The copper
production in the UAE was on a very small scale when it
began around 3200 BC. The evidence shows scanty fragments
of copper found in the cemeteries of that period. Hundreds
of stone cairns located at the foothills of Jebel Hafit
south of the city of Al Ain indicate that the population
was relatively large during that period. No contemporary
settlement has yet been found, perhaps due to the perishable
construction materials that may have been used. The excavated
graves yielded a small collection of pottery vessels of
Jemdet Nasr type, mostly imported from Mesopotamia some
5000 years ago. A large number of these tombs were reused
during the second and first millennium BC. Several bronze
objects belonging to the above-mentioned periods were
discovered inside the tombs.
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Several
sites representing this culture, named after the Island
of Umm an- Nar, were discovered in the UAE. These sites
represent settlements as well as collective tombs. A
number of tower- like buildings with a diameter of up
to 40 metres associated with collective burials were
already excavated. The multi chamber burials were usually
circular in shape built of dressed stones with a diameter
ranging between 6 and 14 metres. The number of people
buried differs from one grave to another and it exceeds
three hundred in many cases.Sites located inland indicate
that this culture became known through the pottery types
used as early as 2700 BC. Most of the Umm an-Nar coastal
sites, however, belong to the second half of the 3rd
mill. BC. More evidence of contact with both Mesopotamia
and the Indus Valley took place at that time. Copper
was widely exploited and exported to Mesopotamia during
the Umm an-Nar period. |
The
Wadi Suq Culture, named after the sites located at Wadi
Suq between the Gulf of Oman and the city of Al-Ain, covers
most of the second millennium BC. It was principally evolved
from the Umm an-Nar culture and it seems that its people
had mostly reoccupied the old settlements of their ancestors.
The first burial site from this period to have been discovered
in the city of Al Ain is located at Qattarah. Al Ain.
The area of Shimal to the east of Ras al-Khaima, however,
has the largest known evidence of the period. A settlement
site and several graves were excavated. While the period
between Umm an Nar and the Iron Age used to be described
as a dark age, in the 1960s and 1970s recent discoveries
brought to light good indications of the culture. The
former circular tombs of Umm an- Nar, were replaced with
long narrow tombs, small oval burials and horseshoe graves.
Copper production became much more extensive during the
Wadi Suq period. |
