Record 1 of 1

S-78

Name:
 اُم العرض (Umm al-ʿArḍ)

Site Type:
 Settlement

Periodization:

	Possible	Probable	Certain
Modern:
Islamic:
Pre-Islamic:
Bronze Age:
Neolithic:
Palaeolithic:

Terrain:
 Scree

Site Condition:
 Fair

Coordinates:
 1759808 N, 240744 E

Elevation:
 653 MSL

Length:
 70 m

Long Axis:
 E–W

Notes:
 Pre-Islamic settlement with possible earlier and later elements. Site is southeast of the mouth of Wadi Sarr, with a view directly into it. Most obvious feature of the site is a very large stone, precariously perched. Underside of the stone is covered in red-painted designs and figures. Around the base of the stone, a substantial shelter is built of piled stones. The shelter partially obscures the paintings, and is, therefore, later than them. The remains of a structure, now inaccessible, are visible atop the stone. To the west of the stone, on the scree, is the stone foundation of a Pre-Islamic house (A-30). Many ceramics were found in A-30, including an inscribed sherd from a lug-rimmed stoneware bowl (C-3). Two caves are visible in the slope to the east. The larger cave is about 6m in diameter, over 3m high at its interior peak, and with a ledge about 1.5m above the current floor running across its back walls. This cave is almost certainly a Pre-Islamic tomb. Bits of walls are visible in the slope behind A-30. Some encroachment upon the site by fields and modern houses—perhaps the site was larger in the past, but mostly removed for later fields. (However, this is only speculation.) Part of a stone censer (O-24) was found on the slope to the east of the site while I explored the slope in hopes of finding a temple.

Architecture:
 A-30

Object(s):
 O-24

Ceramic(s):
 C-3
 C-71
 C-72
 C-73
 C-74
 C-75
 C-76
 C-77
 C-78
 C-79
 C-80
 C-81
 C-82
 C-83
 C-84
 C-102

Inscription(s):
 I-47

Drawing(s):
 (none)

Map(s):
 M-38

Photograph(s):
 P-605
 P-606
 P-607
 P-608
 P-609
 P-610
 P-639
 P-640
 P-641
 P-642
 P-643
 P-644