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additional detail of a ringwall at the foot of the mound. One of our sections indicated that this
wall had originally been visible after the completion of the mound, though now partly covered
with sand and gravel. The apparent lack of ringwall in the first group might be explained by the
thick deposits that had here among the dense mounds washed down during the centuries,
covered the old surface and the low surrounding wall, and, incidentally, made the mounds
appear lower than they were built.

It was obvious that for some reason the bones — both human and animal — were better
preserved here. In two graves the dead were found in situ, in flexed position. The animal bones
arc probably from goat (they arc presently being analyzed at the Smithsonian) and some show
traces of burning. It is quite likely that the better preservation is due to less disturbance which
again might be explainable by the lack of valuables among the grave-gifts. True, some
chambers had been broken into, and who can tell what has been taken away, but the
impression is strong that these burials have always been poorly furnished. Only one among
them could boast of copper/bronze: small rodshaped pieces.

For the rest the gifts were restricted to pottery, and a modest selection it was ! The
“grave-jar” with round base had here generally a grooved neck and a preference for purplish-
red paint, but it was in the minority. A small squat jar of friable brown ware with rounded
body, short neck and plain rim, often with a purple slip, is characteristic for this grave group. It
is also known from the Saar project, and from some of the amateur-examined graves reported
by During Caspers, but not reported from the Qala’ at al Bahrain or from the Barbar temples.

The obvious difference between our two grave groups calls for an explanation. The
possibilities are two — or rather three: the difference may be chronological, it may be social —
or both.

Let us take the rich group first, the one closest to the Ali “Royal tombs”, not just in
distance, but in contents as well: alabaster, ivory, carnelian, metal, ostrich eggshells, strainers.
Julian Rcade in his study on the AliTombs suggests a dating to Isin-Larsa as likely for most of
them. To this I can add that E.During Caspers’ Hamala North tomb with its Ali affinities
includes a small goblet of fine red ware with blackcrosshatched butterfly motif which I believe
I can match with one from the Suq-Sunaysl graves in Oman, dated by me to about 2000 BC.
When I was looking for comparative material for the Wadi Suq grave complex I became aware
of the resemblance of some of the painted “Barbar” pottery — plumred with black horizontal
bands — as well as some of the potshapes to the Suq material. From the rich grave group under
discussion I shall draw attention to a large jar with rounded body and low centre of gravity, a
form also known among the Suq pottery. The Harappan sherd previously mentioned need not
contradict a dating around 2000 BC, and I would be inclined to date the rich group a little
earlier than the big Ali Tombs. To state my reasons for this I must turn to the recently
published study by Dr Moawiyah Ibrahim on the Saar burials.

Based on the construction Dr Ibrahim describes several grave types, one of them a
“mound with a single chamber built above surface” — to which my two groups belong. If I
understand Dr Ibrahim rightly, he believes that his other types go back to this “basic” form. In
a more developed type the mound has a central burial connected with subsidiary burials each
of which is surrounded by a more or less complete ringwall. This, according to Dr Ibrahim, is a
transition to his“Burial Complex”, where apparently the mound has been abandoned and we
have subterranean stonecists with ringwalls, often interconnected, the graves very close
together. They have several things in common with the Wadi Suq graves: they are subterra­
nean, have ringwall, one end of the grave is often connected with the wall, they contain steatite
— but I would have to know more of the grave-contents in Bahrain to make a valid comparison.

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