Reeler Al-Shai kh and Potts 2009

Proceedings

of the

seminar for arabian studies

Volume 39

2009

Papers from the forty-second meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies

held in London, 24-26 July 2008

seminar for arabian studies

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Steering Committee of the Seminar and Editorial Committee of the ProceedingsDr. R. Carter (Chairman)Prof. A. AvanziniDr. M. BeechDr. N. DurraniDr. R. EichmannProf. C. HolesDr. R.G. HoylandDr. D. Kennet Mr. M.C.A. MacdonaldDr. A. MacMahon (Secretary)Prof. K. Al-MuaikelDr. V. PorterProf. D. PottsProf. C. RobinDr. St.J. SimpsonMrs. J. Starkey (Editor)Mr. A. Thompson (Treasurer)Prof. J. WatsonDr. L. Weeks

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An historical cartographic study of the Yabrīn oasis, Saudi Arabia

c.n. reeler, n.Y. al-shaikh & d.t. Potts

SummaryOn the edge of the Empty Quarter (RubΚ al-Khālī) of Saudi Arabia lies the oasis of Yabrīn, an incredibly rich archaeological landscape. The hills to the north, south-east, and west are covered in thousands of burial mounds of many different forms and sizes. There is evidence in several places close to a sabkha (salt flat) and its associated wells, of Stone Age sites and other settlements dating back thousands of years. In this paper, the information about Yabrīn contained in fifteen maps of Arabia, dating from 1778 to 1924, is analysed and assessed for accuracy in comparison with current knowledge. The information recorded in these maps is then used to suggest the relative importance of Yabrīn within Arabian caravan routes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in particular. The implications for Yabrīn’s historic importance in these networks of trade and pilgrimage are then examined.

Keywords: Yabrīn, archaeology, maps, trade/hajj routes, River Aftan

Introduction

The oasis of Yabrīn lies on the northern edge of the Empty Quarter (al-RubΚ al-Khālī) of Saudi Arabia. There are two main salt flats (sibākh, sg. sabkhah), Sabkhat Bayyinah and Sabkhat Muhallikah, where water used to be present very close to the surface (Philby 1933; Thesiger 1964). In recent years, the level of the underlying aquifer has dropped due to the pumping-out of water for farming purposes and the fact that many wells in the area are dry. The former relative abundance of water meant that Yabrīn was a focus of human settlement for millennia. There are Stone Age sites in the area. Thousands of burial mounds (Fig. 1), some dating back to at least the second millennium BC, can be found on the hills surrounding Yabrīn (Bibby 1973). Around the salt flats there are many wells, some of which may be very old (1973), and evidence of several settlements, dating back to the Bronze Age (Piesinger 1983). Ruins of late Islamic settlements and buildings indicate that the area was inhabited in the recent past.

Yabrīn is marked on several maps from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries in the private collection of H.H. Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi, ruler of Sharjah in the UAE. These maps have been published in two volumes, making them generally available for research. While many of the names marked on early

maps of Arabia are difficult to interpret and, before the twentieth century, none of the mapmakers had actually been to Yabrīn, few even to Arabia, the occurrence of recognizable names indicates some knowledge of these actual areas (d’Anville 1764; Niebuhr 1792; Slot 1991). In this paper we examine the way in which Yabrīn is marked on these maps, in order to assess its historical significance and relate this to its archaeological importance.

Archaeological evidence from Yabrīn

In 1968 the archaeologists from the Museum of Moesgård, working in Bahrain, obtained permission to visit Saudi Arabia at the invitation of employees of the oil company Aramco, who had found evidence of rich archaeological sites in the Eastern Province and wanted an expert interpretation of their findings. A single sherd of Ubaid pottery was reported to have been found at Yabrīn (Burkholder 1984; Potts 1990). The Moesgård archaeologists, led by Geoffrey Bibby, visited several important sites, including Yabrīn. They recorded the main areas of archaeological interest at Yabrīn: burial mounds on Jabal Jawāmir al-Sharqī in the north, Barq al-Samar in the south-east, and the Сummān Yabrīn in the west; large mounds at al-Кuwayrif; cist graves, wells, and settlement sites around the sabkha and a site with wasm (inscriptions showing tribal symbols) at Jabal al-MaΉrūq.

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 39 (2009): 351–358

figure 1. Burial mounds at Jabal Jawāmir al-Sharqī, Yabrīn, Saudi Arabia.

Holger Kapel investigated several Stone Age sites. Bibby (1973) and the other archaeologists made a couple of small excavations, including one of a burial mound in the Сummān Yabrīn, where they found a second-millennium BC bronze spearhead.

In 1976 Piesinger (1983) excavated a settlement site in Yabrīn, called Umm al-NuΒī, which she dated to the early fourth to late third millennium BC. Her dating of the site was based on pottery forms, some of which she said were of Mesopotamian Early Dynasty I type. She also claimed to have some Ubaid material from the site (1983).

Piesinger recorded a “Hellenistic” fort a short distance from Umm al-NuΒī (1983). It is not clear why she assigned this label to this structure, although a Hellenistic jar is reported to have been found in Yabrīn (Khalifa et al. 2001), so there might have been occupation in Yabrīn during this period.

In 1976, the area of Yabrīn was selected as an area of focus for the first phase of the Comprehensive Archaeological Survey Program in Saudi Arabia (Adams et al. 1977). The surveyors found evidence of occupation right through from Late Pleistocene stone tool types (possibly Acheulean), to Late Islamic material. The large numbers of burial mounds were noted: about 6600 were counted by the survey (1977: 30).

The then Deputy Ministry of Antiquities and Museums

(now the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities), conducted an archaeological survey in Yabrīn in 1993 (Khalifa et al. 2001). It recorded numerous burial mounds, some wells, pre-Islamic settlement sites, and many Islamic sites.

Yabrīn was clearly a focal point of much activity during the prehistoric period. There are also several Islamic period settlements. However, by the 1950s Yabrīn was abandoned and was an area known for malaria (al-Said 2006). We can gain some insight into how recent the decline in Yabrīn’s importance was by analysing some of the old maps of Arabia.

The maps in the al-Qasimi collection

The following maps in the al-Qasimi collection show Yabrīn:

1) 1794. Arabia according to its Modern Divisions. S. Dunn (al-Qasimi 1999: 240).

2) 1807. Carte de l’Arabie. P.G. Chanlaire/E. Mentelle (1999: 252).

3) 1820–1830. Arabia, Egypt, Abyssinia etc. (1999: 260).

4) 1822. Carte Générale de la Turquie d’Asie, de la Perse, de l’Arabie, du Caboul et du Turkestan Indépendant. A. Parue (sic), Paris (1999: 263).

5) June 1822. Carte Générale de la Turquie d’Asie,

C.N. Reeler, N.Y. Al-Shaikh & D.T. Potts352

de la Perse, de l’Arabie, du Caboul et d’une Partie de la Tartarie. Adrien Brue (1999: 264).

(Maps 4 and 5 are identical and are analysed as one map below.)

6) 1835. Arabia und das Nil-Land. Gotha: Justus Perthes (1999: 280).

7) 1842. Map of the Countries between England and India to shew the Over-land and Sea-Routes to the East. James Wyld (1812–1887), London (1999: 287).

8) 1850. Arabia with adjacent Countries of Egypt & Nubia. Daniel Lizars, Edinburgh: John Hamilton (1999: 295).

9) c. 1850. Kalifat, Oestliche Haelfte [Eastern Part of the Caliphate]. K. Von Spruner, Gotha (1999: 296).

10) 1851. Arabia. John Tallis (fl. 1838–1851), London (1999: 300).

11) c. 1853. Arabia. Peter Jackson (1999: 304).12) 1858. Arabia. Edward Weller, London (1999:

306).13) c. 1860. Vorder-Asien Oder Iran, Turan, Arabien

Kleinasien… A. Graf, Weimar: Geographisches Institut (1999: 308).14) c. 1860 Untitled [Arabian Peninsula]. James Wyld, London (1999: 309).15) c. 1880. Arabia, the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Edward Weller (al-Qasimi 1996: 278).

16) 1923–1924. Routes between ΚOqair and Jabrin Oasis in Eastern Nejd. Major R.E. Cheesman OBE. London: Royal Geographical Society (1996: 285).

17) 1930–1931. Route traverse across the RubΚ Al Khali from Dhufar to Doha. Bertram Thomas, London: Royal Geographical Society (1996: 286).

The two twentieth-century maps, those of Cheesman and Thomas, need to be assessed differently from the rest. Cheesman visited Yabrīn and conducted a proper systematic survey of the area (al-Qasimi 1996; Philby 1933; Thesiger 1964). His map is therefore fairly accurate. Thomas (1932) used Cheesman’s map of Yabrīn for his own map showing his route across al-RubΚ al-Khālī. Thomas was accompanied on this trip by members of the al-Murrah tribe, for whom Yabrīn was an important part of their territory. Thomas therefore included it on his map, even though he did not visit it himself.

On the other maps, from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Yabrīn is shown in two main ways, either as a settlement or town (as represented by a dot or sometimes two dots, Fig. 2) or as a wadi, usually drawn running east–west (Fig. 3). On nine of the maps Yabrīn is shown as a settlement (or two), named “Iabrin” (al-Qasimi 1999: 240, 252), “Yabrin” (1999: 306), or “Jabrin” (1999:

287) and usually accompanied by the description “Salt Land” (1999: 287) or “Salt Earth” (1999: 304), probably referring to the sabkha. On the remaining five maps Yabrīn is shown as an east–west wadi, often at the intersection of two caravan routes — one running north–south from al-Kharj to Yemen and one running east–west from Oman to Mecca (see Fig. 3). It is called “Wadi Djebrin” (1999: 295), “Dschebrin” (1999: 296), “Wadi Yabrin” (1999: 306), or “Wadi Jabrin” (1999: 308).

Today Yabrīn is a small town on the edge of the salt flat, Sabkhat Bayyinah. There are hills to the west, south-east, and north. In the west they form a range called the Сummān Yabrīn, and in the south-east, Barq al-Samar. To the north, the hills are more isolated and scattered. There is no distinct wadi running east–west. However, the portrayal of Yabrīn as a wadi probably refers to its role in the caravan routes, which generally travelled along wadi beds.

From this information, we conclude that the area of Yabrīn was still a relatively well-known place in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was described as a known place to European travellers on the coast or even in Oman and other places in the Gulf (Niebuhr 1792). It is described with a relatively accurate name and with the accompanying identifier “salt land”, leaving us in no doubt that this was the place we know as Yabrīn today. It is shown as being at the crossing point of two caravan routes: the north–south one was probably an old trade route between Yemen and al-Kharj, formerly al-Yamāmah, an important district with strong political power in central Arabia (al-Rashid 1999).

The east–west caravan route was a hajj route between Oman and Mecca. This was described as running through Yabrīn by al-Hamadānī in the tenth century AD (Khalifa et al. 2001). However, this route was almost certainly a trade route during the pre-Islamic period as well, as were many caravan routes that later became hajj routes. As Yabrīn contains copper and bronze artefacts from the second and third millennia BC (Bibby 1973; Piesinger 1983) and the copper probably came from Oman, it is possible that the route between Yabrīn and Oman may be of great antiquity.

The large concentration of burial mounds at Yabrīn and their morphology suggest links with those found at Abqayq, Dhahran, and on the island of Bahrain. The burial mounds in the latter places have been dated to the third millennium BC and later.

Furthermore, if there is Hellenistic period material at Yabrīn, then it is possible that there were links at that time between Yabrīn and other areas with Hellenistic material

An historical cartographic study of the Yabrīn oasis, Saudi Arabia 353

The river Aftan

On almost all of these maps discussed above, Yabrīn is marked as some distance south of the river “Aftan”. Rivers have not flowed consistently in Saudi Arabia for millennia. On some maps it is marked as “Wadi Aftan”. It is probable that the wadi shown as “Aftan” on these maps

throughout the Arabian peninsula, especially other sites in Saudi Arabia, such as the al-AΉsāΜ oasis (e.g. Kanzān), Thāj, Tārūt Island, al-Kharj, and Qaryat al-Fāw.

From this we can conclude that Yabrīn was a well-known and significant area, probably active in long-distance trade networks from at least the third millennium BC to the very recent historic past.

figure 2. June 1822. Carte Générale de la Turquie d’Asie, de la Perse, de l’Arabie, du Caboul et d’une Partie de la Tartarie. Adrien Brue.


is Wādī al-SahbāΜ (Fig. 4). The Aftan is shown on the maps as being formed by three branches originating south of Riyadh. Three wadis flow into Wādī al-SahbāΜ in that general area: they are Wādī Дanīfah, Wādī Nisāό, and Wādī al-Дarīq. In rare periods of heavy rain, water floods down these wadis until it drains into the sands at Sabkhat MuΓī. They probably formed a river drainage system about two million years ago, during the Pliocene to the early Pleistocene, when the climate was wetter (al-Shaikh 2004). It is possible that Wādī al-SahbāΜ formed a caravan route to al-Kharj and thus was marked as a “river” (i.e. as

a communication route) on these early maps.

Conclusion

Yabrīn was clearly an important stopping place on the caravan and trading routes in historic and prehistoric Arabia. It may have been the crossing point for a north–south caravan route running between al-Yamāmah and Yemen and an east–west caravan route running between Mecca and Oman. The route to Oman may have been established as early as the fourth or third millennium BC,

figure 3. c. 1860. Vorder-Asien Oder Iran, Turan, Arabien Kleinasien… A. Graf, Weimar: Geographisches Institut.


Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the assistance and support of the following people: H.H. Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi; the Centre for Gulf Studies in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where the al-Qasimi collection of maps is housed; and Dr D. Al-Talhi, Director General of Survey and Research, Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

figure 4. The presumed course of the river Aftan on Google Earth.

when copper and possibly other items, such as steatite traded from Oman, reached this area and beyond. It is possible that trade in aromatics from the south to “Gerrha” during the Hellenistic period passed through Yabrīn along trade routes running from Dhofar or Yemen (ДaΡramawt). The number and significance of archaeological sites in the area today suggest that the historical importance of the oasis of Yabrīn can be easily extended into the prehistoric period.

References

Adams R.M., Parr P.J., Ibrahim M. & al-Mughannum A.S. 1977. Saudi Arabian Archaeological Reconnaissance 1976. Atlal 1: 21–40.


Anville B. d’ 1764. Recherches géographiques sur le Golfe persique, et sur les bouches de l’Euphrate et du Tigre. Mémoires

de Littérature, tirés des registres de l’Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 30: 132–197.Bibby T.G. 1973. Preliminary Survey in East Arabia 1968. Copenhagen: Jutland Archaeological Society Publications.Burkholder G. 1984. An Arabian Collection: Artifacts from the Eastern Province. Boulder City, NY: GB Publications.Khalifa K.A., al-Hawaiji S., al-Daniawi N., al-Eisa A., al-Helwa S., al-Radiyan S. & al-Shairi A. 2001. Preliminary Report on the Survey and Documentation of Archaeological Sites (Yabrin Oasis) 1414 H.

Atlal 16: 91–95.Niebuhr C. 1792. Travels Through Arabia and Other Countries in the East. (2 volumes). Edinburgh: R. Morison. Philby H.S.J. 1933. The Empty Quarter. London: Constable.Piesinger C. 1983. Legacy of Dilmun: The Roots of Ancient Maritime Trade in Eastern Coastal Arabia in the 4th/3rd

Millennium BC. PhD thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison. [Unpublished].Potts D.T. 1990. The Arabian Gulf in Antiquity. i. Oxford: Clarendon Press.al-Qasimi, (Sheikh Sultan) bin M. 1996. The Gulf in Historic Maps 1478–1931. [United Arab Emirates]: Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi. 1999. The Gulf in Historic Maps 1478–1861. (Second edition). [United Arab Emirates]: Sultan bin Muhammad

al-Qasimi. al-Rashid S.A. 1999. An Introduction to Saudi Arabian Antiquities. Riyadh: Ministry of Education.al-Said A.A. 2006. The Desert Team, the Arabian Peninsula, the Land, the Heritage, Research, Travel Accounts and

Photos. My Trip to Yabrin, viewed 7 June 2008. http://alsahra.org/?cat=20al-Shaikh N.Y. 2004. The Eastern Province in Prehistoric Times. Al-Wāha 33: 6–21. [In Arabic].Slot B.J. 1991. The Origins of Kuwait. Leiden: Brill.Thesiger W. 1964. Arabian Sands. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Thomas B. 1932. Arabia Felix. Across the Empty Quarter of Arabia. London: Jonathan Cape.

Authors’ addressesClaire N. Reeler, PO Box 250305, Riyadh, 11391, Saudi Arabia.e-mail [email protected]

Nabiel Y. al-Shaikh, Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities, Dammam Regional Museum, Saudi Arabia, PO Box 40227, Hamad Town, Bahrain.e-mail [email protected]

Prof. Daniel T. Potts, Dept of Archaeology, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.e-mail [email protected]


Reeler Al-Shai kh and Potts 2009

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