Tell Abraq

Stratified, multi-period site occupied from ca. 2500 BCE to 300 CE, reference site for the pre-Islamic archaeology of Southeast Arabia, where similar stratigraphic sequences are rare.

The site is located near the Arabian Gulf coast, immediately south of the town of Umm al-Quwain (25,487614 N 55,552054 E), almost equally divided between the Emirates of Umm al-Quwain and Sharjah (fig. 1).

Tell Abraq was first briefly excavated in the early 1970s by an Iraqi mission. Between 1989 and 1998, five field seasons were completed in the Umm al-Quwain territory by a Danish team directed by D.T. Potts (Potts 2000). The promptly published preliminary reports of the 1989 and 1990 seasons highlighted the immense relevance of the site (Potts 1990; 1991). In addition, the discovery of an Umm an-Nar-type grave dated to the 21st cent. BCE provided invaluable biological data on the ancient population, as well as on long-distance connections (see Potts 2000).

From 2007 to 2017, investigations were resumed in the western part of the site by Bryn Mawr College (dir. P. Magee) with an international team in co-operation with the Sharjah Archaeology Authority (Magee et al. 2017). Since 2019, a new project led by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Umm al-Quwain (dir. M. Degli Esposti, F. Borgi) is again targeting the eastern portion of the site (fig. 2) with a specific focus on the Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age I (ca. 1600–1100 BCE) contexts and the Late Pre-Islamic (LPI - ca. 300 BCE–300 CE) occupation (Degli Esposti et al. 2023, 2024) (see Chronology of Southeast Arabia).

The core of the site is represented by a mid-3rd mill. BCE stone and mudbrick tower, 40 m in diameter (the largest so far in Southeast Arabia), equipped with a well and surrounded by a ditch. Around the tower, dwellings consisted of barasti houses for most of the duration of the site. As deposits accumulated against the abandoned tower, a sequence of terraces contained by stone walls was made throughout at least the whole 2nd mill. BCE. Each terrace hosted light material structures as well as the occasional stone wall. During the Late Bronze Age, the top of the site was capped by a massive mudbrick platform which was possibly widened in the Early Iron Age. This platform can be compared to those found at coeval Iranian sites.

A few graves attest to occupation during the LPI period, although the presence of non-funerary pottery may also point to an ephemeral residential presence.

At the time of its establishment, the site was adjacent to a coastal lagoon connected with the open sea which probably survived until the mid-1st mill., mirrored by the modern sabkha. Subsistence relied on both marine/coastal and terrestrial resources, including domesticated and wild animals. Archaeozoological research shows that domesticated camels gradually replaced wild specimens in the second half of the 2nd mill. BCE. The date palm played an important role in the site’s economy from the outset, and grains were also processed there, as indirectly evidenced by the large number of grinding stones discovered throughout the stratigraphic sequence.

Michele Degli Esposti

References and suggested reading

• Degli Esposti, M. & F. Borgi 2020. The Abraq Research Project - 2019 season. Bulletin of the International Association for the Study of Arabia 25: 20–22.
• Degli Esposti, M., F. Borgi, M.P. Pellegrino, S. Spano, C. Abric & R. Houssein Kannouma, 2022. Renewed excavations at Tell Abraq, Umm al Quwain, 2019 -2020. Insights into the site’s occupation from the mid-2nd millennium BC to the Late Pre-Islamic period. PSAS 51: 141-156.
• Degli Esposti, M., F. Borgi, M.P. Pellegrino, C. Abric, F. Barchiesi & R. Houssein Kannouma, 2024. Another side to the story. Preliminary results from the renewed excavations on the eastern side of Tell Abraq (Umm Al-Quwain), in Advances in UAE Archaeology: Proceedings of Abu Dhabi’s Archaeology Conference 2022: 183-207. Abu Dhabi, Oxford: Zayed National Museum, Department of Culture and Tourism/Archaeopress.
• Magee, P., M. Händel, S. Karacic, M. Uerpmann & H.P. Uerpmann 2017. Tell Abraq during the second and first millennia BC: site layout, spatial organisation, and economy. AAE 28: 209–237. DOI: 10.1111/aae.12103.
• Potts, D.T. 1990. A prehistoric mound in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, U.A.E. Excavations at Tell Abraq in 1989. Copenhagen: Munksgaard International Publishers.
• Potts, D.T. 1991. Further Excavations at Tell Abraq. The 1990 Season. Copenhagen: Munksgaard International Publishers.
• Potts, D.T. 2000. Ancient Magan. The secrets of Tell Abraq. Trident Press.