, the Shrine Fig.15 J. Sebekhi2, Shrine 1 in the foreground, J.Sebekhi 1 in the background 13

Fig.16. J. Sebekhi 2 and J. Sebekhi 1 Fig.17. J. Sebekhi 2, The Shrine, Salut in the background 14

Fig.18. J.Sebekhi 3, Grave 3 before excavation Fig.19. J.Sebekhi 3, Grave 3, after excavation 15

Fig.20. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 2, Bronze Age Jar Fig.21. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 2, Bronze Age painted cup Fig.22. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 2, bronze snake 16

Fig.23. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 5, complete soft-stone vessel. Fig.24. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 4, soft-stone lid Fig.25. J. Sebekhi 2, Grave 2, soft-stone lid Fig.26. J.Sebekhi 2, Grave 5, carnelian beads 17