Yule HasatBaniSal2001

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TheHasatBaniSaltintheal-ZahirahProvinceoftheSultanateofOman

Paul Yule

TheHasatBaniSaltisSouth-eastern Arabia’slargestandmostimportantrockartmon-

ument( ).OftenreferredtoasColeman’sRock,itisnamedafterthegeologistRobertColeman,whobywordofmouthmadeitknowninthe1970s.Mostrockimag-esinOmanareofsmalldimensionsandarepecked,sometimesscratched,intothestone.ManyintheSouthProvinceZufar,whatevertheirage,arepainted.ButtheHasatBaniSaltistheonlyoneinallofSouth-eastern Arabiathatissculptedinlowrelief.

Moreover,pre-IslamicartmonumentsinOmanarerareindeedandseldomdealtwithseriously.R.Jäckli,C.Clark,andK.PrestoninvestigatedtherockartoftheSultanate’scentralareainthemid1970s.Locatednearal-Hamra,theHasatBaniSaltisan“exotic”over6minheight.Exoticsarelargefragmentsoferodedmetamorphosedmarblewhichcontrastwiththesurroundingmaficrock. TheHasatBaniSaltliesinthedeepestpart( wadi)ofthe Wadial-AbribetweenGhumarandBiladSait( ).Situatedclosetotheeasternwall,therockisprominentlyvisibleinthewadi.Itsreliefshavebeenadmiredbymanyvisitors,bothlocalandfromabroad. TheHasatBaniSaltislocated

inwhatisconsideredtobethecountry’smajorareaforrockart.ClarkandPreston publishedthefirstuseablephotosofpartofthereliefs,buthadlittletogoonfortherelativeandabsolutechronology,akeyquestiontobediscussedbrieflybelow.Inas-

muchasover20yearshaselapsedsincefirstpublication,itseemsappropriatetorecon-siderthistopic.

OvertheyearsothershavestudiedtheHasatBaniSaltreliefs.Inthemid1980s,anItalianteammadeasiliconimpressionofthereliefsonthesouth-south-westsideand

preparedadetaileddrawing.Some,includingtheauthor,havevisitedthestoneinor-dertodeterminethemostfavourabletimeofdayforviewingandphotographing.Morninglightcastsaslightlymorerakinglightonthereliefsofthe“south”facethanwesterneveninglight.Giventheimportanceoftheserarereliefsandthecumulativeeffectsofvandalism,werecordedtheminsomedetailandassignednumberstothe

ThisnoteisdedicatedtoascholarofinternationalstandingwhosebroadinterestsrangefromtheHim-

alayaover Arabia,to TurkeyandthenEurope.OvertheyearsinHeidelbergasaNearEasternarchaeologist,heactivelyhassupportedtheexcavationandrockartstudiesofdistantplacesoutsidetheusual

boundsofthisfield.

Introduction

sail

MythanksgotoourcolleaguesintheDepartmentof Antiquitieswhohaveenabledmywork overtheyears. Themainrecordingtookplacein1997withthehelpofagrantfromtheFritz ThyssenFoundationandsupportfrom W.M.Domke.ExceptforFig.5(G. Weisgerber),thephotosaretheauth-or’s.PeterPahlenmeasuredtheHasatBaniSaltwithaninfraredtachymeter.JosephEiwangerandMartinBemmannmadeparticularsuggestionsinthetext.Diacriticsnotpossibleinthisformat.Pub-lished:LuxOrientis Archäologiezwischen AsienundEuropa,FestschriftfürHaraldHauptmannzum65.Geburtstag,R.M.Boehmer/J.Maran(eds.),Rahden:Leidorf2001,pp.443-450.ISSN1433-4194.

C.Clark1975,113no.20onthemap“Coleman’srockatHasatbinSalt”pl.1.K.Preston1976,30namesitthe“Jebelal-Abri“. Thissiteisnotvisibleonhismaponp.18-19.

InDhofarnumeroussiteshavebeenidentifiedbythearchaeologist Alib. Ahmedb. Alib.Mahashal-Shaheri.Seehisbookof1994.

OralinformationfromM. Tosi.

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

Fig.1

Fig.2



figures.Inall,sevenmen,women,andachildarerecognizeable. Thecoarsegrey-greenishmetamorphicmarbleconglomerateweathersalongthecleavagesbetweentheindividualrockinclusions.Owingtotheparticularchemicalcompositionoftherock

andsurfaceerosion,unlikesomanystonesinOman,itisnotdark-enedbyadesertvarnish. Thereliefsappeartobecomplete,theobviousexceptionbeingtherightarmofthemanno.4andthelegsofthewomanno.2,whichhaveweatheredaway.Notracesofcolouringarepreserved.Figureno.4istheonlyfigurewhichshowsclear damagesinceitwasfirstpublishedin1976.Sincethemid1980s,theHasatBaniSaltreliefsonthe“south”facehavebeendefacedpartiallybygraffitiandbystonethrow-ing.Onthe“north”face,Figurenos.6and7arenearlyimpossibletosee. Theirpoorer

preservationowesperhapstothemorefriablecompositionofthispartofthestone.Onthewhole,thedamagetothestoneanditsreliefsarisesfromtheexposuretorain,run-ningwater,andalternatingdailyextremesintemperature.

Themaingroupoffiguresarelocatedontheflattishsouth-south-westfaceoftherock ). Thelowestedgeofthereliefstandsover2mabovethepresentfloor

ofthewadiInthisfloodarea,thegravelcouldeasilyhaveerodedorbeendepositedand/orbothoverthecenturies. Thus,whetherthesculptorsstoodonthegroundoronscaffoldingisamootquestion. Thenorth-north-westface( )showsthreefigures

bestviewedinPreston’splate4onpage31ofhisaforementionedarticle.Beginningwiththe“south”face,thefollowingfiguresarevisible:

Thislargecentralmalefigure(inall2.5mhigh)dominatesthefiguralgroup.Itsoutlinecarvingisdeep. Thetorsoandfacearedepictedfrontallywiththe

DescriptionoftheReliefs

.

Figureno.1.

(Figs.3and4

Fig.5

2

Fig.1Photoofthemainreliefgrouping.



lips,nose,andeyelidsemphasized. Thetorso,arms,andheadaremoreplasticallyrenderedthanthelowerpartofthefigure. Thearmsareclumsilyconnectedtoplastical-lyemphasizedshoulders.Simplehandsandarmslackanyverisimilitudetonature.Thelegsareshortandtheclub-likefeetfacetothefigure’sleft. A pointedunidentifi-ableobject,probablyaweapon,projectsfrombothsidesofthefigure’sraisedrighthand. Thefigurewearsapatternedbeltwhichbindsuphiskiltinafold.Hisrightlegispatternedwithfivecircles,perhapsfromtrousers.

Figureno.2.

Figureno.3.

Figureno.4.

Figureno.5.

Thisfrontaldepictionofawoman(1.25mpreservedheight)islocatedtomanno.1'simmediateright.Clearlyindicatedarebreasts,arms,lefthand,andaskirt. Theshouldersareformedbyastraighthorizontalline.Hairorheadgeararein-dicatedsimplyonbothsidesoftheface. Thecarvingisnotnearlyasdeepasthatof manno.1.Lowerextremitiesarenotvisible.

Standingsmallchildwiththefeettogether,frontallydepicted(0.8mheight). Theleftarmhangsandtherightoneisraised. Thenavelisplasticallyem-

phasized. Thecarvingissimilarinitssoftvolumetothatofmanno.1.

Positionedatthesamebaseheightasthemanno.1,thisfiguremeasuresc.1.55minheight.Itisthepoorestpreservedofthoseinthe“south”groupandthemostdifficulttophotograph. Visiblearetheface,torso,andlegs. Theleftarmand

handarevisible.Inapublishedphoto,bothsidesoftheupperrightarmarevisible. Amalefigurewasprobablyintended. Tracesofaskirtarevisibleonthefigure’srightside.Butthefigure’sleftsideisobscuredbytheeffectsoferosionandbythespaltingofthestone.Possiblefragmentsofabasearepreserveduponwhichthefigurestands.

Threefurtherindividualsarehardlyrecognizeableonthenorth-north-westsideofthestone. Thestandingfigure’sfaceisinitsproportionsandfrontalitysimi-lartothoseofmanno.1renderedonthe“south”sideofthestone. Thefiguremeas-.

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C.Clark1975,116pl.1.5

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Fig.2 TheareaaroundtheHasatBaniSalt(after sheetNF40-03).

Fig-PlanandprofileofColeman’sRock (P.Pahlen).



ures1.5m(preservedheight)andtheshouldersare66cmwide.ItispoorlypreservedTherightarmisinorganicallyrenderedandiscomposedoftwoverticalstripswhichdefineeachsideofthearm. A largerighthandisscarcelyvisible. Thetreatmentofthelowerextremitiesresemblesthatofthefemaleno.2.

Lessthanametertotheleftvisiblearetheface,hairdoaswellastracesofthetorsoandtheleftarmof Stillfurthertotheleft,thethirdandpoorestpreservedfigureofthetwogroups( )hasthesamehairdoasdoFigurenos.2and6.Theleftarmandpossibletracesoftheleftbreastarevisible.Onthestrengthofthesharedhairdo,womenseemtobedepicted.

CommonarchetypalthemesofrockartinOman,includingmountedriderswithtri-dentsandthosepertainingtohuntingmagic,arepresentinthewadi. Withthepossibleexceptionofmanno.1,whichcanbecomparedtodepictionsaroundtheMediterran-eanofasmitingfigurewichwieldsaweaponorthunderbolt pharaohs,

Levantinemetallicfigurines,Zeus,JupitorDolichenus),thefiguresdepictedhavenoobvioussupernaturalattributes.

Figureno.6. Figureno.7

SubjectMatter

(e.g. dieuau

l’ingot,6

H.Müller-Karpe1980,pl.188B1(pharaoh);pl.188B1(Levantinedeitybrandishingaweapon

withonearm,Megiddo);pl.149B2&3(Ra sShamra);pl.153.3-5,8-9.M.Hörig/E.Schwertheim

1987,no.279pl.51;no.587pl.128.Naturally,nodirecthistoricconnectionwiththefiguresunder discussioncanbedetermined.

(

6

4

Fig.4 Themaingroupofreliefs(G.Endlich).



Theidentificationofpurported“negroid”and“caucasoid”physiognomy,whichrestsontheprominentlipsoftheFigurenos.1to4,isnotparticularlyconvincing,giventhearbitraryconventionswhichthesculptorsworkedoutforotheranatomicaland

physiognomaticfeatures.

Sharedelementsofstyleofthereliefsincludeaconsistenttreatmentoftheheadsandfacescombinedwithfrontaldepiction,thesilhouettecarving,aswellasthelargesizeoftheFigurenos.1,3-5.Figurenos.2,6,and7formasecondgroupinwhichthe

armsappearasflatsolidbodies,asopposedtothedoubleoutlinescharacteristicoftheothergroup.Notsurprisingly,thediscontentofscholarsinrecentyearswithregardto

styleasananalyticaltoolforthestudyofrockart,combinedwiththesimplestyleof thereliefs,resultinthepresentnoteinalargelynon-stylisticapproachtothereliefs.

Toanswerthequestionoftheiconologyofthestonereliefs,onemayfirstturntothecompositionofthe“south”faceforahint. Themaleno.1,crowdsthecentralandotherwisedominantwomanno.2toitsimmediateright.Maleno.1isalsofarlarger thanwomanno.2andiscutinadifferentrelieftechnique(seeabove). Whilethecen-tralfiguralpairstandatthesameapproximateheight,manno.4ispositionedsome-

whatlower. Thechild,no.3,isposedabovethegroundlevelusedbytheothers.Onthe“north”face,thecompositionisnearlyrandom,andthefiguresdonotinteractwitheachother. Themaleno.5ispositionedslightlyhigherthanthefemale(no.7).Theheadofthefemale(no.6)betweenthemislocatednearly1mbelowthoseoftheothertwo.

Within300mtothewestoftheHasatBaniSaltsomeoftheSouth-eastern Arabia’s

Style

Composition

TheContext

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8

K.Preston1976,21.

O.Soffer/M.Conkey1997,1-16.

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8

5

Fig.5Detailofthesouth-south-westgroup.



mostinterestingandattractiverockartimagesaretobefound.Butthesearerenderedinotherentirelydifferentstyles,techniques,andvaryintheirsubjectmatteraswell.Thereisnoreasontodateallofthediverseimagesintheimmediateareatooneand

thesameperiod. ThenearestsettlementassociatedwiththeHasatBaniSaltreliefsliessome1000mnorthinthelowlyingoasisatGhumar.Forgeologicalreasons,con-ditionshaveenabledsettlementhereforcenturies. Thislocalancientpopulationcreat-edand/oratleastknewofthereliefs.

Intheirstyleandfiguralproportions,thefiguresarenearlyunique. Theonlyotherpar-

allelknowntothewriterislocatedintheimmediatevicinity ,animage2minheight,scratchedintooneoftheexoticsnearBiladSait. AsopposedtotheanthropomorphicreliefsoftheHasatBaniSalt,thisoneisscratchedinasimplemannerintotherock.Thearmsarelongandstraight,thelegsareshort. Thegarmentissimilartothatof manno.1.

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10

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C.Clark1975,117pl.4.

Somehavebeendatedtothe2ndmillenniumB.C.E.bymeansofcomparisonswiththepot-terydecorationofthe WadiSuqPeriod.

C.Clark1975,no.19,118pl.5.

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10

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Fig.7Fotoofmaleno.5.Fig.6 Thelargestreliefonthenorthside(Figure

no.5),drawnfromaFototakenobliquely(I.Steuer).



Thecompositionofthefiguresandthetechniqueofcarvingonthe“south”facesug-geststwophasesofcarving. Thefemaleno.2ismoreshallowlycarvedthantheother figures. Asmentionedabove,thelargemaleno.1crowdsitanddoesnotappeartobe-

longtotheoriginalcomposition.Inaddition,Figurenos.1,3,and4formagroupwiththecircularshapeofthefaceandintheirgeneralproportionsascommonsharedfeat-ures. Thesepostdatethewomanno.2.Manno.4isdifficulttorelatetotheothersstyl-istically,butismoresimilarinstyleandcarvingtechniquetothelaterfiguresthantowomanno.2.Possiblymanno.1iscarvedoverthecompanionofthewoman,no.2,effacingit.Itseemsunlikelythatawomanwouldbecarvedaloneasymmetricallyasthemainfigure.Onthe“north”facemanno.5alsoismoredeeplycarvedthanarethewomennos.6and7. Thehairdoofthelatterresemblethatofthefemaleno.2.Sum-mingup,thefirstphaseincludestheFigurenos.2,6,and7. Theremainingimages

belongtothesecondphase. Theamountoftimelyingbetweenthetwocannotbe judged.

Giventheconstantweatheringofthesurface,extremestoneagedatingsareimplausi- ble. Thelackofabaselineonbothfacesoftherockistypicalofprehistoricrockart,andlesssothatoflaterperiods. Alsopotentiallyimportantforthedatingofthereliefsisthelivelystyleofthefiguresandtheircomposition.Obviouslythedepictionofwo-men’sbreasts(femaleno.2andprobablyno.7)isinacceptibletotheprinciplesofIs-lam. ThespreadofIslamprovidesarough forthefigures,butnotaveryexactonebecausethisreligiondidnottakeholdalloverthecountryatjustone

pointintimeafterthearrivaloftheambassadorfromtheProphetin628C.E.. Anti-

quariandetailsdonotdatethefigures,whichasmentioned,havenocloserelativesineitherstyle,techniqueoriconographyinadjacentareas.DuringtheParthianandSas-anianperiodsanimportantregionforrockartliesinnearbysouth-westernIran,ac-rossthe ArabianGulf.Largescalefigurescarvedtheremighthaveservedasanin-spirationforourreliefs.ExtensiveearlyhistoriccontactsbetweenFarsandOmanarewellknownwhichwouldpossiblyhaveenabledthetransmission.ButtheParthianre-lieffigures(mostlyofficialpersonnages)inFarsarefrontal,immobile,andarehieratic

incharacter.Despitetheseobjections,thelargesizeofthefiguresstillmayhave providedaninspirationfortheHasatBaniSaltreliefs. WhileSasanianreliefsalso providenospecificiconographicparallels,thesenumerouslargescalereliefsmaywellhaveprovidedtheinspirationfortheequallylargereliefsacrosstheGulf.Commonto

bothisamovementedcomposition,whichislackingintheParthianreliefs.

Sincethereliefsandtheabove-mentionedparalleltomanno.1belongtothesamegeographicallyremotearea,theircreatorsprobablywerelocallybased. Thecarvingisnotprofessional,asonemightexpectfromanareawithanindigenoustraditionofotherwisestrictlysimplerockart. Asalreadymentioned,thenextprehistoricand

RelativeChronology

AbsoluteDating

terminusantequem

TheSculptors

12

13

C.Clark1975,no.19,118pl.5.

P. Yule2001,4.

L. VandenBerghe/K.Schippmann1985,118.

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12

13

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historicsettlementlies1kmtothenorth.NearbyandbeyonditareotherssuchasatGhãlqaddimwherethecarversalsocouldhavelived.

Fortheiconologyofthereliefswehavelittleinformation.Behindthesimplefiguresstandscomplicatedsocialbehaviour. Theidentityofthefiguresisenigmatic.ItseemsunlikelythatgodsaredepictedontheHasatBaniSalt.Exceptforthelargemaleno.1,nonehasanattributethatcouldbeinterpretedassupernatural.Iflife-sizehumanfigureswereworshippedinthePre-Islamicreligionofthearea,thiswouldbethefirstknownsuchcase. Todateknowncultobjectsincludeasmallpotteryanthropomorph

from Amlah,metallicanthropomorphsfromBahla/al-Aqirandanimisticplaces.TheserangeindatefromthelatethirdmillenniumuntilthearrivalofIslam. Wearenotdealingwithartintoday’ssensethatapleasant,aestheticallysignificant,ordecor-ativecontentisbeingcommunicated.

ThecontentofthereliefsjibespoorlywiththeaniconicpreceptsofIslam. Thename“HasatBaniSalt”isnodoubtsecondaryandrecent. The“rockoftheBaniSalt”namesatribewhichinhabitsthe WadiGhulafewkilometerstothenorth.DuringtheParthianandSasanianPeriodspossibleorevenlikelyparallelsfromneighbouringFarsdepictmortals. Thesereliefsarethemostlikelysourceofinspirationforthoseun-derdiscussion,owingtotheirsizeandsubjectmatter. Themaincarvingofthe“south”facesuggeststheboundarystoneofafamilyortribeforthoseapproachingfromthesouth.Butgiventhislineofthought,thefiguresonthenorthsideofthestonearedif-ficulttoexplain. Alternativesuggestionsincludearitualcarvingoffiguresintothestone.Italsoseemsthatthelargemaleno.1hasliterallybeenimposedovertheprev-iouslydepictedfigures. Thefiguresonthe“south”facewereoriginallycomposedas

agroup,butonewhichchangedovertime.

C.Clark, TheRock ArtofOman1975,JOS1,1975,113-122.

M.Hörig/E.Schwertheim,CorpusCultusIovisDolicheni(CCID)(Cologne1987).

M.Khan,Rock ArtResearchinthe ArabianPeninsula,Levantand Anatolia,in:Rock ArtStudies1.OxbowMonograph72(Oxford1996)95-104.

H.Müller-Karpe,Handbuchder Vorgeschichtevol.IV3(Munich1980).

K.Preston, AnIntroductiontothe AnthropomorphicContentoftheRock ArtofJebelAkhdar,JOS2,1976,17-38.

SummaryandConclusion

Literature

14 15

14

15

P. Yule1999,180Fig.37.14,p.140Pl.12,evidentlyaculticobject.

PreviouslyintheDepartmentof Antiquities,SultanateofOman.

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A.b. Ahmedb. Alib.MahashalShahri,kaifaibtindinawakaifairtiqinabilhadaratial-insaniyatiminshibhial-gazirahal-arabiyah(Zafar)kitabatunawanuqushunaal-qadimah(Dubai1994).

O.Soffer/M.Conkey,Studying Ancient VisualCultures,in:Beyond Art:PleistoceneImageandSymbol.MemoirsoftheCalif. AcademyofScience,no23(SanFranciso1997)1-16.

L. VandenBerghe/K.Schippmann,Lesreliefsrupestresd‘Elymaïde(Iran)del‘époque parthe.Supplementvol.Iranicaantiquavol.3(Gent1985).

P. Yule/G. Weisgerber, The1996SeasonofExcavationintheSharqiyahandal-Zahir-ah,SultanateofOman,in:Paul Yule(ed.),Studiesinthe ArchaeologyoftheSultanateofOman,Deutsches ArchäologischesInstitut,Orientabteilung,Orient-Archäologievol.2(Rahden1999)97-117.

P. Yule,DieGräberfelderinSamadalShan(SultanatOman)MaterialienzueinerKul-turgeschichte(Rahden2001).

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PersistenteURL http //archi b ni heidelberg de/prop lae mdok/ ollte te/2008/132/

Yule HasatBaniSal2001

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