Promoting Group Identity and Equality by Merging the Dead

In current explanations of third millennium BC Oman, there is simultaneously a recognition of the Hafit period as part of the Umm an-Nar culture and a sense that it is somehow distinct from the Umm an-Nar period that followed. This chapter explores the notion that the developments of the Umm an-Nar period rest solidly on Hafit creations of social, political, and economic solidarity and heterogeneity—but that the Umm an-Nar culture eventually extended beyond its foundation. Referencing Hafit practices that consolidated group identity while maintaining local autonomy was critical during the Umm an-Nar period, when communities concentrated on local resource acquisition as a strategy for access to broader resources. In spite of this, the construction and maintenance of Umm an-Nar “towers,” in oases such as Bat and ad-Dariz South, and the increasingly complex mortuary tradition suggests that local groups in the Umm an-Nar period may have experienced difficulty in maintaining a worldview of regional solidarity.