Umm Al Nar

 

First excavated in 1959 by a Danish team, and subsequently surveyed by archaeologists from the UAE and Iraq, the island of Umm al Nar has yielded up finds that have made an enormous contribution to our understanding of the culture and lifestyle of the early inhabitants of the UAE. From around 2500 to 2000 BC the island was involved in fishing and the smelting of copper, and traded as far afield as Mesopotamia and the Indus valley.

The indigenous people established a relatively large settlement here and archaeologists have discovered a cemetery comprising 50 above-ground tombs. Some of these are circular in shape, from 6 to 12 metres in diameter, several metres high, and divided into chambers accessed through small, trapezium-shaped entrances. Each chamber was designed to contain several bodies; it is difficult to determine numbers because skeletal remains have been scattered by the ravages of time and the intrusion of early grave robbers.

The tombs were dome-shaped and constructed using dressed stones, some of which were employed in the restoration of a number of tombs during the 1970s. The ring walls of the larger buildings were sometimes decorated with carvings of oryx, ox, snakes and camels.

Much can be determined about the activities of the islanders from the objects found within the tombs and throughout the settlement area. These include personal adornments such as necklaces, jewellery and a gold hairpin; copper weapons and imported red pottery vessels, finely crafted and decorated with elaborate designs. Fish hooks and net sinkers clearly illustrate the people’s dependence on the sea for food. Dugong or sea-cow seems to have been a staple of the diet and the hide and oil were also utilised. Now a protected species, dugongs must have once been plentiful, for many of their bones have been identified from the organic material found on the site.

It is almost certain that the region underwent a significant climate change since there is no archaeological evidence of large stone buildings on the coast and islands of Abu Dhabi after around 2000 BC. This suggests that the Bronze Age people could not survive in the increasingly arid environment and developed a more nomadic lifestyle, returning to the islands only during the cooler winter season. The view that temperatures rose whilst rainfall decreased is further supported by the analysis of the bones of birds no longer native to the region. These include the Darter, now found no nearer than the marshes of the Tigris/Euphrates Delta and Bruce’s green pigeon which is found no closer than Dhofar in Oman.

Although the island is very small, the special characteristics of its ancient history have made “Umm al Nar Culture” an internationally recognised term for the civilization that prevailed throughout the Arabian Gulf and southeast Arabia over four thousand years ago.