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A dugong bone mound: the Neolithic ritual site on Akab in Umm al-Quwain, United Arab Emirates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Sophie Méry ,
V. Charpentier ,
G. Auxiette  and
E. Pelle
Sophie Méry
Affiliation:
1CNRS, UMR 7041 Archéologie et Sciences de l'Antiquité, 21 allée de l'université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex France
V. Charpentier
Affiliation:
2INRAP, UMR 7041, 21 allée de l'université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex, France
G. Auxiette
Affiliation:
3INRAP, UMR 7041, Centre Archéologique de Soissons, 3 rue du Commandant Gérard, 02200 Soissons, France
E. Pelle
Affiliation:
4CNRS/Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, UMS 2700 – Taxonomie et collections, Département Systématique et Evolution, Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, 55 rue Buffon, BP 51, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
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Abstract

The authors present a remarkable site with a remarkable interpretation: a structured platform of dugong bones, containing skulls laid in parallel and ribs in sets, together with artefacts of the Neolithic period. They propose that the bones have been symbolically arranged and the mound as a whole had a ritual purpose – an interpretation endorsed by analogy with dugong platforms noted in the Torres Strait in recent times.

Keywords

east ArabiaNeolithicritualdugong
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 321 , September 2009 , pp. 696 - 708
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

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