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- Title
al‐Khafaji reinterpreted: New insights on Umm an‐Nar monuments and settlement from Bat, Oman.
- Authors
Swerida, Jennifer; Thornton, Christopher P.
- Abstract
Al‐Khafaji is a central and well‐known point on the early third millennium BC map of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat, in the Sultanate of Oman. For years, Kasr al‐Khafaji ("Tower 1146") has been understood as an Umm an‐Nar (ca. 2800–2000 BCE) monument standing amid a contemporary village. However, recent excavations by the Bat Archaeological Project (BAP) reveal that the entirety of the known site—monument(s) and settlement—is situated on an anthropogenic clay mound that elevated it meters above the surrounding landscape. This paper presents the results of BAP's recent excavations, emphasising the social spaces created by architecture of various functions and scales. It also considers the implications that this new interpretation of al‐Khafaji may have for how the relationship between Umm an‐Nar towers and settlement should be understood. The paper closes with a discussion of Umm an‐Nar tower function and social meaning, concluding that the Khafaji monument(s) likely served a symbolic and possibly performative role in Umm an‐Nar society that was perceived as separate from Umm an‐Nar settlement.
- Subjects
OMAN; WORLD Heritage Sites; MONUMENTS; SPACE (Architecture); WORLD maps; SOCIAL space
- Publication
Arabian Archaeology & Epigraphy, 2019, Vol 30, Issue 2, p157
- ISSN
0905-7196
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/aae.12131