JENNIFER SWERIDA - PUBLICATIONS

Swerida, J.  2018.

In Beyond the Tombs and Towers: domestic architecture of the Umm an-Nar period in Eastern Arabia, ed. S. Döpper. Series Arabia Orientalis 1. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 51-69.

HOUSING THE UMM AN-NAR: THE SETTLEMENTS AND HOUSES OF BAT

Swerida, J. 2017.

PhD Dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Near Eastern Studies

​

Abstract:

Settlements, as the primary stages for socioeconomic interaction, are essential sources of information concerning the lifestyles and social organizations of their occupant populations. Yet, the settlements of the first phase of widespread sedentary occupation on the Oman Peninsula, the Umm an-Nar Period (ca. 2800-2000 BCE), have so far been understudied by archaeologists. This dissertation explores Umm an-Nar settlement and domestic traditions as found at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat, in the Sultanate of Oman. Through a multi-scalar study of Bat’s Umm an-Nar settlement remains, three broad research questions are addressed:

​

(1) How should large, multi-towered Umm an-Nar sites be interpreted – as single, large communities; or as multiple, independent settlements?

(2) What does the spatial organization of Umm an-Nar settlements suggest about the social organization of the community(s) that occupied them?

(3) Is the Umm an-Nar lifestyle and social organization represented by the remains at Bat comparable to that reconstructed at settlements elsewhere on the Oman Peninsula?

​

Qualities of Umm an-Nar social organization are reflected in the distribution of sites across the landscape and in the organization of built and unbuilt space within settlements. Methodologies developed in this dissertation engage with architectural remains that are visible on the modern ground surface in order to identify social connections between sites and internal community organization. Such methods access valuable social information in the absence of well-preserved settlement contexts. Bat’s Umm an-Nar population is revealed as an extended community that incorporated multiple centers of occupation and was organized into social sub-groups.

The socioeconomic foundations of any society are found in its households. A set of methodologies adapted from household archaeology are used to identify Umm an-Nar house structures in excavated settlement contexts at Bat. The compositions, economies, and lifestyles of individual households are reconstructed based on house layouts and surviving evidence of domestic activity. These households reflect a society that was organized into small, economically independent groups that contrast with coastal Umm an-Nar communities.