<< Text Pages >> Bida Bint Saud - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in United Arab Emirates
Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 26 February 2010 Page Views: 6934
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Bida Bint Saud Alternative Name: Qarn Bint Saud tombsCountry: United Arab Emirates Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Nearest Town: Al `Ayn
Latitude: 24.357260N Longitude: 55.726260E
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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Burial Chamber in Abu Dhabi. Bida Bint Saud lies some 15 kilometres north of Al Ain. The site is dominated by an outcrop of stratified rock, the Qarn Bint Saud, rising 40 metres above the surrounding landscape. Since 1970, numerous tombs have been found on the top of this outcrop and in the surrounding foothills.
Although smaller, in many ways the Qarn resembles Jebel Hafit and is visible from a considerable distance. At the base of the Qarn are tombs dating from 3000 BC, similar to those at Hafit: single, circular chambers, accessed by a narrow entrance through a surrounding ring wall. Originally, the walls gradually inclined to form a dome-shaped roof.
On the top of the outcrop there is a group of graves from the Iron Age (roughly 1300 to 300 BC). These are also circular in shape, but larger and divided into a number of chambers designed for collective burials. Many centuries ago the graves were plundered by tomb robbers and consequently any skeletal finds have been disturbed and are in poor condition. However, archaeological teams have found pottery and stone vessels, dagger blades, bronze arrowheads and different types of beads.
Towards the end of the Bronze Age, technological advances resulted in the development of double-edged swords up to 40cm in length. Excavations at one of the collective tombs on top of the outcrop brought to light some swords of this type. The Iron Age people manufactured and traded soft-stone vessels and finds have included decorated bowls, beakers and compartmented boxes.
A few hundred metres west of the outcrop are the remains of a large mud brick building that may well have been the chief’s majlis, or meeting place, since it includes a large courtyard and the plinths of 12 pillars which originally supported a roof. There are store rooms on the outer side of this building which were found to contain numerous storage jars, suggesting that distribution of water could also have been administered from here.
A little to the south of the building, excavations exposed a falaj, or underground water channel, composed of a number of stone-lined shafts connected by a horizontal tunnel, running far back into the hillside. Steps lead down to the sharia, the mouths of two separate tunnels that provided access for the collection of water in portable containers. A large open cistern fed by water through the sharia, and a second falaj have also been discovered.
For many years it was thought that the falaj system originated in Persia, but this discovery, and similar finds at Hili, establish its origins in south east Arabia around three thousand years ago. It is a highly sophisticated method of bringing water long distances from plentiful sources in mountain ranges to provide irrigation for crops and drinking water for the community.
Source: Abu Dabi Government.
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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