The Hafit/Umm an-Nar Transition of the Third Millennium BC

Abstract

The shift between Hafit (ca. 3100–2700 BC) and Umm an-Nar (ca. 2700–2000 BC) mortuary traditions on the Oman Peninsula is poorly understood, primarily because the semi-nomadic communities of this liminal period left little to the archaeological record, with the exception of monumental tombs. Because of the ambiguity surrounding this transition, tombs from this time are typically classified as either ‘Hafit’ or ‘Umm an-Nar’ without regard for the considerable geographic and temporal variation in tomb structure and membership throughout southeastern Arabia. Recent survey and excavation of a Bronze Age necropolis at Al Khubayb in the Sultanate of Oman have revealed Transitional tombs that—far from exhibiting a simplified dichotomy—represent a blurring of the traditionally discrete boundaries dividing the Hafit and Umm an-Nar periods. Bioarchaeological analyses of tombs at Al Khubayb further enable researchers to make a distinction between tomb types and elucidate the process by which mortuary treatments changed. Over the late fourth and into the early third millennium BC, these entombment practices changed from (a) relatively small, roughly-hewn limestone tombs known as Hafit-type cairns to (b) Transitional tombs displaying features intermediary to both Hafit and Umm an-Nar period mortuary structures to (c) large, expertly-constructed Umm an-Nar communal tombs.