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E-book The Reuse of Tombs in Eastern Arabia

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Penilaian

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Reuse of ancient monuments and other sites is a well-known phenomenon in all periods all over the world. People in the past were always confronted with surviving remains from previous periods, and reacted to and en-gaged with them in most varying ways. This is particu-larly true for liminal places like tombs. Reused structures are by definition used.1 This can be unmarked and thus neutral in meaning, but if intentional and conscious, significantly value-laden.2 It is the latter that this study concentrates on. Reuse differs from continuous use by a period of non-use and can take destructive and additive forms. The former is characterised by (partially) destroy-ing and/or taking away human remains, grave goods or the architectural structure of the tombs itself. Additive reuse refers to the adjoining of objects or even complete burials to an older tomb after a significant gap in the oc-cupation, in some cases when the original monument was already in a state of ruin. Reuse and other later activities at tombs can range from a few changes of the inventory to the complete emptying of it.3 For the archaeologist, identifying such later activities is challenging, not least because one and the same action can result in very different archaeological records.4 Likewise, it is possible that very differently mo-tivated actions can lead to the same visible changes in the archaeological material. For example, a completely empty grave could be the result of a secondary burial at another location, or grave robbery. Furthermore, natural, non-an-thropogenic influences, such as the decomposition of the body, animal burrows or the collapse of the tomb struc-ture, can generate disturbances within the tomb and are often difficult to differentiate from anthropogenic ones.5In addition, not all anthropogenic influences have to be intentional, for example, ploughing. The majority of research on reuse of tombs has fo-cused so far on Europe, with special emphasis on megalithic architecture in its north and the medieval period.6Despite how tombs have been the main focus of archae-ological research in Eastern Arabia, i.e., the north of the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates, in the past decades, reuse of tombs has received only little attention. Oftentimes, it is discounted as an exception-al case not worthy of further exploration or it is often over-simplified as grave robbery, although there is plenty of evidence contradicting this interpretation, as will be argued in this study. When mentioned in publications, it is mostly in the form of a negative comment about the disturbance to the actual focus of research, i.e., the first use of the tomb. This relates to the still dominant per-ception of archaeological sites as static entities belonging to a specific time period and not as ever-changing entities within a multi-layered world. In consequence, reuse has never received the same appreciation as the first use of a tomb. This results in later objects found within older tombs being rarely described or illustrated in detail in the publications of the excavations, rendering it impos-sible to reconstruct their depositional contexts and time period. Further, it makes it distinctly possible that some evidence is not recorded at all.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

930.1 DOP t

Penerbit

London : Archaeopress Publishing., 2023

Deskripsi Fisik

200 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781803274980

Klasifikasi

930.1

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Archaeology

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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