The skeletal findings from excavations in the Batinah, Oman

Author(s): Alyson Caine

Year: 2015

Summary

Background. The presence of limited settlements has limited the understanding of prehistoric occupation in the Arabian Peninsula (Potts 1990). Interest and research of Arabia during the Bronze (3200-1200 BC) and Iron Age (1200-400 BC) has increased producing a greater understanding of the people from the region and their culture.

Methods. A total of sixty-four tombs were excavated with twenty-seven yielding human remains. These twenty-seven tombs originated from various periods of the Bronze and Iron Age. Each tomb was analyzed independently for demographic information (age and sex) as well as pathological prevalence.

Results. Eight individuals were assessed for age, two non-adults and six adults. Twelve individuals were assessed for sex; six females, four males, and two ambiguous sex. Pathological conditions were identified in fourteen individuals with varying prevalence; dental diseases 9%, new bone formation 14%, osteophyte formation 21%, and metabolic disease 7%.

Discussion. Research on the health and demography of prehistoric Arabian populations can further illuminate the past stories of these regions that are not well understood. Any additional information on the peoples of the past will help with the understanding of health today as well as further elucidate our health history.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

Cite this Record

The skeletal findings from excavations in the Batinah, Oman. Alyson Caine. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 398403)

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Geographic Keywords
West Asia

Spatial Coverage

min long: 25.225; min lat: 15.115 ; max long: 66.709; max lat: 45.583 ;