2012 - Tosi - Muscat - Materials for a History of consanguinity in Oman from earliest times

1. MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF CONSANGUINITY IN
OMAN FROM EARLIEST TIMES
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF TRIBALALLIANCE IN PREHISTORIC OMAN AND
THE EMERGENCE OF THE MAGAN CIVILIZATION
DURING THE 3° MILLENNIUM BCE
MAURIZIO TOSI
MINISTRY OF HERITAGE & CULTURE OF OMAN
SULTAN QABOOS UNIVERSITY
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONSANGUINITY
“TOWARDS THE DISCOVERY OF GENES PREDISPOSING
TO AND PROTECTING FROM DISEASE”
BUSTAN PALACE
MUSCAT
17-19 MARCH 2012

2. THE INTERWOVING OF FOUR MAIN FACTORS
1. THE INTERMEDIARY GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION IN BETWEEN THE MAIN DIVISIONS
OF EARLY CIVILIZATION IN THE NEAR EAST, IRAN, INDIA, EAST AFRICA THAT HAS
FAVOURED SOCIAL &CULTURAL EXCHANGES INTERSECTING PEOPLE &GOODS;
2. THE AL-HAJAR MOUNTAINS WHICH DETERMINED A NET DIVISION OF
ECOLOGICAL NICHES BETWEEN OCEAN AND DESERT;
3. THE PERSISTENCE AND SUCCESS OF A SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF TRIBAL
ALLIANCES BASED ON A TIGHT FABRIC OF CLAN STRUCTURES MADE POSSIBLE
BY A SYSTEMATIC REFERENCE TO CONSANGUINITY;
4. THE FUNERARY RITUALITY INTRODUCED BY THE MAGAN CIVILIZATION AT THE
BEGINNING OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM BCE IN ORDER TO LEGITIMIZE SUCH
SUCH ALLIANCES WITH A BLENDING OF THE ANCESTORS’ REMAINS IN COLLECTIVE
BURIALS SURVIVING TO THE PRESENT IN THOUSANDS OF STONE CAIRNS STILL
STANDINS AS HBISTORICAL LANDAMARKS ACROSS THE WHOLE COUNTRY.
WHY OMAN ?

3. “LE TERRE DI
MEZZO”
TRA MESOPOTAMIA,
INDIA
E ASIA CENTRALE
LA PENISOLA DI OMAN
ESTREMO LEMBO ORIENTALE
DELLA PENISOLAARABA

11. FALAJ

12. FALAJ IRRIGATION SCHEMES

15. MONSOONS ENERGY LIFELINES

18. DHOWS
ARABIAN TRADITIONAL
WATERCRAFT

19. AFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE
1453 – 1515

20. SAYYED SAID BIN SULTAN
1797 - 1856
ZANZIBAR
THE GATE TO DARK AFRICA

21. SLAVE
MERCHANTS

26. IL PAESE DI MAGAN

27. MAGAN CIVILIZATION
2800-2000 BCE
• 5000-3400 cal BC: THE LONG PRE-POTTERY
NEOLITHIC ESTABLISHES CULTURAL INTEGREATION
THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE TERRITORY OF EASTERN
ARABIA;
• 3400-3100 cal BC :THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION
FROM SUBSISTENCE TO EXCHANGE ECONOMY
• 3100-2800 cal BCE: FINAL CONSOLIDATION OF TRIBAL
ALLIANCES AND SETTLEMENT NUCLEATION IN OASES.

28. 4500 et 3700 cal BC

29. inverno
estate
inverno
estate
Nord-Est Sud-Ovest
Mobilità Verticale dei Cacciatori-Raccoglitori Olocenici

30. Umm al-
Qawayn 2
Al-Buhais 18

31. Karimat al-Manahil

33. MANGROVES AS A RESOURCE-RICH
BIOTOPE
Quriyat

36. KHB-1
4200-4000 cal BC

39. 276 Individuals
• Individual Burials
• primary
• secondary
• Collective Burials(max 5 individui)
• primary
• secondary
• No evident Repartitions for Sex and
Age

40. SHELL ORNAMENTS
Uerpmann, M.
1993 - Structuring the Late Stone Age of Oman, Arabian
Archaeology and Epigraphy 3 : 65-109.

41. Ra’s al-Hamra
Qurum
RAS AL-HAMRA
3800-3200 cal BC

43. RH-5 / 2005 – Données anthropologiques – Résultats préliminaires

44. RH-5 / 2005 – Données anthropologiques – Résultats préliminaires

45. RH-5 :
3700-3300 cal BC
• 122 tombe
• Una collettiva
(43 individui)
• 170 individuali

48. Salvatori, S.
1996 – Death and ritual in a
population of coastal food
foragers in Oman, in
Afanas’ev, G., S. Cleuziou,
J.R. Lukacs et M. Tosi (dir.),
The Prehistory of Asia and
Oceania, colloque 16, XIII°,
congrès de l’UISPP, ABACO,
Forli, p. 205-222.

50. RH-5, TOMBA 82

51. RH-5 / 2005 - Données anthropologiques – Résultats préliminaires
Introduction
Présentation
de quelques
tombes
Pathologies
Perspectives
Tombe 3
•1 femme adulte
•1 adulte (sexe indeterminé)
•1 fœtus de environ 9-9 ½ mois
lunaires
•1 enfant de 5-6 ans
•1 enfant de 1-3 mois

52. RH-5 / 2005 - Données anthropologiques – Résultats préliminaires
Introduction
Présentation
de quelques
tombes
Pathologies
Perspectives
Tombe 6
•1 femme de 18-20 ans
•1 fœtus de environ 9-9 ½
mois lunaires
•1 fœtus de environ 8 ½ - 9
mois lunaires

53. RH-5 / 2005 - Données anthropologiques – Résultats préliminaires
Introduction
Présentation
de quelques
tombes
Pathologies
Perspectives
Traces de calcite, vestiges de
matières végétales
•Retrouvés sur plusieurs tombes
•Vêtements, linceuls, …?

54. RH-5 CALCITE IMPRESSIONS OF ROPES AND STRINGS

55. G. 38 AN ADULT MALE
WITH A TURTLE SKULL

56. ?
THE GREEN TURTLE Chelonia mydas

57. RH-5
SECONDARY BURIALS
RECOMPOSED IN THE
SHAPE OF TURTLES

58. RH-5 / 2005 - Données anthropologiques – Résultats préliminaires
Introduction
Présentation
de quelques
tombes
Pathologies
Perspectives
Spina bifida
Arthrose
…

59. RH-5 / 2005 - Données anthropologiques – Résultats préliminaires
Introduction
Présentation
de quelques
tombes
Pathologies
Perspectives
Tombe 20
•3 adultes
•2 enfants

60. Santini, G.
2002 – Burial complex 43 at the prehistoric graveyard of Ra’s al-Hamra in northern Oman, in
S. Cleuziou, M. Tosi et J. Zarins (dir.) : Essays in the late prehistory of the Arabian peninsula,
Serie Orientale Roma XCIII, Rome, IsIAO, p. 147-167.

61. FROM KINSHIP TO KINSHIP

63. HIGH LY SUSTAINABLE ARTIFICIAL ENVIRONMENTS
DEVELOPMENT OF IRRIGATION SYSTEMS THAT PROVIDE A
CONTINUOUS WATER SUPPLY
DATE PALMS
PROVIDE NECESSARY SHADOW CONDITIONS FOR
• FRUITS
• LEGUMES
+ CROPS IN SURROUNDING AREAS
END 4TH MILLENNIUM BCE
OASES DEVELOPMENT

64. Hili 8

65. datteri
Grano Orzo

66. Hili 8

67. Jabal Haqlah (Buraimi) : 914 cairns

68. Cairns
Hafit graves
Beehive graves

69. Jebel Hafit,
Cairns 5 and 6

70. FINDINGS
Gr 109
Small biconical buff jar
Cilyndrical neck, brocken
everted rims
Abraded, no decoration

71. VIEWSHED?

72. CLUSTER OF GRAVES
OVERLOOKING THE IZKI
PASSAGES
ZUKAYT

73. ………OVERLOOKING CROPS AND PASTURES

74. ….OVERLOOKING FISHING GROUNDS AND MARINE PASSAGES

77. TYPES OF PLAN
IN
UMM AN-NAR
GRAVES

82. Hili N (2200-2000 BC), une fosse longue de 6 m, profonde et large de 2
Juste à côté de la tombe J (trouvée
presque vide)

83. Entre 600 et 1000 individus