A near-complete plaster plaque with a moulded cross was found inside the compound of a cell on S & imacr;r Ban & imacr; Y & amacr;s Island, UAE, part of a dispersed monastic landscape dated to ca. sixth-eighth centuries. Based on radiocarbon and material culture data, the plaque appears to have been made before the mid-sixth century. Substantial quantities of stucco have been found at the church before, but this plaque is the first piece of decorated plaster from the dispersed monastery. Several decorative elements can be compared with similar objects from the Gulf and Mesopotamia, and from further afield in India, Central Asia and China. They could be read in multiple ways by Christians in a Late Sasanian or immediately post-Sasanian context, adding up to two complementary interpretations of the cross plaque: on the one hand, a symbol of Christ's passion and death and, on the other hand, of his glory and kingship. The first set of meanings is expressed primarily through a visual language rooted in Christianity; the latter draws on elements from royal Sasanian iconography. Additionally, the plaque preserves evidence for private worship at the dispersed monastery congruent with prayer practice described in Syriac sources.
Poor preservation of organic material at Bahra-1 required expanding archaeobotanical analysis beyond sediments to plant impressions in pottery. The examined sediments yielded only a few biomineralized Boraginaceae seeds, whereas examination of locally made Coarse Red Ware (CRW) and imported Ubaid pottery significantly broadened the Neolithic plant dataset. Almost all CRW contained temper composed of wild plants, while plant inclusions in Ubaid pottery appeared mainly in thicker-walled vessels. Chaff of cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare) and einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum), along with additional cereal-derived straw, was identified in the imported pottery clay, providing some of the earliest evidence for domesticated plants' use in Eastern Arabia. Local ceramics, by contrast, contained only wild plant remains, likely originating from herbivore dung or wind-accumulated debris. Together, wild plant impressions in local pottery (Poaceae, Asteraceae, etc.) and Boraginaceae seeds from sediments illuminate the composition of local desert flora and offer new insights into Neolithic environments and ceramic technology in the region.
While oasis settlements emerged during the Bronze Age in Eastern and Northern Arabia, the settlement process in Central Arabia was different. Excavations at al-Yam & amacr;ma-main ancient settlement of the al-Kharj oasis (Riyadh Province, KSA)-suggest that the latter did not emerge before the second half of the first millennium BCE. This late appearance has also been documented at a regional scale in areas of Buraydah, Mar & amacr;t, Layl & agrave;-Aflaj and Qaryat al-F & amacr;w. Archaeozoological and archaeobotanical data carried out at al-Yam & amacr;ma suggest marginal evolutions in husbandry and crops patterns in the al-Kharj oasis despite its long occupation (fifth cent. BCE-early nineteenth cent. CE), showing scant diversification of domesticated species, with a predominance through time of camel/caprine and date palm/cereals. It is not until the Late Islamic period that new species-chicken, cattle, sorghum and cotton-indicate a stronger diversification of the al-Kharj agrarian economy in an era of greater integration into vast trade networks.
The oasis of al-H & amacr;'it, located in H & amacr;'il Province (Saudi Arabia), has long remained understudied despite its strategic position along the eastern Harrat Khaybar caravan route. A 2024 joint Saudi-French archaeological reconnaissance revealed multi-period occupations spanning the Neolithic to the Islamic era, including probable Bronze Age settlements and walled oasis, an Iron Age rock relief and building, traces of a potential Nabataean settlement and an Islamic caravanserai zone. These findings help to redefine the role of al-H & amacr;'it in trans-Arabian exchange networks in the long-term, supporting its identification with ancient Fadak/Padakku. The study underscores the need for further surveys and excavations to clarify settlement dynamics and confirm these significant but preliminary results.
This paper presents an edition and study of five early Abbasid monumental inscriptions from Mecca. Comparing the contents of three of these inscriptions which are from the Masgid al-Har & amacr;m to juridical discussions of pilgrimage rites, it argues that, viewing themselves as custodians of Islam and ultimate arbiters of orthopraxy, Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphs successfully intervened in the regulation of the hagg rituals. The other two inscriptions, which celebrate the foundation in 144/761 of the Mosque of the Allegiance at the purported site where the Medinans paid homage to Muhammad on the eve of his immigration to Medina, supply evidence for caliphal preservation and patronage of prophetic lieux de m & eacute;moire, as well as their role in giving shape to the canon of early Islamic history, in general, and Muhammadan biography, in particular, to advance their own political interests. The paper moreover argues that the construction of the latter in the run-up to the rebellion of al-Nafs al-Zakiyya was intended to bolster Abbasid claims to the caliphate in the face of the challenge presented by their Alid rivals.
