Site H3: Environment and Economy
 
by Dr. Mark Beech (*), Emily Glover (**) and Dr. Mohsen Al-Husaini (***)

FISHING (*)
FISHING EQUIPMENT (*)
SEASONALITY: THE FISH OTOLITH PROJECT (* / ***)
HUNTING (*)
SHELL GATHERING (**)
HERDING (*)
DATE PALMS (*)
REFERENCES
CONTACT DETAILS

FISHING

Large quantities of fish bones have been recovered from the excavations of site H3 at Sabiyah.  A list of the fishes represented is provided in Table 1.

TABLE 1. List of the fishes represented at Site H3

Fishing was carried out in shallow inshore coastal waters, although the presence of tuna suggests that some fishing may have been conducted in deeper offshore waters. Requiem sharks, sawfish, sea catfish, groupers, jacks/trevallies and seabream were all common. Sea catfish were represented by a remarkable number of otoliths ("ear-stones"). These are discussed in further detail below in the section below on seasonality.

Seabream (Sparidae) premaxillae from site H3

FISHING EQUIPMENT

Excavations at H3 have identified a number of pieces of equipment which were probably used as fishing equipment. These can be divided into three main categories: stone net or line sinkers, circular disks, and bone gorges.

Several oval stone pebbles were found with typical pecked grooves. Some of the stones had chips flaked out of their mid-point margin on each of their long sides. Similar examples have been found at a number of Omani coastal sites belonging to the Saruq to Bandar-Jissa-Facies, i.e. dating to between about 5500-3500 BC (Uerpmann 1992: 94), but they can be also found at some later sites. These simple notched pebbles were the major type of netsinker reported at Ra's al-Hamra RH5.

Stone netsinker from site H3

A further type of netsinker found at H3 was made on small and relatively thick pebbles which have a pecked shallow groove around the "waistline" of the pebble, facilitating the attachment of lines. These smaller netsinkers are generally not bigger than about 2.5 - 3 cm. Such netsinkers appear to be especially common during the early 5th-4th millennium BC at a number of sites along the Omani coast (Charpentier et al. 1997: 103). Examples of this type have been found at Saruq (Uerpmann 1992: 95) and at BJD1 at Al Haddah. Similar netsinkers have also been discovered at Nad al-Walid, a shell midden located near Jazirat al-Hamra in Ras al-Khaimah, UAE, which is broadly contemporary with Saruq.

A number of circular stone or pottery disks were excavated during the 2001 field season. These have been provisionally interpreted as representing throwing net weights, although some may have been used as spindle whorls, or for some other unknown purpose.

Excavations at Sabiyah recovered bone gorges very similar to those discovered by Biagi and Nisbet (1989) at site RH5 at Ra's al-Hamra in Oman. The gorges consisted of a straight stick of shell, bone or wood where the line was attached in the middle. Once baited, the gorges were laid out parallel with the line. Any fish swallowing the bait and attempting to swim away was then trapped as the line is pulled taut and the gorge sticks in the throat or belly of the fish.

Bone fishing gorges from site H3

SEASONALITY - THE FISH OTOLITH PROJECT

One of the important research questions we are attempting to investigate is whether site H3 was occupied seasonally or all year round. We are very fortunate at H3 to have a large number of otoliths ("ear stones") from sea catfish. Otoliths are calcareous structures inside the inner ear of the fish. These grow incrementally and are extremely useful to fisheries biologists as they provide a means of calculating the age of the fish. The outermost incremental band will also reveal the time of year when the fish was caught.

In February 2001 a collaborative project between the Kuwaiti-British Archaeological expedition and the Mariculture and Fisheries Division of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) was initiated. The aims of this project are to investigate the taxonomy and identification of modern sea catfish in Kuwaiti waters, to examine their growth and reproduction, and to section otoliths from both modern and archaeological specimens. This will provide valuable information concerning the possible seasonal nature of occupation at H3.

Sea catfish (Arius spp.) otoliths from site H3

The work on sea catfish otoliths is being carried out by Dr. Mark Beech together with Dr. Mohsen Al-Husaini from the Mariculture and Fisheries Division of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). A pilot study was carried out in February 2001. Six archaeological otoliths were prepared. The otoliths were first embedded in Araldite 2020/A resin blocks.

Embedding the sea catfish otoliths in Araldite 2020/A resin blocks

These blocks were then cut using a Buehler Isomet low speed diamon cutting saw. This was carried out in the Fish Aging Laboratory of the KISR Mariculture and Fisheries Division.
Cutting the resin block/otolith using a Buehler Isomet low speed diamond cutting saw

The sections were subsequently examined under a microscope. Preliminary results suggest that the sea catfish were probably caught during the summer months. The sample examined so far, however, is small and further work on the sectioning and analysis of archaeological sea catfish otoliths from H3 will continue in March 2002.

Sections through two sea catfish otoliths

HUNTING

Hunted wild mammals at Sabiyah include gazelle (Gazella spp.) and fox (Vulpes spp.). Gazelles would have been important for their meat as well as for their hide. Bones from gazelle have been reported from a number of other Ubaid sites in the Arabian Gulf including Dalma island (Beech 2000, 2001) and Al-Buhais in the United Arab Emirates (Uerpmann and Uerpmann 2000). Foxes would similarly have been exploited for their pelts, although some of the fox bones are burnt suggesting that these may have also been eaten.

Modern day rheem gazelle

Other hunted animals included marine turtle (Chelonidae). Turtles can still occasionally be seen in the modern day waters adjacent to Sabiyah. No bones from dugong were identified at H3 unlike many sites located in the southern half of the Arabian Gulf (Beech and Kallweit 2001).

SHELL GATHERING

Large amounts of marine shell have been recovered from the excavations at H3. The predominant edible species was the turban shell (Lunella coronata). This is a rock dwelling gastropod which is typically found in intertidal rock pools. Another common shell species at the site was the pearl oyster (Pinctada spp.). This may have been collected by diving from boats in shallow subtidal water since intertidal pearl oyster is relatively uncommon. Pearl oyster, in particular, seems to have been important raw material for working into various artefacts like beads and pendants.

Rocky intertidal coastline near Sabiyah

Rocky intertidal beaches can still be seen at the present day in a area just to the north of the Sabiyah power station. If you wade around in the rockpools here you can still find live examples of turban shell (Lunella coronata).

Intertidal rockpool containing live examples of turban shell (Lunella coronata) and small gastropods

HERDING

The inhabitants of site H3 at Sabiyah not only fished and hunted, but they also kept their own animals. Domestic mammalian species recorded to date include domestic sheep/goat (Ovis/Capra) and cattle ( Bos ). This matches other broadly contemporary sites in the Arabian Gulf such as Dosariyah (Zeder 1974), and Al-Buhais (Uerpmann and Uerpmann 2000).

Modern day sheep grazing at Sabiyah

DATE PALMS

Two heavily mineralised date stones were recovered during the 2001 excavation season at Sabiyah. It is not possible to say whether these represent wild or domesticated date palms. The two specimens are quite different in size. Date stones have also been recently discovered at another Ubaid site in the Arabian Gulf, on Dalma Island in the United Arab Emirates (Beech 1999; Beech and Shepherd 2001; Beech et al. 2000).

The two mineralised datestones from site H3

REFERENCES

Beech, M. 1999. Dalma archaeological site yields Arabia's oldest date stones. Tribulus 9.1: 18. 

Beech, M. 2000. Preliminary report on the faunal remains from an 'Ubaid settlement on Dalma island, United Arab Emirates. In: M. Mashkour, A.M. Choyke, H. Buitenhuis and F. Poplin (eds.), Archaeozoology of the Near East IV: Volume B - Proceedings of the fourth international symposium on the archaeozoology of southwestern Asia and adjacent areas. ARC Publicatie 32. Groningen, Netherlands. pp.68-78.

Beech, M.J. 2001. In the Land of the Ichthyophagi: Modelling fish exploitation in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman from the 5th millennium BC to the Late Islamic Period. DPhil thesis. Department of Archaeology, and Department of Biology (Environmental Archaeology Unit), University of York.

Beech, M., J. Elders and E. Shepherd.  2000.  Reconsidering the 'Ubaid of the Southern Gulf: new results from excavations on Dalma Island, U.A.E. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 30: 41-47.

Beech, M. and H. Kallweit.  2001.  A Note on the Archaeological and Environmental remains from Site JH-57, a 5th-4th Millennium BC shell midden in Jazirat al-Hamra, Ra's al-Khaimah. Tribulus (Journal of the Emirates Natural History Group) 11.1: 17-20.

Beech, M. and E. Shepherd.  2001.  Archaeobotanical evidence for early date consumption on Dalma Island, United Arab Emirates. Antiquity 75: 83-9.

Biagi, P. and R. Nisbet. 1989. Some aspects of the 1982-1985 excavations at the aceramic coastal settlement of RH5 at Qurm (Muscat - Sultanate of Oman). In: P.M. Costa and M. Tosi (eds.), Oman Studies. Serie Orientale 63. Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente. Roma, 31-46.

Charpentier, V., M. Cremaschi and F. Demnard. 1997. Une campagne archéologique sur un site côtier du Ja'alan: Al-Haddah (BJD-1) et sa culture matérielle (Sultanat d'Oman). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 27: 99-111.

Uerpmann, M. 1992. Structuring the Late Stone Age of Southeastern Arabia. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 3: 65-109.

Uerpmann, M. and H-P. Uerpmann. 2000. Faunal remains of al-Buhais 18, an aceramic neolithic site in the Emirate of Sharjah (SE-Arabia) - Excavations 1995-1998. In: M. Mashkour, A.M. Choyke, H. Buitenhuis and F. Poplin (eds.), Archaeozoology of the Near East IVB - Proceedings of the fourth international symposium on the archaeozoology of southwestern Asia and adjacent areas. ARC - Publicatie 32. Groningen, Netherlands, 40-49.

Zeder, M. 1974. Appendix B: Modern and ancient faunal record. In: A. H. Masry, Prehistory in northeastern Arabia: The problems of interregional interaction. Miami, Florida: Field Research Projects, 274.

CONTACT DETAILS

Dr. Mark Beech, Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Archaeology, University of York, The King’s Manor, York YO1 7EP, U.K. - Tel: +44 - 1904 - 434995 (direct line), Tel: +44 -1904 -433901 (general office), Fax: +44 -1904 - 433902 - Email: mjb117@york.ac.uk - Web: http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~mjb117

Emily Glover, Mollusca Section, Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum, London, U.K.
Email: emily.glover@dial.pipex.com

Dr. Mohsen Al-Husaini, Mariculture and Fisheries Division, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), P.O. Box 1638, Salmiya 22017, Kuwait. Email: mhusaini@safat.kisr.edu.kw