Roads of Arabia

22 Arabie US p398-403_BAT.qxd 23/06/10 21:56 Page 400
ROADS OF ARABIA
Ayn Jawan
Layout of the tomb at Ayn Jawan
Considering the location of the tomb, very close to the sea, the construction and the grave contents
were permeated with moisture which delayed the excavation; some items took a very long
time to dry. The trench dug around the tomb permitted light in to the four outlying chambers
which had remained intact. The graves were then examined, measured and photographed.
The four chambers are contemporary with the looted chamber.
The three south chambers (7, 8 and 9) were cut out of the limestone as was one of the
walls of the north chamber. In the latter was buried the body of a little girl, about six years
old, richly adorned. The three other chambers (7, 8 and 9) were the graves of three adult
men placed in wooden coffins closed with nails.
In the south-west chamber (9) the body faced south; although the sides of the wooden
coffin were still there the bones were poorly preserved and the grave contents featured only
a small gold hair clasp.
In the south room (8) the body faced west; the lid of the coffin was vaulted. Two small
gold hair clasps and a poorly preserved iron sword with an ivory pommel were found.
In the south-east chamber (7), the body faced north. The skeleton was very fragmentary,
crushed by the fall of one of the slabs of the lid. The deceased was buried with a long
iron sword of which the pommel and the sheath were wood lined with leather.
In the north chamber the skeleton faced west. The grave contained three female statuettes
approximately 20 centimetres high. One of them bore traces of red pigment; her
right arm was folded over her breast and the drapery suggested a tunic. Another statuette,
of which only the torso, the top of the legs, a hand and a fragment of drapery remained,
presented traces of blue paint. She is an Aphrodite of a type widespread in the Hellenistic
Near East. A third statuette, in ivory, was found in a poor state of conservation.
The chamber also contained a bronze bowl and a mirror with an ivory handle, both
very damaged unfortunately, along with two pins and four gold hair clasps. The deceased
woman was bedecked with a gold torque from which dangled a pendant inlaid with agate
(cat. nos 239, 241 and 242), and she wore a necklace of gold, carnelian, amethyst beads and
natural pearls (cat. no. 238). A frontal jewel was also found, consisting of a small chain linking
two cabochon ornaments from which hung models of amphorae in natural pearl and a
bird-shaped fastener (cat. no. 240); there were also a pin made of bone and small pieces of
extremely corroded metal probably belonging to rings.
5. Potts 1990b.
6. LeBaron Bowen 1950, p. 23.
7. Winnett 1946, p. 2.
8. Potts et al. 1978.
9. Golding 1984, pp. 159–64, pl. 156.
Bibliography:
Golding 1984; Al-Jasser 1979; LeBaron Bowen
1950; Potts 1990b; Potts et al. 1978; Winnett
1946.
In addition to the discovery of the tomb, many glazed and unglazed ceramics and stone
vessels were found. The dating of the tomb is still very uncertain as it was looted several times
and, above all, because we have no terminus ante quem for proposing an accurate date.
Nevertheless, considering the grave contents, we can assume that it goes back to the 1st century
AD. This must have been the tomb of a family of local notables enriched by trade (very
active with the west and the north, the Greek world and the Parthian Empire as well as India),
pearl fishing or agriculture. Many coins were found as well (some coined on the spot, others
of foreign provenance) 5 and several Hasaean inscriptions 6 which probably marked the location
of the graves. One of them commemorated the deceased woman:
“Nephesh and tomb of Ghatham daughter of Oumrat son of Tahiou of the family of
[. . .], of the clan of ‘Uwayr, of the Chadab tribe. We miss her”. 7
In 1977 a team of archaeologists from the Department of Antiquities, in collaboration
with scholars from Harvard University, undertook a topographical survey throughout the
eastern province to which Ayn Jawan belongs. 8 In 1984 Marny Golding published an article
in the journal Atlal 9 in which she mentions Ayn Jawan and the discoveries made there.
Tomb at Ayn Jawan
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