First provenance evidence for lapis lazuli artefacts from Arabia: Analytical study of beads from the Umm an-Nar tomb DH7-1 at Dahwa, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

In this work, two wholly preserved lapis lazuli beads from an Umm An-Nar-type communal tomb excavated in Dahwa (2500-2000 BCE, Sultanate of Oman) have been analysed by means of non-invasive analytical techniques to try to determine the provenance of their raw material. The importance of these beads is due to the fact that they are possibly among the earliest lapis lazuli objects found in south-eastern Arabia to date. The combined results of the provenance and stylistic investigations presented in this work aim to assess the geological origin of the raw material used to produce these beads as well as their cultural affiliation, providing crucial insights into reconstructing the lapis lazuli trade between Western Asia and the Mediterranean during the third millennium BCE. To identify the lapis lazuli provenance, in-air ion microbeam techniques were used to measure the trace elements content and the luminescent properties of different mineralogical phases within the lapis lazuli rock. Data were compared with those collected over the past 15 years on rocks from five mining areas in Chile, Afghanistan, Siberia, Tajikistan and Myanmar. Using a protocol based on this rock database and exploiting a multivariate method (principal component analysis) on the compositional results, it was possible to prove that the raw material of the beads only matched the Afghan quarry district.