Roads of Arabia

22 Arabie US p398-403_BAT.qxd 23/06/10 21:56 Page 398
AYN
JAWAN
Abdullah S. Al-Saud
Ayn Jawan, 1 north-west of the Gulf of Tarut, doubtless owes its importance to its proximity
to the coast. It is one of the most extensive archaeological sites in the kingdom; in an
area of about 200 hectares, dotted with rocky outcrops and edged with shabka, there remain
many vestiges of walls built with coated limestone blocks joined with mortar as well as small
cist tombs. 2 We probably can identify Ayn Jawan with Ptolemy’s Bilbana. Arab sources mention
it under the name “al-Jounin” or “al-Jounan”.
The site was discovered in 1943 before the end of the Second World War when the Saudi
Aramco company decided to convert the land next to the port of Ras Tanura into a quarry. In the
course of the operation the Aramco workmen found mysterious constructions buried under
mounds of sand. In 1945 a fragment of an inscription in South Arabic was unearthed, revealing
the presence of the tomb of a woman named Ghatham bint Oumrat ibn Tahiou, of the family of
[...], a member of the Chadab tribe. In 1950 Richard LeBaron Bowen Jr 3 published a first study
devoted to the pottery of the site 4 and assembled documentation, hitherto unpublished, on the
Ayn Jawan graves. In 1952 Aramco put the archaeologist F. S. Vidal in charge of the survey and
excavations; he worked for twenty-two months and unearthed a monumental tomb.
This cist tomb is built of blocks of limestone and mortar; its door was closed with
blocks of limestone and mortar. It is organized around a central chamber reached via a long
corridor on the west side. Five other chambers open onto this central space: one to the east,
two to the south and two others to the north (see layout on the next page). The north and
south chambers each contained one body whereas the larger east chamber held two. Four
other chambers adjoin the edifice. Unfortunately the central tomb was already looted in
Antiquity and again between the archaeologists’ various visits, thus hastening the destruction
of the east chamber. In spite of these successive lootings, the excavations made it possible
to assemble the bones of several individuals, shards of pottery and glass, a bronze
spatula and carnelian beads. The tomb’s set-up indicates it was planned for nine persons,
then was looted and reutilized to deposit the bones of more recent deceased. Some remains
were burned but we do not know whether this was due to a religious ritual or voluntary acts.
Necklace, 2nd century AD, tomb at Ayn Jawan
(cat. no. 238)
1. At 3 kilometres north of Qatif, west of Ras
Tanura; at 26 o 42’ 46” latitude north and 49 o
57’ 53” longitude east.
2. Unlike those of al-Zahran and Ayn al-Sih in the
eastern province.
3. LeBaron Bowen 1950.
4. Frederick R. Matson, in LeBaron Bowen 1950;
Florence E. Day, in LeBaron Bowen 1950.
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