Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Volume 52 2023

The Seminar for Arabian Studies is the longest continually running academic forum for the presentation of cultural heritage research on the Arabian Peninsula. Subjects include archaeology, epigraphy, history, ethnography, art, architecture, linguistics, and literature from prehistory to the early twentieth century.

The Seminar for Arabian Studies is the longest continually running academic forum for the presentation of cultural heritage research on the Arabian Peninsula. Meeting for the first time in 1968, the Seminar covers a wide range of subjects including but not limited to archaeology, epigraphy, history, ethnography, art, architecture, linguistics, and literature from prehistory to the early twentieth century. The 55th Seminar for Arabian Studies marked the first in-person gathering for this event since 2019, with the Seminar cancelled in 2020 and hosted entirely online in 2021. Drawing upon lessons learned from the 54th Seminar, this year’s presentations were available in a hybrid in-person and online format, which allowed for broader attendance among those unable to travel to Berlin. The Editorial Team for the Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies is proud to present the published presentations from the 55th Seminar, and we look forward to future volumes as colleagues from around the world come together (in-person and virtually) to contemplate Arabian studies.

Guidelines and Transliteration Editor's Foreword In Memoriam. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Tayyib al-Ansari, 1935-2023 MASPAG 2022 archaeological survey - methodological perspectives and preliminary results - Guido Antinori, Francesco Del Bravo, Francesco Genchi, Alessandro Di Ludovico & Marco Ramazzotti New information on late antique to early Islamic ceramic production and distribution in the Gulf. Petrography of samples from Siraf, Bushehr, and Fulayj - Jose C. Carvajal Lopez, Seth M.N. Priestman & Myrto Georgakopoulou GlaViWo - a 3D virtual world for an Arabist - Elisabeth Cerny & Ronald Ruzicka The protohistoric and antique landscapes of Qaryat al-Faw. The Saudi Heritage Commission Archaeological Mapping Project (2021-2022) - Guillaume Charloux, Francois Cristofoli, Thomas Creissen, Majed Alanizi, Antoine Darchambeau, Alessia Prioletta, Sabrina Save, Jeremie Schiettecatte, Najla Alsuair, Abdu Elah al-Tarib, Quentin Vitale & Alexandrine Wadel An Abbasid settlement horizon in the oasis of Khaybar: the al-Hurdah site - Guillaume Chung-To Preliminary analyses of vernacular earthen architecture in the gardens of al-'Ula oasis (Saudi Arabia) - Pascale Clauss-Balty, Yasmin Kanhoush, Sarra Ben Bader & Julien Charbonnier The Al-Mudhaybi Regional Survey: field seasons 2021 and 2022 - Stephanie Dopper, Jonas Kluge & Maria Pia Maiorano Long-distance trade in al-'Ula from the Mamluk period to the twentieth century AD: technological, morphological, and compositional study of glass bangles collected in al-?Ula oasis (Hejaz, Saudi Arabia) - Cassandra Furstos, Maria Paola Pellegrino, Anne Leschallier, Yasmin Kanhoush & Julien Charbonnier New light on the Neolithic fertile coast: recent excavations on Ghagha Island (Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE) and the emergence of domestic architecture in ancient Arabia - Noura Hamad Al Hameli, Richard Thorburn Cuttler, Mark Jonathan Beech, Remy Crassard, Ahmed Abdalla Elfaki, Peter Magee & Kevin Lidour The Palaeolithic record of Abu Dhabi Emirate in the light of recent discoveries in the Eastern Region - Marc Handel, Norbert Buchinger, Ali Al Meqbali & Peter Magee The Islamic Fortifications Project on Soqotra: Jebel Hawari fort (SHP200) - Julian Jansen van Rensburg, Enzo Cocca, Emanuel Demetrescu & Ahmed Saeed Ahmed Al-Orqbi The Early Bronze Age in the Hajar oases: new investigations of the settlement, funerary, and monumental site of al-Dhabi 2 (Bisya, Oman) - Mathilde Jean, Martin Sauvage, Olivia Munoz, Victoria de Casteja, Theo Mespoulet, Josselin Pinot & Kaina Rointru The Wadi Suq archaeological landscape of Bat (Dhahirah Governorate, Oman) and its interregional significance - Taichi Kuronuma, Takehiro Miki & Yasuhisa Kondo Characterizing techniques and marine resource exploitation for Iron Age and late Islamic lime production on Jubail Island (Abu Dhabi): the 2021 archaeological investigations - Aurore Lambert, Corentin Biets, Benjamin Durand, Celia Casado, Elodie Lassalle, Paloma Lorente-Sebastian, Thibaut Peres, Jan Veron, Samara Broglia de Moura, Mark Jonathan Beech, Richard Thorburn Howard Cuttler & Peter Magee First results of the 2020 and 2021 seasons of the Saudi-French Archaeological and Epigraphic Mission to Najran in the area of Hima (Najran, Saudi Arabia)- Silvia Lischi, Jerome-Francois Haquet, Yamandu Hieronimus Hilbert & Alessia Prioletta Late second-millennium soft-stone vessels revisited: defining a primary marker for an Iron Age I horizon in south-east Arabia - Eric Olijdam & Christian Velde A newly discovered late antique monastery and Islamic town on Siniya Island, Umm al-Quwain - Timothy Power, Michele Degli Esposti, Robert Hoyland & Rania Hussein Kannouma Fulayj: a Sasanian to early Islamic fort in the Sohar hinterland - Seth Priestman, Nasser Al-Jahwari, Eve MacDonald, Derek Kennet, Kawther Alzeidi, Mark Andrews, Vladimir Dabrowski, Vladimer Kenkadze, Rosalind MacDonald, Tatia Mamalashvili, Ibrahim Al-Maqbali, Davit Naskidashvili & Domiziana Rossi The 2021 field season at Kalba: results of the excavations and geo-archaeological surveys - Christoph Schwall, Michael Brandl, Mario Borner, Susanne Lindauer, Katleen Deckers, Simone Riehl, Anja Cramer, Christoph Hauzenberger, Eisa Yousif & Sabah A. Jasim The Oman Border Fence Project 2021: a journey through the hydraulic, agricultural, and funerary landscapes of al-'Ayn - Peter Sheehan, Mohammed Khalifa, Malak Al Ajou, Nour Al Marzooqi, Maickel Van Bellegem, Anabela Ferreira, Jaber Al Merri, Timothy Power, Anne Benoist, Louise Purdue, Maria-Paola Pellegrino, Enrica Tagliamonte & Helene David-Cuny Saruq al-Hadid: a centre of metallurgic production and social cohesion - Tatiana Valente The necropolis of Al Qusais (Dubai, UAE): preliminary results of the 2020 excavation and reassessment of the data from the 1970s and 1990s excavations - Tatiana Valente, Fernando Contreras, Bernardo Vila, Adrian Fernandez, Bader Al Ali, Mansour Karim & Hassan Zein Titles of papers read at the Seminar for Arabian Studies held at Humboldt Universitat 5-7 August 2022,

Guidelines and Transliteration

Editor’s Foreword

In Memoriam. ʿAbd al‑Raḥmān al‑Ṭayyib al‑Anṣārī, 1935–2023

MASPAG 2022 archaeological survey — methodological perspectives and preliminary results – Guido Antinori, Francesco Del Bravo, Francesco Genchi, Alessandro Di Ludovico & Marco Ramazzotti

New information on late antique to early Islamic ceramic production and distribution in the Gulf. Petrography of samples from Siraf, Bushehr, and Fulayj – José C. Carvajal López, Seth M.N. Priestman & Myrto Georgakopoulou†

GlaViWo — a 3D virtual world for an Arabist – Elisabeth Cerny & Ronald Ruzicka

The protohistoric and antique landscapes of Qaryat al‑Faw. The Saudi Heritage Commission Archaeological Mapping Project (2021–2022) – Guillaume Charloux, François Cristofoli, Thomas Creissen, Majed Alanizi, Antoine Darchambeau, Alessia Prioletta, Sabrina Save, Jérémie Schiettecatte, Najla Alsuair, Abdu Elah al‑Tarib, Quentin Vitale & Alexandrine Wadel

An Abbasid settlement horizon in the oasis of Khaybar: the al‑Ḥurḍah site – Guillaume Chung-To

Preliminary analyses of vernacular earthen architecture in the gardens of al‑ʿUlā oasis (Saudi Arabia) – Pascale Clauss-Balty, Yasmin Kanhoush, Sarra Ben Bader & Julien Charbonnier

The Al‑Mudhaybi Regional Survey: field seasons 2021 and 2022 – Stephanie Döpper, Jonas Kluge & Maria Pia Maiorano

Long-distance trade in al‑ʿUlā from the Mamluk period to the twentieth century AD: technological, morphological, and compositional study of glass bangles collected in al‑ʿUlā oasis (Hejaz, Saudi Arabia) – Cassandra Furstos, Maria Paola Pellegrino, Anne Leschallier, Yasmin Kanhoush & Julien Charbonnier

New light on the Neolithic fertile coast: recent excavations on Ghagha Island (Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE) and the emergence of domestic architecture in ancient Arabia – Noura Hamad Al Hameli, Richard Thorburn Cuttler, Mark Jonathan Beech, Rémy Crassard, Ahmed Abdalla Elfaki, Peter Magee & Kevin Lidour

The Palaeolithic record of Abu Dhabi Emirate in the light of recent discoveries in the Eastern Region – Marc Händel, Norbert Buchinger, Ali Al Meqbali & Peter Magee

The Islamic Fortifications Project on Soqotra: Jebel Hawari fort (SHP200) – Julian Jansen van Rensburg, Enzo Cocca, Emanuel Demetrescu & Ahmed Saeed Ahmed Al‑Orqbi

The Early Bronze Age in the Hajar oases: new investigations of the settlement, funerary, and monumental site of al‑Dhabi 2 (Bisya, Oman) – Mathilde Jean, Martin Sauvage, Olivia Munoz, Victoria de Castéja, Théo Mespoulet, Josselin Pinot & Kaïna Rointru

The Wādī Sūq archaeological landscape of Bāt (Dhahirah Governorate, Oman) and its interregional significance – Taichi Kuronuma, Takehiro Miki & Yasuhisa Kondo

Characterizing techniques and marine resource exploitation for Iron Age and late Islamic lime production on Jubail Island (Abu Dhabi): the 2021 archaeological investigations – Aurore Lambert, Corentin Biets, Benjamin Durand, Célia Casado, Élodie Lassalle, Paloma Lorente-Sebastián, Thibaut Peres, Jan Veron, Samara Broglia de Moura, Mark Jonathan Beech, Richard Thorburn Howard Cuttler & Peter Magee

First results of the 2020 and 2021 seasons of the Saudi-French Archaeological and Epigraphic Mission to Najrān in the area of Ḥimā (Najrān, Saudi Arabia) – Silvia Lischi, Jérôme-François Haquet, Yamandú Hieronimus Hilbert & Alessia Prioletta

Late second-millennium soft-stone vessels revisited: defining a primary marker for an Iron Age I horizon in south-east Arabia – Eric Olijdam & Christian Velde

A newly discovered late antique monastery and Islamic town on Sīnīya Island, Umm al‑Quwain – Timothy Power, Michele Degli Esposti, Robert Hoyland & Rania Hussein Kannouma

Fulayj: a Sasanian to early Islamic fort in the Sohar hinterland – Seth Priestman, Nasser Al‑Jahwari, Eve MacDonald, Derek Kennet, Kawther Alzeidi, Mark Andrews, Vladimir Dabrowski, Vladimer Kenkadze, Rosalind MacDonald, Tatia Mamalashvili, Ibrahim Al‑Maqbali, Davit Naskidashvili & Domiziana Rossi

The 2021 field season at Kalba: results of the excavations and geo-archaeological surveys – Christoph Schwall, Michael Brandl, Mario Börner, Susanne Lindauer, Katleen Deckers, Simone Riehl, Anja Cramer, Christoph Hauzenberger, Eisa Yousif & Sabah A. Jasim

The Oman Border Fence Project 2021: a journey through the hydraulic, agricultural, and funerary landscapes of al‑ʿAyn – Peter Sheehan, Mohammed Khalifa, Malak Al Ajou, Nour Al Marzooqi, Maickel Van Bellegem, Anabela Ferreira, Jaber Al Merri, Timothy Power, Anne Benoist, Louise Purdue, Maria-Paola Pellegrino, Enrica Tagliamonte & Hélène David-Cuny

Saruq al‑Hadid: a centre of metallurgic production and social cohesion – Tatiana Valente

The necropolis of Al Qusais (Dubai, UAE): preliminary results of the 2020 excavation and reassessment of the data from the 1970s and 1990s excavations – Tatiana Valente, Fernando Contreras, Bernardo Vila, Adrián Fernández, Bader Al Ali, Mansour Karim & Hassan Zein

Titles of papers read at the Seminar for Arabian Studies held at Humboldt Universität 5–7 August 2022

• Edited by Steve Karacic

[Readers] will be surprised by the depth and breadth of this volume. Although the studies published in it have tried to answer many important questions in cultural and archaeological aspects, they will be surprised to find that they also raise 

many questions and open new discussions about the history and civilisation of the Arabian Peninsula. (Translated from the Arabic) - Ahmed Al-Shoki (2025), Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques

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