Alexandermcnabb: misc
The territory currently known as the [[United Arab Emirates]] was home to three distinct Iron Age periods. Iron Age I spanned 1,200–1,000 BCE; Iron Age II from 1,000–600 BCE and Iron Age III from 600–300 BCE. This period of human development in the region was followed by the Mleiha or Late Pre-Islamic era, from 300 BCE onwards through to the Islamic era which commenced with the culmination of the 7th century [[Ridda wars|Ridda Wars]].
To some degree the term 'Iron Age' is misapplied, as little evidence exists for any indigenous iron-work outside the finds at [[Muweilah|Muwailah]], themselves thought to be imports,<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> and even the extensive evidence of smelting throughout the Iron Age found at [[Saruq Al Hadid]] is dominated by copper and tin production.<ref name="Research Plus">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
Finds from the important site of [[Tell Abraq]] have been crucial in the division of the three Iron Age periods in the UAE.<ref name=":3">[https://ift.tt/2P4rTnX] P. Hellyer, New finds at Tell Abraq. Tribulus (Journal of the Emirates Natural History Group), vol. 2, no.1, pp.15-17, 1992</ref>
== Iron Age I ==
The Iron Age I period in the UAE immediately followed the [[Wadi Suq culture|Wadi Suq period]], which ran from 2,000-1,300 BCE. The Wadi Suq people not only domesticated [[Dromedary|camels]], but there is evidence they also planted crops of wheat, barley and dates.<ref name=":1">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (2 for 1)</ref> A gradual shift away from coastal to inland settlements took place through the period.<ref name=":2">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (3 for 1)</ref> The majority of finds dated to the Iron Age I period are centered around [[Shimal]], Tell Abraq and [[Al Hamriyah]] on the West coast and [[Kalba]] to the East. Despite growing inland development, the Iron Age I diet still contained a large amount of fish and shellfish. [[Gazelle]], [[oryx]] and domesticated animals (sheep, goats and cattle) also formed part of the Iron Age I diet, supplemented by the emerging widespread cultivation of wheat and barley.<ref name=":4">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
Iron Age I ceramics reflect a continuity from the Wadi Suq period and are coarse, often large in scale. Another link to the Wadi Suq period was revealed when analysis of a bivalve shell dated to the Iron Age I period showed it had contained [[atacamite]], a copper-based pigment used as eye make-up. Similar shells were found in a Wadi Suq burial in [[Sha'am]],<ref name=":4" /> in Northern [[Ras Al Khaimah|Ras Khaimah]].
== Iron Age II ==
[[File:Iron Age Pot From Bidaa Bint Saud.jpg|thumb|A pot, discovered in the [[Iron Age]] building at Bidaa Bint Saud and on display at the [[Al Ain National Museum]]. It is thought to be an incense burner.]]
Extensive evidence of Iron Age II settlement has been found throughout the UAE, particularly at Muwailah, [[Al Thuqeibah]], [[Bidaa Bint Saud|Bidaa bin Saud]], as well as [[Rumailah, UAE|Rumailah]] and [[Qattara Oasis|Qattara]] in Al Ain.<ref name=":4" /> The development of increasingly complex irrigation ditches and waterways, ''falaj'' (plural ''aflaj'') took place during this time and finds at Bidaa Bint Saud and Thuqeibah<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (3 for 1)</ref> date back to the Iron Age II period<ref name=":0">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> - pre-dating finds of [[Qanat]] waterways in [[Iran]]. Early finds of ''aflaj'', particularly those around the desert city of Al Ain, have been cited as the earliest evidence of the construction of these waterways.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> It is thought nearby [[Bidaa Bint Saud|Bidaa bint Saud]] became an important site during the Iron Age, both as a caravan stop and as a settled community of farmers that used the ''falaj'' irrigation system there. <ref name=":23">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (2 for 1)</ref> Two of these irrigation passages have been partly excavated at Bidaa bin Saud, with a number of sections remaining in reasonable condition. In one of the excavations, a number of sandstone-lined shaft holes were discovered, as well as a stepped underground access point and a large open cistern. Evidence of formerly irrigated land has also been found at the site.<ref name=":17"></ref>
[[File:Qattara dagger.jpg|left|thumb|An Iron Age dagger, dated to 1,000 BCE, from Qattara. Displayed at the Louvre Abu Dhabi on loan from Al Ain Museum.]]
Rumailah, today part of Al Ain, was a major [[Iron Age]] II settlement dated from around 1,100-500 BCE.<ref name="GulfNews 12-2011">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref><ref name=":02"></ref> Finds at Rumailah include distinctive pottery adorned with [[Serpent (symbolism)|snake patterns]], similar to finds at [[Al Qusais|Qusais]], [[Masafi]] and the major Iron and Bronze ages; metallurgical production centre at [[Saruq Al Hadid Archaeological Site|Saruq Al Hadid]], as well as [[Chlorite group|chlorite]] vessels decorated with turtles alternating with trees, similar to finds from [[Qidfa']] in Fujairah, [[Al Qusais|Qusais]] in Dubai and [[Al Hajar, Bahrain|Al-Hajar]] in [[Bahrain]].
A number of Iron Age swords and axe-heads, as well as distinctive seal moulds, were also recovered from the site. A number of bronze arrowheads were also found at the site. The Iron Age buildings found at Rumailah are typical of those found in the region, at Iron Age I and II sites such as Al Thuqeibah and [[Muweilah]], with a number of row dwellings, although lacking the perimeter walls found at Thuqeibah.<ref name="Potts_al2003"></ref> A columned hall at Rumailah provides a further link to Muweilah, while a number of pyramidal seals found there echo with similar objects discovered at Bidaa bint Saud.<ref name=":07"></ref>
Carbon dating artefacts found at Muweilah puts the settlement's original date of establishment at between 850 and 800 BC and it enjoyed a brief heyday before being destroyed in a fire around 600BC.<ref name=":03"></ref> Constructed in the main from interlocked mud bricks and mud/stone brick walls,<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> the walled settlement itself surrounds a large walled enclosure with seven buildings, thought to have provided living quarters as well as an administrative centre. This central building contained at least twenty columns and has been a rich trove for archaeologists, with extensive finds of painted and spouted vessels, iron weapons and hundreds of bronze pieces. Enabled by the domestication of the camel in the region, thought to have taken place around 1,000 BC, Muweilah's trade included the manufacture of copper goods, with "extensive casting spillage from the manufacture of copper items found throughout the site".<ref name=":03" /> Muweilah is relatively unique in its early and extensive adoption of iron goods, thought to have been imported from Iran.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> Hundreds of grinding stones indicate the consumption of both barley and wheat. Although now some 15 km inland today, it is thought that in its heyday, Muweilah would have been located on a ''khor'' or creek.<ref name=":12"></ref>
The Iron Age II period also saw the construction of fortifications, with a number of towers and other buildings offering protection to ''aflaj'' and the crops they watered. Hili 14 in Al Ain, Madhab Fort and Awhala Fort in [[Fujairah]] as well as [[Jebel Buhais]] near [[Al Madam|Madam]] in [[Sharjah]] and Rafaq in the Wadi Qor in [[Ras Al Khaimah]] are all fortifications dating to this time.<ref name=":4" />
== Iron Age III ==
Evidence of Iron Age III occupation in the Emirates can be found at Tell Abraq, Shimal, Rumailah, Hili and Thuqeibah. Finds draw a strong cultural link with the [[Achaemenid Empire|Archaemenid]] Iranians and point to the area being the satrapy of Maka. Iron age short swords from Qusais, Jebel Buhais and Rumailah mirror images of 'natives of Maka' found on the thrown of [[Darius II]] at [[Persepolis]], while ceramics found dating back to the Iron Age III period mirror those found in a number of Iranian sites of the era.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
[[File:Cántaro (26738115330).jpg|thumb|2nd century BCE Mleiha era jar from Mleiha in Sharjah, UAE]]
== Post Iron Age ==
The period from 300-0 BCE has been dubbed both the Mleiha and the Late Pre-Islamic period, and follows on from the dissolution of [[Darius III]]'s empire. Although the era has been called Hellenistic, [[Wars of Alexander the Great|Alexander the Great's]] conquests went no further than Persia and he left Arabia untouched.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> However, Macedonian coinage unearthed at Ed-Dur dates back to Alexander the Great <ref name=":13"></ref> and contemporary Greek manuscripts have given the exports from Ed-Dur as 'pearls, purple dye, clothing, wine, gold and slaves, and a great quantity of dates'.<ref name=":24"></ref>
The most complete evidence of human settlement and community from this time is at Mleiha, where a thriving agrarian community benefited from the protection of a mudbrick fort. It was here, and during this period, that the most complete evidence of iron usage has been found, including nails, long swords and arrowheads as well as evidence of slag from smelting.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
== References ==
[[Category:History of the United Arab Emirates]]
[[Category:History of the United Arab Emirates by topic]]
[[Category:History of the United Arab Emirates by period]]
[[Category:Iron Age Asia]]
To some degree the term 'Iron Age' is misapplied, as little evidence exists for any indigenous iron-work outside the finds at [[Muweilah|Muwailah]], themselves thought to be imports,<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> and even the extensive evidence of smelting throughout the Iron Age found at [[Saruq Al Hadid]] is dominated by copper and tin production.<ref name="Research Plus">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
Finds from the important site of [[Tell Abraq]] have been crucial in the division of the three Iron Age periods in the UAE.<ref name=":3">[https://ift.tt/2P4rTnX] P. Hellyer, New finds at Tell Abraq. Tribulus (Journal of the Emirates Natural History Group), vol. 2, no.1, pp.15-17, 1992</ref>
== Iron Age I ==
The Iron Age I period in the UAE immediately followed the [[Wadi Suq culture|Wadi Suq period]], which ran from 2,000-1,300 BCE. The Wadi Suq people not only domesticated [[Dromedary|camels]], but there is evidence they also planted crops of wheat, barley and dates.<ref name=":1">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (2 for 1)</ref> A gradual shift away from coastal to inland settlements took place through the period.<ref name=":2">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (3 for 1)</ref> The majority of finds dated to the Iron Age I period are centered around [[Shimal]], Tell Abraq and [[Al Hamriyah]] on the West coast and [[Kalba]] to the East. Despite growing inland development, the Iron Age I diet still contained a large amount of fish and shellfish. [[Gazelle]], [[oryx]] and domesticated animals (sheep, goats and cattle) also formed part of the Iron Age I diet, supplemented by the emerging widespread cultivation of wheat and barley.<ref name=":4">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
Iron Age I ceramics reflect a continuity from the Wadi Suq period and are coarse, often large in scale. Another link to the Wadi Suq period was revealed when analysis of a bivalve shell dated to the Iron Age I period showed it had contained [[atacamite]], a copper-based pigment used as eye make-up. Similar shells were found in a Wadi Suq burial in [[Sha'am]],<ref name=":4" /> in Northern [[Ras Al Khaimah|Ras Khaimah]].
== Iron Age II ==
[[File:Iron Age Pot From Bidaa Bint Saud.jpg|thumb|A pot, discovered in the [[Iron Age]] building at Bidaa Bint Saud and on display at the [[Al Ain National Museum]]. It is thought to be an incense burner.]]
Extensive evidence of Iron Age II settlement has been found throughout the UAE, particularly at Muwailah, [[Al Thuqeibah]], [[Bidaa Bint Saud|Bidaa bin Saud]], as well as [[Rumailah, UAE|Rumailah]] and [[Qattara Oasis|Qattara]] in Al Ain.<ref name=":4" /> The development of increasingly complex irrigation ditches and waterways, ''falaj'' (plural ''aflaj'') took place during this time and finds at Bidaa Bint Saud and Thuqeibah<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (3 for 1)</ref> date back to the Iron Age II period<ref name=":0">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> - pre-dating finds of [[Qanat]] waterways in [[Iran]]. Early finds of ''aflaj'', particularly those around the desert city of Al Ain, have been cited as the earliest evidence of the construction of these waterways.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> It is thought nearby [[Bidaa Bint Saud|Bidaa bint Saud]] became an important site during the Iron Age, both as a caravan stop and as a settled community of farmers that used the ''falaj'' irrigation system there. <ref name=":23">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (2 for 1)</ref> Two of these irrigation passages have been partly excavated at Bidaa bin Saud, with a number of sections remaining in reasonable condition. In one of the excavations, a number of sandstone-lined shaft holes were discovered, as well as a stepped underground access point and a large open cistern. Evidence of formerly irrigated land has also been found at the site.<ref name=":17"></ref>
[[File:Qattara dagger.jpg|left|thumb|An Iron Age dagger, dated to 1,000 BCE, from Qattara. Displayed at the Louvre Abu Dhabi on loan from Al Ain Museum.]]
Rumailah, today part of Al Ain, was a major [[Iron Age]] II settlement dated from around 1,100-500 BCE.<ref name="GulfNews 12-2011">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref><ref name=":02"></ref> Finds at Rumailah include distinctive pottery adorned with [[Serpent (symbolism)|snake patterns]], similar to finds at [[Al Qusais|Qusais]], [[Masafi]] and the major Iron and Bronze ages; metallurgical production centre at [[Saruq Al Hadid Archaeological Site|Saruq Al Hadid]], as well as [[Chlorite group|chlorite]] vessels decorated with turtles alternating with trees, similar to finds from [[Qidfa']] in Fujairah, [[Al Qusais|Qusais]] in Dubai and [[Al Hajar, Bahrain|Al-Hajar]] in [[Bahrain]].
A number of Iron Age swords and axe-heads, as well as distinctive seal moulds, were also recovered from the site. A number of bronze arrowheads were also found at the site. The Iron Age buildings found at Rumailah are typical of those found in the region, at Iron Age I and II sites such as Al Thuqeibah and [[Muweilah]], with a number of row dwellings, although lacking the perimeter walls found at Thuqeibah.<ref name="Potts_al2003"></ref> A columned hall at Rumailah provides a further link to Muweilah, while a number of pyramidal seals found there echo with similar objects discovered at Bidaa bint Saud.<ref name=":07"></ref>
Carbon dating artefacts found at Muweilah puts the settlement's original date of establishment at between 850 and 800 BC and it enjoyed a brief heyday before being destroyed in a fire around 600BC.<ref name=":03"></ref> Constructed in the main from interlocked mud bricks and mud/stone brick walls,<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> the walled settlement itself surrounds a large walled enclosure with seven buildings, thought to have provided living quarters as well as an administrative centre. This central building contained at least twenty columns and has been a rich trove for archaeologists, with extensive finds of painted and spouted vessels, iron weapons and hundreds of bronze pieces. Enabled by the domestication of the camel in the region, thought to have taken place around 1,000 BC, Muweilah's trade included the manufacture of copper goods, with "extensive casting spillage from the manufacture of copper items found throughout the site".<ref name=":03" /> Muweilah is relatively unique in its early and extensive adoption of iron goods, thought to have been imported from Iran.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> Hundreds of grinding stones indicate the consumption of both barley and wheat. Although now some 15 km inland today, it is thought that in its heyday, Muweilah would have been located on a ''khor'' or creek.<ref name=":12"></ref>
The Iron Age II period also saw the construction of fortifications, with a number of towers and other buildings offering protection to ''aflaj'' and the crops they watered. Hili 14 in Al Ain, Madhab Fort and Awhala Fort in [[Fujairah]] as well as [[Jebel Buhais]] near [[Al Madam|Madam]] in [[Sharjah]] and Rafaq in the Wadi Qor in [[Ras Al Khaimah]] are all fortifications dating to this time.<ref name=":4" />
== Iron Age III ==
Evidence of Iron Age III occupation in the Emirates can be found at Tell Abraq, Shimal, Rumailah, Hili and Thuqeibah. Finds draw a strong cultural link with the [[Achaemenid Empire|Archaemenid]] Iranians and point to the area being the satrapy of Maka. Iron age short swords from Qusais, Jebel Buhais and Rumailah mirror images of 'natives of Maka' found on the thrown of [[Darius II]] at [[Persepolis]], while ceramics found dating back to the Iron Age III period mirror those found in a number of Iranian sites of the era.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
[[File:Cántaro (26738115330).jpg|thumb|2nd century BCE Mleiha era jar from Mleiha in Sharjah, UAE]]
== Post Iron Age ==
The period from 300-0 BCE has been dubbed both the Mleiha and the Late Pre-Islamic period, and follows on from the dissolution of [[Darius III]]'s empire. Although the era has been called Hellenistic, [[Wars of Alexander the Great|Alexander the Great's]] conquests went no further than Persia and he left Arabia untouched.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> However, Macedonian coinage unearthed at Ed-Dur dates back to Alexander the Great <ref name=":13"></ref> and contemporary Greek manuscripts have given the exports from Ed-Dur as 'pearls, purple dye, clothing, wine, gold and slaves, and a great quantity of dates'.<ref name=":24"></ref>
The most complete evidence of human settlement and community from this time is at Mleiha, where a thriving agrarian community benefited from the protection of a mudbrick fort. It was here, and during this period, that the most complete evidence of iron usage has been found, including nails, long swords and arrowheads as well as evidence of slag from smelting.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
== References ==
[[Category:History of the United Arab Emirates]]
[[Category:History of the United Arab Emirates by topic]]
[[Category:History of the United Arab Emirates by period]]
[[Category:Iron Age Asia]]
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