Settlement patterns, polities and regional complexity in the Southeast Arabian Iron Age

P. Magee

Introduction

In the last twenty years southeastern Arabia (fig. 1), the area encompassing the modern countries of the United Arab Emirates and Sultanate of Oman, has been the focus of intensive archaeological research. Beginning in the mid-1960's when an Iron Age culture (c. 1300-300 ВС) was first recognised1, much material dating between с 1 300 and 300 ВС has come to light and been incorporated into several archaeological

theses2. There has been, however, no systematic attempt to understand the settlement dynamics of this time nor has there been any attempt to integrate environmental data with archaeological evidence. In this paper we contribute to a broader understanding of settlement systems during this time by firstly examining the changing patterns of settlement during the Iron Age. Moving on from there we examine the evidence for the emergence of a series of regional polities in a particular environmental zone and discuss how these settlements interacted with those in other environments.

Paléorient. vol. 24/2. p. 49-60 © CNRS ÉDITIONS 1999

Manuscrit reçu le 2 octobre 1998 et accepté le 16 décembre 1998.