Tumulus Grave SMQ 30 in As-Sabbiya-Mugheira (Northern Kuwait) : A Report on the 2007-2008 Investigations

Andrzej Reiche Tumulus Grave SMQ 30 in As-Sabbiya-Mugheira (Northern Kuwait) : A Report on the 2007-2008 Investigations Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 22, 528-541 2013 Andrzej Reiche kuwait Tumulus Grave SMQ 30 in As-Sabbiya – Mugheira (northern Kuwait). A report on the 2007–2008 investigations Andrzej Reiche National Museum in Warsaw Abstract: Tumulus grave SMQ 30 with its 600 beads and other adornments is, so far, one of the richest graves excavated in the As-Sabbiya region. The ornaments were made mainly of shell, motherof-pearl and soft stones, but two pierced pearls and a few lapis lazuli beads were also present. The burial also evidenced a rare form of burial rites. The dating of the grave to the Bronze Age is based on the presence of a dotted circles motif carved on a mother-of-pearl pendant. Keywords: Bronze Age, burial mound, cairn / stone tumulus, Gulf, beads, shell ornaments, motherof-pearl/nacre, pearl, lapis lazuli, dotted-circles motif Rescue investigations by a joint Kuwaiti– Polish Archaeological Mission (KPAM)1 in the region of As-Sabbiya in northern Kuwait commenced in 2007. During the first two campaigns a cluster of tumuli graves was excavated in the sub-region of Al-Mugheira (Rutkowski 2011a: 10–17; 2013: 479ff., in this volume). A survey of the As-Sabbiya region carried out by a joint Kuwaiti–British Mission between 1998 and 2004 had located 31 different stone features, including tumulus grave SMQ 30 (=SB 52.2 in Carter 2010: 215 and 251, Table I.7). In 2004–2009 a number of these tumuli graves were investigated by Kuwaiti and Gulf Countries Council (GCC) archaeological missions (Ad-Duweish, Al-Mutairi 2006). Exploration of SMQ 30 Tumulus grave SMQ 30 is located in the middle of a group of tumuli graves, standing in line along the western edge of 1 a rocky escarpment overlooking the coastal plain [Fig. 1]. Approximately 7 m from the grave there is a rock-art site designated as Joint venture of the Department of Museums and Antiquities of the State of Kuwait, represented by Mr. Shehab A.H. Shehab, and Mr. Sultan Ad-Duweish, acting as co-director on the Kuwaiti side, and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, represented by Prof. Piotr Bieliński, who is also co-director of the mission. 528 PAM 22, Research 2010 Tumulus Grave SMQ 30 in As-Sabbiya – Mugheira. A report on the 2007–2008 investigations kuwait SMQ 22 (Ad-Duweish, Al-Mutairi 2006: 110, Fig. 11; Carter 2010: 218, designated as SB 52.3), but there was no evidence of a connection between the two features. The grave was investigated during the first two campaigns in 2007–2008, by the author in cooperation with Dorota Bielińska (in 2007) and Marta Momot (in 2008).2 A trench 8 m by 8 m was cleared, cleaning drifted sand and loose stones from the stone mantle covering the grave in order to be able to record it [Fig. 2]. Upon cleaning, it became clear that, like most of the As-Sabbiya graves, SMQ 30 had been robbed in the past. An outline of a robber’s pit penetrating the grave chamber was exposed by the cleaning, and the pit was excavated first. Numerous small fragments of human bones and teeth mixed with a number of shell beads were found in the sand filling the pit. Thereafter, the tumulus was explored by digging opposite quadrants to achieve a continuous section revealing its structure and the technique of construction. A great number of beads and ornaments was found unexpectedly between the stones of the structure. Grave construction The grave was an aboveground stone structure in the shape of a small rounded mound, approximately 6 m in diameter and some 0.70 m high [Fig. 3]. At its center, an oval grave chamber (inner diameter from approximately 1.20 m on the east–west axis to 1.30 m on the north–south one) was constructed over a paving made of flat sandstone slabs. The ring-shaped wall Fig. 1. General location of tumulus grave SMQ 30 in the Al-Mugheira area of As-Sabbiya (Mapping Ł. Rutkowski based on Google Earth and GPD coordinates) 2 For preliminary reports, see Reiche 2008; 2009; Rutkowski 2011b. 529 PAM 22, Research 2010 Andrzej Reiche kuwait of the chamber (from 0.30 m to 0.40 m wide and similarly high) consisted of four to five layers of thin (7 to 10 cm) stone slabs, closely fitted without using mortar. The slabs, made of local sandstone, were of different size and shape, mainly rectangular or triangular; they were set with their longer sides facing the inside of the chamber. A ring of larger slabs (some up to 1 m long, and approximately 0.30–0.50 m wide) encircled the chamber at a distance of about 0.30 m to 0.40 m from its wall [Figs 4, 5], the intervening space being densely packed with smaller sandstone chunks. Finally, the structure was covered with a mantle of loosely laid sandstone chunks and flattish slabs of different sizes, forming a small rounded mound. Similar grave mounds, repeating the main structural elements, that is, an oval grave chamber encircled by a ring of large stones or a stone wall, all covered by a mantle of stones, are numerous in the AsSabbiya region, e.g., SMQ 5 (Ad-Duweish, Al-Mutairi 2006: 23, 91, Fig. 12), S.R.F. (Ad-Duweish, Al-Mutairi 2006: 99, Fig. 20); for more examples see also Rutkowski 2013: 493ff., in this volume. Fill of the grave chamber An approximately 0.30 to 0.40 m wide strip of sandy fill along the western and northern chamber walls was not touched by the robber’s pit. At its bottom, fragments of a human skeleton (almost complete long bones of the arms and legs) Fig. 2. Grave mound SMQ 30 after cleaning of the stone mantle (All photos A. Reiche) 530 PAM 22, Research 2010 Tumulus Grave SMQ 30 in As-Sabbiya – Mugheira. A report on the 2007–2008 investigations kuwait Fig. 3. Tumulus SMQ 30: general plan and E–W and N–S sections; bottom left, plan of burial chamber (Drawing D. Bielińska, M. Momot; digitizing M. Momot, Ł. Rutkowski) 531 PAM 22, Research 2010 Andrzej Reiche kuwait were found in situ, lying on the slabs of the pavement. The position of the skeleton was most probably aligned NE–SW, the body having been laid on the left side with bent legs, the head pointing south and the face turned to the west. The arms were bent at the elbows and the hands held to the face. Anthropological analysis of all skeletal remains found in the grave chamber determined the presence of burials of at least two adult individuals, one of them a female (Sołtysiak 2009: 104). Beads and adornments found in the undisturbed part of the fill were scattered randomly in the sand over the skeletal remains and beyond. Scatters of different beads were found in “pockets” between stones of the walls of the chamber. A large mother-ofpearl pendant with engraved decoration Fig. 4. Ring-shaped wall of the grave chamber encircled by another ring of large stones, after removal of the stone covering Fig. 5. Partly uncovered southwestern quarter of grave SMQ 30 532 PAM 22, (...truncated)