Blogs & Podcasts

Bioarchaeologists study ancient skeletons to understand human biology in the past. Humans are greatly affected by their environment, including their culture, and studying human health in the past can reveal a great deal of information about ancient diseases, foodways, cultural systems, and inequalities. Learning about past responses to the environment can provide a road map for understanding what we see happening today as we navigate pandemics, health issues, and changes to our own cultural systems.

Ras Al Khaimah has a rich archaeological past, with several areas on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites (including the cultural landscape of Dhayah, the pearl trading town of Jazirat Al-Hamra, the trading town of Julfar, and Shimal). The Department of Antiquities and Museums has overseen important archaeological excavations at these sites and others. Through a research grant awarded by the Al Qasimi Foundation, I have been fortunate to work with human skeletal remains from tombs in the Shimal area that date to the Umm an-Nar (2700–2000 BCE)  and Wadi Suq (2000–1600 BCE) periods. Significant cultural change occurred between the two periods, which some believe was  caused by a major shift in climate: the entire peninsula became warmer and drier around 2200 BCE.

In the Umm an-Nar period, people were buried in large, circular above-ground tombs that held over 400 individuals. When someone passed away, individuals that had died before them were pushed to the side, their bones mixing with others’ skeletons (a process bioarchaeologists call commingling), in order to make room for the newly deceased. This process emphasized community over the individual. By the Wadi Suq period, similar practices of commingling occurred, but on a much smaller scale. Tombs contained no more than 40 people (often fewer than 20) and transitioned from round to more ovoid forms, reflecting a shift toward smaller, elongated burial structures.

The Umm an-Nar Period

I have been lucky to work on a project with my colleague, Dr. Lesley Gregoricka from the University of South Alabama, and many undergraduate students, thanks to funding from the US National Science Foundation. Through our work in both Ras Al Khaimah and the US, we learned a lot about the lives of those buried in the Umm an-Nar tombs at Shimal.

The community buried over 400 individuals in these large tombs. We know this because we have calculated the minimum number of individuals (MNI) for each tomb by identifying a particular part of the skeleton that preserves well. At Shimal, we looked for the petrous part of the temporal bone (the dense bone surrounding the inner ear), which preserved better within the tombs at Shimal than any other part of the skeleton. We counted how many we found from the right and the left sides of the body. Then, using the largest number from only one side of the body, we can estimate that at least that many people were buried in the tombs.

People of all ages (and sexes) were interred in the Umm an-Nar tombs at Shimal, from unborn children to people well into their 70s and 80s, and maybe even older. Evidence shows that they used their arms and legs to engage in laborious activities, such as farming, and constructing monuments and tombs. For example, we observed entheseal changes in the arms (or alterations on the bone where muscle attaches), showing use of the biceps muscle, and some osteoarthritis in knees.

The Wadi Suq Period

Part of my research this past spring was to begin working with skeletons excavated from tombs at Shimal dating to the Wadi Suq period. We are interested in knowing whether cultural shifts seen in the archaeological record (such as changes in tomb design) are also reflected in health and biological changes. Wadi Suq tombs, while still impressively constructed, were smaller than Umm an-Nar tombs at Shimal. I examined skeletons from tombs SH 1, SH 95, SH 99, SH 103, and SH 602. The MNI from these tombs ranges from just two individuals up to 33 buried. While the actual number of people buried in the tomb is likely somewhat greater than this minimum number, this is significantly less than the 400+ buried with the Umm an-Nar tombs.

Table 1: Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) in the Tombs studied.

Despite being smaller in number, the Wadi Suq tombs still held individuals of all ages and sexes–from the very young to the very old. It does not seem that the construction of smaller tombs was to differentiate people by age or sex. Most of the tombs seem to have relatively similar patterns of dental disease (subject of an upcoming publication; Figure 1). However, the skeletons in one tomb, SH 602, seem to differ from other skeletons in a number of ways. They show higher rates of dental disease than all of the other tombs examined (which are all similar in disease rate). Additionally, indicators of biological stress and trauma during the Wadi Suq period are only seen in SH 602. There are several factors that could contribute to this difference. It is possible that a unique group of people, distinguished somehow culturally or in status from others, could be buried in SH 602. It is also possible that our inability to estimate how old someone was with the trauma or pathology is prohibiting us from seeing more older individuals in SH 602.

Figure 1: Percentage of teeth lost before death from each tomb analyzed.

All of this highlights the importance of bioarchaeology in understanding Ras Al Khaimah’s past. We are hopeful that continued examination of skeletons from these and other tombs at Shimal will deepen our understanding of life during the Umm an-Nar and Wadi Suq periods. To build on this knowledge, future excavations in archaeological cemeteries should require the presence of bioarchaeologists. The Ras Al Khaimah Department of Antiquities and Museums can play a vital role by ensuring that excavation permits include bioarchaeologists, that skeletal contexts are thoroughly photo-documented and recorded in detailed field notes, and that on-site conservation protocols are implemented. Documenting skeletons before their removal preserves valuable contextual information that might otherwise be lost. Ultimately, studying how cultural and environmental change shaped human biology not only enriches our understanding of the past but also offers perspective on our shared future as we navigate similar transformations today.