Ricerc@Sapienza

The funerary complex of Daba is to date among the richest site of Eastern Arabia. The metal objects unearthed in the site represent a unique assemblage for wealth and quality: a milestone for the understanding of Early Arabian Civilization that for a decade will engage scholars from all over the world. The incredible wealth of the site is represented by thousands of artefacts so far recovered from LCG-1 and LCG-2, mostly metal objects including weapons, ornaments and other ritual paraphernalia, along with five thousands and more beads describing a vast network of exchanges from Iran to the Indus Valley, associated with the bone remains of about five hundred individuals of all age and genders. This evidence indicates that the whole area was as a monumental tribute to the tribal alliance dating from the end of the 2nd millennium BC to the 1st millennium CE.
The burial complex provided some interesting evidence related to the funerary practices and the offering rituals in the Daba sacred area. Several typologies of deposition of skeletal materials have been identified, that differ in reference to their organization, the quantity of bones, the number of individuals represented in them and their association with grave goods and animal bones. In Daba emerged peculiar typologies of secondary depositions, like bone assemblages with a clear structured shape suggesting the use of perishable containers to settle the already skeletonized individuals inside or around the large collective grave.
To date the graves produced a high quantity of material including pottery, softstone vessels, bronze weapons, bronze bowls, bronze, silver and gold jewelleries, shells and stone buttons, and beads of various types. The materials have been archaeologically dated from the Late Bronze Age (1500 - 1300 BC) until the Late Iron Age ¿ PIR A-B phases (around 300 BC - 100 CE) and therefore reveal a long period of use of the funeral area.