Saruq al-Hadid: A Persistent Temporary Place in Late Prehistoric Southeastern Arabia

Saruq al-Hadid, in Dubai, UAE, is one of south-eastern Arabia’s most important and enigmatic archaeological sites. Past excavations at this isolated desert site have revealed an assemblage of copper, iron, gold, stone and ceramic artefacts, mostly of Iron Age date, that is unprecedented in its scale and diversity. Since 2014, three seasons of excavation andpost-excavation analyses by the SHARP team have identified a deep, stratified sequence human occupation at the site stretching back into the Bronze Age. These earliest deposits at the site provide a unique insight into human exploitation of Arabia’s desert environments, evincing persistent yet intermittent and temporary occupation of the site at a time ofdramatic settlement change in the second millennium BCE, and providing important context for understanding the site’s Iron Age floruit as a locus for inter-community gatherings and cultic practices. This paper will address the occupation of Saruq al-Hadid and the evidence for its craft traditions and material connections with neighbouring regions, includingIran and other areas of ancient western Asia

کلیدواژه ها:

Arabia ، Iron Age ، ritual ، ferrous metallurgy ، exchange ، Iran